Who is your favorite reader? Least favorite?

[Peregrina651]

I can't read for any length time anymore without falling asleep so I've switched to listening to books. My daughter thinks I'm a charlatan but what alternative do I have since I MUST READ. I have a couple of hundred titles in my library plus what I've been able to get from OVERDRIVE through my library. Still, I do a lot of re-reading since I would go broke if my buying kept up with my actual consumption.

In my years of listening, I've learned that a good narrator is key to a good listen, regardless of the quality of the book itself. So, I pose the question: who is your favorite recorded books reader and who is your least favorite.

Personally, I have a couple whom I could listen to forever. One of them is Lisette Lescat who reads the Number 1 Detective Agency series. I listen just to hear her voice. It is so soothing and so much fits the slow-paced rhythm of the books. To me, it is the perfect marriage of text and reader.

My least favorites seem to be books read by the author when the author has no training in public speaking.

So, who is on your list? I'm always looking for a good listen.

[Gavin]

I can't read for any length of time without it leading to splitting headaches. I discovered audible about four years ago, and thank God I did. I thought for a while books were going to be a thing of the past for me.

Nowadays I also have a couple of hundred books in my Library, and I'm reading, or listening as it may be, to as much books as ever. I've also found I tend to listen to books I probably would never have read, Full new Genres in fact, like Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romances.

As far as narrators go I enjoyed Roy Dotrice while listening to the Song of Ice and Fire series and have always liked Marguerite Gavin.

I have also just finished Ultraviolet by R.J Anderson and absolutely loved the narration by Justine Eyre. I'll definitely tracking down more books that she narrates in the future.

As far as bad narrators go I seem to have been lucky to avoid them so far. I did think Dick Hill had some terrible voices he used for the female characters in Mirror Images, he made them all sound so annoying and whiny!.

A problem I have had is the change of narrators during a series of books. It's just so jarring when a characters personality completely changes to fit the new narrators differing opinion.

[Peregrina651]

I remember Roy Dotrice from "Cutting Edge." He was the skating coach. I also remember him from a TV show in the 80s; was it "Beauty and the Beast" or some such title. I like his voice so I will look to see if he has anything that might interest me.

A problem I have had is the change of narrators during a series of books. It's just so jarring when a characters personality completely changes to fit the new narrators differing opinion.

Narration is the down side of listening to a book rather than reading it since it robs me of the ability to completely choose my own interpretations. Sometimes I completely disagree with the narrator's choice and I find myself screaming at the recording. I do agree with you about changing narrators mid-stream of a series but I guess that sometimes it just can't be helped, especially when the books are recorded over a number of years.

[Gavin]

An interesting example of narrators changing in the middle of a series, was the Nightrunner books by Lynn Flewelling. The first three books were recorded by Blackstone Audio and narrated(superbly, IMO)by Raymond Todd. The remaining books are being recorded by Audible Frontiers and are narrated by Adam Danoff.
Book four of the series comes with this interesting disclaimer at Audible.

A Note From Author Lynn Flewelling

Dear Listeners,

It's been brought to my attention that there is some confusion over the noticeable difference in some of the pronunciations among the first three books of this series, and the last two. The reason for this is quite simple. For Shadows Return and The White Road, I had the pleasure of talking in considerable detail with narrator Adam Danoff. So the differences from the first three books may be a bit jarring at first, but what you will hear in Shadows Return and The White Road are the proper pronunciations of names and things, as the author intended. I'm delighted with these new interpretations, and I hope you will be, too. Happy listening!

Lynn Flewelling.



If you read the reviews at audible it soon becomes apparent that most people would rather the pronunciations had been consistent even if it was consistently wrong.

Another interesting case is Stardust. While I was listening to this book I did not agree with the narrators interpretations of some characters. Nothing too unusual there you might think, just another one of those narrators that does not 'get' the story.
Well no, it turns out the narrator was the Author Neil Gaimon himself.
If I can't agree with the authors take on his own book it just goes to show what a difficult job the normal narrator has.

[Peregrina651]

Ah, the joys of English! If you are making up names for characters and places for a work of fiction that is meant to be read to one's self and not performed, then how can there be a right or a wrong pronunciation? I'm with the readers, at least give me consistency of pronunciation on the made up stuff.

Food for thought: if you don't agree with the author's interpretation of a character, does that mean you are wrong or that the author failed in his writing to give you enough information to reach the interpretation that he himself put on the character??

[Gavin]

I think in most cases the reader is probably the one at fault. I remember being so surprised, half way through a book, to discover a character being described as having "shimmering golden" hair. I had been picturing dark hair in my imagination. I reread the first couple of chapters again and found that the author had indeed given a rather vivid description of the afore mentioned blonde haired girl.

One real advantage of audio books are that you cannot skip or skim over details. You hear every word.

[Peregrina651]

I've just added another favorite to my list of narrators. I just finished reading Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi and narrated by Wil Wheaton. I really expected that I would be completely distracted listening to Wesley Crusher but I wasn't. Wheaton's voice has matured and he has a fabulous command of accents. Actually, he was so good that he just faded into the background.

[Gavin]

It's good news to hear praise for Wil Wheaton's performance of Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi, because I've just recently bought Ready Player One by Ernest Cline which Wheaton also narrates.

Some narrators I've been enjoying lately:

Michael Page, who narrates everything from classics like The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas to historical romances like The Paid Companion by Amanda Quick. He has a rich cultured English accent and does a a fantastic job with the female voices.

Lloyd James, who's performance of The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold was nothing short of exceptional.

Michael Kramer, who has narrated a number of epic fantasy books that I have listened to recently and has done a great job of giving a different voice to each character. As all the books have had a large and diverse collection of characters it's been especially important to have a narrator who gives each character a distinctly recognizable voice.

The worst narrator I have come across recently has been Cynthia Holloway. I'm only halfway through Some Girls Bite by Chloe Neill but so I've noticed her mispronouncing words, and placing strange emphasis on the wrong words in some sentences. It's also been difficult to tell the difference between characters voice's. She seems to only have one voice for females and another for males, and even they can sometimes be problematic to tell apart.

[Bob]

Peter Kenny does a great job on Iain M. Bank's books.