Betsy Horvath

Category: Audio Books

  • Of Narrators and Narration

    microphoneAs I’ve said before, I love audio books.  And it seems to me that one of the big reasons to love an audio book is the narrator reading you the story.

    It’s been my experience that a bad narrator can ruin the whole book.  Reading an audio book goes beyond just doing the voices – the narrator has to give the characters life and individuality without the visual clues available to other actors.  Because of this, I’ve found some pretty good movie actors are not good audio book narrators.  In fact, some of the worst books I’ve listened to have big name actors as narrators.  It’s just a whole different animal.

    It’s also important that the voice and acting of the narrator fit the book they are narrating.  One of the most disappointing audio books I’ve listened to was Madeleine L’Engle reading “A Wrinkle In Time”.  Hearing an elderly woman narrate that book – even though she read it with enthusiasm and love – just took me out of the story.

    Conversely, if an audio book narrator is good, they can make the entire book live inside your imagination.

    Because I know you want to know, here are a few of my favorite audio book narrators:

    Barbara Rosenblat – she narrates many things, but is probably best known for the Amelia Peabody series of mysteries by Elizabeth Peters.  Those books are prime examples of well-acted audio books.  I have to admit that I would MUCH rather listen to them narrated by Ms. Rosenblat than try to read them myself.

    Jim Dale – he IS Harry Potter.  Again, his narration made those book for me.  This might be sacrilege, but I really wasn’t on the whole Harry Potter bandwagon until I listened to them read by Mr. Dale.

    Susan Erickson – she is best known for narrating the J. D. Robb books.  She’s done all of them and never fails to bring Eve and Roarke to life for me.

    Joe Mantegna – here’s an example of a movie actor who actually can do voice narration.  He reads Robert Parker’s Spenser books and he’s just terrific.  He has some trouble with finding the right pitch for female voices sometimes, but he’s always dead on with characterization.

    These are just a few terrific audio book narrators.  There are many more, and I love it when I find someone new to listen to.

    Hmmm…I wonder what the narrator of “Fifty Shades of Grey” was thinking about when she acted out that book.

    I probably don’t want to know.

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  • Audio Books

    audioWhen my sister and I were little, my mother used to read us books almost every night.  I especially loved it when she acted out all the parts.  She made up a song for “The Best Nest” that still haunts me, lo these many years later.

    That’s probably one reason I love audio books so much.  It takes me back to when I was a little girl and my mom was reading (or singing) to us before bedtime.

    I didn’t start listening to audio books until after I read Stephen King’s “On Writing”.  He said that many of the books he read each year were audio books and I thought – “Hey!  That’s a good idea.”  I started checking them out of the library, and I was hooked.  Now, between my Audible account and other direct download sources, my iPod is jammed packed full of audio goodness.

    There are several other reasons why I think audio books are wonderful.  For one thing, listening to them means that you can read while you are doing other things.  With the way my life goes, that is a huge plus.  In fact, I have to say that most of my reading is done with audio books these days.  I listen to them in the car, at home, even at work, if the task permits.

    Another big advantage of audio books for me is that they force you to listen to every word.  When I read, I tend to skim in certain passages.  You don’t skim an audio book.  I’ve listened to books that I had already read, and realized I’d missed a great deal just because I was reading the paper book too quickly.

    As a writer, listening to audio books is good training for dialogue and pacing – the pop and snap of a story.  We are told to read our books out loud as we are writing them for just such a reason.  Listening gives you the music that is inside a book.

    In other words, I love me my audio books.  If you’ve never listened to one, why not turn off the radio or the television and give it a try?

    And if you see me wearing my headphones (earbuds hurt my ears), apparently laughing or crying for no good reason, you’ll know what I’m doing.  I’m reading a book!

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