I love audiobooks. As a busy stay-at-home mom, I don’t get a lot of time to actually sit down with a book and, you know, read. Audiobooks are responsible for the vast majority of my book consumption in the past couple of years, and I am so grateful for them. I also know that because of my medial conditions, my eyesight is at risk. So I’ve put a lot of effort into getting used to audiobooks and gathering a collection of them so that when my eyesight inevitably begins to fail, it won’t feel like a sudden transition. I listen sped up (usually 1.75-2 times speed) and that also helps me zoom through them quickly without getting distracted. So I’ve had time to find some great audiobook narrators!
I love memoirs read by their authors. Some of my favourites are:
And there are some celebrities who have narrated books that I’ve loved:
Katherine Moennig and Titus Welliver (Moennig narrated Michael Connelly’s first Renee Ballard and Harry Bosch book, The Late Show, and Titus Welliver narrated some of the Harry Bosch books)
Richard Armitage (he narrated The Jane Austen Society – not the best book, but the narration was stellar! He wrote and narrated a book recently called Geneva, so I’m looking forward to checking that out)
Stephen Fry (I love the Harry Potter books narrated by him, but I don’t know where to find them in Canada, unfortunately!)
Noah Taylor (he narrated The Light Between Oceans)
That’s the ones that really stuck out for me, but I’m sure there are lots more. There are also some I don’t like that much, but I don’t tend to take names, I just finish the book quickly and move on. I have a hard time when narrators try to modulate their voice to read dialogue from another gender – I much prefer wehen they just read through the same, because it never sounds right. Even better is when they have more than one narrator so if there is any opposite gender narration, they can switch. But nonetheless, there are some fantastic narrators out there who do a great job of bringing a book to life and allow me to really lose myself in it. These are ones I really enjoyed – and each made the book itself better.
What about you guys? Do you have any favourite narrators whose voice you love so much you’d listen to anything they read? Anyone you really don’t like? Any of my picks on your list?
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly link-up feature created by The Broke and the Bookish and hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. Every week TTT has a different topic, and everyone who links up has to create a link of ten items that fit that topic. To see past and upcoming topics, go here.
I love Richard Armitage as an actor so him as an audiobook narrator sounds fantastic. My mom has been RAVING about Jenny Lawson, it’s her current read and she keeps talking about snippets in the family group chat about how much she’s enjoying it. I had a lot of fun with this week’s prompt!
Yes, he’s got a magnetism to him. I enjoyed his narration (more than I enjoyed the book… I have to admit!) and am hoping to find others he narrates in the future. Oh that is amazing about your mom! She sounds like someone I’d get along famously with! I hope you get a chance to try a Lawson book as well – they’re just so darn good!
I loved Trevor Noah’s narration of his memoir, it was so good-it’s one of the reasons I really enjoy listening to memoirs on audio because they’re almost always read by the author and it feels like they’re sitting there with you, telling you their story. I have to agree on narrators doing different gendered voices, particularly male narrators doing female voices, they always seem to pitch them slightly too high!
My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2023/04/25/top-ten-tuesday-417/
Exactly this!!! I feel like some of the memoir authors I’ve heard narrating are now my friends because it felt exactly like having a nice, long chat over a cuppa. And yes, yes, yes. So irritating!!!
I’m so glad there are ways that people with limited or no eyesight can still read. Audiobooks are great for so many reasons!
Happy TTT!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
Agreed! I am likely to experience sight issues at some point and I think I’m too old to learn braille now, plus I think braille books are hard to get and cumbersome. So I’m so thrilled that I have put in the effort to get used to audiobooks, because now that I have I adore them. And I can borrow them from the library without leaving my armchair! Win!
I did not realize that Titus Welliver narrated some of the Bosch books, I love the series and love him as the character.
Yes, I think they re-released some of the earlier Bosch books with him narrating – I’m fairly sure the newer ones are not narrated by him or that it’s a mix of narrators. He does a fantastic job though!
Trevor Noah and Jenny Lawson are both great picks! I loved listening to them narrate the memoirs as well.
My TTT: https://bookwyrmknits.com/2023/04/25/top-ten-tuesday-favorite-audiobook-narrators/
So did I! I read Lawson’s first two books in print, so when I discovered audiobooks I re-listened to the second one along with listening to her newest, and it was such a treat.
These sound like great narrators.
They really are!