Audiobooks discussion

I admit it, I have a huge crush on Luke Daniels. Not Luke Daniels the person, but Luke Daniels the voice. Oliver Wyman too. One could read me the phone book and the other the dictionary and I'd listen just for their voices.

Do you have any voice crushes?

Two of them: Colin Firth and Humphrey Bower.

And I really like Oliver Wyman, but haven't had a crush-like reaction to him. :) I can see it, though.

Is this a chick discussion? Oliver Wyman is my favorite, but I'm not putting his posters on my bedroom wall or anything like that.

I think voice crushes are an equal opportunity phenomenon, J. :)

I have a girl crush on the narrator for Jellicoe Road and a regular crush on the narrator for I am the Messenger - something about those Aussie accents! I will also join the Luke Daniels fan crush club :)

My girl crush would be Robin Miles. I love it when she does her creole accents.

J. wrote: "Is this a chick discussion? Oliver Wyman is my favorite, but I'm not putting his posters on my bedroom wall or anything like that."

Guys are welcome to join in.

I confessed long ago to being a Luke Daniels fangirl
Of course, you never get over your first crush, Jim Dale is mine.

Simon Vance and Katherine Kellgren.

I assume that by "crushes" we mean something along the lines of "I could listen to the person read the phone book"?

I suppose I feel that way about William Dufris and Grover Gardner. Tavia Gilbert hasn't disappointed me yet after several books either.

Kristie wrote: "Two of them: Colin Firth and Humphrey Bower."

Oh Kristie! This is how petty jealousies start. I like them too! ;-)

Fran wrote: "Kristie wrote: "Two of them: Colin Firth and Humphrey Bower."

Oh Kristie! This is how petty jealousies start. I like them too! ;-)"

I'm sure there's enough Colin and Humphrey to go around. :)

My voice crushes include Ray Porter, Robert Petkoff, Bronson Pinchot, & Khristine Hvam. All of the these brilliant performers have the ability to take the written word and become what they are reading. I turn into a giggling fangirl when I listen to them.

My biggest voice crush is Juliet Stevenson, who has narrated all of Jane Austen's novels and lots of other books as well. She is a splendid actress and I could listen to her reading the bus timetable. I also love Alan Rickman's voice. Sadly, he has narrated very few books. The one I've listened to is The Return of the Native. Rickman's narration persuaded me that I really do like Thomas Hardy after all.

John wrote: "I assume that by "crushes" we mean something along the lines of "I could listen to the person read the phone book"?

I suppose I feel that way about William Dufris and Grover Gardner. Tavia Gilbert..."

Thank you, John. I hope NEVER to disappoint you.
:)

I swoon over Cassandra Campbell and Davina Porter. Among the men, Edward Hermann.

Grumpus wrote: "I swoon over Cassandra Campbell and Davina Porter. Among the men, Edward Hermann."

Agree with the two ladies grumpus!Also agree with John about Tavia!

I would add Katherine Kellgren,Rosalyn Landor, Xe Sands,Bahni Turpin,Lorna Raver,Karen White, Amy Rubinate, Jenna Lamia.

Yes I seem to listen to more women than men as for men it would be...

Simon Vance, Edoardo Ballerini, Neil Gaiman, Jonathan Davis,Scott Brick,Kirby Heybourne, Johnny Heller

Any of the above narrators I will always pick the audio version over the paper book!

MissSusie wrote: "Grumpus wrote: "I swoon over Cassandra Campbell and Davina Porter. Among the men, Edward Hermann."

Agree with the two ladies grumpus!Also agree with John about Tavia!

I would add Katherine Kellg..."

Thanks so much, Susie - hope to continue to be worthy of that crush :)

MissSusie wrote: "Grumpus wrote: "I swoon over Cassandra Campbell and Davina Porter. Among the men, Edward Hermann."

Agree with the two ladies grumpus!Also agree with John about Tavia!

I would add Katherine Kellg..."

Very interesting Susie, I was just thinking that I listen to more men and tend to prefer their voices. Then I was wondering if it was because of the types of books I listen to that have more male narrators or what...

So far I have no crushes. :(

I have a few reader-crushes... Usually these are readers who give me chills at some point or another while reading a story. Something in their voice is just perfection, and I love it.

John Slattery (he read Duma Key by Stephen King)
Campbell Scott (The Shining)
Frank Muller (Books 1-4 in the Dark Tower series)
Simon Vance (Uhh... Everything!)
James Marsters (Dresden Files)
Neil Gaiman (Everything - he could read a stock ticker and I'd swoon)
Simon Pegg (his voice is so delicious)
John Lee
Mare Winningham

I second Simon and Neil!

I can definitely see how John Lee made that list!

Well, it isn't a crush, it is simply a deep felt admiration for a person I think of as one of the greatest readers ever. And I have about 500 audiobooks.

Davina Porter.

She is superb.

I listened to quite a few of the "Prey" books by John Sandford over the last 6 months and really grew to enjoy Richard Ferrone's voice. It just seemed to suit Sandford's writing style so well.

I have two guilty crushes. First let me explain. Somehow the combination of the writing and the narration have melded to become an audio addiction. The two weird crushes are Michael Prichard's Nero Wolfe--I'm actually crushing on Archie Goodwin in my own mind--and... crap, I just forgot the narrator's name for the Louise Penny series featuring Armande Gamache. Again, in my mind it's Gamache I'm crushing on. But I'm also addicted to the sound of those voices as they read to me and I listened to all available books in the series back to back and then listened to the whole series over again and--here's the guilty part--a third time. I'm in the middle of my third run through of the Nero Wolfe series because I can't give up Archie or Prichard's voice. I went through something similar with the Harry Potter series read by Jim Dale and The Lord of the Rings read by Robert Ingliss, but I never felt it was a guilty secret.

While I'm at it, I'll confess for a friend who shares my Audible addiction. I love James Marsters reading Harry Dresden, my friend is head over heels. She's willing to listen to anything he's recorded and even picked up The Importance of Being Earnest because Marsters is in the cast.

There's a fair amount of dislike expressed for Pritchard's narration, but I think it's quite good; I haven't quite finished the series yet.

Mike Bennett is a novelist and podcaster. His free podcasts include "Hall of Mirrors, Tales of Horror and the Grotesque. PLUS alot more... My biggest voice crush.

While I like most of the narrators you all have mentioned a great deal, the only one I've had a crush on is Isabel Gordon AKA Gabra Zackman. I've only listened to one book of hers that I didn't like her narration. I have listened to some again because of her voice.

My first, strictly platonic, voicecrush was Daphne Oxenford reading Listen With Mother.
I used to sit very comfortably when she began...

John wrote: "There's a fair amount of dislike expressed for Pritchard's narration, but I think it's quite good; I haven't quite finished the series yet."

I can't say I've finished the series since Audible only has 27 of the 47 book-length Wolfe titles--I've asked for the CDs for birthday/Christmas though.
I warned my sister and friend about the odd quality to Prichard's voice before they began listening and their reactions were identical to mine. Initially I found it a strange choice for a book naration, then I got used to it, then I found I was actually liking it, and finally it struck me as the only possible voice choice for Wolfe and Archie. Forewarning them helped keep them from rejecting the quirky vocal style before it had its chance to become a positive aural addiction.

I decided to skip a few of the Wolfe titles based upon the plot summary of each; there are a couple of titles where I've had to read the print book as neither Audible, nor my library, had them as audios. At this point I have three more audios after my current one (Father Hunt), as well one novella-collection ebook (Trio of Blunt Instruments). After that, I'm considering trying Goldsborough's sequels.

John wrote: "I decided to skip a few of the Wolfe titles based upon the plot summary of each; there are a couple of titles where I've had to read the print book as neither Audible, nor my library, had them as a..."

I'll be interested to hear your opinion of the sequels. It's hard to imagine anyone capturing the voice of Archie Goodwin, the fictional author of the accounts, and without his POV, it's just another detective story.

Jeanie wrote: "John wrote: "I decided to skip a few of the Wolfe titles based upon the plot summary of each; there are a couple of titles where I've had to read the print book as neither Audible, nor my library, ..."

I read the Kindle edition of Goldsborough's prequel, Archie Meets Nero Wolfe and liked it. Who narrates the Goldsborough books?

L J Ganser, I believe?

Richard Armitage. He narrated three Georgette Heyer novels. She is my comfort read/listen author. And he does a lovely job. I just with they weren't abridged.

Benedict Cumberbatch is amazing reading Sherlock Holmes stories and also he reads Casanova. He plays Sherlock on the BBC.

Also Steve West is amazing...he narrates the great Scorpio Races.

I'm going to echo the many people who have stated that they have a voice crush on Neil Gaiman. As I was listening to The Ocean at the End of the Lane, I was reminded at times of Alan Rickman whose voice I have loved even when he's played a villain.

oh does Alan Rickman do any audiobooks/ voice work? I don't know of any.

Stacie wrote: "oh does Alan Rickman do any audiobooks/ voice work? I don't know of any."

Not that I know of. He should though!

Alan Rickman has narrated Thomas Hardy's The Return of the Native (which is wonderful) and some African folktales. Here's link to the works he has narrated which are available on Audible.

Thanks!

Jonathan Cole from Beautiful Stranger . Just wow!

Stacie wrote: "Benedict Cumberbatch is amazing reading Sherlock Holmes stories and also he reads Casanova. He plays Sherlock on the BBC..."

Hi Stacie,
Your message piqued my curiosity because I'm a big Holmes fan and had never heard of Cumbatch before (I don't get out of the media rut much).

When I searched both Audible and Amazon for audio titles, I found only one:

Sherlock Holmes: The Rediscovered Railway Mysteries and Other Stories

Has he done the narrations for any other audiobooks that are available someplace?

Before I changed the category to "Books" on Amazon, I was amazed by how many search hits this guy was generating in different genres. In addition to the BBC "Sherlock" series and movie, he's even the villian in the latest Star Trek reboot movie.

Happy Listening,
Alan Mintaka

OK, a tiny sidestep away from audiobooks, but if you want a nice taste of Benedict Cumberbatch reading a bit of Keats, this is a simply phenomenal reading. And while I'm not generally a fan of music and narration combined, it works beautifully here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tdpht...

Xe wrote: "OK, a tiny sidestep away from audiobooks, but if you want a nice taste of Benedict Cumberbatch reading a bit of Keats, this is a simply phenomenal reading. And while I'm not generally a fan of musi..."

What a lovely reading! Thank you.

CatBookMom wrote: "Xe wrote: "OK, a tiny sidestep away from audiobooks, but if you want a nice taste of Benedict Cumberbatch reading a bit of Keats, this is a simply phenomenal reading. And while I'm not generally a ..."

Agreed - that was V nice! Can we get him to read a full length book now? :-D

January LaVoy is one of my favorite narrators. She has an incredible voice range. I listened to her narration of Karen King's The Chance.




http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11...
Also, Conor Hall, who narrated Hunter: A Thriller has an impressive range of male voices. His voice of the protagonist, Dylan Hunter, is great.

Voice crushes. Ha ha. That's a cute way of putting it. I haven't found one, but maybe I haven't been listening enough. I'll keep it in mind.

I really love Edoardo Ballerini - who I've listened to in "Beautiful Ruins", and Craig Wasson - who's done 11-22-63.