Sarah: Oh my god, Amanda. I listened to a sample of Richard Armitage reading Wanderlust.
Jesus Christ.
Amanda: RIGHT?! It’s a total ovary punch.
Sarah: I think other people’s panties melted, too. JESUS, RICHARD
Amanda: Has he spoken in French yet?
Sarah: Yeah.
Amanda: When Joy and Griffin start flirting, my cheeks hurt from smiling so much.
Elyse: I just listened to the sample and I’m pregnant.
Amanda: I’ve been listening to it since last weekend. It’s great.
Elyse: Can we just select some actors and make it a requirement that they narrate romance novels? Like for every movie you do, you have to narrate a book.
…
We kept recommending audiobooks to one another, and decided we had to share them with everyone. Upon doing some “research” (it was so difficult) we have some recommendations of lovely, famous voices reading great books. Oh, and there are samples! GLORIOUS SAMPLES!
Classics
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen: BBC Radio 4 did a full cast production featuring Felicity Jones, Benedict Cumberbatch, and David Tennant.
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen: Sarah says, “Rosamund Pike, who played Jane in the Keira Knightley Pride and Prejudice, narrates this one and it’s fucking scrumptious.”
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte: The amazing Thandie Newton narrates this one. Sarah says her narration is also very scrumptious. I’m obsessed with Newton in her role as Maeve in Westworld.
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery: While I never got into the series, I think choosing Rachel McAdams as a narrator was a really good fit.
Romance
Georgette Heyer: Richard Armitage does the narration for Venetia, The Convenient Marriage, and Sylvester. They are abridged, which is unfortunate, but the narration is still terrific. A perfect reason to binge on Heyer audiobooks, right?
Here’s a sample of Venetia:
Stud Finder by Lauren Blakely: A contemporary romance novella with dual narrators, with one of them being Jessie Metcalfe of Passions and Desperate Housewives fame.
Midnight Untamed by Lara Adrian: A paranormal romance novella in the Midnight Breeds series, narrated by Blair Underwood from L.A. Law, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Quantico.
Blood on the Bayou by Heather Graham: A novella in Graham’s Cafferty & Quinn series with the Dermot Mulroney as the narrator.
Beauty and the Mustache by Penny Reid: Joy Nash is the narrator for this one and she’s soon to be the star in the TV adaptation of Dietland, for which I am very excited.
Bonus
Want to hear Tom Hiddleston read a poem by e.e. cummings?
Sarah: David Tennant also narrates the How to Train Your Dragon series by Cressida Cowell. He also does one of the voices in the movies as a sort of cameo (he’s Spitelout, Snotlout’s father, if you’re curious).
Amanda: The Star Wars anthology, From a Certain Point of View, has a huge cast of narrators including Neil Patrick Harris and Jon Hamm.
Sarah: Here, for fun, is Richard Armitage singing.
What do you think of celebrity narrators? Do you want more of them? Which are your favorites? Also, tell us your dreamcast of actors for your favorite romances!
I signed up for the Audible romance freebie trial totally based on your rec of Wanderlust… gah!!!
Also, I have to second the P&P and Jane Eyre audiobooks as mentioned. I know those stories so well that the audio versions are “comfort listens” for me. The performances are terrific.
I generally prefer Memoirs in audiobook because they are so often read by the famous author. Tina Fey’s “Bossypants” is absolutely a given, and also “Yes Please” by Amy Poehler. “As You Wish” about the making of the Princess Bride by Cary Elwes is narrated by him and features many many cameo voices from the other actors, producers and director, Rob Reiner.
The Princess Diarist was recorded by the author Carrie Fisher before her death, and her daughter Billie Lord narrates the “young Carrie” diary entries. It was an absolute pleasure and I think should only be listened to. It made me cry!
Another classic I just downloaded is Frankenstein, read by Dan Steves (of Downton Abbey, Beauty & the Beast). It was only $1.99 at Audible with the .99 kindle purchase so I jumped at it. The reviews are absolutely glowing so I’m looking forward to that one.
Oops… Dan Stevens*
I wrote a big post on great narrators and some of the great audiobooks they helped create here: http://adelebuck.com/2017/02/25/some-thoughts-on-audiobook-narration-and-narrators-with-recommendations/
I recently listened to The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, narrated by Fred Berman and Phoebe Strole. Their narration was outstanding, and the book itself is just beautiful.
@Emily C: Oh, thank you for the recommendation of The Princess Diarist! I have that on my wish list!
My husband loves loves loves the late Roy Dotrice’s work on the A Song of Ice and Fire audiobooks. There are a ton of speaking characters in each book and Dotrice has a distinct voice for every one. (Dotrice also appears in the Game of Thrones tv show as an alchemist.) Husband sometimes gets sad because Roy will never get to read the last two books in the series – George R.R. Martin still hasn’t finished them!
That audio of Tom Hiddleston reading e e cummings needs a warning label! I think I ovulated right here at my desk.
FYI, he also played Jonathan Harker in a BBC radio adaptation of Dracula. The way he *moans* when the brides descend on him…
This is timely as I just finished listening to The Giver last night (not even remotely a romance, of course) and thought it was a very good audio experience in spite of the narrator, who turned out to be Ron Rifkin. He did a high pitched voice for Jonas that really got on my nerves. Tony Goldwyn’s narration of Devil in the White City was extremely grating to me as well, and I almost stopped listening a few times.
OTOH, there are many wonderful narrations done by actors (Dan Stevens comes to mind), so it just varies. I would rather the publisher consider the voice and not just grab whatever “name” happens to be available, like with animated movies who like to cast celebrities over professional voice actors with sometimes not great results.
I had never listened to romance on Audiobooks but was lured into Wanderlust because RICHARD ARMITAGE! I have to say, though, the first time “Mr. Thornton(Griffin)” talked about taking himself in hand in the shower, I almost expired from embarrassment – for him! Very hard for me to make the transition from Mr. Thornton (“Look back at me…”) to Griffin, but I compulsively watch North & South about 10 times a year, so that might just be me. Still…any excuse to hear that voice pretty much works for me.
I have the audio of Wanderlust just to hear Richard Armitage speak. *swoon* I’m don’t typically listen to audio books, but my kiddo loves them and I got so excited to see the list of celeb narrators for the Dr. Seuss collection. Bring on the celeb narrators!
Alan Cumming narrates Macbeth and it is fabulous. I literally could not get out of my car I was so engrossed. Sarah Vowell narrates her own books and has several celebrities helping her. Who knew a nonfiction book on Puritans could be so fascinating? Wordy Shipmates pulled it off.
I’m really, really happy with the trend of using professional actors to narrate audiobooks. Those I’ve listened to have delivered fine performances (Julia Whelan, Steven Weber, George Newbern). A competitive field is great for readers.
Richard Armitage…oh, my!
Not a romance, but Will Wheaton narrates Ready Player One, and honestly I think it was the only reason I stuck with the book.
Did anyone else sign up for the romance book audible option? Is it worth it? I want to listen to more audio books (I do a lot of data entry at my job) but the library doesn’t offer a ton.
Re: Dan Stevens: His version of “Murder on the Orient Express” is my favorite audiobook. He also apparently has done “And Then There were None” but I haven’t listened to it yet.
When I was in elementary school I fell in love with Anne of Green Gables and devoured everything LM Montgomery ever wrote and I will always have a soft spot for the old Anne audio books narrated by Meagan Follows, who played Anne in the mini series
@Liz. I know what you mean about your library being limited for audiobooks, mine also (I think it’s lack of funds mostly) but I have been hearing good things about Scribd for audiobooks lately from my friends. I don’t know how deep their collections go but it might be worth the free first month to see if it works for you – I know I’m considering it.
I don’t listen to audiobooks yet (my commute requires all my attention, and at home I prefer to read) but I understand Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, the narrator of the Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch is really top-notch.
My kids and I both enjoyed listening to The Mouse and the Motorcycle narrated by BD Wong (I knew him from Law & Order but he’s been in lots of things).
Richard Armitage also did the Audible version of Dickens’ David Copperfield, great job with all the varied characters.
A gazillion years ago I worked at a place where I was allowed to have my headphones and I would check out books on tape from my library. (I told you it was a gazillion years ago.) While I heard many bad narrators – not necessarily bad books – I found actor Michael Beck was the best reader of both male and female parts. If you’re a closet Xanadu fan like I am you’ll know who I’m talking about.
I don’t like abridged versions of books, and the Georgette Heyer abridgments take out most of the humour, and are therefore a travesty, but I own and listen to and will keep them purely because Richard Armitage.
I’m an audiobook-with-knitting junkie, and I have so many favorites they’re not going to fit here. But for a few: Nicholas Boulton’s narration by Laura Kinsale (i understand he was handpicked by the author?) really makes those books for me. I think all Heyer is meant to be read aloud, and some of the female narrators actually, are now my favorites: Eve Matheson’s Nonesuch is my personal favorite. Jenny Sterlin does such a wonderful job with Laurie King’s Mary Russell books. Barbara Rosenblat reading Elizabeth Peters is also an old favorite—Crocodile on the Sandbank in particular is genius. I understand there’s a version of Emma read by Jeremy Northam, who I will happily listen to in just about any form. I’m a huge fan of anything by Jodi Taylor, and her audiobook narrators seem to have been chosen really well: any Heyer fan needs to listen to Anna Bentinck read A Bachelor Establishment.
Don’t forget about Colin Firth reading The End of the Affair.
The modernisation of Pride and Prejudice and Jane Ayer by Rosemund Pike and Thandie Newton were wonderful, and the only way I could have done my early venture into the classics. I hope they remake more classics, because the old dodderly school marm voices (I really hate to be ageist, let me point out I’m in the mid-40ish range myself, I just prefer a more contemporary sound) of old just don’t work for me, nor will they entice new listeners.
May I also point out, historical romance on audible: why is there a distinct lack of voices portraying the age of the character’s they are reading? Why do historical romance on audible sound like my English Teacher, and not a young lady of the Ton?
Whaaat, Richard Armitage and a contemporary romance book narration?! Thanks for the heads up.
@Kate: I intensely disliked Ron Rifkin’s narration of The Giver. It was one of my least enjoyable audiobook experiences ever. Good actor, terrible narrator.
I listen to tons of audiobooks and have “read” and/or own many of the books mentioned here. I’m OK with celebrity narrators, especially if they’re trained actors, but most of my favorites listens aren’t done by celebrities. That said, Tim Curry’s narration of the Abhorsen books is magical for me.
Not a romance but – Zachary Quinto – John Scalzi ‘The Dispatcher’. Awesome
The Dresden Files audiobooks by Jim Butcher are read by James Marsters, best known for playing Spike on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It’s um…it’s sexy, okay? Really, really sexy. Also, his voice for Toot-Toot the small fairy is hilarious. He straight up sounds like Stitch.
Kate Winslet reading Roald Dahl’s Matilda is everything!
I love to listen to audiobooks while I garden in the warmer months. I spend hours with my plants and constantly rearrange and can’t resist buying more and more all summer. Audiobooks are great because my hands and eyes stay busy while I listen. In the colder months, I color while listening. Or I play Candy Crush. I had one night where I was listening to one of G.A. Aiken’s Dragon Kin audiobooks and Candy Crush kept giving me free lives for 2 hours, then it got to 4 hours. I listened to the whole book in one go and woke up the next day with my hand cramped from holding the stylus too long.
I find I need something for my hands AND my eyes to focus on otherwise my brain beginnings to wander off and I stop paying attention to the audio.
James Marsters does a great job with The Dresden Files audiobooks. I’ve been slowly working my way through those through my library’s Overdrive options.
Sissy Spacek does a great job with To Kill a Mockingbird.
I usually don’t like abridged audiobooks but do enjoy BBC Radio cast performances. I used one of my Audible credits to get
The Jane Austen BBC Radio Drama Collection which features six Austen dramatizations, including the Mansfield Park version above with Benedict Cumberbatch and David Tennant.
I check out a lot of audiobooks through Hoopla. They have a really good selection, including a lot of current titles. I just wish they offered samples so we can hear the narrators first. I’ve started going to Audible to listen to samples of the narrators before checking anything out.
@ Liz
Yes! I agree – I very much enjoyed Wil Wheaton’s narration of Ready Player One – he committed totally. The book itself is not very good, but his reading of it made me look forward to it each day. And how he managed to read the lime that referred to him personally without snickering was very impressive.
It would be lovely if they could have a female voice female parts and male voice read the male parts. No matter how good the reader is I find it a bit jarring the falsetto or forced bass, especially when there are dual POVs.
Hell yes to Richard Armitage! I think David Copperfield is his best narration, but I also loved a couple of Shakespeare adaptations he recorded—Hamlet, Prince of Denmark: A Novel and Romeo & Juliet: A Novel. If you’re a Prime subscriber, you can listen to his short recording of Classic Love Poems by Shakespeare for free.
More favorites narrated by actors/celebrities (in addition to the many fine suggestions made by other commenters):
Alex Wyndham—historical romances by Lucinda Brant
Claire Bocking—the Escape to New Zealand series by Rosalind James
Juliet Stevenson—North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
Marin Ireland—Sleeping Beauties by Stephen King and Owen King
Hope Davis—Commonwealth by Ann Patchett
Dan Stevens—My Dear I Wanted to Tell You (and sequel) by Louisa Jones (prepare to be sad—those books gutted me)
Trevor Noah—his memoir Born a Crime is incredible, and I wasn’t a fan before reading it
Nick Offerman, Megan Mullally, Bill Hader, Etc—Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
Emma Thompson—The Turn of the Screw by Henry James (bonus: Richard Armitage reads the prologue!)
@LMC — While I agree that hearing narrators strain to hit lower and higher registers is aggravating, I’ll have to disagree on preferring separate narrators for the male and female POV. I tried Audible’s romance package, and so many contemporary romances we’re unlistenable because one of the narrators did such a poor job with the dialogue of the other narrator’s main character. Wanderlust is a good example of this. Armitage read his character very well and did fine with the voice of the female protagonist, but Grace Grant was jarringly mismatched, doing a mediocre to average job with her own character and butchering the dialogue for the male protagonist. I would’ve vastly preferred that Armitage recorded the whole thing.
I’m currently listening to Juliet Stevenson’s narration of “Sense and Sensibility.” I’ve already listened to her readings of “Mansfield Park” and “Emma” and loved them. Just amazing.
I also recently listened to “The Handmaid’s Tale,” read by Claire Danes. While it seemed a bit odd at first since I now connect that character with Elisabeth Moss, it was still very good.
And add me to the chorus swooning over Richard Armitage…
Lin-Manuel Miranda reads “Aristotle & Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe” by Benjamin Alire Sáenz. It was already one of my favorite teen books, and then I loved it even more once I heard Miranda read it. It is FANTASTIC on every level.
@Space Cadet
Thanks for mentioning Richard Armitage’s narration of David Copperfield. It looks like if you get this (free) ebook version, his narration is available via the whispersync add-on for $1.99:
https://www.amazon.com/David-Copperfield-Charles-Dickens-ebook/dp/B004GHNIQQ
Thanks @Space Cadet! Good to know!
If you like Nicholas Boulton then I second the rec for Alex Wyndham. I first heard him on the Stella Riley books (The Mesalliance) and he is fabulous enough that I bought Lucinda Brant without knowing anything about the author except she picked him to narrate!.For some reason I prefer male narrators when they imitate women that the reverse. This is why I can’t get into the Kate Daniels books on audio with a female narrator doing Curren.
My favorite narrator doesn’t do romance. In fact, I think he only narrates one author. And that is Stephen Briggs narrating Terry Pratchett. I have never found a better combination of narrator and author. That said, I thoroughly enjoy Renee Raudman narrating Ilona Andrews. And I love Ray Porter narrating the male point of view InCryptid novels by Seanan McGuire. They are so very snarky which he does extremely well. Johanna Parker does a pretty darn good job narrating Shelly Laurenston. I have also found that most BBC audio cast productions are wonderful. I have been slowly going through my library’s collection and BBC tends to make even things I know I don’t like interesting. I’m finally catching up on all those classics I am supposed to have read. Celebrity actors that I have found give good voice are Stephen Fry, Alan Rickman, Patrick Stewart, Alan Cumming, Neil Patrick Harris, and Wil Wheaton.