there is no reason to believe that authors should be great readers but it is still amusing to hear them read their own work. i suppose it gives you a sense of how they hear their words in their head. i suppose it also gives you a sense of the author's physical presence.
a pleasurable listening experience in audiobook form? well i haven't found an author i like reading his own work... yet.
three recent experiences:
toni morrison reading
beloved was very confusing because she didn't distinguish one voice from the other. maybe that was the nature of the book itself. still it didn't quite make a pleasurable listening experience.
mark doty reading
dog years. well i think the book itself wasn't my cup of tea. as long as the anecdotes are left to speak for themselves its fine, but its full of grandiose statements and anaylisis that are somewhat overdone. the things that made the text annoying were made more annoying by his reading of it. his voice is very nasal and some of his reading is too dramatic. like he is forcing you to believe him.
gore vidal reading
point to point navigation. this is the one i'm listening to these days. i wonder how i would react to this text in the printed form. but his reading of it sounds so depressed and bitter. not sure if its the text or his reading, or both. i do have to say that he makes amazing impersonations. his truman capote is hysterical.
what has been your experience?
Message edited by its author, Mar 30, 2008, 4:47am.
Most of the audiobooks I've listened to where the author is the narrator, I've enjoyed.
Barbara Kingsolver reading
Prodigal Summer, and
Ray Bradbury reading
The Martian Chronicles are two of my favorites.
Neil Gaiman is also always reliable - he did a great job with Stardust and
Coraline, and pretty good with
Fragile Things.
Augusten Burroughs reading
Running with Scissors was unremarkable but fine.
Lemony Snicket was fine on the few books of
A Series of Unfortunate Events, but he can't stack up to Tim Curry, who read the rest. Sarah Vowell reading her own work (like
Partly Cloudy Patriot is fun, if you don't mind her voice - I don't, but I know some people do.
I liked Gregory Maguire reading
Leaping Beauty, but not so much reading
Son of a Witch.
Frank McCourt reading
Angela's Ashes was nice, since you got to hear the proper accents, and he sung the singing bits.
mejix, I listened to the
Toni Morrison audiobook of
Beloved as well. She committed the other cardinal sin of audiobook reading and mumbled her way through it as well. I listen mainly in the car, and for most of the time I could hardly hear her!
Stephen King has a slightly whiny voice, but stylistically he is a good reader of his own work.
firefly, thanks for the recomendations. i've been curious about
angela's ashes and
running with scissors for a while. hope to check them out soon.
grammath, you are right about the mumbling. i forgot about that. couldn't finish the audiobook myself. i do want to give the book a shot, specially since it was voted best novel of the last 25 years at that famous nytimes poll. maybe in print.
Message edited by its author, Mar 30, 2008, 4:48am.
I second Neil Gaiman, I think he did a wonderful job with
Coraline and I've just heard a preview of
Neverwhere, but that sounds pretty good too.
I really enjoy listening to Ray Bradbury read
The Martian Chronicles, but that could be as much for nostalgia as for artistic merit.
Right now I'm listening to Alice Sebold read
The Lovely Bones and she's doing a great job.
One author I really dislike listening to is Harlan Ellison, his readings are always way over the top, I enjoy his writing, but I don't think he should record anything.
katy - I'm in total agreement; Harlan Ellison's reading is the main reason I disliked
A Wizard of Earthsea. Stop yelling into the mike! We get it!
firefly, barbara kingsolver also read
animal, vegetable, miracle, and I enjoyed both her reading and what she had to say. i liked her southern twang. i think i've commented on this before somewhere else, but her husband and daughter read the sections they contributed as well, and there were transition sounds, e.g. the animals they were talking about in the next section or whatever. overall the effect was good, and i felt like i was listening to and extended NPR piece (a positive, in my book).
the other example i recently listened to was the kite runner which was a good story, well written (though a bit overdone on the parallellisms). it was also good to have someone familiar with pronounciation of the foreign words or terms of endearment in there as well. i can only imagine how I (in my head) or a reader unfamiliar with the language would ruin the flow of the language.
#6 fyrefly, exactly!
>7
dromjohn, my experience with poets has been better too. although i haven't heard any on audio book format, there are many that i've enjoyed. my all time favorite has to be the philip glass/allen ginsburg project "hydrogen jukebox", which includes an amazing performance of "wichita vortex sutra." highly recommended.
Message edited by its author, Apr 15, 2008, 5:39pm.
>10
I concur. But then I'm both a Glass and a Ginsburg fan.
I've only listened to a total of 12 books ever (listening to the 13th right now).
David McCullough reading
1776 was wonderful.
The only other book I've listened to by the author is
Beowulf read by
Seamus Heaney. I'm listening to it right now. His voice is perfect for it - I'm just not sure I like his translation. I will be reading the Harvard Classics translation by Francis Grummere next to compare.
Loved
The Yiddish Policemen's Union read by Peter Reigert, loved all the Harry Potters read by Jim Dale.
Gave up on a reading of
Pride and Prejudice - a woman reader and I didn't like the way she did the men.
Message edited by its author, Apr 18, 2008, 11:23am.
Interesting topic, since I'm listening to my first book read by its author:
The Wonder Spot by
Melissa Bank. It makes me feel like I'm reading a roman a clef.
Simon Winchester does a fine job of reading his own books. I've liked all of the ones I've heard him do so far.
augusten burroughs and dave sedaris are by far my favorite authors as readers. with augusten, he just has such a UNIQUE set of experiences, and way of talking, that i cant imagine anyone else even possibly guessing at what to do with his text. he has different voices and accents for his characters, and his work being biographical, i really feel like i KNOW him personally at the end of a book.
possible side effects was hilarious to listen to in particular.
sedaris also has great voices and accents, and his work being funny, he does a great job of comedic timing.
live at carnegie hall, particularly six to eight black men, had me ROLLING on the floor.
i agree with previous poster about
kite runner -- it was important to hear words pronounced in the native way. i didnt think the author was that great a reader, but the accent and pronunciation made such a difference to the book overall.
Barack Obama won an Grammy for
The Audacity of Hope. The funny thing, he was "competing" against Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter for the Grammy.
I adore Bill Bryson's reading. In fact, as much as I love his books, when they are read by others, I just don't enjoy them as much.
when in the intro to
the disappointment artist they said that the book was going to be read by the author, i expected the voice of the reader to change. it didn't. that is him. lethem actually is a pretty good reader.
the essays? they are alright. some are better than others.
Message edited by its author, Nov 22, 2008, 11:20pm.
Hi everyone! New LibraryThing member here, and audiobook addict -- I'll just jump right in!
I really enjoyed the author reading
The Kite Runner -- the accurate pronunciations really completed the story for me. I also LOVED the first minute or so of this book (the part about "I've been looking down that alley for the past twenty-six years"). What an amazing opening!
I wanted to listen to Harlan Coben's
Promise Me, but couldn't get through more than an hour of it. He is definitely an author who should NOT try to do his own narration!
#21 - I was reading through this whole thread thinking I had to post about the
Harlan Coben when I got to the end, but you beat me too it. I suffered through the whole thing but it was awful.
April Smith, reading her own book
Judas Horse totally ruined the book. I can't believe the publisher actually allowed it to be released.
I've liked all of the books
Bill Bryson has read himself. He's got good pacing and a wry tone in appropriate places.
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