*audiobook; corrected
Do they do anything particular with their voice or tone in order to enhance the story?
Going to give a less well known book here, but figure some of Lemmy would appreciate it. Wrath Goddess Sing is a good book made amazing by a narrator who was actively working with the author.
Astrophysics for People in a Hurry cause its read by NdgT
Gideon the Ninth. Hands down. The book is 100% strong female POV, which I usually like, but as dude, I was missing a lot of subtlety. My kid lent me their audio book and holy shit, Moira Quirk does an absolutely fantastic job. The characters jump right out of the speakers and into my brain, highlighting all the understated humor that I was missing. 10/10, wish I could hear it again for the first time.
Ooh I’ll have to try it. I loved the paper books
Tolkien’s work is wonderful as audio books just ‘cause they’re written like they should be presented as an oral history. Lots of editions exist out there.
I really liked Rob Inglis’ read
Same!
‘Toast on Toast’ read by Steven Toast.
Didn’t know that existed but I’ll download it right now
Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files, read by James Marsters (Spike, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer).
Marsters does a unique voice for most of the characters, and it’s a treat. I repurchased Ghost Stories because the narrator had changed and the Marsters version was released afterwards.
Steven Pacey reading Joe Abercrombie’s First Law series is outstanding. The books themselves are among my favourites, but Steven makes them even more special. He has different voices (and accents) for the characters and manages to stay consistent with them. His pacing is also excellent.
I listened to Dubliners by James Joyce narrated by irish actor Andrew Scott (Moriarty in Sherlock) and it was hands down the best narration I’ve ever heard.
I highly recommend Super Powereds by Drew Hayes, largely because of Kyle McCarley’s narration. They’ve been my “comfort books” for over 5 years, getting around 10 listens from me despite the series being ~179 hours. (I never listen at 1x speed, though.) He has a unique voice for every single character, which is frankly insane because there are ~65 recurring characters and over 150 total different speakers in the series. He makes it so easy to get into.
Also, there’s at least one mysterious moment where a character is not named. Thanks to the voice he does, audiobook listeners were able to conclusively determine which character that was.
Travis Baldree has also become a favorite narrator of mine. The Cradle series is great, and it just wouldn’t be the same without Travis’s performance.
Gilbert Gottfried reads 50 Shades of Gray
Fun story: my boyfriend and his sister used to live together and we’d all party at their place. After months of his sister crushing hard on this guy she worked with, she and him had gone to her room for some alone time. Her asshole brother decided that was the time to blast this audio directly through her bedroom door.
8 years later and they’re still dating so I guess it worked.
Neil gaimon is always good with his narration. The audible books that include a full cast are absolutely superb.
Bonus points for nigel plainar as solo narrator for his discworld books. Does an amazing job.
Fun fact fyi, unlike Reddit, post titles are editable on Lemmy
Anything I’ve listened to with Ray Porter reading it. His intonation is great and just brings that something extra to the stories. In particular Project Hail Mary and the Bobiverse books. He also did Paradox Bound, which felt like a fine time travel story but his portrayal of the voice of the “faceless men” made the character 's menace come to life for me in a way I don’t think would be captured in text.
My copy of the Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy, narrated by Stephen Fry. It is relentlessly british.
The version read by Douglas himself is also great
A stitch in time by Andrew Robinson. Written and narrated by the actor that played Garak on DS9.
