Play Book Tag discussion

Who are your favorite audiobook narrators.

My favorite is John Lee. I am listening to him read A Fine Balance and have listened to him read several other books (Pillar of the Earth Trilogy, Century Trilogy) and I will listen to a book just because he is reading it.

I look forward to hearing your favorite narrators.

I thought Jay Long did a good job with A Lesson Before Dying. (although I can't say I loved the story itself). Sometimes the description was a little stiff, but he really got into character when they spoke.
My kids are listening to Dave Barry's Worst Night Ever and Todd Haberkorn is doing a great job with it.

I don't track audiobook readers much. I don't pay attention to the narrator when listening, unless it sounds familiar to me from the past. I did just finish The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, narrated by Edward Hermann and it was fabulous.

Also- this is kind of a lame answer, but if the author can pull it off- often times my favorite is when the author reads the book them self! Loved Tiffany Haddish's memoir The Last Black Unicorn that she read. On the flip side- this can also go very poorly- ie Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.

The Host was very well narrated by Kate Reading. So long a book, but still I was sad when it was over.

My go-to recommendation for threads like this is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn's Patrick Fraley. He made all the accents and dialects sound authentic, understandable, and rich.

Emily Janice Card did a good job with The Age of Miracles.

Otoh, I had to stop listening to Saturn Run because I could not stand what Eric Conger was doing.

I have many favorites including Ray Porter and Rebecca Lowman, but I also have some I can never listen to again ... Like Mark Bramhall.

Joi wrote: "narrated by Edward Hermann and it was fabulous. "

Edward Hermann is one of my favorites!

Simon Vance
Davina Porter
Juliet Stevenson
Jenny Sterlin
Hugh Fraser
Patrick Tull
Steven Crossley
Jim Dale
Orlagh Cassidy
Jill Tanner

It's an addiction. I listen more than I read these days.

I don't really have a favourite, though there are a couple I don't usually like (even though others do!). It may be because of the books they read; it may be because I'm less enamoured of male narrators, I'm not sure. Sorry Jason, but John Lee is one that I wasn't crazy about (I may have only listened to a couple by him), and Scott Brick is another. Sorry!

I am just starting to take note of audiobook narrators as I listen more and more and come across the same authors more frequently.

Edward Hermann is definitely a favorite of mine for nonfiction. Scott Brick is up there too.

Julia Whelan does many contemporary fiction books and I like her. And, just saw that she has her debut novel coming out later this month, which, of course, she narrates!

Cassandra Campbell and Kathleen McInerney also narrate several contemporary fiction that I enjoy.

Ari Fliakos, and he has narrated several books I have listened to over the last couple of years and I tend to be swayed when he is narrating.

I have really come to like Nick Offerman and want to listen to some more of his narrating of Mark Twain.

Will Patton is great as well. Especially if it is a western, for some reason! lol.

And, I think there are some authors who do a really great job narrating their own memoirs. But then there are others who are horrific. That is a mixed bag for me.

Juliet Stevenson, Fenella Woolgar, David Pittu, David Ledoux, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Prentice Onayem, Stephen Fry, Stephen Hogan, Adjoa Andoh, & Richard Armitage are all voice actors that I have thoroughly enjoyed.

Jgrace wrote: "Davina Porter"

One of these days I am going to listen to an Outlander book....

Oh! And Bahni Turpin

Nicole R wrote: "Jgrace wrote: "Davina Porter"

One of these days I am going to listen to an Outlander book...."

I would never have continued the series past the first book if I'd not been listening to them.

Jgrace wrote: "Nicole R wrote: "Jgrace wrote: "Davina Porter"

One of these days I am going to listen to an Outlander book...."

I would never have continued the series past the first book if I'd not been listeni..."

I have the fifth book queued up to read between the end of my spring semester finals and the start of summer classes, and I already own it in paperback so I am going to stick with that format for this one. But, I may finally do the audio when I get to the sixth....

Yes, Ari Fliakos is great, and Will Patton ... "all rights reserved" sigh ...

Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Wil Wheaton, Simon Vance

Katherine Kellgren is one of my favorites.

I will admit that I have a problem listening to other books narrated by Jim Dale besides the HP books.

Celebrity narrators are a bit hit or miss on their memoirs...with Trevor Noah taking home the highest honors, but for the classics they are generally great.

I have definitely had a narrator ruin a book for me — Uprooted’s narrator was beyond bad for me.

I just finished listening to Michael York read Cry, the Beloved Country. Predictably, it was an outstanding performance.

After some searching of the narrators you all mentioned- I've listened to a lot of them! In fact- most of them!!
-David Pittu did The Goldfinch, which kept me intruiged and intersted through 34 hours lol.
-Davina Porter also did The Miniaturist, which wasn't the best book- but I can still hear the voices. Which means the narrator was fantastic.
-Juliet Stevensen also did some Sarah Waters works.

I feel like I'm going to be much more aware of narrators after this discussion.

How could I forget Jim Dale?!! The OG of narrators for me- my first audiobooks- the Harry Potter series. Anyone else watch the TV show Pushing Daisies? He also was the narrator of that! I also have a hard time listening to books he does now because I equate the character voices to their HP ones. I can't take reading a book in the voice of Hagrid or Snape seriously.

Edward Hermann for the link to one of the more often mentioned.

How are you-all keeping track of these?

Thanks for all the suggestions. It's interesting to see the different tastes in voices. To me John Lee is the best and repritoire of accents is amazing. Scott Brick is one I neither love or hate. He's good but it takes a bit to get used to his reading.

Wil Wheaton is another I really like and The lady who does all Liane Moriarty books does well.

I normally don't remember who read unless I really liked their voice.

Cheryl. we remember them the same as remembering the authors of the books. We care enough to remember.

Cheryl wrote: "Edward Hermann for the link to one of the more often mentioned.

How are you-all keeping track of these?"

When I list my reads and write reviews of audiobooks (which I do mostly for my own satisfaction and to aid my failing memory) I make note of the voice artist. I look for the good ones when I'm choosing new books.

Cheryl wrote: "How are you-all keeping track of these?"

I don't.

I guess I only take note of the performance is outstanding - good or bad. The important thing is that the voice matches the story. I remember one where the guy read an action story as if it were a drama. All that pathos - completely wrong for the story.

And I tend to remember them better if I didn't like them!! Wasn't a fan of Jim Dale reading HP - he sounded like an old man trying to do girls' voices - hated his Hermione voice.

Jason, I do agree about John Lee's amazing accents!

I also wasnt' real excited about the woman who read Outlander. I listened to the first one, but have been reading the others as ebooks, and won't go back to the audios.

Apparently, I'm weird when it comes to narrators. :-)

I also don't keep track of audio narrators in any kind of way. After listening to the same author several times, I just remember them like I do a good author.

Nicole R wrote: "I also don't keep track of audio narrators in any kind of way. After listening to the same author several times, I just remember them like I do a good author."

I'm the same way --- although sometimes if I see a narrator that I know that I like, it will be an extra nudge to pick up a book. Or to check out the audio vs the ebook from the library.

I agree on the Jim Dale comments --- he was OK in Harry Potter but then I heard other books that he did and it was the same voices (no fault of his), but it sort of took me out of the story. I did not care for his voice for Hermione.