This call comes out of a sample for the audio book for the Nightrunners Book 1 - Luck in the Shadows by Lynn Flewelling. As Read by... well i dont remember the guys name.
But it was AWFUL. I listened to the sample. He had no acting ability whatsoever. He didnt show any difference in emotion in what he was reading. And to top it off, he read the thing the way a preacher reads the happy parts of the bible.
So now im on a quest.
I have a fond childhood memory of the Hank the Cowdog books read by the author. He had this amazing ability to play the characters that made them memorable, and gave them all great character.
That is what im looking for. Something like that for grown ups. I want to listen to a novel read by either a really versatile actor/narrator, or even better, a cast of people.
I have no idea where to start though. Google fails more and more these days and google bombed tags and links will take you straight to audible's front page if you so much as type audio book in the search.
I know a lot of you are readers, and novel enthusiasts, so i figure you people would know a really well read novel when you hear it.
Bonus: I enjoyed James Marsden's reading of the Dresden Files books. That serves as an example of the right person reading the right book.
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You are kidding. Christopher Walken did a reading of that?
Gotta look that up.
For books read by the author, Neil Gaiman does most of his books really well, though my favorites are done by other readers - "American Gods" by George Guidell (Guidell has done a TON of audiobooks, if you like his readings there's a huge library to choose from), and "Anansi Boys" by Lenny Henry (fantastic voices).
Audible also has radio dramatizations, which usually has a full cast, though they're usually abridged/adapted - the BBC did adaptations of the full run of Sherlock Holmes stories with Clive Merrison as Holmes, really excellent. Full cast audiobooks tend to be abridged, but I know of one company that does full cast, unabridged books - www.fullcastaudio.com. They tend to focus on young adult books (the company was started by Bruce Coville), but they have some classics and other books as well, it's worth a look (I did some bit part voice work for them a while ago, so this is a bit of a plug, but they do fantastic work).
Also im not a Neil Gaiman fan.
So far the only thing ive found, is a friend recommended Max Brooks' World War Z. It apparently has an amazing cast, and won some awards.
Still don't know what else is out there. I will look into this Full Cast Audio place.
Edit: Yea the Full Cast Audio place is all kids stuff.
Oh, beat'd...
Still, they're brilliant. And the defining version and format of those stories for me. The first 2 were done in 1978-80 while the last 3 were done in 2004-5 with the original cast (apart from the deceased members), the last 3 aren't quite as good as the original two but are still excellent.
There's also the Audio Book versions done by Douglas Adams himself, the later series of the Radio Series actually included parts of the Audio Book version allowing Adams to appear as one character in the series after his death.
That must take forever to go through.
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Ya, they're long (unabridged), but excellent.
Be warned, Dotrice does the voices so well that you may want to punch things after hearing Joffrey speak for a while.
Seconding. And yes, they take a while to get through, but the stories are so well paced that you're never bored. And he does a great job with the different characters.
I've listened to a fair number of audio books. I need them at work to keep myself sane. If you're looking for ones with full casts and effects and whatever then they're going to be heavily abridged. If you want unabridged then it's going to be one guy.
The Star Wars EU, for example. They put out regular audio books with effects and John Williams themes and all that, but the books are chopped down considerably. And even though it's just one guy doing the voices, they're more like radio plays than straight reads, with most of the narration cut out.
I think the last audiobooks that really stood out for me were Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks read, unabridged, by John Lee, and Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, read by the author.
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Also thirding the World War Z audiobook. It's really great. It's not the whole book, but the places they made abridgments are basically in cutting whole chapters from the book. Since the book is presented as (essentially) a ton of short stories, you probably won't notice it unless you recently read the paper version. It's got an ensemble cast of readers including Henry Rollins, Mark Hamill, and Rob Reiner.
I can't read Tyrion dialog without hearing his growl.
There's a reading of A Scanner Darkly by Paul Giamatti that's really good. There's also an old radio drama of Stephen King's The Mist that's a little cheesy, but well done. I've also listened to an audiobook of The Davinci Code that was very well read, but I can't remember the actor.
It's awesome, I had it on Vinyl and loved it.
Definitely get it. It's what I was going to recommend and for the most part the cast does an amazing job.
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The British versions (voiced by Stephen Fry) are also great.
He also has a iPhone app through which you can listen to them.
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If we're bringing radio dramatizations into this, then you should miracle yourself a set of the Star Wars Radio trilogy. From what I remember only Hamill and Anthony Daniels played their own characters, but the rest are credible impressions. It greatly expands the stories from the films, especially in A New Hope, where it actually starts with the capture of the Death Star plans and follows them to Leia, then to Tatooine, where it gives more background on Luke's life; you meet his friends, see Biggs go off to the Academy, and visit the fabled Tosche station. Pretty fun stuff for any fans.
I only got a copy from an uncle who worked for a radio station. I'm not sure if they're being sold anywhere.
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According to Wikipedia they've all been released on CD.
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Dotrice is excellent, which is what makes the narration for "A Feast for Crows" such shit in comparison. They got some new guy and he's just... awful.
"Snow Crash" by Neal Stephenson and narrated by Johnathan Davis is one I'll recommend. Still my favorite book to this day.
I remember when they first came out and ended up being £40 a set for the later ones - worth it. Given a single narrator, Fry's acting range is really wonderful - even the girls don't sound atrocious. Possibly worth it for his reading of 'Fat little poufs' alone.
*Incredibly* good... something. I don't know what to call it. Radio drama? It's someone from the future broadcasting his story of the dystopian future into the past.
The first one, is read by Hilton herself, who just has a wonderful reading voice. It's a young adult fantasy book called The Prophet of Panamindorah. Very good, very epic.
Her other novel is still in production, fantasy, but a more adult novel and with a full cast, and also very, very, good called Guild of the Cowry Catchers.
She just has a way with characterizations that I love.
From the bottom of my heart I think you, this is great.
Here is Guidall's list of his favorite readings of his, and I'm sure any of these would be EXCELLENT if you like the book's subject matter:
http://www.georgeguidall.com/favorites.html
EDIT: Frank Muller was the other one who did a few books. Definitely check those out if you haven't read Dark Tower yet.
I can't stand Scott Sigler... his stories are certainly interesting but I find the writing (especially of female characters) to be less than stellar. Also, he does the voices of all the characters when he reads them and it just irritates me to no end. When he's trying to do a female voice... ugh... it's like fingernails on a chalkboard to me.
I don't really have any other to add to your list. The good ones that come to mind have all been mentioned already. HHGG and WWZ especially.
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I can second this.
Definitely recommend the British over the American.
Also, James Marsters shouldn't be allowed to speak without Spike's accent. It's disturbing.