*audiobook; corrected
Do they do anything particular with their voice or tone in order to enhance the story?
My copy of the Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy, narrated by Stephen Fry. It is relentlessly british.
The version read by Douglas himself is also great
Do you mean audiobook rather than ebook?
Yes!
Any of the Terry Pratchett audiobooks that were read by Nigel Planer! Most probably know him best as Neil from The Young Ones in the 80s but he’s been in a ton of things since then including a few of the live action Discworld tv specials! He really has a great talent for bringing the books to life usind the right amount of humor that series really needs!
Wil Wheaton brings a lot to the books he narrates, but the best combo I’ve heard so far is John Malkovich reading Breakfast of Champions.
Dear god no. Wil Wheaton has the most grating, whiny, nasal voice I’ve ever heard, immediately puts me off any book he narrates. He only has one reading style which doesn’t translate at all between different books
Eat a dick, Captain Picard
‘Toast on Toast’ read by Steven Toast.
Didn’t know that existed but I’ll download it right now
The Alan Partridge autobiography’s voiced by Steve Coogan as Alan Partridge but I suppose you’d only like it if you’d seen enough Alan Partridge.
I listened to Dubliners by James Joyce narrated by irish actor Andrew Scott (Moriarty in Sherlock) and it was hands down the best narration I’ve ever heard.
Neil gaimon is always good with his narration. The audible books that include a full cast are absolutely superb.
Bonus points for nigel plainar as solo narrator for his discworld books. Does an amazing job.
Simon Vance is my personal favourite narrator. The Dune audiobooks have a cast of narrators/actors but I wish Simon voiced the whole books, he’s amazing. The way he intonates adds so much to the text, but doesn’t ever get annoying. His acting for the characters is great too.
He also narrated Scaramouche and I genuinely can’t tell if I liked the book or his narration of the book.
Thandiwe Newton is an amazing reader! Her rendition of Jane Eyre is stunning. I’m currently working my way through her reading of War and Peace and it’s equally gorgeous.
She has a voice for each character and helps one dig into the stories. Listening to her, I’m not brought out of the story thinking of her as an actress.
I’d listen to her read the phone book!
A stitch in time by Andrew Robinson. Written and narrated by the actor that played Garak on DS9.
There’s a studio called SoundBooth Theater that does whole ass performances.
Currently listening to Dungeon Crawler Carl, by Matt Dinniman, narrated by Jeff Hayes. And it’s awesome. He does the scoffs, laughs, sings in character voices, has crazy sound effects and music, etc.
I second Dungeon Crawler Carl. Have fun with!
Anything with George Guidall.
He has a deep, resonant voice. I don’t know how else to describe it, but it’s very comforting.
He has done probably hundreds of audiobooks but one series I remember him doing was The Cat Who… line of mysteries. Very lightweight but fun books.
I loved the first few Magic 2.0 books that came out.
When it starts, the narrator (Luke Daniels) says “performed by…” and my first thought was jerk off motion.
Ten minutes into the book, and yeah, it’s a performance! Not just making his voice high pitched for females, but some characters sound like they are being read by an actual VO artist.
Edit to add name.
I used to be bad at listening to audiobooks. ADHD brain would go way off for unknown amounts of time without realizing I wasn’t listening.
Then in 2017 I had eye surgery and decided audiobooks were the best form of media consumption, so I practiced focusing on them. Magic 2.0 was the series that clicked for me. Now I listen to dozens of audiobooks each year. I’ve finished 55 so far in 2024.
So yeah, Luke Daniels will forever be a favorite of mine! Though he only has a handful of truly unique voices so you’ll start hearing familiar characters in the wrong series sometimes, lol.
Eduardo Ballerini reading Jess Walter’s The Cold Millions
