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I listen to a lot of audiobooks, and I really have mixed feelings about them sometimes. Often if I'm not particularly enjoying a book, or it seems out of character for the author, I wonder if it's related to the way the narrator is handling emphasis and the character voices. Some of them go a bit over the top. For example I'm listening to "Under the Dome" by Stephen King right now, and the guy (Raul Esparza) throws in a lot of southern drawl, Keanu Reeves-esque surfer dude, and weird British/Indian accents (all a bit out of place in a small non-diverse Maine town, although I might have missed descriptors that implied some of them), as well deadpan delivery, a few extremely unintelligent-sounding voices, and smarmy attitude into various characters. The guy is pretty talented, sure, but it's affecting the way I'm interpreting the characters and story far more than if I were reading instead of listening, or even if a less theatrical person had narrated it. Locus fucked around with this message at 19:35 on Jun 17, 2010 |
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Jun 17, 2010 19:33
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Ok, I posted about this in a Stephen King thread, but Jessica Hecht is driving me bonkers narrating Full Dark No Stars. Everything she says brimming with like... goddamn happiness and warmth. To inappropriate levels. Like imagine a fairly girly woman reading to children, and pausing every so often to make sure her voice is super sweet and full of "aren't we having fun" and beaming at everyone with rosy cheeks, but she's talking about horrible rape and psychological stress in a Stephen King book instead. She's not a bad narrator in general, it's just...  Unfortunately the Audible sound sample is from the other narrator, so you can't really tell what I'm talking about.
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Nov 13, 2010 08:00
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SnakePlissken posted:This might be a great way to read Stephen King, actually. At least for me it might make the reading experience more King-y. I actually listened to an audiobook narrated by King himself recently, and he was way better. He actually sounded slightly morose, wry, tired, etc, as fit the book. Not bursting with barely controlled ADHD style cheer.
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Dec 2, 2010 21:29
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strategery posted:I have looked at Audible, but it is monthly subscription based. Why do you pay a monthly subscription and still have to buy the books? That hardly makes any sense. You get credits each month. My plan: AudibleListener® Platinum Membership:$22.95 a month. Receive 2 credits each month. That means last month I spent 1 credit (about 11 bucks) and got a 41 hour long space opera that would have cost $40 to buy most places. *edit* Oh yeah, I recommend Pandora's Star, and the sequel Judas Unchained for long scifi space opera stuff that's a great balance between entertainment and quality scifi. Any shortcomings are made up for by John Lee's classy narrating. Locus fucked around with this message at 22:42 on Feb 9, 2011 |
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Feb 9, 2011 22:37
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Anyone have a recommendation for a really riveting/can't put down type book? Fiction in the vague area of scifi, horror, suspense, etc. It doesn't have to be incredibly sophisticated, since I won't be able to give it my full attention. I'm at the tail end of a work project I'm really burned out on, and the right audiobook helps my keep me putting the hours in. I'll probably grab two or three to listen to this week on Audible.
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Mar 29, 2011 01:34
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Thanks for the recommendations guys. I did end up grabbing a Dresden book. I remember listening to some a while back, and thinking they were pretty entertaining. Although, the "everything bad happens and every character in the book including the main one blames Dresden for no reason" thing kind of annoyed me in previous books, but I'll get over it. I actually do like the narrator style, since the "flaws" with the reading fit the tone of the books. I read a lot of the Ender books as a kid and thought they were good too, but I'm a little leery of Card in general due to his weirdness and politics. Empire/Hidden Empire look interesting from the descriptions though, so I'll keep them in mind in the future.
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Apr 3, 2011 01:59
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Mister Macys posted:Why would that matter? The religion and politics of a fiction writer shouldn't be any more meaningful than those of Tom Cruise (actors Well, in the case of Tom Cruise, he's just a living puppet, more or less. In the case of an author, they create and shape the entire universe, and all the characters speak through them. So if an author has weird views on sexuality, politics, etc, that can tint a story a great deal. This started grating on me to a minor degree during Stieg Larsson's series for example, in a sort of  way.I'm not one of those people that just assumes Orson Scott Card loves Hitler or something based on shaky reasoning, and I'm definitely not someone who starts burning books the second anyone dares to say that politics and science are too close when it comes to environmental issues. I just know that Card and I are not in the same realm when it comes to world views and political goals, so I'm a little wary about books by him that heavily revolve around those things. Locus fucked around with this message at 02:20 on Apr 3, 2011 |
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Apr 3, 2011 02:17
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FuSchnick posted:Speaking of which, I just started Dance of Dragons. Now, Roy Dotrice is great as a narrator, and even for the rough-n-tough male characters. But he makes Dany sound like a little old lady. And maybe I'm spoiled by Peter Dinklage's sheer awesomeness in the TV series, but Roy makes Tyrion sound more like Vern Troyer. I realize he is bringing his own voices to the story and sounding like the TV actors is not his goal. But once you go Dinklage can't go back. Roy Dotrice as the narrator of those books makes me go bonkers. I got into it a bit in an older SOIAF thread, and most people disagreed with me... but god, in the book I listened to (either the second or third) he made every other character sound like a near-dead hobo trying to talk with a jar of marbles crammed in their mouth. However, most of the books exist in alternate versions read by Roy Avers, but they're part of a government-funded non-commercial project for people with disabilities, and might be harder to track down. Library maybe? This link mentions the program, but it does have some spoilers in the description of the second Song of Ice and Fire book: http://www.loc.gov/nls/tbt/2001/4julaug.txt Locus fucked around with this message at 00:12 on Jul 19, 2011 |
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Jul 19, 2011 00:10
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ufarn posted:I read that a Roy Avers did some audiobooks for A Song of Ice and Fire, but I can only find those by Dotrice, of whom I am not a big fan. Where can I hear a sample of Avers's work? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVtUv3ylJFU He's not a great narrator, but I prefer dull narration to a voice that pulls me out of the story and makes me cringe whenever certain characters talk.
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Jul 27, 2011 23:04
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Basically, yeah. Sadly though, I don't have much choice for A Dance With Dragons, so I'm going to go ahead and plow through. Half the reviews on Audible are complaining about it. And apparently he made some of the female voices even worse than they were before. 
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Jul 27, 2011 23:11
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Dotrice also doesn't really change his speech to distinguish between characters talking, and characters thinking, which can get pretty confusing. I'm handling A Dance With Dragons ok so far, but I have to mentally go back and change some people's voices or remind myself who they are supposed to be as I listen. 
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Jul 31, 2011 23:30
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I just finished listening to Swan Song and hated the drat thing. I should have read the one or two negative reviews on Audible, seen the "Dean Koontz" associated recommendations, and noticed the book is from 1987. Basically it's 100% written by a socially conservative Christian guy from the 80's, in the stereotypically worst way. As applied to: sex, romance, gender, race, religion, morality, and the human experience. At least now I can move on to other books.
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Jan 13, 2012 04:36
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Wade Wilson posted:Got an email this morning from Audible saying that there are now some audiobooks for The Chronicles of Amber. This guy:  Both kind of weird choices in my opinion (Wheaton more than Juliani I think)... but I'll have to see how I feel about it when I listen to them. I read the books as a teenager, and I'll probably pick them up again on Audible.
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Aug 1, 2012 15:38
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Mini reviews for what I've been listening to lately - It's been a mixed bag: "The Martian", Andy Weir: B-. Never read the author before. Interesting elements related to practicality of NASA-related survival, but overall not a very interesting narrative. Very vanilla, partially because a lot of it was in the form of logs, rather than internal thought processes. I do feel like a different author could have made it more gripping and less mundane. Narration was fine. "Existence", David Brin: B-. Never read the author before. It was ok entertainment. Some good ideas, but got into the territory of judging it based on listening time vs money. It had interesting elements, but a lot of the worldbuilding was ridiculous. This is a contemporary scifi where everyone's neural augmented reality is controlled by CLICKING YOUR TEETH AND BLINKING. REALLY. Multi-person narration was all right. *edit* Kind of felt like young adult scifi, which is holding me back from rating it more harshly? "Area X" series by Jeff Vandermeer. A++. Never read the author before. Very special books, kind of a more contemplative roadside picnic with heavy naturalism and psychedelic influences. Not exactly horror (although certainly containing horror elements) depending on your view of reality and nature. Excellent narrators that fit the tone of the characters and didn't interfere with the books. "Book of the Dead" by Greig Beck: F- OH MY GOD I SHOULDN'T HAVE IMPULSE BOUGHT THIS WITH NO RESEARCH. Never read the author, or I wouldn't have made this awful mistake. I thought it was going to be an airplane book like ... maybe on the level of good Koontz or something, but it was somehow a gas station book, sold next to fantasy knives, performance enhancing pills, and caffeinated meat. Bottom of the goddamn barrel. "American Elsewhere" by Robert Benett. A. Never read the author before. Ok, THAT was the only Lovecraft-influenced book I should have bought. Interesting characters, funny, weird, long in a way that (to me) did not feel too drawn out, solid narration. Not perfect, but pretty drat good overall. "The Deep" by Nick Cutter. D-. Never read the author before. Honestly pretty poo poo in my opinion. The narration may have hurt it a lot, as Corey Brill sounded like he was about to kill himself for 12 hours and emoted every depressed or psychotic line in the book, but I still think it was garbage. When I look for horror, I'm looking for fear, thrill, and some release of tension from those things. This is was just the literary equivalent of cinematic torture porn, nothing was scary to me, the characters were boring and flat, and the only similarities to Stephen King were tropes picked up from a few of his books. "Here's some sad people and sad dogs, placed in a hopeless doomed situation within the first hour, now watch them be tortured for 10 more hours with no payoff". "Fourth of July Creek" by Smith Henderson. A. Never read the author before. I found this a surprising and artful book. It's low, rural fringe Americana, mostly from the perspective of an alcoholic child services worker in 1980's Montana. A lot of the story is dark and sometimes brutal, but it's handled with a peaceful poetic style that's really beautiful and humanizing. The narrator does a great job, and I think compliments the tone of the book. Locus fucked around with this message at 18:40 on May 29, 2015 |
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May 29, 2015 18:35
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Talmonis posted:I'm trying to determine whether I should listen to American Elsewhere, by Robert Jackson Bennett; Or, Bag of Bones by Stephen King. Bag of Bone is pretty low in ranking on my Stephen King list. Can't totally recommend it. But it is closer to horror than American Elsewhere, which is more in the creepy surreal mystery camp, with some scary parts.
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Jun 25, 2015 18:39
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