I've just started to listen to The Last Empress by Anchee Min and read by Alexandra O'Karma and I must admit, I'm not sure if I'll continue it or not. I'm on the second cd and warming a bit to the narrator, but her voice is slow and rather monotone. It could put me to sleep and the book is 13 discs long - will I ever finish it?
It's an interesting fact that an award-winning book might result in a poorly produced audio with lackluster narration and poor technical qualities. On the other hand, a marginal print title might find a quirky interpretation featuring a gifted narrator who raises the quality and reinvents the work. What are the qualities of an outstanding audio book?
Booklist magazine says the narration is the foundation, as the author's voice comes directly to listeners through the reading. A good reader should have a voice that matches the time period and setting of the text, as well as the genders, ages, and moods of the characters. The reader should also use well-laced inflections and tones, conveying the prose through engaging expression, emotion, and energy. The reader should consistently maintain and differentiate character voices, accents, and dialects. Geographic terms, foreign terminology, and other challenging phrases and words should be pronounced correctly and with ease.
We are spoiled. It has become the "in" thing for movie stars and other well-known personalities to read for audio books and make them vital and exciting. I remember the days, however, when a friend had to use the books on tape from the State Library for the Blind and those books were read by anyone they could get to do it - including prison inmates.
The Last Empress is my car audio book right now and my walking audio book is The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella and read by Rosalyn Landor. This audiobook is a delight to listen to. Just off the top of my head, books I've listened to recently and loved because of the reader have been: The Bartimaeus trilogy by Jonathan Stroud and read by Simon Jones; The Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer and read by Nathaniel Parker; The Children of the Lamp series by Philip Kerr and read by Ron Keith; No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith and read by Lisette Lecat. I could go on and on.... You can check out a list of Editors' Choice 2006 audio book titles at http://www.booklistonline.com/
The Last Empress is my car audio book right now and my walking audio book is The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella and read by Rosalyn Landor. This audiobook is a delight to listen to. Just off the top of my head, books I've listened to recently and loved because of the reader have been: The Bartimaeus trilogy by Jonathan Stroud and read by Simon Jones; The Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer and read by Nathaniel Parker; The Children of the Lamp series by Philip Kerr and read by Ron Keith; No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith and read by Lisette Lecat. I could go on and on.... You can check out a list of Editors' Choice 2006 audio book titles at http://www.booklistonline.com/
Susan
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