Top Ten Tuesday is a feature hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl.
Today's Top Ten Tuesday top is "Top Ten Audiobook Narrators". I listen to an average of 60 audiobooks a year, and believe me, I have definite preferences. I don't have ten favorites, but these six have never disappointed me.
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| Hugh Frasier |
My number one, hands-down favorite is Hugh Frasier. He gives charming performances of Agatha Christie's mysteries and I simply love him.
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| Timothy West, CBE |
Well-known British actor Timothy West could almost oust Frasier as my favorite. His stellar performance of Trollope's Palliser series just knocked my socks off.
(I get equally excited when I see him in a movie or British TV episode.)
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| Jenny Sterlin |
Another firm favorite is immensely talented Jenny Sterlin. I loved her narration of Diana Wynne Jones' Howl series, but she really shines reading the Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series by Laurie R. Kng.
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| Gerard Doyle |
Gerard Doyle is a definite favorite. I don't think I would have loved Mark Hodder's Burton and Swinburne series nearly as much without his distinctive voice.
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| Lucy Scott |
Lucy Scott (most known for her portrayal of Charlotte Lucas in the 1995 version of
Pride and Prejudice) gives wonderful performances, both with British accents and American.
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| Joanne Froggatt |
Joanne Froggatt of Downton Abbey fame is a fantastic narrator, and is especially good at emotional content.
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| Barbara Rosenblat |
Barbara Rosenblat is just plain fun. Her witty delivery of the Vicky Bliss series by Elizabeth Peters kept me laughing out loud, and I'm always glad to see her listed as narrator.
Special Mention:
Joe Mantegna gets special mention. I've never listened to a book narrated by him, but my husband found his performance of The Godfather to be perfect.
Least Favorite:
And lastly, I have to be mean and mention the one I absolutely hate: Xe Sands. If I see that she has narrated a book, I simply do NOT get it, no matter how much I want to read it.
How about you? If you listen to audiobooks, do you have any favorites?
These sound like great narrators.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that you picked one that is your least favorite. I have a list of a few I avoid as well.
ReplyDeleteRosenblat does a great job with the Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters as well. It's fantastic!
ReplyDeleteHappy TTT!
I have never thought to listen to Agatha Christie on audio, didn't really realize her books were on audio, now I am going to have to! I have several audio books that I didn't like the narrator either. I need to go back and made a list so I have it on hand when I am choosing which books to listen to!
ReplyDeleteI had no idea Joanne Froggatt joined in the list of actors-narrators. It would be lovely to hear her!
ReplyDeleteI need to check on Jenny Sterlin's narration of Mary Russell-Holmes series.
I've seen a few people mention Joanne Froggatt today, I'll have to see if she's narrated anything I'm interested in reading. I've had a couple of audiobook narrators that I probably wouldn't listen to anything else by them again: Frazer Douglas who narrated Madeline Miller's The Song of Achilles had such a dull and monotone voice, Emily Woo Zeller who narratted R.F. Kuang's The Poppy War, I also found a dull reader and she didn't differentiate the character voices enough so it was hard to tell who was who. Fryda Wolff who narrated Alexandra Bracken's Lore also wasn't a great one for me as I didn't like her accents for the characters and I had a similar problem with Flora Montgomery reading Kat Dunn's Dangerous Remedy as she did all of the supposedly French characters with English accents which took me out of the story!
ReplyDeleteMy TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2023/04/25/top-ten-tuesday-417/
I wish I listened to audiobooks so I could check out some of these highly recommended narrators! Now that I work from home, maybe I can listen while I work. We'll see!
ReplyDeleteHappy TTT (a day late)!
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ReplyDeleteI'm not much of an audio book listener yet but will keep your recommendations in mind, especially for Agatha Christie since she's an author I tend to return to often.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite was Ralph Cosham. I loved his narration of the early Gamache books so much. I alsp.love Hugh Frazier and Barbara Rosenblatt.
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