Speaking of Audiobooks: When Books Succeed but Audios Fail
Discovering earlier this year that more of Lisa Kleypas’ backlist was scheduled for future audiobook release, the romance audio enthusiast inside of me was ecstatic. Back in my first days of reading romance I read every Kleypas book I could lay my hands on and over the years I’ve devoured each of her new releases as well. To me, Kleypas is the epitome of the ideal romance writer and I especially treasure her immensely re-readable historical titles from 1993 – 2003. Seeing a few of these beloved books on that release schedule caused me to feel a bit victorious for romance audiobook fans.
My initial excitement over seeing these Kleypas releases did include a proviso of sorts. For all-out-excitement, I had to know just who would be chosen to perform each book. It’s a touchy and, I’ll admit, somewhat personal matter to entrust one of your favorite print books over to a narrator who will then interpret your favorite characters for you and present you with a tale as they see it. What if the narrator sees my strong silent type hero as one who must nearly shout or snarl each time he speaks? Or what if my determined expressive hero who is taking a stand speaks with a “golly, gee ma’am – we’re all friends” tone of voice? Or what if those voices I’m hearing on my iPod just plain don’t sound at all like the voices that played in my head while reading?
Problematic to One – Music to Another
Our past Speaking of Audiobooks discussions clearly show us that we all don’t hear narrations in the same manner. I’m ever mindful that what I hear as arduous may well be music to the ear of another listener. We expend energy thinking such things as “He wouldn’t react in that manner” or “She isn’t that heartless in the book.” And those voices playing in our heads from reading the print version may be so strong that we simply cannot bear the translation into audio.
The printed word often leaves a lot open to interpretation and an audio performance has the power to limit those interpretations. This is particularly critical with romance since emotion plays a strong role in satisfying the listener/reader. We can read of a man’s love for a woman in both his words and actions. But give that man’s voice an unwritten tone of sarcasm or disdain in audio and you’re very possibly changing the book. It is in this area that I see the best fodder for discussion.
Today I’m using a few of my less than favorite narrators as examples for our dialogue. I always hesitate to do so as I don’t wish to paint any narrator as all bad or all good. But, let’s face it – with narrators come expectations.
With all this said, I’ll admit to experiencing a definite sense of dismay when I learned Rosalyn Landor had been chosen to narrate my beloved Kleypas books. It’s not that Ms. Landor isn’t talented – she provides a pleasing narrative and usually excels at her female characterizations but, in my eyes, she falls far short in delivering believable heroes. I do occasionally listen to books narrated by Ms. Landor but begin each with a feeling of trepidation as I’m well aware that her depiction of the leads may work to the book’s detriment.
When listening to Landor’s narration of an old Julie Garwood favorite, The Bride, earlier this year I found it to be both a success and a disappointment. While her women were beautifully portrayed, her male characters, particularly Alec, were almost painful to hear. The hero I so fondly recalled sounded old and grumpy. Later, I once again found myself in the same quandary as I listened to Landor narrate Tempt Me at Twilight by Lisa Kleypas. Not only did her delivery of Harry’s lines make him appear too abrupt but the overall narration didn’t flow easily for me. I had to constantly remind myself that the numerous male characters really were all young decent fellows.
With this level of aggravation, why do I continue listening to Landor’s narrations? It’s simple. She narrates a significant number of historical romances by authors I follow. But yet still…somehow…I can’t see trusting her with heroes such as Derek Craven from Dreaming of You, Lord Alex Raiford from Then Came You, or Sebastian, Lord St. Vincent from Devil in Winter.
After listening to Elizabeth Lowell’s Untamed last year, I wondered why I hadn’t enjoyed it more – had my tastes changed? When I read Untamed in 2003 I gave it an A+ (a rarity) and I didn’t recall the hero being so harsh and, well, unlikable. It was only after listening to Mary Balogh’s Seducing an Angel and A Matter of Class that I realized my difficulty in fully enjoying Untamed was narrator Anne Flosnik (she narrates all three). Flosnik is a pillar of the romance audiobook community and I know I should appreciate her narrations. But I find her male voices grating (and uncaring) and not at all like those ever-important voices playing in my head.
Mary Balogh’s First Comes Marriage , another Flosnik narration, did come together for me after a little work. It was a definite A read for me in print and I resolved to enjoy it in audio. I had to lighten up on the pickiness factor and shake loose the irritants. Even so, I think my success was based primarily on Elliott’s stern character as Flosnik has no problem portraying stern.
Although I find myself avoiding Flosnik, I’m also determined to enjoy her future works and just purchased Elizabeth Hoyt’s To Beguile a Beast as proof of this pledge! Still…I hope you’ll wish me luck.
When talking about a favorite book that failed in audio, the first that always comes to mind is, unfortunately, another Lisa Kleypas. Emily Durante’s performance of Smooth Talking Stranger actually inspired my first Speaking of Audiobooks column. Here were my thoughts in May, 2009:
“I knew Smooth Talking Stranger by Lisa Kleypas was told from the heroine’s perspective and I attempted to overlook what my ears perceived to be a faint lisp in the narrator’s speech patterns and even reasoned that possibly the heroine was written to speak in such a manner…But when I heard the very manly Jack Travis speak with that slight lisp, I about came off my seat. No, my heroes do not speak with a lisp! From that point on, no matter how hard I tried to remain focused on the content, I found myself listening for another slip of Jack’s tongue (yes, it was inevitable) rather than the development of this vastly entertaining story. At the half way point, I stopped in great frustration and trotted off to the bookstore to purchase the print version. In the end, it was well worth the aggravation but I had to start at page one to replant Jack’s voice in my head.”
All this begs us to consider the question – can a listener overcome a narration that initially inspires withdrawal or downright irritation? Is it worth the effort? My answer is yes…sometimes. Although I won’t be listening to Smooth Talking Stranger again (I’ll definitely reread in print), a few audio second tries have been successful as evidenced by two of my extreme favorites, Welcome to Temptation by Jennifer Crusie and To Die For by Linda Howard.
Many of our listeners delight in Aasne Vigesaa’s narration of Welcome to Temptation (WTT). Unfortunately my initial reaction to the audio version of this, my absolute favorite contemporary romance, was less than enthusiastic. Having previously read WTT several times, the characters’ voices were firmly fixed in my head and Phin’s voice, complete with his attitudes and reactions, rang even more clearly in my imaginary ears. Although I agreed with the narrator’s interpretation of Phin, I found myself too hurried in audio to fully savor his character each and every time he appeared. I guess you could say that my “Phin factor” (a huge part of my love for WTT) lost much of its impact in audio. In addition, hearing Crusie’s over usage of “he saids” and “she saids” (easy to ignore in print) just plain irritated me.
Since that first listen of Welcome to Temptation years ago, I’ve learned to ignore all of Crusie’s “saids” for the most part. I now wonder if WTT were not such an immense favorite of mine in print, would I embrace its narration with greater ease? Probably. But I can now find pleasure in listening to Welcome to Temptation – it’s just not my favorite way of experiencing it.
Linda Howard’s To Die For (TDF) also merited a number rereads before I discovered it in audio. Simply put – Wyatt makes me swoon, Blair makes me laugh, and I don’t ever tire of this pair. Unfortunately it only took a moment for me to realize Franette Liebow’s narration was going to be more than challenging. Her performance is marked by an extreme southern accent and I found myself missing the joy of one delectable scene after another as I struggled to accept her eccentric narration. After struggling to finish, I sold it on eBay and marked it an audio failure. As years passed and my appreciation for audio talent grew, I decided to give TDF another try. Oh, I still couldn’t ignore that southern accent but I found myself concentrating instead on Ms. Liebow’s clear understanding of these dear-to-me characters as well as appreciating her great sense of timing. Boy, can she ever deliver their lines! And talk about a happy ending…To Die For is now a certified comfort listen.
Time for Your Thoughts
Do you have a favorite print romance that failed to work for you in audio?
Do you think you can train your ears to appreciate narrators you don’t care for?
Have you turned a bad listening experience into a favorable listen before?
Is there some specific step you take when you realize you’re in for a challenging narration? How do you fight outright irritation or feeling like you want to withdraw?
And as always, do you have any recent audiobook successes or failures to share with us?
Ending Notes
Our Speaking of Audiobooks group at Goodreads keeps growing with 21 members. Come join us as and share your audiobook shelf with us.
I’m announcing romance audiobook news and new releases on Twitter. To follow me on Twitter, look for LeaAAR.
I’ll be back again later this month when we discuss December audiobook new releases.
– Lea Hensley
Thanks for writing this. Because of Bridgerton, I’ve been revisiting all my fave Julia Quinn and Lisa Kleypas titles…and then remembering why I stopped listening to the audiobooks.
I really liked your blog posts but unfortunately this time you perhaps have been too sick while writing because the article it feels rushed.
elainec,
You’re welcome. I like pretty books, and sometimes I have a great memory if something interests me. :)
I think it’s like subscribing to comments on a post. The post writer can get notifications if there’s a new comment.
Hi MaryK,
Thanks again.
Jane wrote me right back. I was surprised since that blog was back in May. I don’t know about the computer/Internet much,I guess.
You have a great memory. :-)
elainec:
She blogs at DearAuthor. I tried to find a contact link but it was easier to just search the site. Check out the 3rd paragraph in this post:
http://dearauthor.com/wordpress/2010/05/17/friday-links/
Hi MaryK,
Thanks for responding.
How would I contact DA Jane? I went through this blog, but didn’t see that name. Was it on another, possibly?
Lea,
Thanks for posting my request on that link. I’ll click on it now. Thanks.
elainec
elainec – I wonder if this discussion is being read as much now that we have a newer Speaking of Audiobooks column. I’m going to copy and paste your message over to the newer discussion. If we don’t get a response there, we can look to AAR’s General Message board.
I’d like to read some responses to your question as well. I’m posting this at:
http://www.likesbooks.com/blog/?p=5542
This follows the good narrator for “”The Secret Garden”” advice. Now I’d like to buy the book for three great-nieces who turned ten this year. I checked on B&N.com yesterday and there are many editions – some adapted and abridged. Might anyone know of an edition that’s especially good and true to the original with attractive illustrations. I bought a copy at a library sale a few months ago and yesterday I really looked at it. It was a “”classic”” book for reluctant readers – 160 pages (half the original) with unattractive illustrations. My nieces are all excellent readers. Even though this is off the topic, can anyone help me? The followers of this blog have opinions that I’m interested in.
elainec: I think I remember DA Jane saying she bought a really nice illustrated copy to read with her daughter. You might ask her.
TSTBren and Lea.
Thanks for letting me know it was the one narrated by Anne Flosnik.
I haven’t read “”The Secret Garden”” since I was a kid. My spouse downloaded it tonight from audible.com. They really had a lot of different narrators from which to choose – twelve! I rarely see two choices.
I’m sure I’ll enjoy it.
Maryfranc said “” I’m not talented enough to “hear” the voices as I read a print book.”” Maryfranc – I tend to think of myself lacking something in my brain since I must envision characters in some manner for me to thoroughly enjoy a book. Yes, I tend to think I’m the one lacking!
elainec – TSTBren had the right book in mind – I was referring to Anne Flosnik’s narration. Since I have difficulty with a number of her other narrations, I was glad to hear she apparently hit all the right chords with The Secret Garden.
elainec I’m not Lea but I can tell you that the Audible version of The Secret Garden narrated by Anne Flosnick was very well done.
I was about halfway through listening, and enjoying it so much I looked up the narrator and was very surprised to see that it was Flosnick. She was excellent.
Lea,
I checked Audible for “”The Secret Garden””. There were many. Which did your librarian recomend?
I think the first audiobook I listened to was Until You by Judith McNaught (abridged) 1994. I was hooked. I loved the British accents and was amazed how versatile the narrator was with each character’s voice. I have favorite narrators, Anna Fields, Scott Brick, Dick Hill, to name a very few, and have stopped listening only rarely due to a narrator. I’m not talented enough to “”hear”” the voices as I read a print book. I am in awe of all of the wonderful narrators. Welcome to Temptation, Sugar Daddy, To Die For and Can You Keep a Secret are some of my comfort listens. I’m listening to The Spymaster’s Lady by Joanna Bourne now, after having read it in print when it was first published and love it even more this time (and that is saying a lot). I plan to finish the Wallflower series when they come out in audible.com November 30th. It has been a long time since I read the print books, and I look forward to them. So many books, so little time…
HI MARYK,
I THINK YOU’RE ON ABOUT LEARNING STYLES AND HOW WE HEAR THINGS.
I LIKE TO READ, BUT I LEARN BEST BY WRITING THINGS DOWN – SCHOOL WORK, NAMES, LISTS -YOU NAME IT. I MAY NOT EVER LOOK AT IT AGAIN, BUT THE ENCRIPTION PROCESS HELPS ME REMEMBER THINGS.
I’VE STARTED A NEW AUDIO BOOK, “”GIRL WITH THE PEARL EARRING””. THE NARRATOR IS RUTH ANN PHIMISTER. SHE SPEAKS JUST HOW I IMAGINE A THIRTEEN YEAR OLD GIRL WOULD HAVE SPOKEN A FEW HUNDRED YEARS AGO. SO FAR, I LIKE HER NARRATION A LOT.
@TSTBren – LOL! Yeah, I took lots of Spanish classes and was an abysmal failure at it. I could read it pretty well, but couldn’t speak it to save my life! My brain prefers to see words rather than hear them.
I think the reason Sterlin’s Howl’s Moving Castle works is because the story has a very deliberate, rhythmic pace – lyrical even (Can you tell I like it? :D ) – that works well as a read aloud story. That kind of fairytale-esque book might be the best match for her style.
The Secret Garden – my absolute favorite book from my youth! I remember quite clearly standing in the library in the 5th grade and discussing it with the librarian as I decided to give it a try. Now I’ll have to try it in audio! I hadn’t even considered looking for it at Audible.
MaryK you hit a chord with me here, which will definitely make me the oddball once again!
“”Some people learn by listening to a lecture some by reading text.””
I can still remember (and it’s been a LONG time) being a 14 yr old Freshman in high school and having the teacher ask … Who wants to learn by reading the text book and who wants to be the one learning by doing the physical experiments?
And I was the only one in the class that raised my hand on the “”reading the text book question””! Which I didn’t realize until looking up and seeing the appalled faces of my class mates. :) Big arrow, Nerd here, pointed right at me! Yes, let me read something first.
I’m interested in Howl’s Moving Castle as the one audio I’ve listened to where Anne Flosnick truly shines is The Secret Garden, from Audible. A YA favorite, she aced it!
@elainec – I’ll definitely try it again if only because I paid so much for it! There wasn’t anything wrong with it (that I remember); I just had trouble concentrating on it. It might have helped if I’d read the book before and knew where the story was heading.
I think people hear narration differently in the same way that people learn differently. Some people learn by listening to a lecture some by reading text. People who are skewed more to written words, like me, need optimum listening conditions whereas listening folks can tolerate a wider range.
Hey MaryK,
I love “”Winter Fire”” as narrated by Jenny Sterlin. I listen to it every winter – thankful for central heating and great car heaters. The audio book made the traveling conditions and ice cold drafty houses and sleeping on the floor for companions in the Georgian period real to me. I loved the slower pace of the romance, too. Genova and, after a while, Ash were fascinating characters. Rothgar and the Mallorens made for an interesting Christmas – with lots of intrigue. It’s one of my favorite Jo Beverley books.
What for you was a DNF, really resonated with me. I was the last one of my large Italian family to marry and being single meant I always had to sleep on the living room floor during Christmas holidays. It was staying up half the night with the last card players and getting up early with the ones with babies and little kids. I guess the little things made the story believable to me.
I paid the big bucks for my Recorded Books edition, too. Maybe, you might try it again some chilly Christmas and like it. I do think that what you bring to the audio book makes a big difference. This blog has shown that!
I’ll be contrary and say that one of my favorite audios is Howl’s Moving Castle narrated by Jenny Sterlin. :D I thought that was the only book I’ve listened to with her, but somewhere I have a cassette copy of Jo Beverley’s Winter Fire that I DNF’d because I was practically falling asleep listening to it. I just recently realized that Sterlin was the narrator! And I paid full audio price for that one not Audible’s cheaper price!
I just finished listening to One Summer and want a light listen while waiting for my next Audible credits so I downloaded several audios from my library. One is an Amanda Quick read by Flosnick – I figured I’d see what y’all were talking about. Her voices were okay, but the dialog was sooo slow and deliberate. I switched to another book pretty quick. I’ll try it again before I give up, but I’m not optimistic. The story just wasn’t flowing.
Melinda – I too applaud your recent comments,
“I think overall we pretty much agree MORE on narrators than on any other aspect of reading, like author, plots or genre. While there may be some variation in our personal listening tastes, it seems there is recurring consensus of who can narrate well, who brings the characters to life, who does voices well – these are standards the audio book industry has control over.”
It seems as though narrators are often chosen based on what the book industry thinks we want to hear as romance readers. But I believe most of those romance audio listeners the production companies consider to be their audience, aren’t the ones who explore the variety of audiobooks as we generally do here at SOA. “Romance audio listeners” are considered to be those who listen month in and month out to the works of the large producing authors such as Nora Roberts, Debbie Macomber, and Sherryl Woods. These are known names with guaranteed sales and therefore receive the most promotion dollars. I’m sure many listeners just don’t consider that there is even more to be had in the world of romance audio (no offense intended to any of these authors – they all have entertaining audiobooks). I imagine that the average romance audio consumer isn’t even even aware of narrators such as Anna Fields or Davina Porter. In many ways, it’s fortunate that publishers/production companies are turning to new talent for budgetary reasons as it increases the possibility of a yet another star narrator for us to follow in the future.
TSTBren – my thoughts are the same as yours on Gabrielle’s Ghost. I really enjoyed the portions centering on Sully and Chaz but I lost interest with all the spaceship specifics and whys of flying (I’m new to sci-fi however). In regards to Sully’s accent – I thought it worked well but I usually do appreciate accents if it is not overdone since an accent helps me differentiate between characters. BUT, if Gabrielle’s Ghost had already playing in my head from reading, who knows? I may have had a difficult time just as Diane did.
Diane – your comment,
“This is just one example of why I concluded that having read a book in print before listening to the audio CAN make a difference in whether I have problems with the audio or not. As others have stated, sometimes there are other issues.”
Often as I write a column, I come to conclusions. It was only as I was finishing up this column and having to explain my response to Welcome to Temptation that I realized that this book may have never had a truly fair shot with me in audio. It was already perfect in my head. And the opposite is true with me on Gabaldon’s Outlander series. I have never read those books in print but I can’t imagine doing so. The audio is already perfect in my mind – it can’t get any better!
I read The Fiery Cross and A Breath of Snow & Ashes because I can’t get the unabridged audio for a reasonable price and I’ve skimmed Outlander since listening – I think the reading experience is enhanced by the audio because when I read, I “”hear”” Jamie’s voice as portrayed by Davina Porter (as well as the other characters of course). I recommend it!
You’re right! All those voices are already playing perfectly in my head so it couldn’t be anything but good!
Wow, we rolled over to a second page, that doesn’t happen real often. But it’s great, the more interest in audio books the better.
Britta I hope you give Soulless another try because your right, Alexia was dead on perfect in that book, so funny. Hopefully you can train your ear to get past what you didn’t care for with Maccon, if I remember right his gruffness lightens up fairly quickly.
Thanks Evie, I’ll keep an eye out! Hmm, to splice a good female narrator into Dream Man while leaving Phil G as Dane. Now there’s a project! LOL
There are no rules when it comes to liking or not liking a narration that’s for sure. I just know, that for me, I’m more open to how it’s narrated if it is not a favorite I’ve read again and again. And it was interesting to discover that in myself.
Diane I hadn’t read Gabrielle’s Ghost before the audiobook came out. Because I need to have at least a rough idea of where a book is going before I listen to it I requested it at PPS and did a real fast read / skim before starting the audio.
With that background I thought Dina Pearlman was excellent as the narrator of Gabrielle’s Ghost and enjoyed her Sully with the slight British accent. I’m a sucker for accents!
I loved Chaz and Sully, my trouble, when listening is all the spaceship jargon and the hows and whys of flying etc etc. Those parts are slow for me with the audio and I still haven’t finished listening to it. I just skipped those sections entirely in the book so I could follow the characters. I’m going to get the audio bookmarked someday so I can just skip to each section I want to listen to. :)
Excellent points Melinda:
“”I think overall we pretty much agree MORE on narrators than on any other aspect of reading ….. it seems there is recurring consensus of who can narrate well, who brings the characters to life, who does voices well – these are standards the audio book industry has control over.””
Normally I’m a sucker for accents too but in this case it didn’t work for me. I’ve been a big fan of Ms. Sinclair’s for almost 10 years AND there is an earlier version of Gabriel’s Ghost that was my first read of hers. When Bantam picked her up and issued the current version changes were made, some I wasn’t real happy with. So, if you take this in to account I did have a vision of Sully set in my mind and he definitely did not speak with a British accent. Dina Perlman’s narration for the rest of the book was very good, it was only Sully’s accent that bothered me. I think I can safely say that if I hadn’t read and loved two different print versions then his accent in the audio version most likely wouldn’t have bothered me in the least. :) This is just one example of why I concluded that having read a book in print before listening to the audio CAN make a difference in whether I have problems with the audio or not. As others have stated, sometimes there are other issues.
I can’t say that my misadventures in narrators is related in any way to whether or not I’ve read the book. When the narrator is good, my experience is heightened. When it’s bad – it usually isn’t because they are not replicating the character’s sound in my head. Take Anne Flosnik – and use a stop watch to time how long she holds out the word HER when it’s the last word in a sentence in her romances, as only one example. It’s so freakin’ stylized I wanna slap someone. She takes on this weird, over-dramatized way of speaking that I never heard in her narration of The Vanishing Act.
Take Juanita Parker’s narration of the Dark series bks 1 and 2, Feehan: never read the books, and never will now that she’s ruined them for me. Not that I’m a vampire fan anyway. But please, couldn’t someone vet the narrators to be sure they can pronounce common words correctly?
Take Jenny Sterlin – ok, maybe this one breaks the rule cuz yeah, I read the Compass Club first. But I didn’t have their voices in my head so much as I hated her overall bored-silly “”why am I having to do this to make a living”” tone of voice, as if she and all the characters would expire from ennui, in the next minute. And yet – someone else likes her as a narrator. There ya go.
I think overall we pretty much agree MORE on narrators than on any other aspect of reading, like author, plots or genre. While there may be some variation in our personal listening tastes, it seems there is recurring consensus of who can narrate well, who brings the characters to life, who does voices well – these are standards the audio book industry has control over.
It’s really interesting how different voices work for different people. I, for one, find Rosalyn Landor’s narrating ability fantastic. I believe she is one of the best female narrators out there, along with Jenny Sterlin, Davina Porter, Barbara Rosenblat and Josephine Bailey. I love all of Kleypas’ novels and I believe Rosalyn Landor does them all justice. (Of course, I hadn’t read the books before listening to the audiobook and therefore do not have a predetermined voice in my head.) I think that makes a big difference in how an audiobook narration is accepted. I am not a fan of Ann Flosnik though as I find her male voices grating and not quite believable. However, she did a really good job in My Secret Guardian by Linda Needham.
I am still waiting for Laura Kinsale’s books to be released on audiobook. I don’t understand why they haven’t as her work is absolutely wonderful. I just hope that they pick an outstanding narrator when they do produce the recording as I would be terribly disappointed if the performance falls flat.
delmartian – I knew we would find some Rosalyn Landor fans with this column. I have heard praise for Landor from a few listeners in our past discussions so I imagine you are speaking for a number who were too shy to say anything. It makes me ever so hesitant to mention my dislike of a narrator but only points to the fact that is solid truth in audio listening – it’s all about the narrator but it is also about HOW you hear that narrator.
I too am waiting for the day when they release Laura Kinsale’s books – I’d be first in line. Has anyone ever heard if this may be in the works sometime in the future?
The only book I’ve listened by narrated by Flosnick was A Matter of Class and I didn’t read the book first (in fact I don’t have the book…. must rectify…). I just didn’t like her narration at all. I thought it was painfully slow and the males in particular sounded constipated to me. So, it wasn’t a case of the voices she used not lining up with the ones in my head – I had no preconceived notions at all when I started listening – I expected, in fact to love it. I found it difficult to get through because of the narration – if it hadn’t been a Balogh, I’m not sure I could have managed it.
@ Lea – Yay! I’ll be picking up A Convenient Marriage asap!!
TSTBren: It’s quite an old unabridged version of ‘Dream Man’, so don’t know if it’s still available to purchase. Also, thanks for the reminder about Tom Stechschulte, I forgot all about him! His narration of ‘Carnal Innocence’, especially the character of Tucker was just delicious…so good that I can’t even recall whether I liked his female voices or not
Diana: I agree that Richard Ferrone’s narration of ‘Hot and Bothered’ was surprising at first too. It took me a while to adjust to it, but once I had I found it very charming indeed.
And finally, Richard Armitage – I’ll listen to anything read by him (Yes, even that silly ‘Santander advert!). I normally avoid abridged audiobooks but still found myself in possession of all three Heyers very promptly after their release date – even though I have most of the unabridged versions already.
I just discovered Georgette Heyer’s The Convenient Marriage narrated by Richard Armitage is finally available at Audible. Who knows why we had to wait so long?!
I’m going to have to agree with everyone on the difference between listening to a book that’s been read vs a book that has not been read. I know I thought maybe the fact that the majority of my listening is done at work made a difference but then I started thinking about the narrations that irritated me. VOILA, every single narration that I have issues with are books that I have previously read and enjoyed before I tried the audio book. I didn’t think I had ideas on what characters sounded like while reading but I DO!! :) Case in point, Linnea Sinclair’s Gabriel’s Ghost. I think the narrator’s name is Dina Perlman. Overall, she does a good job but the tone she gives to Sully is sooooo not as a I heard him in my head. She makes him sound like an upper classe Brit with his nose in the air. That so does not fit his character. I’ve hesitated getting the second book because of this and I haven’t tried re-listening to GG. :(
TSTBren,
It probably would have made a difference. To be honest, when I read I don’t usually give the characters accents. So hearing the characters with any accent at all was surprising.
I adored the narrator’s portrayal of Alexia, but when it came to Lord Maccon something just rubbed me the wrong way. I stopped listening early on, so I should probably give it another listen and try to erase my expectations of the characters and let the narrator do her thing. : )
Melinda,
I started listening to Ivory’s The Proposition and I am really enjoying it. I wish Steven Crossley would do some more historical romances! I will definitely give The Indiscretion a try. I’ve heard good things about that narrator.
Lea,
I already have Richard Armitage’s Sylvester in my collection. Love that man’s voice! I just wish those two books were unabridged….
And just as a quick shout out, MarissaB are you still with us?
I always enjoy your thoughts and comments and have gotten some great recommendations from you. I’ve missed your input in the last two or three columns!
I cannot tolerate Anne Flosnik. She needs to blow her nose. Nothing is more frustrating than finding a book I am excited to read and then realizing she is the narrator. I buy a lot of audio books from several sources. But if her name is on it, I pass. Never again.
I originally felt the same about Jenny Sterlin. But by the time I got through the Jo Beverley books she narrated and on to Jo Goodman’s Compass Club, her voice grew on me. Flosnik’s never will.
Davina Porter could read the back of a cereal box and I would listen. She doesn’t do a lot of romance, beyond Outlander. But I will gamble on a book in any genre if she is reading. She is the gold standard to me.
Simon Prebble is perfect on Stephanie Lauren’s Cynster books and some of the Jo Beverley books. I agree with others who think he goes overboard during the sex scenes. But one of my favorite past-times when reading a book by Stephanie Laurens is counting how often she uses the phrase “”…and… then… she… shattered…”” in each book. And Prebble’s pronouncement of these 4 words has gone from something annoying to something I anticipate. Always makes me laugh.
Kudo’s to Audible. On Deanna Raybourn’s Silence books, Ellen Archer who narrated the first two perfectly was replaced on the third in the series. I bought the book, the narrator was appalling and I could not get beyond the first 20 minutes. I put it aside and resigned myself to never reading it. I was so disappointed. So, I was pleasantly surprised when I realized that about 6 months after they first released the book, it was redone with Archer again narrating. The revised book showed up in my library and it was as if the original version of book 3 never existed. I can’t even find the original narrator’s name.
I enjoy Phil Gigante, Jill Tanner and Virginia Leishman. I can listen to Rosalyn Landor, but she can grate on my nerves.
Hands down, absolute worst narration experience I have ever had – Marguerite Jennings narrated one Brenda Joyce book. It was so horrendous, it made Anne Flosnik sound good. And that is a huge accomplishment.
“”It was so horrendous, it made Anne Flosnik sound good. And that is a huge accomplishment.””
This got a bark of laughter out of me, thanks luluwrites! She’s just not capturing the “”romance”” part. As mentioned by another poster above, when she’s not in the romance arena she’s very good.
Somebody please get her a director or turn her into a romance fan so she “”gets”” it if they are going to keep her narrating romance.
Diana I am so glad I have never watched Monty Python, or you might have just killed any hope of my enjoying KMM Highlanders ever again, much less Dream Man.! LOL As it is your word visual is going to be hard to shake out of my head with my next re-listen :)
Why retype when my thoughts have already been perfectly stated? Diana I completely agree with you on both of the following points.
The best male narrators …. “”simply read dialog with a slight elevation in pitch for female characters.”” Adding Tom Stechshulte to your list.
And “”the male and female narrators in Kiss Me While I Sleep and Smoke In Mirrors ….. When it is done right it is a great way to listen.”” Adding JAK’s The Golden Chance to these.
Kaetrin I’m also saying ditto yours:
“”I prefer a woman doing a man’s voice badly to a man doing a woman’s voice badly ……… But there are some narrators who do a really great male and female voice and it actually sounds like a “normal” woman/man – eg Davina Porter, Renee Raudman, Lorelie King.””
And I’ll add Anna Fields, Natalie Ross and Angela Dawe to the list for believable male voices just off the top of my head.
Evie is your copy of Dream Man, that is narrated by a woman, unabridged?
Britta I loved the narration of Soulless, so you once again make the point that it all depends on what we, as individuals, hear in our own heads when it comes to the narration of our favorite books. So my question is, if you hadn’t read Soulless first, and had Lord Macon your way in your head already, would the narration have worked for you?
I ask because it just dawned on me that Anne Flosnick didn’t bother me when she first became the narrator of Amanda Quick’s newer releases. Because I had never read the books, I had no pre-conceived voices/vibes in my head. I was just happy to have them coming out on audio and she was fine.
It was only when they put Flosnick on my old favorites, the ones I’d read multiple times and “”knew”” in my head that I started mercilessly picking her apart! And now she bugs me.
Oh Richard Ferrone is an odd duck. He reads John Sandford’s Lucas Davenport series, one I like very much in print. I tried one and wasn’t happy with his gruff, old time tough guy reading of Lucas. I downloaded Hot and Bothered, a favorite Susan Andersen romance and realized too late that Ferrone was the narrator. Weird and wrong choice I thought. Imagine my surprise when he pulled it off rather nicely. He toned it down enough to be a convincing romantic hero (ex navy SEAL, so some degree of gruffness expected) and was only slightly guilty of making the heroine too breathy. A mostly successful audio, but still a little off kilter. I wouldn’t mind trying him again.
I’m going to start out by saying that the majority of my listening takes place at work. I’m thinking that might be why I seem to be able to continue listening to books where the narrator irritates me. I guess I’m able to get by because all I have to is concentrate more on my work than what I’m listening to if that makes sense.
I have all of Christine Feehan’s “”Dark”” series in print and in audio. I hate the fact that there have been several narrators instead of using the same one all the time. I’ve been ok with all the narrators except for one, Richard Ferrone. He mispronounces so many words/names (especially in Dark Celebration) it drives me nuts but somehow I manage to continue listening. It’s got to be the work issue that helps separate me from the irritation.
Anne Flosnik I’ve only listened to on the first three books in the Kushiel series. I thought she did quite a nice job distinguishing between the voices and the pacing of the story. I had more trouble adjusting to Simon Vance who took over for books 4-6.
I’ve really enjoyed Simon Prebble narrating Stephanie Laurens’ Devil’s Bride and the Black Cobra quartet. The only quibble I have with him is he tends to get overly excited during intimate moments. Again, I’ve caught myself splitting into by concentrating on something else while letting the story continue faintly in the background.
I’m one who really likes Phil Gigante. Yes, some of his female voices drive me crazy but overall, he’s one of my favorites.
Davina Porter doing the Outlander books is my top of the list favorite. I have yet to listen to her doing other books so don’t know if that would change anything.
I know there’s others I could rave or complain about but I’m going to stop before this gets any longer. :)
Obviously I don’t know how to do smiley faces on this blog. Kaetrin, that was supposed to be a smiley face.
Britta – welcome to posting here at SOA! It looks like you enjoy historicals and I want to second Melinda’s Ivory suggestions and offer up a few more. Two of my favorites are Sherry Thomas’ Private Arrangements and Josie Litton’s Dream of Me (Viking romance). Others – Jo Goodman’s Tempting Torment and Richard Armitage’s narration of two Georgette Heyer books – Sylvester and Venetia. And, of course, in a category all be itself is Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series. You don’t have to sign on for all – I was satisfied with only Outlander for years but narrator Davina Porter – I don’t think narration gets better.
If you decide to listen to contemporary romance, we have LOTS of suggestions there. Please don’t give up! There’s so much to enjoy if you find what works best for you.
elainec – what a riot about picturing those stories in your head! Thank you, thank you – I so understand! And, I never made it to Forbidden although I was tempted with a change in narrator. Now I know not to make that choice cause wispy would totally not work in my mind’s eye with those knights – totally agree again.
Kaetrin – referring to your earlier statement – “yes, Lea I “hear” the voices the same way you do!” – I wonder what personality traits we may share that make some of us tend to see these things more than others!! :o)
I’ve mentioned it before in our column discussion but I want to mention it again since we are talking about male narrators. When I tried a book narrated by Victor Slezak (because Diana kept encouraging me to do so), I entered a whole new realm of male narrators. He is fantastic and now my favorite male narrator.
I listened to all 40 plus hours of Scott Brick reading The Passage. Excellent job with women’s voices as well as a 6 year old girl.
Lea,
I found Anne Flosnik’s narration of Elizabeth’s medievals so much better than the one (Forbidden) narrated by Sarah Scott. Those books are my favorites of Lowell and my husband downloaded all three on my ipod. When I heard Forbidden, I couldn’t stand it! Even the men are done in wispy little voices. It’s just not how I imagined it in my mind. These were big, manly knights!!!
I generally love narrations by Barbara Rosenblat, George Guidall, Davina Porter, and Jenny Sterlin. Barbara R. successfully does men, women, children, and accents (Italian, German,and British). I have all her Elizabeth Peters audiobooks and love listening to them.
Listening to the fifth Louise Penny mystery, Bury your Dead, I decided that the narrator, Ralph Cosham, speaks so quickly that it gives the impression of specking French which is very fast. My best friend hated his narration, but I liked it once I got used to it. It seems right for the subject matter and the setting (Quebec).
I do like to read the books first and then listen to audiobooks in the car or while doing something mundane with my hands. In general, I think I have a vivid imagination as far as hearing the stories in my head and picturing them. I thought I had seen “”Goblets of Fire”” before we actually got the DVD. My husband said that was impossible, because it had just come out. But, I had seen it – in my mind when we listened to the audio book on a trip from Mi to FL. Heck, when I was a kid and we got our first t.v., I said what a beautiful red dress Miss Kitty wore (in “”Gunsmoke).
My father said, “”What are you talking about? Television is in black and white.”” We went in the living room and turned it on. It was in b&w. I was crushed. Life was in color and that’s how I had seen it on t.v..
Narrators give a different interpretations of books from my own, but I still enjoy most of them.
Britta, welcome! and The Proposition in audio is a complete delight! I love that man’s voice (Steven Crossly, right?)! If you like Ivory, you must try The Indiscretion narrated by Barbara Rosenblat -she is genius with the story. I’m afraid you had some bad experiences – Flosnick and Landor’s romance reading are examples of narrators gone bad, in my opinion.
And hey I like Prebble’s voice in the Bridgertons!! That’s my only experience with him. I thought his Violet was wonderful! I wouldn’t compare him to Gigante at all. But that’s just one person’s opinion.
First time poster here! : ) I just had to post about this because I’ve recently tried a few romance audiobooks and I have to say that I’m disappointed by what I’ve heard so far.
The audiobook for Gail Carriger’s Soulless was definitely not a winner for me. Emily Gray’s voice for Lord Maccon was an absolute deal-breaker for me because his accent was so over the top. I really enjoy stuffy heroes and Lord Maccon in the book was a great hero for me, but she made him sound like such a cold and priggish man.
I also gave Love in the Afternoon by Kleypas a listen and Landor didn’t fare much better. The voice she gave Christopher made him sound unfeeling and abrupt–definitely not how I pictured him in my head. Anne Flosnik’s narration of Hoyt’s To Seduce a Sinner was also sub par. Both Jasper and Melissande sounded “”off”” to me.
I just ordered the audiobook of Judith Ivory’s The Proposition from my library after listening to a clip of it online because it has a male narrator. Hopefully after listening to it, my opinion of audiobooks will change.
I have yet to hear a man successfully “”do”” a woman’s voice, including Prebble. I think that’s where the trouble starts…a man trying to sound like a woman sounds drag-y. Victor Slezak, Dennis Boutsikaris, and James Daniels (married to Aasne btw) simply read dialog with a slight elevation in pitch for female characters. They don’t swan or do that breathy thing. I don’t expect an overblown performance either, but I think that’s exactly what you get from narrators like Prebble and Gigante. Most narrators are actors.
Krentz’s Smoke and Mirrors (James Daniels, Aasne) and Howard’s Kiss Me While I Sleep (Joyce Bean, Dick Hill) are proof that it can be done and done well. I wasn’t impressed with the Brockmann books with alternating m/f narrators because I found it distracting and bad for continuity.
I’m not buying books with male narrators I don’t already trust. I’m over paying the high audio price only to cringe or giggle over a silly performance.
@ Teresa. Thx! :) You learn something new every day!
@Kaetrin, Recorded Books actually recorded the first 3 in the In Death series, and only the first 3 for many years, before Brilliance Audio got the contract for the entire series.
@ Teresa. I didn’t know someone else had narrated the In Death series. I have them all and Susan Ericksen narrates each one. Are you maybe referring to an abridged version?
I think in general, I prefer a woman doing a man’s voice badly to a man doing a woman’s voice badly. There are some narrators who don’t really change the timbre/pitch of their voice to differentiate a character – eg, Tanya Eby (NR’s the Search) or Aasne Vigesne (WTT & FI by Crusie). Even though I know it is a woman’s voice, it doesn’t grate and I can go with it. But Simon Prebble frex, doing a woman’s voice badly – well it just sounds like a man in drag a la Tootsie and not an actual woman. I prefer the former to the latter. (Sorry Melinda, I’ve heard Prebble doing some Stephanie Laurens and I can’t like him – too dramatic, esp. in the love scenes and the woman’s voice? not so much). But there are some narrators who do a really great male and female voice and it actually sounds like a “”normal”” woman/man – eg Davina Porter (Outlander series – I heart her Jamie voice), Renee Raudman (Blue Eyed Devil etc), Lorelie King (Mercy Thompson series). I find it more difficult to come up with male narrators who do a believable woman’s voice.
I can listen to many books with mediocre narrators, but there are some that are flat out ruined by the narrator.
I waited for months to get Honor’s Splendor and Gentle Warrior by Garwood. Haven’t listed past the first hour.
To Die For by Howard made me wonder where the 50 year old Blair came from. I can’t remember who narrates the second book, but the vocal age of Blair’s voice fits much better. It is always jarring to finish TDF, and then immediately start Drop Dead Gorgeous, and it takes me a short time to adjust to the new tone.
As for wonderful narrators, I like Susan Erickson’s In Death series, am okay with Laurel Merlington’s Laurel K Hamilton books, and absolutely love Jim Marsters narrating Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files.
But, the narrator that I think I would listen to even if she was reading the phone book is Claudia Black. She read Swallowing Darkness in the Merry Gentry series, and I hate that they didn’t get her to read the next book in the series.
Sometimes I wonder if publishers should not contract a narrator to read all of an author’s backlist. The switch from Nigel Planer to Stephen Briggs in the Discworld series is almost painful. Both do a wonderful job, but Death’s voice as performed by Briggs will always sound just a little off. Nigel Planer had it perfect.
Other instances of narrator changes that were hard to handle were the Plum Series from CJ Critt to Lorelai King, and the In Death series with Christine McMurdo-Wallis to Susan Erickson.
For me, Lula as read by CJ Critt is how I hear Lula now.
The thing is, Diana, I don’t really need to hear it done as a play – I’ve listened to one where a man read the men’s dialog only, and it’s odd to me. There are plenty of male and female narrators that do both genders well – very well! I found Simon Prebble to be wonderful on the Quinn Bridgertons (even if the last story was a dud). I’ve heard 2 or 3 of Will Patton narrating the Dave Robichaux series (mysteries) and he does great female characters just by changing the timbre of his voice, not by going into falsetto. Anna Fields and Barbara Rosenblatt are phenomenal at making all their characters work. Maybe someone just needs to direct Gigante on generating better character voices. Actors can be very talented and still not know how exactly to deliver their lines or act a scene without direction; I think the same is true of voice actors.
I have liked the books where there are 2 narrators, each doing a POV – The Time Traveler’s Wife, the last few of SB’s TSS. In fact, The Help is done by 4 actors, 3 doing the POV of one of the main characters, and the 4th doing the section written in 3rd person (all women). I think that works but I don’t need to hear a woman’s voice saying “”He turned to her and said”” then a man piping up and saying “”Frankly, Scarlett, …”” In all of my examples, the narrator read all of a section, including doing all the voices in that section.
Maybe that’s just me – I think there are plenty of talented voice actors out there who can pull off characters of either gender. And there are those others…
NEW subject: I just realized that Renee Raudman was the narrator on a Dorothy Garlock I DNFed because it was so over-dramatic. Who knew? I think Raudman is great on the few other books I’ve heard by her! Maybe she just had a bad director – or none?
Since so many of us have gender issues…I wonder why they don’t hire two actors – one of each. Good grief, especially for romance which is dialog heavy. The cost should not be prohibitive. We all know we’re paying very high prices for audiobooks. Then Gigante wouldn’t have to go drag. I swear I see Monty Python in dowdy housedresses and curlers (spam spam spam!) when I listen to him read a heroine.
What an image – say it isn’t so!! I listened to a sample of ‘Dream Man’ narrated by Phil Gigante and decided that I couldn’t cope with it for 10+ hours so stuck to my old Gabriella Cavallero version instead. I’ve listened to his other work- thrillers and suspense novels mainly, and enjoyed them immensely. When it comes to romances however, I think I’ll steer well clear.
I agree with a lot of the points made here though, I’d be happy to listen to male narrators if they just altered their tone slightly for female characters, there is no need to go for the helium effect at all. I wish Scott Brick would cross over and do a few romances too!
Christine McMurdo-Wallis’s version of the ‘in Death’ series was the one I came across first and I thought she did a fair job, I’d have liked her to have done the rest.
Still waiting for my ‘Welcome to Temptation’ to come through so I’m listening to Linda Howard’s ‘Heart of Fire’ narrated by Tanya Eby. One of my favourite listens, guaranteed to cheer me up whilst doing the most mundane of chores!
In my humble opinion there is no one better than Davina Porter (all unabridged versions of the Outlander series and a few others). It also comes down to the production staff, director and the Biggie…budget! I believe that every book out there can come to life on audio with the right people…
Kaetrin the SD cards arrived back today along with your generous gift of
of books. I’ll be in touch soon via e-mail…
I’ve always considered Merlintgon an excellent narrator but when I look over my audio success with her the only one that really stands out is Tell Me No Lies by Elizabeth Lowell. I consider it my favorite book from EL and even with it only being available in abridged format I have very fond memories, guess it’s time for a re-listen to see if it still measures up!
Totally agree with you on Raudman, she’s outstanding in all but one book for me. But I do need to space my narrators out between authors in order to have real enjoyment
Lea you have voiced my biggest fear of what we will get from Landor with Devil in Winter (my absolute favorite read from her) directly with these words ……I’ll be listening to Devil in Winter soon.The voices in my head tell me that Sebastian is a cocky, self-assured, virile sort of man who isn’t given to being the outright grouchy, growly sort of guy. If I hear a gruff voice that’s incapable of light hearted sarcasm, who sounds like he’s in a bad mood most of the time and 30 years older than Sebastian’s actual age, that’s when the voices playing in my head will scream – he doesn’t sound like Sebastian to me!!
Melinda your exactly right, to many good books, even if they’re re-listens out there to put up with one that is painful to hear!
Long trip tomorrow and finishing my second re-listen of I llona Andrews Magic Bleeds will make it fly by, awesome series!
Lea, I DNFed book 2 of the Compass Club as soon as I realized how bad it would be. Thank goodness I got it for free at the library! I had already read all 4 books, and they were 5-star-but-not-keepers for me. Still, I didn’t want to have the Compass club fellows turn into bored and arrogant idiots in my head – I only put up with about 2 hours of Sterlin’s voice before ripping the earbuds out and crying uncle. Too many good books out there!!
Oh, I’d almost forgotten Jenny Sterlin who made Jo Goodman’s Compass series a DNF for me, when the books were 5 stars. and arg, Laurel Merlington’s heh, heh – oh, my ears, my ears!
By the way, Kaetrin, I enjoyed the first 4 of Alexander McCall Smith’s Isabel Dalhousie series with Davina Porter – she was the reason I listened to them! Very different kind of stories.
Now I have a question for you: do any of you try voices out loud to see how it feels to voice different genders and characters?
@ Melinda – yes… but then my husband laughs at me…. le sigh!!
I haven’t even thought about trying different voices since I’m not talented in the acting area – at all. Sounds like it would hurt my throat!
Melinda – I had an entire section written on the Compass Club series for this column but I had to mind my word count and leave it for another day. That day will be after I listen to the fourth. I struggled through books two and three (narrated by Sterlin) although book one was a piece of cake with the lovely Virginia Leishman. Talk about a narrator coming close to destroying a series for me. Did you listen to the fourth, Beyond a Wicked Kiss? I’ve heard so many good things about the print version and I’m just stubborn enough to listen to it so I can review the series.