Audiobooks: For my listening pleasure

My brother told me about audiobooks years ago when they occupied his four hour commute. My brother-in-law raved about particular audiobooks he was listening to on his iPhone. And finally, a friend who listened to them regularly convinced me to try it out. I thought I might have set the bar too high with my first choice: Star Wars: Annihilation. It came complete with sound effects and the unmistakable John Williams’ score. The narrator, Marc Thompson, was pretty good, but through his narration, I discovered my first rule of audiobooks: Avoid books with characters who’s voices are already stuck in my head.

This isn’t a hard and fast rule. A friend recently listened to a Dresden Files book read by James Marsters. It took her a while to disassociate Paul Blackthorne’s Harry Dresden from the character and let Marsters do his thing. Once she got past that barrier, she was quite pleased with Marsters’ performance. (I haven’t watched The Dresden Files and love James Marsters, so I should be safe to add it to my to-read/listen pile).

In the case of the Star Wars book, I was used to the character of Sateel Shan being voiced by the incomparable Jennifer Hale. It was jarring to hear Thompson’s, breathy rendition and I’ve since decided that I am unimpressed with male narrators who use this voice effect, especially since they seem to reserve it for the love interest female character. I’ve only experienced this twice now, fortunately. The other female characters voiced by Thompson and also by Dick Hill in Armageddon’s Children were otherwise excellent.

Listening to an audiobook feels a bit like cheating – at least for the sake of my Goodreads challenge. I’m obviously not actually reading the book, but that’s okay because I am very much enjoying it. In fact, I think a good narration can sometimes take a potentially dull book up a notch or two. For example, Armageddon’s Children by Terry Brooks is part of his recent Genesis of Shannara series. His original series was so boring that I did not get far in it and would never have tried out Armageddon’s Children if my brother had not recommended the audiobook to me. I did enjoy the audiobook very much, but I’m going to test the theory by reading the second book myself. Did Hill’s narration carry the story? I shall report on my findings in the future!

Of course, the opposite can be true – a poor narration can ruin a good book. I haven't experienced this myself, but it certainly is possible. I have returned audiobooks early, though. I'm less likely to do so with an actual book, but, perhaps because I've invested less time into them, I don't feel as bad about passing on an audiobook. I was about half way through Song Yet Sung when I gave up out of boredom. Leslie Uggams did a great job on the narration, but I just wasn't interested enough in the story and characters to continue.

Most recently, I listened to Claudia Black reading the Museum of Thieves. I enjoyed the story very much but Black most definitely took it over the top with her reading. Not only did she show off her talents with accents, nuances, pronunciations and pacing to define each character, but she brought so much emotion -- as she does with all her work.

I'm currently listening to Shantaram, a book my brother-in-law has now listened to twice. Humphrey Bower's narration is also fantastic and the way he moves through accents is astounding. I felt similarly about Jonathan Davis' reading of Walking Dead, though I didn't much care for the story itself.

I used to wonder why audiobooks were so expensive, but now I understand. I can barely get through reading one chapter of a book for my girls and am constantly messing up the who's who. The amount of effort that goes into an audiobook narration is incredible and I truly appreciate the narrators now. Not to mention it's a great way to cut through my ever growing to-read pile and keep my must-multi-task mind entertained at work.