Best and Worst Audible Narrators

[Vince W]

I don't spend a lot of time listening to books but I love the idea of them. I find the narrator can make or break the book. So who, in your opinion, are the best and worst narrators you've come across.

My best, at the moment, is Stephen Fry reading the Complete Sherlock Holmes. I know Fry is a huge Holmes fan so I think he really enjoys reading it and that comes through.

The worst, for me at least, is Jonathan Davis reading Snow Crash. It sounds like he's sneering through the reading. I can't finish it.

 

[mosaix]

Martin Jarvis reading the works of Charles Dickens is exceptionally good. His range of voices, male and female, for me is unrivalled.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Stephen Pacey (Tarrant from Blake's 7) is supposed to be very good.

 

[hitmouse]

Martin Jarvis reading Just William

 

[picklematrix]

Gilbert Godfrey is both.
I only know of him reading 50 shades.

 

[-K2-]

Frank Muller reading 1984 I absolutely love...

George-Orwell-1984-Audio-book : http://www.exposethis.blogspot.com : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

archive.org

K2

 

[Galactic Bus Driver]

Marguerite Gavin (Kim Harrison's "The Hollows" books) and Mary Robinette Kowal (Seanan McGuire's "Toby Day" series) are my two current favorites.

Worst has got to be the Library of Congress readers, with a very few exceptions. Slow, flat, monotone readings will absolutely suck the life out of a book!

Gotta give Scott Brick an honorable mention as well. His reading of "My French Whore" by Gene Wilder was top notch

 

[Anthoney]

Kate Reading and Michael Kramer reading together or individually. They are awesome. They can make a weak book pleasant. Another favorite is Will Patton. He's an actor (Falling Skies) and he did the Bill Hodges trilogy.

I'll also give honorable mention to Scott Brick. He's read so much but the Dune books come to mind.

I don't remember the really bad ones.

 

[Cat's Cradle]

My favorite is George Guidall. I hadn't ever read thrillers, but I read a review of Craig Johnson's Walt Longmire series, and decided to give it a go on Audible (loved it! Have 14 of the audiobooks now.). Within a few minutes I was enamored of the characters, and it was in good part because of Mr. Guidall's characterizations. He is great at humor, drama, action...historical readings. And he's one of the readers who, IMO, does the nuances and idiosyncrasies of all voices exceedingly well...young and old, men and women. He has the perfect, homey voice for narration.

I've got 21 books narrated by him, and I have purchased works from authors I'd never heard of in large part because he was the reader; I always figure if he's signed on to a project, it must be a quality book.

The Golem and the Jinni, Helene Wecker
Stalingrad: the Fateful Siege, Antony Beevor
The Cold Dish, Craig Johnson
Winesburg, Ohio, Sherwood Anderson
The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin
A Land Remembered, Patrick D. Smith

These are some of the books he's read that I've loved. (He does The Dark Tower - The Gunslinger too, though I've yet to listen to it.)

 

[dwndrgn]

I generally forget the bad ones - the worst one I listened to was a full cast and one of the cast had such a grating voice that I couldn't handle listening to it.

Good ones though, I LOVE them. Some of my favorites:
Grover Gardner who does the Vorkosigan books, he is fabulous.
Luke Daniels is great too but I dislike his characterization of one character in the Kevin Hearne druid books so I don't listen to them.
Moira Quirk has a fabulous voice and does the Finishing School series.
Lorelai King does the Mercy Thompson books and after some getting used to, I really like her.
Barbara Rosenblatt is fabulous in Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody books.
Euan Morton does Butcher's Aeronaut's Windlass and I could listen to him read a grocery list. His voice is like butter.
Michael Kramer who does most of Brandon Sanderson's books is good too but he also took a bit of getting used to.
I also like Charlotte Parry though I've only heard her read the Theodosia Throckmorton books.