Audiobooks discussion

I got into Audiobooks not too long ago but browsed through quite a few books and samples from Audible. After a lot of surprises and disappointments, I felt narrators are a huge contribution to whether I liked and enjoyed the audiobook/book.

Even though I don't personally like most of Wil Wheaton's narrated work, I did enjoy listening to the ones I listened to. Like when we read a book, we put in our interpretation in it. And when Wil narrates, he tosses in his own interpretation and makes it not like a monologue.

Another narrator I really liked was Vikas Adam from narrating the Heartstrikers series, which I didn't like. I liked the narration but not the book itself. And this is one of those complicated contradicting feelings I got with audiobooks. Vikas did a pretty good job in giving life to the characters using his interpretations but that made me dislike the book more. Still, I do like his narrations.

Then there's Tess Irondale who currently only narrates Elliott Kay's work. For narrating the female parts and being more seductive for what the book is about, Tess did an amazing part, which I greatly enjoyed. But then comes narrating the male characters, which is not great but infinitely better than monologue. It seemed to be a reoccurring theme with both male and female narrators when they try to narrator the opposite sex.

Michael Goldstrom, who narrated the Play to Live series, is a good example of not-so-great, and indefinitely worse than Tess Irondale's, narrations of the opposite sex. When Vikas narrates a female's dialogue, you can hear that he's trying to sound like a girl. Michael's narration for a female dialogue sounds like it's actually from an eunuch. It was painstakingly hard to listen. But fortunately, that was only a minority of it.

Last one for now is Michael Kramer who narrated the Mistborn series. He's on the opposite end of the above three narrators. Michael has a nice low deep voice. But that's all. And it works for books like Mistborn but it's just barely a little more than being a monologue. On a tired day, Michael literally puts me to sleep.

I agree with you that narrators can make or break an audiobook. I have two narrators I really like. Missy Cambridge did the narration for Pearl's a Sinner and she was so good that I recommended her to fellow-author Suzie Hopkins for whom she is currently narrating Lovers in Their Fashion. Suzie sent me the mp3 for what Missy has done so far and I was overwhelmed by how well she has "got" the characters, and how differently she voices them. Shannon Gunn narrated Winging It and, once again, the quality of the narration adds immensely to the listening experience. Authors need to find the right narrator for each book, because a voice and style that works for one book won't necessarily work for another.

I agree! Good readers can add a LOT to a story, but bad ones can ruin them. Nicolas Coster was so awful that I had to abandon one of the Hornblower books. Librivox.org has a lot of free audio books, but they’re generally read by untrained voices & I can’t stand them. Mark Nelson (https://librivox.org/reader/251) is an exception.

I tend to like male readers or women with deeper voices. Higher pitched voices get on my nerves, especially when they get loud or shrill as the story requires. I’ve found that almost any actor makes a good reader. William Shatner, Wil Wheaton, Kirk Douglas, & John Lithgow all did a great job.

Stephen Fry & Jim Dale both read the Harry Potter books. IIRC, Fry’s reading was professional & very well done with minor characterization while Dale added a lot of sound effects. I liked both, but was a bit surprised that Dale’s didn’t get old. Too many effects can detract from the story. He just happened to do everything exceptionally well.


Stefan Rudnicki reads a lot of Orson Scott Card’s books. Also reads the Matt Helm & Quarry books. Very deep voice. Excellent.

John_Lee read several of James Clavell’s Asian Saga. He did a fantastic job. Possibly my top pick.

David_Case read a couple of James Clavell’s Asian Saga & was very good.

Nancy_Wu made the stupid Queen Betsy books by MaryJanice Davidson fun. Her voice is rather high, though.

Grover Gardner is a very good narrator who has narrated over 500 books from Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan series to Machiavelli’s The Prince.

Michael_Kramer narrates all of Thomas Perry’s thrillers. Very good.

Shelly_Frasier has a rather high voice, but did a great job narrating Nightlife by Thomas Perry, a thriller with females in the lead roles.

George_Guidall has a rather laconic voice that goes well with the Walt Longmire series by Craig_Johnson.

Christian Rodska did a great job on the Hornblower books.

Jim wrote: "Christian Rodska did a great job on the Hornblower books."

I agree. I'm also enjoying Ray Porter's narration of the Raymond Chandler books.

I have a new one to add to my list of favorite narrators.

Robert Glenister does a bang up job of the Coromoran Strike series. I just finished and it was fantastic.

Usually when authors read their own works, especially memoirs, it's pretty magical. Examples I've loved are:

Haven Kimmel has a high, sweet voice that completes the experience of hearing her memoirs, starting with A Girl Named Zippy.

Stephen King brings a flat, comic-booky tone that echos the style of his fiction in his narration of On Writing.

Neil Gaiman reading The Graveyard Book -- don't miss!!

Anything narrated by Staley Tucci is automatically excellent. E.g., Coronado: Stories by Dennis Lehane.

Worst thing a narrator can do= affect a falsetto for all the women's voices. You sound like you are doing a nasty imitation of gay male speech and you are making the women sound like idiots. Just don't. Use your normal-ass voice. The narrators of The Fold and Player Piano were terrible about this.

Karen wrote: "I have a new one to add to my list of favorite narrators.

Robert Glenister does a bang up job of the Coromoran Strike series. I just finished and it was fantastic."

Yes, this series has joined the list of books I won't even try on paper (along with the Bloody Jack series, Chet and Bernie mysteries, and Locke Lamora fantasy series). I don't think I could have "heard" Strike's voice in my head anywhere near as well as I do from the recording.

I have read books using audio (professional and otherwise) all my life, so I'm very used to listening to books, and yes, I have several favorite readers, who I like for many different reasons. Scott Brick can read just about anything, as can Simon Vance and some others. A great narrator can enhance a book, but a really great book can survive an awful narrator (listened to a few of those, too!)

Shoshana wrote: "A great narrator can enhance a book, but a really great book can survive an awful narrator (listened to a few of those, too!) "

That is true, yet, for me, I feel that a not-so-great narrator is like a barrier to a great book. First I need to embrace their narration then endure it and finally decipher through their narration to get to the delicious goodies (the actual plot of the book).

Sometimes, I feel like I need to read it myself to get myself hooked before listening to not-so-great narrations. That way, I get more interested in it.

Since someone mentioned The Martian, I didn't like the narrator, unfortunately. As much as I adore science-y, geeky, nerdy stuff like that, the narrator just never hooked my interest. It was one of those that ended up better off with me reading it myself.