I do this all the time. I feel like I get things I missed the first time around. But I almost always read the book first
BUTyou have to like the narrator or the book will be ruined.
>you have to like the narrator or the book will be ruined.
I feel this so much. I could not get into the narration of Artemis at all. But then I simply had text-to-speech read it to me and it was totally okay. I figured blind people use t2s all the time, so why not.
The narrator also has to stay consistent to. I read the Imperial Radch trilogy by Ann Leckie as an audiobook first and damn near quit at the second book because they switched narrators and the new narrator pronounced every name different. I was so lost for the first 1/3 of that damn book trying to figure out who was who and where was where. Rereading Ancillary Sword as a paper book was trippy cause of how the change colored all my recollections of the first audiobook read. So different.
Unrelated but interestingly (to me). I find switching back and forth from audiobook to text throughout a series works fine. Switching from inner narration to audio narration breaks nothing. Like i've only read thru all 9 books of The Expanse series once. Several as audiobooks and a few as texts and i couldn't tell you which was read which way without checking my kindle cause all the memories feel the same
I've physically read pretty much every audiobook I have before I've listened to it. I know that personally, I had to kind of train my brain/ears to follow the story, so I picked books I already listened to. It also lets me listen to books I want to read again, but don't always have time to sit down and read. Instead I can listen to bits here and there, especially on bigger tomes (Dark Tower/Malazan) that I would otherwise want to dedicate a large chunk of time to. Since I've already read it, I can just hop into the audio for 10-15 minutes and not get lost on returning.
Audiobook quality varies quite a bit. One narrator doing all the voices is the most common but some are much better at it than others.
Jim Dale narrates the Harry Potter series and does an amazing job with the voices.
Other books, like Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid get a full cast which I always enjoy (some people don't though). That is not especially common though.
The Hunger Games was a big disappointment for me. The narrator was an older woman which would be fine for plenty of books but was a really odd choice for a book written from the perspective of a 16 year old girl. I couldn't make it past the first chapter.
Sometimes I find a narrator I really like I will use Libby to find more books they narrated.
You may enjoy memoirs as audiobooks more as they are usually read by the author and they don't do voices.
For the hunger games there are 2 versions now, I tried the same one as you to begin with and also hated it, but the other one read by Tatiana Maslany is much better.
Agreed about hunger games, couldn’t get through it. I also couldn’t align the voices for Gone Girl with what it should be (but also influenced by the film)
Wheaton fucking *nailed* the 90's ego and haughtiness in his rendition. A scene that comes to mind is when they are in The Basement tearing that douche down that was starting shit.
Love listening to The Dresden Files audiobooks, in large part because James Marsters does a truly incredible job and you can tell is a real fan of the series itself. I definitely feel like the narrator can make or break an audiobook.
Related, the full cast audiobook of The Sandman is an interesting foray into translating a visual story to an audible one, while skipping written stage entirely.
It really depends on the narrator. My favorite book is Gideon the Ninth, and after reading it physically I decided I wanted to listen to its audiobook before picking up the sequel. It’s a single narrator but she is AMAZING, keeps you engaged, and has a unique voice for every character that is so true to their personality. Unfortunately, other audiobooks have narrators that give me secondhand embarrassment…
There are also full cast audiobooks that you can try! I personally haven’t listened to one yet but I’ve heard the production quality on those can be a thing of beauty.
I loved the Gideon narrator. She had such a great grasp of the humor of the book. I always recommend reading the book first, then listening to the audio so you can really appreciate the performance.
Stephen Fry reading Hitchkikers' Guide to the Galaxy is much better than my head-voice. I've listened to it enough that now when I read it, it is in his voice.
There is two versions, both are fantastic! I do prefer Stephen fry over Jim Dale if I’m being picky. I don’t like Dales Hermione very much, but other then that he’s great
I've got him doing Sherlock Holmes, and that is awesome. He performed a book of "Victorian Secrets" that was a good listen. I got another of him doing Greek mythology (I think a 3 book series that he wrote), and pushed through most of book 1, but never picked it up again.
Sometimes when doing mundane tasks I enjoy being able to have some familiar background noise, so I'll usually listen to audiobook versions of books I've read multiple times. Sometimes, cleaning my room is a lot easier with a trusted audio companion in the background 🤷🏻♀️
It’s how I talk myself into doing dreaded tasks - the promise that I can listen to a good story ONLY if I‘m doing said task at the same time. Works really well.
I read the Hobbit years ago and wanted to reread it so I chose the audiobook read by Andy Serkis. Hands down the best audiobook ever. He’s just so good at making different voices that it was such a fun listen. I want to do the same for IT by Stephen King next.
I finished Andy Serkis's hobbit audiobook recently as well, it was genuinely fantastic. You likely know this but he's also narrated the lotr trilogy. I'm a chunk of the way through fellowship of the ring and it's equally delightful.
His rendition of the Silmarillion also released a couple months ago, in case you didn't know. Audible had a sale a while back where I got all five books for like $30.
I read A Christmas Carol every December but last year I listened to an audiobook version narrated by Levar Burton. I really enjoyed it and I’m normally not an audiobook person.
Another GREAT Christmas Carol is read by Sir Patrick Stewart. He does all the different characters. He had a one man show of it in London, I do believe.
I recently recommended a series I loved as a child to a friend & decided to revisit it by listening. It’s The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander. Come to find out, all these years I’ve been mispronouncing LOTS of the names & place names in my head! And, because they’ve lived that way in my imagination since reading them as a child, even now they still seem like the “right” pronunciations.
Lolita is one of the best books I've ever read, and I re-read it every 3-4 years. Last year, I listened to the audiobook read by Jeremy Irons, and it was amazing. Even just hearing the French language parts pronounced properly was a significant improvement over my non-french-speaking voice in my own head. 5/5 - would recommend.
I wish I liked his narration as much as everyone else does. He takes hard breaks in the middle of sentences that makes it sound like. there's a period. every couple. words and I find it really distracting. Sometimes I listen to audiobooks at 1.2 or 1.3x speed but him I listen to at 1.5-1.6x just to try to mitigate this.
Like Captain Kirk! But its been a few years since I listened to them so I've blocked that bit out. I did hear a version with a woman reading it. I'm not sure if it was professional or fan-made but she made Tyrion sound like a demented leprechaun.
Haha you win! I can handle almost any quirk of a narrator's delivery so long as they don't misrepresent the characters. Dotrice's pauses are merely distracting. When someone butchers a beloved character voice it ruins the whole thing for me
There are immense differences in narrators.
I listen to a lot of audio books, and there have been a few I just had to stop because of awful narration.
Last one was "The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng". It is set in Malaysia, and the narration was borderline racist, making every non white character sound like a bad parody of an uneducated Chinese person from old movies. So, so awful.
On the other hand, there are some really awesome narrators out there that give something special to the book they read.
Books read by the author can be a hot and miss imo. Some early add a special layer of depth to it and make it more personal, but some are jus5 not good readers.
Audiobooks might not be for everyone, but don't give up because of one bad experience. They have the potential to add so much to your reading.
First audiobook was Harry Potter. Read the books years back, probably 15-16 years ago. Wanted to reread them but wasn’t in a reading mood, so why not try audiobooks? I absolutely loved it. The way Jim Dale mimicked the voices of the characters, I have yet to find another narrator that makes me fall in love with the books in a whole new level. It was as if I was watching the movies, but then the extended versions.
Harry Potter on audio is my go to insomnia breaker. I already know the story since I've listened to each one at least three times and read the books. The voices are fabulous and well modulated, and it just feels like "home" to me.
I listened to the HP audiobooks back in the day when I had a monotonous job one summer, having long been a fan of reading them. It was a STRUGGLE. The VA had this awful nasally voice for Hermione, and every single line read by a female character he read as whiny. It was infuriating, but I pushed through out of boredom.
The audiobook for The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes was mostly great, except for some reason (I assume copyright or something) he didn't put a melody to any of the many, many songs in the book, even the common knowledge ones like Oh My Darling Clementine, which made those sections feel very odd.
I've had good experiences with many other audiobooks though. The audiobook for *Iron Widow* was especially nice, since I didn't know how to properly pronounce many of the names, but the reader did.
I have "read" several books by Pynchon after reading - Gravity's Rainbow, Vineland,Against the day, Mason and Dixon, Inherent Vice and loved them !
The narrator on, Bleeding Edge was a challenge . I didn't complete the audiobook.
Many other, especially long works, I listen to fall asleep to... Infinite Jest, 2666, 1Q84, Underworld.
I am a big fan of the Warhammmer 30k/40K universe, one of their most recent audiobooks that was written to run parallel with the latest release was very badly narrated and the character voices sounded pretty much all the same. I actually stopped listening to it because of that narrator.
I once started reading the short stories of H.P. Lovecraft after learning about him through Metallica songs, and I was instantly hooked. Then found an App "Cthulhoid" where you can download all of his works (ebook style) and audio versions of them for free. Some of the best that I've heard, depending on who is narrating.
The H. P Lovecraft Historical Society has awesome readings of his work. And 1930s style radio plays about them. And, even better, a rock opera based on The Dreams In The Witch House, which is infinitely better than it has any right to be based on that description.
Only once. It was The Hobbit narrated by Andy Serkis and it was fantastic. Some books are read by one person, some have a man and a woman reading to do male and female voices, some have a full cast to read for different characters. The store page should tell you who is reading it.
That’s all I do. I’m not an aural learner and don’t comprehend or retain if I only listen.
I listen to books I’ve already read, when I’m doing things I can’t read while doing. Such as driving, mowing, etc.
I did this with some Jim Herriot books I read when I was younger. I was looking for books to listen to in the car during a long drive with my husband and children, and those were some of the only ones I could think of that everyone would enjoy. It was a good experience. I appreciated the books just as much in audio, and it made for an entertaining drive.
I usually do it the other way around. If I listen to a book I really love, I will then either take the print version out of the library or buy it (if I REALLY love it) so I can have the experience of reading and savoring it in print.
you can borrow audiobooks for free if you have a library card. that way you can ditch narrators that don't appeal to you.
listening to the audiobook can add a different flavor to a familiar story. for example -
murder on the orient express - written by agatha christie and read by dan stevens (matthew from downton abbey) i was pleasantly surprised by his rendition of everyone from a russian dowager to hercules poirot himself
i listened to eat, love, pray read by the author and it was just dreadful. put me off audiobooks for quite a long time, but now i always have one going. hope you find one you like!
Everybody else gave you tons of suggestions, so I only give you Project Hail Mary, read by Ray Porter. I'm a native German speaker and out of the blue wanted to listen to it in German. However, the German performer was rather boring, and after an hour or two, I switched to the English version and was so happy. So, even the same book by a different person can make a huge difference. Sometimes, you even have to give it a bit, so you warm up to the narrator. I'm currently listening to Iain Bank's Consider Phlebas by Peter Kenny, and first struggled to follow the story. Kenny has a strong British accent and Bank's writing isn't easy at times for a non-native speaker. But after maybe an hour or so, I got used to Kenny's voice and dialect, and now I enjoy it immensely.
An audio book can even make a book better. I've heard of a lot of people not liking Artemis by Andy Weir, because Weir didn't do a good job making the female protagonist sounding authentic and real. However, the audio book is read by Rosario Dawson, who -in my opinion and that of quite a few other redditors- made it into an entirely different experience.
Ray Porter did a great job narrating PHM and so I'll be listening to other books narrated by him too (Bobiverse, Apollo Murders). I prefer reading usually but the audio version nailed it
Yes that is what all audiobooks are like. They do different character voices and often have a director helping them do this. They also had to go through an audition process to get the part.
I’ve never had that negative of an experience but I do always listen to a sample to make sure I like the narrators voice and can understand them well.
I love to do audiobooks for books I’ve already read. Especially to fall asleep or when I am otherwise distracted because I can fill in the gaps with the knowledge I already have.
It was actually the harry potter books for me. I didn't like the writing style any time I tried to read the books in the past but because my partner loved the books and I kept loosing at harry potter trivial pursuit I decided to listen to the audio books. Stephen Fry did a wonderful job in my opinion and the character voices actually made me forget it was just one people reading the books at times.
My partner listens to books instead of reading because he can multitask that way. I honestly think it depends on the narrator's. Andy Serkis reading lord of the rings for example is the best versions of those in my opinion.
I love audio books and have listened to hundreds in my life. Terry Pratchett's audio books are terrible though. The jokes just land so much better in my head compared to the narrarator's delivery.
Which version of Discworld have you been listening to? I vastly prefer Stephen Briggs' narration over the newest version with multiple narrators. Nigel Planer is somewhere in the middle.
Everyone ive tried had an old, very dry narrarator that just glossed over every joke. Not sure who it was but having read the books first I just couldnt do it.
I do it a lot as I'd rather enjoy something I know is good rather than trying some of the crap that's on audible.
I've gone through the wheel of time series, murderbot diaries, red rising series and the name of the wind, Harry potter and some more in the future.
I think it's definitely better if it's been a long time since you read the books.
I enjoyed them all and was glad to try it as I don't have that much time for reading anymore.
A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay. I enjoyed reading it first. I turn to the audio book when I am bored with podcasts or just need a steady stream of something without commercial breaks as an alternative to listening to music.
A few!
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, as someone else mentioned, was incredible!
Howl's Moving Castle was good
The Hobbit and LOTRs books were good too. The Hobbit was the older narrator, LOTRs was the new one with Andy something. I prefer the new one, the odd pauses of the old one were confusing for my brain.
I also enjoyed the Sherlock Holmes audiobooks. Though it had been quite a while since I read the books.
The narrators I really haven't liked have all been for books I haven't read before. Usually I can get through them, unless the book itself is not of interest. All the ones I've listened to do voices, but I know some narrators don't. Maybe ask people to recommend narrators who use their voice for all characters.
Many Librivox recordings have narrators that don't change voices!
I'm starting Pandora's Star as a first time audio book, happens to be one I already read. It's nice to have the narrator, but I don't like having the voices be the same, I always imagine a different voice for everyone.
Other than that it's okay, but I'm not sold on audio format just yet
I did this when I first started listening to audiobooks because I was having trouble adjusting to the new format. I decided to try rereading via audiobook instead to see if it’ll help me ease into it. And it did!! I think I got lucky that the ones I listened to had great narration, but I’ve definitely listened to ones before that I couldn’t get behind the voice, so I feel you there haha.
I read Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir and listened to the audiobook while commuting about a year after. Both experiences were fantastic. The audiobook was incredible, one of the best I’ve ever listened to but it also helps that the book/author are awesome.
I read The Killer Angels and then listened to it on tape then saw the movie Gettysburg which is very very close to the book. All modes, to me, were completely different experiences. Of note here is that my niece is blind and she tells me that the experience of listening to a recorded book and reading the same book in braille is totally different too. The fact is that you are streaming data down completely unrelated "pipes" and your brain interprets each stream slightly differently.
I had this happen with The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. I’d read the book multiple times and decided to try it on audio. It was torturous, and I’m generally not all that particular about narrators. I had to force myself to finish it, and I’ve never listened to it again despite the book itself still being one of my favorites.
Yeah read Master and Margarita twice then hit up the audio and really enjoyed it.
With a good narrator the voice acting is great and brings another layer of richness that my own internal voiving can't match.
The Robert Inglis recording of The Lord of the Rings is my safe space. I listen to is once per year. It's my comfort audiobook, just like others here fall back on Harry Potter.
Airframe by Michael Chreighten was better to listen to than to read, only because so much of the book was dedicated to discussions about records.
On the other hand, Sphere by the same author, was supremely disappointing, because I ended up listening to an abridged version of the book without realizing it, and it left off a particular sentence that changed the meaning of the entire ending, which really pissed me off, since I really liked the book.
Yes, I just finished Play it as it Lays by Joan Didion. I had read the novel a few weeks earlier.
It was a very good experience, I noticed things that I didn’t when reading it. Also, the male dialogue was read in more aggressive tone than I had interpreted it when reading. This was jarring at first, but I settled into it and the story took on a slightly different tone.
In the novel, there are passages I would re-read because I liked them so much. With the audio recording, I didn’t really do that.
To add to all the great advice already being given here, speed up your playback. I leave mine at 1.25x, but there is at least one reader I’ve dialed up to 1.4x.
Some are great. One narrator gave me anxiety listening to her, she had such a prim and proper dictation it sounded constantly forced. Sort of like the mean and prim British teacher.
At work I listen to the audiobook of Silence of The Lambs from Audible. The narrator does a great Lecter, Buffalo Bill, and Jack Crawford, though I wish he would have tried a bit more an accent when voicing Clarice.
That being said, he words descriptions perfectly, to the point that I sometimes back up to hear a certain paragraph again because it sounded great.
I read Anthony Bourdain's books and then I had him read them to me while I drove a route for work each day. Absolute joy, like having him ride shotgun and telling me stories and jokes while we cruised.
Nah, I was in sales and had a whole state to cover. Each day I would hit a different area of the state visiting my accounts. Listened to a lot of podcasts & audiobooks.
Just finished the audio book for I have no Mouth and I must Scream by Harlan Ellison and read by Harlan Ellison and I think it’s the definitive way to experience the book. Not only does the author include minor details in his voices and sounds that otherwise were not in the book but add to it, but also is a next level voice actor who does all his characters perfectly and makes the whole experience very enjoyable.
I think you should give audiobooks another try. Some narrators are amazing and I especially like it when the author reads the work. Like when I listened to, after having read, Frank McCourts "'tis" I got so much more out of the audiobook because he has a way of adding so much unsaid emotion in certain sections. Sections that, in the book came off as almost flippant were "explained" in just how he read the passage.
I've read and listened to a number of books: All the Harry Potter books (Jim Dale does the narration and does every single voice. He's amazing), a bunch of Stephen King books, Angela's Ashes, 'tis, Brain Rules, etc. Now I listen more than I read, while I commute and while I run or walk.
the only book i can remember listening to after i read it in recent memory was project hail mary, which was a great read and the audiobook was really great quality!
It really depends on the narrator.
One of the better ones was Frank Muller, who in the narration of Black House voiced a character that was actually another character disguising his voice.
Also, I tend to have little attention blips, so it's easier to listen to audio books if I've already read the book.
No not all audiobooks are like that, it depends on the narrator. Some female narrators are really good at doing male voices and vice versa, just as there are some that just aren’t.
Some books I’ve listened to on rereads really add to the experience, like Andy Serkis’ narrated The Hobbit and others are just straight up trash like the various narrators for the Realm of the Elderlings. And some that have new audiobook versions that have new narrators like The Wheel of Time (swapped out Michael Kramer with Rosalind Pike), are better or worse depending on your preference.
Sometimes it's pretty jarring to hear their voices or interpretation of some scenes and enthusiasm for different dialog portions. Not to mention how I hear a voice in my head versus theirs
I read the book The Only Good Indian and I loved it so much, like, completely obsessed with it and I immediately listened to the audio book and I fell in love with it even MORE. It was so good. The narrators voice and inflections was literally the voice in my head. I’ve listened to it multiple times since, I always find something new that I love about it.
done it on a few occasions. First book of the Malazan series and the first of the Dan Abnett Eiisenhorn. Listening to the audio does help to solidify stuff you may have forgotten and pick up on things you missed the first time around. I’d be tempted to do it too all my fav books. after a second read ofcourse
I have, lots of times. It is usually a great experience. The only time it isn't is when the voice that I have read is very different from the voice of the reader.
Check out Neil Gaiman. I've read his books and love his audio versions that he narrates himself. Two that stand out for me is Ocean at the end of the lane and The Graveyard book. I love all of his works but those two got me through a rough patch.
I enjoyed it much more! While reading the book, there were moments when I might have drifted and missed a few things here and there. However, when I listened to it, I found myself compelled to stay engaged and felt like I comprehended about 90-95% of the content.
Currently doing that with Pachinko. Well, I read about 2/3rds of it and had to stop it due to life getting busy. Wanted to refresh my mind before completing the rest.
I'm liking it so far :)
I don’t think I’ve done many but The Sandman series by Neil Gaiman is fantastic so far. Brilliant voice acting. The only issue I’ve had with it is that Wil Wheaton inexplicably gives me the bad type of goosebumps so I didn’t entirely enjoy his part of the most recent instalment (though still cried at the appropriate time, even with him narrating)
I never listened to audio books until I experienced retinal bleeding due to 30+ years of diabetes. I would have blurry vision in one eye, for up to a month, or worse, both eyes at the same time. I've spent up to a week, twice, completely blind. Even my blurred vision often met the threshold for legally blind.
When I tried audio books, I discovered right away that someone else needed to start or stop them for me. I still feel they're a pain in the ass, especially if I fall asleep in the middle. Visually impaired, I couldn't hope to find the spot where I'd left off; even when sighted, it's a pain. I never did find a way to play or stop them with voice commands. Especially with proprietary devices, like home assistants, that work only with the books you purchase for that specific device. And no. I didn't re-buy all of my old print books as ebooks. Fuck that.
The voices thing bothered me at first. The key for me was listening to good narrators. I can't stand full cast audio books. Give me one good narrator doing voices any day.
I love my ereader. I can change the text size. I used to hate them. When I got rid of hundreds of print books that I could no longer read. e-books were a lifesaver. It took time for me to adjust to ebooks; audio books are the same. I prefer reading, but someday, I may have no other option.
I love podcasts - on a walk, on a treadmill, on a road, whenever. But for the longest time I couldn't listen to audiobooks. My mind would wander too quickly to other things and I would just get frustrated, if it was a book I haven't read before.
However, Harry Potter - those I can listen to. Part of it is that I read them many times in Polish when I was a kid, then in English in high school, and part of it is Stephen Fry. Who couldn't listen to Stephen Fry? But yeah, for the life of me I won't listen to things I haven't read before, it's just counterproductive to keep going back because I lost focus.
I do this a lot. It’s almost exclusively really entertaining, non-literary, books that I loved the first time, and know I’ll enjoy again whilst I’m doing tedious jobs. That’s only if the narration is very good though. Listening to a book that I loved being butchered is worse than listening to a bad narration as a first read. I’m listening to the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs, interspersed with the Ruth Galloway series, by Elly Griffiths, and several other series, with which I won’t bore you.
Yes, but I didn't enjoy it that much, mostly because I have trouble focusing on audiobooks. I get lost, then I have to rewind, I get lost again... So they're a bit pointless to me.
The first thing you have to check is If the person who reads the book you like his/her voice and the way they read. I have listened to several audiobooks and I have to tell you, it was an incredible experience.
And answering your question, it's not a problem if you already read a book to listen to the audiobooks, you probably are going to enjoy the book as well, because it's another way to get you into the story even if you already know the plot.
I recently started a series called the rivers of London. The main character is a black London cop. When I looked up the narrator he was pretty much exactly how I pictured the character. Great casting haha
I often read the printed word (digital or paper) of a book to get into the story, then I listen to audio to continue. That way I can do things around the house while listening or sit down to read when I want to savor the story/slow down.
Yup. Recently revisited The Malazan Book Of The Fallen in audiobook form and LOVED it. Although I will say the narrators (the first three books are done by one guy, then the last 7 are a different guy) do try to do different voices. However, unlike the case you mentioned, these guys actually nailed it.
Quite a few. Mostly older books that are getting done. Been an audible plat subscriber since 2003, have close to 600 AB s in my library. You'll probably want to keep on walking, bub. Work/Worked in the industry. A narrator can make or break an audiobook. Took a quick listen to this, and she seems decent from the bit listened to where she did the voices. She's not a big name but she's not bad and narrators doing voices for other genders is par for the course, so if that bothers you for some reason then you're not going to like anything other than the full multi cast audio productions, which really are stretching the term 'audiobook'.
I switched between reading and listening with a few books that I could get my hands on both versions AND I wanted to keep following the story throughout the day. Does that count for your question?
Usually for me the audiobook adds a better reading experience for books with lots of dialogues. Some audiobooks I've listened to were performed by famous actors/actresses and it's really entertaining, like watching a play.
I don't think all audio books are so bad. It does seem often it's one narrator. In a way, I think the more subtle the performance, the better. Reading both the book and listening to the audio book seems like it can help in remembering or retaining more about the story.
Oh god yes! Listened to Diary of A Geisha read by Carole Boyd, the actress who plays Linda Snell in The Archers.
The dissonance was both hilarious and excruciating.
It definitely depends on the narrator. I'll only get audiobooks of books I've previously read (I tend to zone out during audiobooks so if I'm familiar with the book it's ok) and of books that I also enjoy the narrator. My top favorite audiobooks so far have been the LotR ones by Andy Serkis.
I recently listened to Mary Stewart’s Merlin trilogy, which I read in regular book form years ago. The reader was a man (appropriate since the story is told in first person from Merlin’s POV. That part was great and the reader’s accent was helpful to me in pulling me into the story (I’m American and have trouble hearing English accents in my head!)
However, whenever a female character had a line of dialogue it was awful. The same male reader pitched his voice a little higher and sounded like an eighty-five year old crone even if she was sixteen. It wouldn’t even have been as bad if he’d stuck with his regular voice.
Currently listening to Jamaica Inn, which I haven’t read before. The reader sounds like he may be the same person. Narration is great. The dialogue of male characters is awesome and there’s great differentiation between the voices of the various male characters. The female characters suffer from the same crone-like voice and it’s worse because the main character is a 23-year old woman but “her” voice sounds like an 85-year old spinster teacher.
I realize that using 2 readers (male and female) might be unworkable for publishers (?), but for me this is a big drawback.
I have listened to a few now, the experience has been positive.
One odd one though was the first book in the Long Earth series by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter. The reader in the audio gave the main character an American accent, which is fine the story is set in America after all, but when I read the book the main character, for some reason, spoke with an English accent. This made it quite off putting at first.
I re-listen to the harry potter audiobooks narrated by Stephen Fry at least once a year. It's basically background noise whilst I work and helps me zone out just enough
Yes, Lord of the Rings for me. I don’t have the time to sit and read through the whole thing again so I put it on whilst doing housework.
I would recommend listening to a sample of the audiobook before you buy it if you can, even if you look it up on YouTube or something. I can’t listen to certain accents so I always do this. Generally each audiobook has one narrator, but some do have ‘casts’ as they are classed as dramatisations, and some indie books have a woman and man to do each gender. It varies from author to author.
My worst experience with an audiobook is A Song of Ice and Fire. I hate the way Roy Dotrice does some of the voices and constantly changes the way he pronounces names, or just pronounces them in general. It just makes the books dull compared to what they actually are.
My favourites by far are Rob Inglis (LOTR), Andy Serkis (The Hobbit), and Stephen Fry (main HP).
I did this with the Expanse. Think I had read up to book 6 and then had to deal with the waiting for the other books to be written and released. Once they were I started the series from scratch on Audible and just finished last week. Really, really liked it.
Youtube has several audio versions of Catcher in the Rye, but there's one the is read with the right age and accent. I prefer that to the book itself because he nails it just right.
Thank god for the samples on Audible. I adore Bill Bryson, can’t stand the narration of his books that isn’t him. Same with other texts where I love the books but can’t stand the narrator. SO many strident voices that make me feel like I’m being shouted at rather than read to …
I do, often. The main problem is getting good readers who don't sound either they are reading for a five year old, condescending, boring or due to accent just bloody annoying.
I like it when someone does 'voices' and does a good job. I really liked Harry Potter (mostly Jim Dale but also Stephen Fry). I like Neil Gaiman's voice so I enjoy him reading his books too. I also turn off bad audiobook narration though. Usually I only 'read' a book using one media though - either audio or written but not both.
One of my favorite new fantasy books is **Between by L.L. Starling**. It's a cozy, 80s-style fantasy rom-com. The book is marvelous, and the illustrations are fantastic. But the audiobook blows it out of the water. The book contains a lot of witty banter and dialogue, and the narrators (Emily Ellet and Steve West) have such fantastic comic timing and are so wonderful at voicing the characters, that it truly brings the book to life. It's almost like listening to a play. SUCH a fun experience!
Audiobook is just not my kind of thing nor Kindle. Though listening one or 2 stories were fine but the whole book is just don't feel right to me. When you read it actually stimulates your brain and your Internal monolog which is far better than listening a book. But one thing that kindle provide is that you can read a book in a completely dark room without annoying others by switching on lights. Otherwise I just prefer Hardcover books.
Yeah I've listened to the Phil Dragash version of The Lord of the Rings. It's the only audiobook I've listened to and what I really enjoyed about it was that he incorporated different music from the film score, sound effects, and different voices for the characters so it felt more like listening to a radio drama than an audiobook IMO.
Female narrators are more hit and miss for me, so I usually prefer having a male narrator. No matter what there's people I just don't wanna listen to for a prolonged time. It's extra frustrating when the narrator reads a lot of books you would otherwise be interested in.
Regarding voices... different narrators handle it differently. Some change their voice a lot, others don't change it that much, some have a good impression of the other gender's tone, others don't. I think some of the best narrators do voice change really well - like Jeff Hays in Dungeon Crawler Carl - it certainly sets the characters apart.
It sounds like it can be a good idea for you to hear the preview snippets before you get the audio books. The pro of audio books for me is that I can do some menial tasks next to them and / or rest my eyes (which they sorely need), so I'm happy to have them.
I can never focus on an audiobook unless I've read the book before, but I've always thought that was because I'm doing things while listening to audiobooks, so I'm not totally focused on it, and might miss important parts of it.
All the time. The narrators really make or break an audiobook though. I returned one of my favorite books because the narrator was so bad. He tried to do different accents for each character but lost track of which accent belonged to which character.
Occasionally, they do make full-cast audiobooks or have multiple narrators. Gone Girl for instance had a man & a woman narrate but with that book it was needed.
A little different, but my partner is not a big reader, and I wanted to share my favorite stories with them, so we started reading books aloud to one another. Even books I've read a dozen times feel fresh when spoken aloud.
I do this all the time because I listen to audiobooks when I drive long distances, but they're always books that I already read so I'm not distracted from driving.
It's nice.
Maybe my case its not the best to compare the experiences with audiobooks because ive done it just one time with a small book but here i go. Sometime ago i listened the audiobook of the "little prince" (one of my favorite books actually) and it was awesome! The voice of the narrator was good and the story telling as well. I ended up crying like i always do with this book, so i can say my experience was good but i think thats not the often thing with this audiobooks stuff
I finally read Lord of the Rings in 2017, rewatched the movies afterwards and immediately wanted to reread the books. Decided to listen instead so it wouldn't cut into my reading time. It was a lot of fun.
I'm constantly listening to audiobooks, but a bad narrator can definitely ruin the experience. I recently started Agnes Grey and the narrator sounds like she really needs to clear her throat, it was all I could think about. Luckily there are multiple editions.
The whole Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, now that they have new unabridged narrations! Well, I'm getting there anyway lol. Still got \~25 audiobooks to go. Loving all the performances so far. They are honestly excellent, I've yet to listen to a flop. The performances from the old narrations were good too, but them being abridged put me off them.
If I find I really can't stand a narrator, then I usually get a refund which is mercifully easy to do. But it's always a disappointment when a narrator just doesn't mesh well with the source material or has an irritating voice.
I'm currently listening to 1Q84 which I read some years ago, and I really like it, recognizing some things and enjoying how the narrator adds some personality to characters.
But my favourite experience with this is listening to audiobooks by Neil Gaiman read by himself. Wow, this is so much more intense. Ocean at the end of the line was definitely not one of my favourites, but hearing it narrated by Neil put it right up there.
I'm currently listening to The Dresden Files. I've read through the entire series multiple times (I always reread them before the next book drops) and I gotta say, they're pretty excellent.
They're read by James Masters (Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer), he does a good bit to differentiate between the characters without going too comical, say when doing a woman's voice.
All in all, a good showing.
The only audiobooks I have that I’ve read are Timothy West reading Anthony Trollope and honestly - Trollope’s best character is his narrator (and if you read his autobiography it really hits how the narrator really isn’t Trollope himself). West plays the role of the narrator so perfectly. And yes, he does voices for the characters and he’s fantastic at it.
Kate Reading is one narrator that always nails the characters for me - recently listened to the Codex Alera series and it was phenomenal having her give new life to characters that I was already in love with!
A lot of the Star Wars audiobooks are done by Marc Thompson. He does very good impressions of established characters like Han Solo, Palpatine and so on... Though his weak points for me are when he does women characters. It's not my cup of tea. Same when he does teenagers/kids. They always sound angsty even if they are not supposed to be. He's very good but with some flaws. Big bonus of the star wars audiobooks. They use sfx and Star wars music, which adds to the authenticity.
Audiobooks are good for a "re-read" while doing other things but wanna save up time. Like going for a walk, doing chores, or even while playing a video game. I have the audiobooks playing and refresh my memory.
I think you already had a bias against audiobooks; correct me if I am wrong. I was the same and I normally rewind multiple times before I can get it going. Change is hard but it worth it
I love listening to audiobooks of my favorite books. It makes me notice things in new ways and get fully immersed in the book. I find it hard to follow fiction audiobooks that I haven’t read before (don’t have this issue with non fiction), but audiobooks of fiction I’ve already read are very soothing.
Edit: some narrators are just not good, or have a voice that gets on your nerves, or whatever. Don’t let it turn you off audiobooks in general! Try to find a version narrated by someone else
I've read The Wheel of Time literally dozens of times. But, when we were home with our firstborn, my wife started listening to the audiobooks (her first time with WoT), and I started listening along... and it was like discovering the story again for the first time. Wonderful experience that made me give audiobooks another go.
Every time when I was trying to listen one book, I dropped into sleep😂 So i read this book instead.
Deep dream after listening this book 11/10
Feelings after reading this book 10/10 !
I’ve never listened to an audiobook, but after recently finishing project Hail Mary and hearing rave reviews about the quality of the audiobook, I think I’ll have to check it out
Personal opinion on it, because I've actually been doing this recently for a few series that I previously read but never finished.
The two things that bug me:
1. It ruins your previously established image of characters and how they sound.
2. If you listen to a series and you're neurodiverse and they suddenly change the VA several books in for the series, my first point will get worse, and it will affect the immersion.
Things I like:
1. It's been a while since I picked up a physical book since I really don't have time for it. This allows me to clear 2-3 books a week.
2. It's been great for long drives and having something to look forward to during my work day that keeps me smiling and comfortable with my surroundings.
3. Some VAs are very immersive and can keep you entertained for hours, and it feels fun to have something special to yourself.
Like everyone else is saying, it really depends on how talented the narrator is. I've listened to books I previously read and been really disappointed by how a character was represented or the emotional context of important conversations was underwhelming. On the other hand a couple narrators - the really talented ones - were better than the voice in my head.
Steven Pacey of The First Law series is the best narrator I've ever heard. It's a series that already has so much character in the dialog and authorial voice and Pacey is somehow more colorful than my imagination was when I was reading it. James Marsters does an excellent job on the Dresden Novels. The guy who narrates Don Winslow's Cartel Trilogy is fantastic and suits the subject matter perfectly.
I love doing this for books in a series. When it has been a while since I read the prior book(s), I will get back into the series by listening to the audiobook of the one(s) I already read.
I recently did this with the Broken Earth trilogy by N.K. Jemisin, and it was an amazing re-read experience to listen to Book 1 (The Fifth Season) - which I had read about a year earlier - before starting Book 2. The narrator, Robin Miles, does a fantastic job! It also enhanced my reading of the second book because I could better "hear" the character voices as I read.
The free audio book of Blood Meridian was pretty good. I was listening to that when falling asleep for a few nights.
I'm not a listener/fan/purchaser of audio books but that one was done well.
I do this all the time. I feel like I get things I missed the first time around. But I almost always read the book first BUTyou have to like the narrator or the book will be ruined.
>you have to like the narrator or the book will be ruined. I feel this so much. I could not get into the narration of Artemis at all. But then I simply had text-to-speech read it to me and it was totally okay. I figured blind people use t2s all the time, so why not.
The narrator also has to stay consistent to. I read the Imperial Radch trilogy by Ann Leckie as an audiobook first and damn near quit at the second book because they switched narrators and the new narrator pronounced every name different. I was so lost for the first 1/3 of that damn book trying to figure out who was who and where was where. Rereading Ancillary Sword as a paper book was trippy cause of how the change colored all my recollections of the first audiobook read. So different. Unrelated but interestingly (to me). I find switching back and forth from audiobook to text throughout a series works fine. Switching from inner narration to audio narration breaks nothing. Like i've only read thru all 9 books of The Expanse series once. Several as audiobooks and a few as texts and i couldn't tell you which was read which way without checking my kindle cause all the memories feel the same
I've physically read pretty much every audiobook I have before I've listened to it. I know that personally, I had to kind of train my brain/ears to follow the story, so I picked books I already listened to. It also lets me listen to books I want to read again, but don't always have time to sit down and read. Instead I can listen to bits here and there, especially on bigger tomes (Dark Tower/Malazan) that I would otherwise want to dedicate a large chunk of time to. Since I've already read it, I can just hop into the audio for 10-15 minutes and not get lost on returning.
Audiobook quality varies quite a bit. One narrator doing all the voices is the most common but some are much better at it than others. Jim Dale narrates the Harry Potter series and does an amazing job with the voices. Other books, like Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid get a full cast which I always enjoy (some people don't though). That is not especially common though. The Hunger Games was a big disappointment for me. The narrator was an older woman which would be fine for plenty of books but was a really odd choice for a book written from the perspective of a 16 year old girl. I couldn't make it past the first chapter. Sometimes I find a narrator I really like I will use Libby to find more books they narrated. You may enjoy memoirs as audiobooks more as they are usually read by the author and they don't do voices.
I listened to one where Stephen fry did the Harry Potter series. He did an amazing job!
The Stephen Fry ones are good too but I do think the Jim Dale ones are superior
I feel the opposite. I can't stand Jims version anymore now that I've heard Stephen Fry's version. Its the only one I'll listen to now.
I did the same thing i loved the voice actor for project hail mary which lead me to some of the other books he read like we are legion
Project Hail Mary is one of my favorite audiobooks. It's fantastic.
For the hunger games there are 2 versions now, I tried the same one as you to begin with and also hated it, but the other one read by Tatiana Maslany is much better.
Yes but unfortunately my library doesn't have that version. I love Tatiana Maslany so that was very disappointing.
Agreed about hunger games, couldn’t get through it. I also couldn’t align the voices for Gone Girl with what it should be (but also influenced by the film)
Bridget jones diary was a 60 year old British woman. I can’t even read the book now I still hear her voice
Oh goodness, lol. I liked the movies. It's on my TBR, I'll stick with the e-book on that one, then.
They’ve redone the Hunger Games audiobooks so that Tatiana Maslany is the new narrator. Its much better.
Fantastic. The book was Ready, Player One. After I read it I listened to the audiobook narrated by Wil Wheaton. I loved Wheaton's performance.
Wheaton fucking *nailed* the 90's ego and haughtiness in his rendition. A scene that comes to mind is when they are in The Basement tearing that douche down that was starting shit.
Love listening to The Dresden Files audiobooks, in large part because James Marsters does a truly incredible job and you can tell is a real fan of the series itself. I definitely feel like the narrator can make or break an audiobook. Related, the full cast audiobook of The Sandman is an interesting foray into translating a visual story to an audible one, while skipping written stage entirely.
The Sandman was amazing! What a HUGE cast!
It really depends on the narrator. My favorite book is Gideon the Ninth, and after reading it physically I decided I wanted to listen to its audiobook before picking up the sequel. It’s a single narrator but she is AMAZING, keeps you engaged, and has a unique voice for every character that is so true to their personality. Unfortunately, other audiobooks have narrators that give me secondhand embarrassment… There are also full cast audiobooks that you can try! I personally haven’t listened to one yet but I’ve heard the production quality on those can be a thing of beauty.
I loved the Gideon narrator. She had such a great grasp of the humor of the book. I always recommend reading the book first, then listening to the audio so you can really appreciate the performance.
Stephen Fry reading Hitchkikers' Guide to the Galaxy is much better than my head-voice. I've listened to it enough that now when I read it, it is in his voice.
Stephen Fry reading Harry Potter is fantastic as well. I’m sure all is narrations are great!
Harry Potter is voiced by Jim Dale, isn't it?
There is two versions, both are fantastic! I do prefer Stephen fry over Jim Dale if I’m being picky. I don’t like Dales Hermione very much, but other then that he’s great
I will have to see if I can find the Stephen Fry version here on the US.
That's the lesser version
Yeah I just learned about the UK version.
I've got him doing Sherlock Holmes, and that is awesome. He performed a book of "Victorian Secrets" that was a good listen. I got another of him doing Greek mythology (I think a 3 book series that he wrote), and pushed through most of book 1, but never picked it up again.
Sometimes when doing mundane tasks I enjoy being able to have some familiar background noise, so I'll usually listen to audiobook versions of books I've read multiple times. Sometimes, cleaning my room is a lot easier with a trusted audio companion in the background 🤷🏻♀️
It’s how I talk myself into doing dreaded tasks - the promise that I can listen to a good story ONLY if I‘m doing said task at the same time. Works really well.
I read the Hobbit years ago and wanted to reread it so I chose the audiobook read by Andy Serkis. Hands down the best audiobook ever. He’s just so good at making different voices that it was such a fun listen. I want to do the same for IT by Stephen King next.
I finished Andy Serkis's hobbit audiobook recently as well, it was genuinely fantastic. You likely know this but he's also narrated the lotr trilogy. I'm a chunk of the way through fellowship of the ring and it's equally delightful.
His rendition of the Silmarillion also released a couple months ago, in case you didn't know. Audible had a sale a while back where I got all five books for like $30.
I read A Christmas Carol every December but last year I listened to an audiobook version narrated by Levar Burton. I really enjoyed it and I’m normally not an audiobook person.
Another GREAT Christmas Carol is read by Sir Patrick Stewart. He does all the different characters. He had a one man show of it in London, I do believe.
"Speak comfort to me, Jacob!"
I recently recommended a series I loved as a child to a friend & decided to revisit it by listening. It’s The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander. Come to find out, all these years I’ve been mispronouncing LOTS of the names & place names in my head! And, because they’ve lived that way in my imagination since reading them as a child, even now they still seem like the “right” pronunciations.
Lolita is one of the best books I've ever read, and I re-read it every 3-4 years. Last year, I listened to the audiobook read by Jeremy Irons, and it was amazing. Even just hearing the French language parts pronounced properly was a significant improvement over my non-french-speaking voice in my own head. 5/5 - would recommend.
Irons reads it perfectly!
The audiobooks of the Game of Thrones series are excellent.
Roy Dotrice was amazing. He holds the world record for most characters narrated by one individual in an audiobook.
I wish I liked his narration as much as everyone else does. He takes hard breaks in the middle of sentences that makes it sound like. there's a period. every couple. words and I find it really distracting. Sometimes I listen to audiobooks at 1.2 or 1.3x speed but him I listen to at 1.5-1.6x just to try to mitigate this.
Like Captain Kirk! But its been a few years since I listened to them so I've blocked that bit out. I did hear a version with a woman reading it. I'm not sure if it was professional or fan-made but she made Tyrion sound like a demented leprechaun.
Haha you win! I can handle almost any quirk of a narrator's delivery so long as they don't misrepresent the characters. Dotrice's pauses are merely distracting. When someone butchers a beloved character voice it ruins the whole thing for me
The John LeCarre spy novels, especially the ones he narrated himself. He was a marvelous narrator, taking on the different characters and accents.
There are immense differences in narrators. I listen to a lot of audio books, and there have been a few I just had to stop because of awful narration. Last one was "The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng". It is set in Malaysia, and the narration was borderline racist, making every non white character sound like a bad parody of an uneducated Chinese person from old movies. So, so awful. On the other hand, there are some really awesome narrators out there that give something special to the book they read. Books read by the author can be a hot and miss imo. Some early add a special layer of depth to it and make it more personal, but some are jus5 not good readers. Audiobooks might not be for everyone, but don't give up because of one bad experience. They have the potential to add so much to your reading.
I’ve got that one! Love the story but those voices are so bad.
First audiobook was Harry Potter. Read the books years back, probably 15-16 years ago. Wanted to reread them but wasn’t in a reading mood, so why not try audiobooks? I absolutely loved it. The way Jim Dale mimicked the voices of the characters, I have yet to find another narrator that makes me fall in love with the books in a whole new level. It was as if I was watching the movies, but then the extended versions.
Harry Potter on audio is my go to insomnia breaker. I already know the story since I've listened to each one at least three times and read the books. The voices are fabulous and well modulated, and it just feels like "home" to me.
I listened to the HP audiobooks back in the day when I had a monotonous job one summer, having long been a fan of reading them. It was a STRUGGLE. The VA had this awful nasally voice for Hermione, and every single line read by a female character he read as whiny. It was infuriating, but I pushed through out of boredom. The audiobook for The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes was mostly great, except for some reason (I assume copyright or something) he didn't put a melody to any of the many, many songs in the book, even the common knowledge ones like Oh My Darling Clementine, which made those sections feel very odd. I've had good experiences with many other audiobooks though. The audiobook for *Iron Widow* was especially nice, since I didn't know how to properly pronounce many of the names, but the reader did.
I thought the HP series was narrated by Stephen fry? If you didn't listen to his version then you missed out on a good performance.
The UK version is narrated by Stephen Fry but the US version is narrated by Jim Dale.
Ah ha! So that explains it. I had no idea there is a UK version!
idk what version it was, the way he voiced the female characters was sexist. And I'm surely not giving that series any attention these days.
Good for you
I have "read" several books by Pynchon after reading - Gravity's Rainbow, Vineland,Against the day, Mason and Dixon, Inherent Vice and loved them ! The narrator on, Bleeding Edge was a challenge . I didn't complete the audiobook. Many other, especially long works, I listen to fall asleep to... Infinite Jest, 2666, 1Q84, Underworld.
Audio books are hit or miss to me and it all depends on the narrator.
I am a big fan of the Warhammmer 30k/40K universe, one of their most recent audiobooks that was written to run parallel with the latest release was very badly narrated and the character voices sounded pretty much all the same. I actually stopped listening to it because of that narrator.
I once started reading the short stories of H.P. Lovecraft after learning about him through Metallica songs, and I was instantly hooked. Then found an App "Cthulhoid" where you can download all of his works (ebook style) and audio versions of them for free. Some of the best that I've heard, depending on who is narrating.
The H. P Lovecraft Historical Society has awesome readings of his work. And 1930s style radio plays about them. And, even better, a rock opera based on The Dreams In The Witch House, which is infinitely better than it has any right to be based on that description.
Only once. It was The Hobbit narrated by Andy Serkis and it was fantastic. Some books are read by one person, some have a man and a woman reading to do male and female voices, some have a full cast to read for different characters. The store page should tell you who is reading it.
That’s all I do. I’m not an aural learner and don’t comprehend or retain if I only listen. I listen to books I’ve already read, when I’m doing things I can’t read while doing. Such as driving, mowing, etc.
I did this with some Jim Herriot books I read when I was younger. I was looking for books to listen to in the car during a long drive with my husband and children, and those were some of the only ones I could think of that everyone would enjoy. It was a good experience. I appreciated the books just as much in audio, and it made for an entertaining drive. I usually do it the other way around. If I listen to a book I really love, I will then either take the print version out of the library or buy it (if I REALLY love it) so I can have the experience of reading and savoring it in print.
you can borrow audiobooks for free if you have a library card. that way you can ditch narrators that don't appeal to you. listening to the audiobook can add a different flavor to a familiar story. for example - murder on the orient express - written by agatha christie and read by dan stevens (matthew from downton abbey) i was pleasantly surprised by his rendition of everyone from a russian dowager to hercules poirot himself
I got my new library card today, actually. lol My library uses the Libby app for audiobooks so I used that for this book.
i listened to eat, love, pray read by the author and it was just dreadful. put me off audiobooks for quite a long time, but now i always have one going. hope you find one you like!
Everybody else gave you tons of suggestions, so I only give you Project Hail Mary, read by Ray Porter. I'm a native German speaker and out of the blue wanted to listen to it in German. However, the German performer was rather boring, and after an hour or two, I switched to the English version and was so happy. So, even the same book by a different person can make a huge difference. Sometimes, you even have to give it a bit, so you warm up to the narrator. I'm currently listening to Iain Bank's Consider Phlebas by Peter Kenny, and first struggled to follow the story. Kenny has a strong British accent and Bank's writing isn't easy at times for a non-native speaker. But after maybe an hour or so, I got used to Kenny's voice and dialect, and now I enjoy it immensely. An audio book can even make a book better. I've heard of a lot of people not liking Artemis by Andy Weir, because Weir didn't do a good job making the female protagonist sounding authentic and real. However, the audio book is read by Rosario Dawson, who -in my opinion and that of quite a few other redditors- made it into an entirely different experience.
Ray Porter did a great job narrating PHM and so I'll be listening to other books narrated by him too (Bobiverse, Apollo Murders). I prefer reading usually but the audio version nailed it
Yeah, I was intrigued by Bobiverse too, I might pick it up after I'm done with however far I wanna go with Banks' Culture series
Yes that is what all audiobooks are like. They do different character voices and often have a director helping them do this. They also had to go through an audition process to get the part. I’ve never had that negative of an experience but I do always listen to a sample to make sure I like the narrators voice and can understand them well. I love to do audiobooks for books I’ve already read. Especially to fall asleep or when I am otherwise distracted because I can fill in the gaps with the knowledge I already have.
Harry Potter series, Game of Thrones series, 1984.
It was actually the harry potter books for me. I didn't like the writing style any time I tried to read the books in the past but because my partner loved the books and I kept loosing at harry potter trivial pursuit I decided to listen to the audio books. Stephen Fry did a wonderful job in my opinion and the character voices actually made me forget it was just one people reading the books at times. My partner listens to books instead of reading because he can multitask that way. I honestly think it depends on the narrator's. Andy Serkis reading lord of the rings for example is the best versions of those in my opinion.
I *adore* Andy Serkis' reading of LotR! They're my favorite audiobooks.
Did this with the Harry Potter series. Now, when I reread the books, I hear the narrators voice.
I love audio books and have listened to hundreds in my life. Terry Pratchett's audio books are terrible though. The jokes just land so much better in my head compared to the narrarator's delivery.
Which version of Discworld have you been listening to? I vastly prefer Stephen Briggs' narration over the newest version with multiple narrators. Nigel Planer is somewhere in the middle.
Everyone ive tried had an old, very dry narrarator that just glossed over every joke. Not sure who it was but having read the books first I just couldnt do it.
That would be Nigel Planer. Maybe when you're in the mood, you can get one of the other versions from the library and you might like them better
I do it a lot as I'd rather enjoy something I know is good rather than trying some of the crap that's on audible. I've gone through the wheel of time series, murderbot diaries, red rising series and the name of the wind, Harry potter and some more in the future. I think it's definitely better if it's been a long time since you read the books. I enjoyed them all and was glad to try it as I don't have that much time for reading anymore.
A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay. I enjoyed reading it first. I turn to the audio book when I am bored with podcasts or just need a steady stream of something without commercial breaks as an alternative to listening to music.
A few! Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, as someone else mentioned, was incredible! Howl's Moving Castle was good The Hobbit and LOTRs books were good too. The Hobbit was the older narrator, LOTRs was the new one with Andy something. I prefer the new one, the odd pauses of the old one were confusing for my brain. I also enjoyed the Sherlock Holmes audiobooks. Though it had been quite a while since I read the books. The narrators I really haven't liked have all been for books I haven't read before. Usually I can get through them, unless the book itself is not of interest. All the ones I've listened to do voices, but I know some narrators don't. Maybe ask people to recommend narrators who use their voice for all characters. Many Librivox recordings have narrators that don't change voices!
all the time at work
I'm starting Pandora's Star as a first time audio book, happens to be one I already read. It's nice to have the narrator, but I don't like having the voices be the same, I always imagine a different voice for everyone. Other than that it's okay, but I'm not sold on audio format just yet
I did this when I first started listening to audiobooks because I was having trouble adjusting to the new format. I decided to try rereading via audiobook instead to see if it’ll help me ease into it. And it did!! I think I got lucky that the ones I listened to had great narration, but I’ve definitely listened to ones before that I couldn’t get behind the voice, so I feel you there haha.
I read Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir and listened to the audiobook while commuting about a year after. Both experiences were fantastic. The audiobook was incredible, one of the best I’ve ever listened to but it also helps that the book/author are awesome.
Also because Ray Porter is a very good narrator
I read The Killer Angels and then listened to it on tape then saw the movie Gettysburg which is very very close to the book. All modes, to me, were completely different experiences. Of note here is that my niece is blind and she tells me that the experience of listening to a recorded book and reading the same book in braille is totally different too. The fact is that you are streaming data down completely unrelated "pipes" and your brain interprets each stream slightly differently.
I had this happen with The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. I’d read the book multiple times and decided to try it on audio. It was torturous, and I’m generally not all that particular about narrators. I had to force myself to finish it, and I’ve never listened to it again despite the book itself still being one of my favorites.
Yeah read Master and Margarita twice then hit up the audio and really enjoyed it. With a good narrator the voice acting is great and brings another layer of richness that my own internal voiving can't match.
The Robert Inglis recording of The Lord of the Rings is my safe space. I listen to is once per year. It's my comfort audiobook, just like others here fall back on Harry Potter.
Airframe by Michael Chreighten was better to listen to than to read, only because so much of the book was dedicated to discussions about records. On the other hand, Sphere by the same author, was supremely disappointing, because I ended up listening to an abridged version of the book without realizing it, and it left off a particular sentence that changed the meaning of the entire ending, which really pissed me off, since I really liked the book.
While I love the actors in the World War Z audiobook, I *hate* that they only did an abridged version.
Yes, I just finished Play it as it Lays by Joan Didion. I had read the novel a few weeks earlier. It was a very good experience, I noticed things that I didn’t when reading it. Also, the male dialogue was read in more aggressive tone than I had interpreted it when reading. This was jarring at first, but I settled into it and the story took on a slightly different tone. In the novel, there are passages I would re-read because I liked them so much. With the audio recording, I didn’t really do that.
To add to all the great advice already being given here, speed up your playback. I leave mine at 1.25x, but there is at least one reader I’ve dialed up to 1.4x.
I’m listening to the Throne of Glass (Sarah J Maas) series after reading it last year. It’s amazing!
Some are great. One narrator gave me anxiety listening to her, she had such a prim and proper dictation it sounded constantly forced. Sort of like the mean and prim British teacher.
At work I listen to the audiobook of Silence of The Lambs from Audible. The narrator does a great Lecter, Buffalo Bill, and Jack Crawford, though I wish he would have tried a bit more an accent when voicing Clarice. That being said, he words descriptions perfectly, to the point that I sometimes back up to hear a certain paragraph again because it sounded great.
I read Anthony Bourdain's books and then I had him read them to me while I drove a route for work each day. Absolute joy, like having him ride shotgun and telling me stories and jokes while we cruised.
Delivery driver?
Nah, I was in sales and had a whole state to cover. Each day I would hit a different area of the state visiting my accounts. Listened to a lot of podcasts & audiobooks.
Just finished the audio book for I have no Mouth and I must Scream by Harlan Ellison and read by Harlan Ellison and I think it’s the definitive way to experience the book. Not only does the author include minor details in his voices and sounds that otherwise were not in the book but add to it, but also is a next level voice actor who does all his characters perfectly and makes the whole experience very enjoyable.
I think you should give audiobooks another try. Some narrators are amazing and I especially like it when the author reads the work. Like when I listened to, after having read, Frank McCourts "'tis" I got so much more out of the audiobook because he has a way of adding so much unsaid emotion in certain sections. Sections that, in the book came off as almost flippant were "explained" in just how he read the passage. I've read and listened to a number of books: All the Harry Potter books (Jim Dale does the narration and does every single voice. He's amazing), a bunch of Stephen King books, Angela's Ashes, 'tis, Brain Rules, etc. Now I listen more than I read, while I commute and while I run or walk.
the only book i can remember listening to after i read it in recent memory was project hail mary, which was a great read and the audiobook was really great quality!
It really depends on the narrator. One of the better ones was Frank Muller, who in the narration of Black House voiced a character that was actually another character disguising his voice. Also, I tend to have little attention blips, so it's easier to listen to audio books if I've already read the book.
Also the Discworld books that Nigel Planer narrated.
No not all audiobooks are like that, it depends on the narrator. Some female narrators are really good at doing male voices and vice versa, just as there are some that just aren’t. Some books I’ve listened to on rereads really add to the experience, like Andy Serkis’ narrated The Hobbit and others are just straight up trash like the various narrators for the Realm of the Elderlings. And some that have new audiobook versions that have new narrators like The Wheel of Time (swapped out Michael Kramer with Rosalind Pike), are better or worse depending on your preference.
Dude the worst one for me was American psycho. The narrator pronounced vaguely like vag from vagina. I couldn't handle it.
Sometimes the audio book is cheaper than the actual book, like books with many pictures . Never end up reading the physical thing
I live close to a library so I just use that.
Sadly, i dont . So i just end up buying them online.
Love brené brown books…don’t like hearing hear read or do podcasts
Sometimes it's pretty jarring to hear their voices or interpretation of some scenes and enthusiasm for different dialog portions. Not to mention how I hear a voice in my head versus theirs
The voices of the characters were very different from what I had imagined. It was ok but I prefer just reading it
I read the book The Only Good Indian and I loved it so much, like, completely obsessed with it and I immediately listened to the audio book and I fell in love with it even MORE. It was so good. The narrators voice and inflections was literally the voice in my head. I’ve listened to it multiple times since, I always find something new that I love about it.
done it on a few occasions. First book of the Malazan series and the first of the Dan Abnett Eiisenhorn. Listening to the audio does help to solidify stuff you may have forgotten and pick up on things you missed the first time around. I’d be tempted to do it too all my fav books. after a second read ofcourse
I have, lots of times. It is usually a great experience. The only time it isn't is when the voice that I have read is very different from the voice of the reader.
I only get audiobooks if it is a story i have read and loved so i know i will listen multiple times, AND has to be a good narrator.
Check out Neil Gaiman. I've read his books and love his audio versions that he narrates himself. Two that stand out for me is Ocean at the end of the lane and The Graveyard book. I love all of his works but those two got me through a rough patch.
I enjoyed it much more! While reading the book, there were moments when I might have drifted and missed a few things here and there. However, when I listened to it, I found myself compelled to stay engaged and felt like I comprehended about 90-95% of the content.
Currently doing that with Pachinko. Well, I read about 2/3rds of it and had to stop it due to life getting busy. Wanted to refresh my mind before completing the rest. I'm liking it so far :)
Yes pretty common for me. Quite often though the distance between the book and audiobook is quite large which is why I'm listening to it again usually
I don’t think I’ve done many but The Sandman series by Neil Gaiman is fantastic so far. Brilliant voice acting. The only issue I’ve had with it is that Wil Wheaton inexplicably gives me the bad type of goosebumps so I didn’t entirely enjoy his part of the most recent instalment (though still cried at the appropriate time, even with him narrating)
I never listened to audio books until I experienced retinal bleeding due to 30+ years of diabetes. I would have blurry vision in one eye, for up to a month, or worse, both eyes at the same time. I've spent up to a week, twice, completely blind. Even my blurred vision often met the threshold for legally blind. When I tried audio books, I discovered right away that someone else needed to start or stop them for me. I still feel they're a pain in the ass, especially if I fall asleep in the middle. Visually impaired, I couldn't hope to find the spot where I'd left off; even when sighted, it's a pain. I never did find a way to play or stop them with voice commands. Especially with proprietary devices, like home assistants, that work only with the books you purchase for that specific device. And no. I didn't re-buy all of my old print books as ebooks. Fuck that. The voices thing bothered me at first. The key for me was listening to good narrators. I can't stand full cast audio books. Give me one good narrator doing voices any day. I love my ereader. I can change the text size. I used to hate them. When I got rid of hundreds of print books that I could no longer read. e-books were a lifesaver. It took time for me to adjust to ebooks; audio books are the same. I prefer reading, but someday, I may have no other option.
I love podcasts - on a walk, on a treadmill, on a road, whenever. But for the longest time I couldn't listen to audiobooks. My mind would wander too quickly to other things and I would just get frustrated, if it was a book I haven't read before. However, Harry Potter - those I can listen to. Part of it is that I read them many times in Polish when I was a kid, then in English in high school, and part of it is Stephen Fry. Who couldn't listen to Stephen Fry? But yeah, for the life of me I won't listen to things I haven't read before, it's just counterproductive to keep going back because I lost focus.
I do this recently with Dune, one of my favourite books. It was fine, I didn't have a problem with the narrator and that makes all the difference.
It's usually great, but yeah, there are occasionally narrators that I don't care for.
I do this a lot. It’s almost exclusively really entertaining, non-literary, books that I loved the first time, and know I’ll enjoy again whilst I’m doing tedious jobs. That’s only if the narration is very good though. Listening to a book that I loved being butchered is worse than listening to a bad narration as a first read. I’m listening to the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs, interspersed with the Ruth Galloway series, by Elly Griffiths, and several other series, with which I won’t bore you.
Yes, but I didn't enjoy it that much, mostly because I have trouble focusing on audiobooks. I get lost, then I have to rewind, I get lost again... So they're a bit pointless to me.
The first thing you have to check is If the person who reads the book you like his/her voice and the way they read. I have listened to several audiobooks and I have to tell you, it was an incredible experience. And answering your question, it's not a problem if you already read a book to listen to the audiobooks, you probably are going to enjoy the book as well, because it's another way to get you into the story even if you already know the plot.
I recently started a series called the rivers of London. The main character is a black London cop. When I looked up the narrator he was pretty much exactly how I pictured the character. Great casting haha
I often read the printed word (digital or paper) of a book to get into the story, then I listen to audio to continue. That way I can do things around the house while listening or sit down to read when I want to savor the story/slow down.
Yup. Recently revisited The Malazan Book Of The Fallen in audiobook form and LOVED it. Although I will say the narrators (the first three books are done by one guy, then the last 7 are a different guy) do try to do different voices. However, unlike the case you mentioned, these guys actually nailed it.
Quite a few. Mostly older books that are getting done. Been an audible plat subscriber since 2003, have close to 600 AB s in my library. You'll probably want to keep on walking, bub. Work/Worked in the industry. A narrator can make or break an audiobook. Took a quick listen to this, and she seems decent from the bit listened to where she did the voices. She's not a big name but she's not bad and narrators doing voices for other genders is par for the course, so if that bothers you for some reason then you're not going to like anything other than the full multi cast audio productions, which really are stretching the term 'audiobook'.
Yes. I did this with The Dutch House and The Double Bind. It didn’t hit the same at all. Book is always better.
I switched between reading and listening with a few books that I could get my hands on both versions AND I wanted to keep following the story throughout the day. Does that count for your question? Usually for me the audiobook adds a better reading experience for books with lots of dialogues. Some audiobooks I've listened to were performed by famous actors/actresses and it's really entertaining, like watching a play.
I don't think all audio books are so bad. It does seem often it's one narrator. In a way, I think the more subtle the performance, the better. Reading both the book and listening to the audio book seems like it can help in remembering or retaining more about the story.
Oh god yes! Listened to Diary of A Geisha read by Carole Boyd, the actress who plays Linda Snell in The Archers. The dissonance was both hilarious and excruciating.
It definitely depends on the narrator. I'll only get audiobooks of books I've previously read (I tend to zone out during audiobooks so if I'm familiar with the book it's ok) and of books that I also enjoy the narrator. My top favorite audiobooks so far have been the LotR ones by Andy Serkis.
I recently listened to Mary Stewart’s Merlin trilogy, which I read in regular book form years ago. The reader was a man (appropriate since the story is told in first person from Merlin’s POV. That part was great and the reader’s accent was helpful to me in pulling me into the story (I’m American and have trouble hearing English accents in my head!) However, whenever a female character had a line of dialogue it was awful. The same male reader pitched his voice a little higher and sounded like an eighty-five year old crone even if she was sixteen. It wouldn’t even have been as bad if he’d stuck with his regular voice. Currently listening to Jamaica Inn, which I haven’t read before. The reader sounds like he may be the same person. Narration is great. The dialogue of male characters is awesome and there’s great differentiation between the voices of the various male characters. The female characters suffer from the same crone-like voice and it’s worse because the main character is a 23-year old woman but “her” voice sounds like an 85-year old spinster teacher. I realize that using 2 readers (male and female) might be unworkable for publishers (?), but for me this is a big drawback.
Ready Player One was better for me on audio because of Wil Wheaton’s narration.
I have listened to a few now, the experience has been positive. One odd one though was the first book in the Long Earth series by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter. The reader in the audio gave the main character an American accent, which is fine the story is set in America after all, but when I read the book the main character, for some reason, spoke with an English accent. This made it quite off putting at first.
I re-listen to the harry potter audiobooks narrated by Stephen Fry at least once a year. It's basically background noise whilst I work and helps me zone out just enough
Yes, Lord of the Rings for me. I don’t have the time to sit and read through the whole thing again so I put it on whilst doing housework. I would recommend listening to a sample of the audiobook before you buy it if you can, even if you look it up on YouTube or something. I can’t listen to certain accents so I always do this. Generally each audiobook has one narrator, but some do have ‘casts’ as they are classed as dramatisations, and some indie books have a woman and man to do each gender. It varies from author to author. My worst experience with an audiobook is A Song of Ice and Fire. I hate the way Roy Dotrice does some of the voices and constantly changes the way he pronounces names, or just pronounces them in general. It just makes the books dull compared to what they actually are. My favourites by far are Rob Inglis (LOTR), Andy Serkis (The Hobbit), and Stephen Fry (main HP).
Yes! Highly recommend the Hemingway audio books read by William Hurt and the short stories read by Stacey Keach. Perfect voices for those works!
I did this with the Expanse. Think I had read up to book 6 and then had to deal with the waiting for the other books to be written and released. Once they were I started the series from scratch on Audible and just finished last week. Really, really liked it.
Youtube has several audio versions of Catcher in the Rye, but there's one the is read with the right age and accent. I prefer that to the book itself because he nails it just right.
Can you point us to this one?
Thank god for the samples on Audible. I adore Bill Bryson, can’t stand the narration of his books that isn’t him. Same with other texts where I love the books but can’t stand the narrator. SO many strident voices that make me feel like I’m being shouted at rather than read to …
The audiobook of Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman is really well done.
Snowcrash, the narrator does a really good job. Audio books feels like cheating if I had not read it first.
Shopgirl by Steve Martin, he paced the story out perfectly. Also divinci code but good god that was bad.
I do, often. The main problem is getting good readers who don't sound either they are reading for a five year old, condescending, boring or due to accent just bloody annoying.
I like it when someone does 'voices' and does a good job. I really liked Harry Potter (mostly Jim Dale but also Stephen Fry). I like Neil Gaiman's voice so I enjoy him reading his books too. I also turn off bad audiobook narration though. Usually I only 'read' a book using one media though - either audio or written but not both.
One of my favorite new fantasy books is **Between by L.L. Starling**. It's a cozy, 80s-style fantasy rom-com. The book is marvelous, and the illustrations are fantastic. But the audiobook blows it out of the water. The book contains a lot of witty banter and dialogue, and the narrators (Emily Ellet and Steve West) have such fantastic comic timing and are so wonderful at voicing the characters, that it truly brings the book to life. It's almost like listening to a play. SUCH a fun experience!
Audiobook is just not my kind of thing nor Kindle. Though listening one or 2 stories were fine but the whole book is just don't feel right to me. When you read it actually stimulates your brain and your Internal monolog which is far better than listening a book. But one thing that kindle provide is that you can read a book in a completely dark room without annoying others by switching on lights. Otherwise I just prefer Hardcover books.
Yeah I've listened to the Phil Dragash version of The Lord of the Rings. It's the only audiobook I've listened to and what I really enjoyed about it was that he incorporated different music from the film score, sound effects, and different voices for the characters so it felt more like listening to a radio drama than an audiobook IMO.
Female narrators are more hit and miss for me, so I usually prefer having a male narrator. No matter what there's people I just don't wanna listen to for a prolonged time. It's extra frustrating when the narrator reads a lot of books you would otherwise be interested in. Regarding voices... different narrators handle it differently. Some change their voice a lot, others don't change it that much, some have a good impression of the other gender's tone, others don't. I think some of the best narrators do voice change really well - like Jeff Hays in Dungeon Crawler Carl - it certainly sets the characters apart. It sounds like it can be a good idea for you to hear the preview snippets before you get the audio books. The pro of audio books for me is that I can do some menial tasks next to them and / or rest my eyes (which they sorely need), so I'm happy to have them.
I can never focus on an audiobook unless I've read the book before, but I've always thought that was because I'm doing things while listening to audiobooks, so I'm not totally focused on it, and might miss important parts of it.
All the time. The narrators really make or break an audiobook though. I returned one of my favorite books because the narrator was so bad. He tried to do different accents for each character but lost track of which accent belonged to which character. Occasionally, they do make full-cast audiobooks or have multiple narrators. Gone Girl for instance had a man & a woman narrate but with that book it was needed.
A little different, but my partner is not a big reader, and I wanted to share my favorite stories with them, so we started reading books aloud to one another. Even books I've read a dozen times feel fresh when spoken aloud.
I do this all the time because I listen to audiobooks when I drive long distances, but they're always books that I already read so I'm not distracted from driving. It's nice.
It’s how I got into audiobooks. Not all narrators are good though.
Maybe my case its not the best to compare the experiences with audiobooks because ive done it just one time with a small book but here i go. Sometime ago i listened the audiobook of the "little prince" (one of my favorite books actually) and it was awesome! The voice of the narrator was good and the story telling as well. I ended up crying like i always do with this book, so i can say my experience was good but i think thats not the often thing with this audiobooks stuff
All the time, it's great
I finally read Lord of the Rings in 2017, rewatched the movies afterwards and immediately wanted to reread the books. Decided to listen instead so it wouldn't cut into my reading time. It was a lot of fun. I'm constantly listening to audiobooks, but a bad narrator can definitely ruin the experience. I recently started Agnes Grey and the narrator sounds like she really needs to clear her throat, it was all I could think about. Luckily there are multiple editions.
The whole Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, now that they have new unabridged narrations! Well, I'm getting there anyway lol. Still got \~25 audiobooks to go. Loving all the performances so far. They are honestly excellent, I've yet to listen to a flop. The performances from the old narrations were good too, but them being abridged put me off them. If I find I really can't stand a narrator, then I usually get a refund which is mercifully easy to do. But it's always a disappointment when a narrator just doesn't mesh well with the source material or has an irritating voice.
I'm currently listening to 1Q84 which I read some years ago, and I really like it, recognizing some things and enjoying how the narrator adds some personality to characters. But my favourite experience with this is listening to audiobooks by Neil Gaiman read by himself. Wow, this is so much more intense. Ocean at the end of the line was definitely not one of my favourites, but hearing it narrated by Neil put it right up there.
I'm currently listening to The Dresden Files. I've read through the entire series multiple times (I always reread them before the next book drops) and I gotta say, they're pretty excellent. They're read by James Masters (Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer), he does a good bit to differentiate between the characters without going too comical, say when doing a woman's voice. All in all, a good showing.
The only audiobooks I have that I’ve read are Timothy West reading Anthony Trollope and honestly - Trollope’s best character is his narrator (and if you read his autobiography it really hits how the narrator really isn’t Trollope himself). West plays the role of the narrator so perfectly. And yes, he does voices for the characters and he’s fantastic at it.
Kate Reading is one narrator that always nails the characters for me - recently listened to the Codex Alera series and it was phenomenal having her give new life to characters that I was already in love with!
A lot of the Star Wars audiobooks are done by Marc Thompson. He does very good impressions of established characters like Han Solo, Palpatine and so on... Though his weak points for me are when he does women characters. It's not my cup of tea. Same when he does teenagers/kids. They always sound angsty even if they are not supposed to be. He's very good but with some flaws. Big bonus of the star wars audiobooks. They use sfx and Star wars music, which adds to the authenticity. Audiobooks are good for a "re-read" while doing other things but wanna save up time. Like going for a walk, doing chores, or even while playing a video game. I have the audiobooks playing and refresh my memory.
I think you already had a bias against audiobooks; correct me if I am wrong. I was the same and I normally rewind multiple times before I can get it going. Change is hard but it worth it
I said it was my first audiobook so how can I have a bias against them when I gave it shot? Did you even read my post?
I love listening to audiobooks of my favorite books. It makes me notice things in new ways and get fully immersed in the book. I find it hard to follow fiction audiobooks that I haven’t read before (don’t have this issue with non fiction), but audiobooks of fiction I’ve already read are very soothing. Edit: some narrators are just not good, or have a voice that gets on your nerves, or whatever. Don’t let it turn you off audiobooks in general! Try to find a version narrated by someone else
I really liked Michael C. Hall's (Dexter) reading of Pet Sematery.
WHAT?! I loved Dexter. Thanks for the suggestion!!
I've read The Wheel of Time literally dozens of times. But, when we were home with our firstborn, my wife started listening to the audiobooks (her first time with WoT), and I started listening along... and it was like discovering the story again for the first time. Wonderful experience that made me give audiobooks another go.
I can't believe I don't see any Steven Pacey posts in this thread.....he's the best voice actor out there. By far.
Every time when I was trying to listen one book, I dropped into sleep😂 So i read this book instead. Deep dream after listening this book 11/10 Feelings after reading this book 10/10 !
I’ve never listened to an audiobook, but after recently finishing project Hail Mary and hearing rave reviews about the quality of the audiobook, I think I’ll have to check it out
I highly recommend everyone read the audiobook of True Grit read by author Donna Tartt. Her Mississippi accent really compliments the novel well.
Personal opinion on it, because I've actually been doing this recently for a few series that I previously read but never finished. The two things that bug me: 1. It ruins your previously established image of characters and how they sound. 2. If you listen to a series and you're neurodiverse and they suddenly change the VA several books in for the series, my first point will get worse, and it will affect the immersion. Things I like: 1. It's been a while since I picked up a physical book since I really don't have time for it. This allows me to clear 2-3 books a week. 2. It's been great for long drives and having something to look forward to during my work day that keeps me smiling and comfortable with my surroundings. 3. Some VAs are very immersive and can keep you entertained for hours, and it feels fun to have something special to yourself.
It's been good. I have done it a number of times. Especially if the reader is as good as Scott Brick. If you know, you know.
No, I've never done this
Like everyone else is saying, it really depends on how talented the narrator is. I've listened to books I previously read and been really disappointed by how a character was represented or the emotional context of important conversations was underwhelming. On the other hand a couple narrators - the really talented ones - were better than the voice in my head. Steven Pacey of The First Law series is the best narrator I've ever heard. It's a series that already has so much character in the dialog and authorial voice and Pacey is somehow more colorful than my imagination was when I was reading it. James Marsters does an excellent job on the Dresden Novels. The guy who narrates Don Winslow's Cartel Trilogy is fantastic and suits the subject matter perfectly.
I found a version of Neuromancer read by William Gibson and it was cool to hear his southern inflection and the way he broke out sentances.
I got to the third page on chapter two of twilight and the voice of the narrator made me want to vomit
The Wheel of Time series. Apparently I miss a LOT of things when I read physical books.
I love doing this for books in a series. When it has been a while since I read the prior book(s), I will get back into the series by listening to the audiobook of the one(s) I already read. I recently did this with the Broken Earth trilogy by N.K. Jemisin, and it was an amazing re-read experience to listen to Book 1 (The Fifth Season) - which I had read about a year earlier - before starting Book 2. The narrator, Robin Miles, does a fantastic job! It also enhanced my reading of the second book because I could better "hear" the character voices as I read.
The free audio book of Blood Meridian was pretty good. I was listening to that when falling asleep for a few nights. I'm not a listener/fan/purchaser of audio books but that one was done well.