Audiobooks: Notes from a Picky Listener

I've been listening to a lot of audiobooks lately. Between all the knitting I've been doing, and the fact that work has left me feeling a bit under the weather, I've had a lot of time to sit and listen.

I've always been a bit picky about audiobooks. I'm very particular about what I like in terms of narration: the accent of the narrator, the rate of speech, and the amount of inflection and added emphasis all play a role in my enjoyment of the book. Over the last couple of years I have gotten less picky. I've learned to listen to anything questionable before bed when I'm half asleep and disinclined to complain, leaving everything else for when I'm traveling or otherwise looking to be entertained.

More specifically, I like audiobooks with narrators who speak a bit more quickly or at a rate at which I can speed the audio up a bit and still not lose anything. I dislike added dramatics or emphasis in either places where I don't think it's needed or in places where it emphasizes flaws in the writing or the plot (e.g. reading whiny teens in a whiny voice, particularly if swooning over a boy is involved). It needs to be engaging. I want something that I wouldn't mind listening to multiple times. Yet at the same time it needs to be something that if I decide to curl up for a nap (e.g. on the bus), it won't keep me awake or wake me up. I want soothing but not boring or overly animated. I know a lot of this has to do with the original writing as much as anything else, but there's another factor at play as well. I don't like narrators who read the same way everyone else does, which is something I seem to run into often. It's as if there's a sort of tv or radio voice version of the audiobook narrator and I'm not a fan.

All that being said, I've compiled some of my favorites from 2014, here. Adding to that there's also Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan, narrated by Ari Fliakos, BBC radio adaptations of pretty much anything, and Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, narrated by Davina Porter.

If you're looking for other audiobook narrators, there's a great guide here. In particular, I'm looking forward to making my way through the comments for more suggestions.

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