Narrator Ratings

[issybird]

Originally Posted by SeaBookGuy

I am fond of Grover Gardner from the Inspector Montalbano series. George Guidall was outstanding in reading Tony Hillerman's books set in Navajo country!

This got me thinking. I realized I associate both narrators mostly with non-fiction and that's probably a reason for the four stars. There's only so much you can do with non-fiction; there's a huge downward potential but not as much upward. For example, while I've heard Simon Vance read a fair amount of non-fiction, which he does admirably, it's really the fiction narrations where he shines and gets his five stars.

The huge pitfall with non-fiction, of course, is the increased likelihood of mispronunciations. Too many and a book is spoiled.

[sun surfer]

Edit- Scratch what I had said. I'm trying to add opinions to the list spoilers including unrated narrators, and I've now had the idea to also try adding opinions on cast recordings by including them under one non-rated spoiler tag at the bottom of the list.

[bshar489]

I don't listen to audio books much so I'm not really qualified to rate narrators, but I would like to give a solid 5 to R C Bray's reading of The Martian. It was outstanding, in my opinion. I have not listened to any of his other readings but I had to give a thumbs up to this one.

Another one is Mark Sullivan for his reading of the book Beneath the Scarlet Sky. I was hesitant at first because authors don't always make the best readers but he does a wonderful job of it. I don't know if he has read any other books. Another 5 for him.

Bergette

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by bshar489

I don't listen to audio books much so I'm not really qualified to rate narrators, but I would like to give a solid 5 to R C Bray's reading of The Martian. It was outstanding, in my opinion. I have not listened to any of his other readings but I had to give a thumbs up to this one.

Another one is Mark Sullivan for his reading of the book Beneath the Scarlet Sky. I was hesitant at first because authors don't always make the best readers but he does a wonderful job of it. I don't know if he has read any other books. Another 5 for him.

Bergette

I agree, Bray's reading of The Martian was top notch.

[sun surfer]

Originally Posted by SeaBookGuy

As one of the moderators of that Goodreads group - welcome!

Thank you!

The following are 5's: George Guidall

I know I've listened to something by Guidall as the name definitely rings a bell, but at the moment I can't remember what it was or what I thought of his narration.

Finally ... we need to talk about Flo Gibson. I give her a 4, but she's definitely an "acquired taste"!

She's fresh in my mind so I have a lot to say! I just listened to her on The American Senator in the last month, and had listened to her a few years ago on Tom Sawyer when still new to audiobooks. Unfortunately I have to give her a 2. Without having any idea about her, I chose her for the Twain out of many options because I thought her somehow old-fashioned sounding elderly American voice distinctly suited narrating an old Americana classic. While her voice did suit, she reads very different sentences with the same cadence regardless of context. It's not monotone, but since she uses this same cadence all the time it's along the same lines of monotonous. What I can say in favour of this is that eventually as I listen I get used to the sameness and forget about the narration.

Her narration of the Twain alone I would've probably gave a 3 but she mangled up the Trollope more. She was the only narration option I could find for it. I can say she gave a try to doing the voices and accents, and well, she gave a try.

Seeing she was the only option for the Trollope had me research her and so I found she spent decades recording unabridged narrations for books which many otherwise had no narrations before, and some such as The American Senator are still that way. So for that I commend her. I now realise she has a huge catalogue and I usually see a version from her anytime I search for a classic audiobook.

[JSWolf]

I've started listening to Once Upon a Time in the North by Philip Pullman.

It's a full cast recording, but Philip Pullman does the narrating and he does a rather good job. I'll give Pullman a 4 out of 5 stars and an 8 out of 10 stars.

[issybird]

I know how hard it is to keep track of these things, but the ratings don't seem to reflect the following posts? You might not have got that far, but I noticed a subsequent update.

Originally Posted by CRussel

I'd give Emily Woo Zeller a 2. Not good, but if I had no choice, I'd listen to it. Unlike a 1, where I simply will NOT listen to it.

Guidall, Davina Porter, Oliver Wyman, and Kate Reading, from SeaBookGuy's list each get a 4, though it's a strong 4 for Davina Porter. I've listened to Heyborne's Modesitt narrations. I'd probably go with a 3 for him. Though I might stretch up to a 4. But not a 5. (5 I reserve for those that are the equivalent of a Michelin 3 star.)

Originally Posted by issybird

I figured I'd let you reveal yourself. It's a terrific group.

I'll give fours to Grover Gardner and George Guidall.

[sun surfer]

Originally Posted by issybird

I know how hard it is to keep track of these things, but the ratings don't seem to reflect the following posts? You might not have got that far, but I noticed a subsequent update.

I'm getting to them! At post 39 I went back to the top and also added all the opinion quotes for all those posts so that took a little while to catch up, and finished that yesterday and then added through post 42 earlier. Sometimes I might make a post myself and not be caught up in the list to the post I made so that could be confusing but you guys can see in the OP what post the list is caught up through at the 'Ratings through post #xx' part.

And thanks for keeping an eye out, issybird. If you or anyone else ever see any other mistakes on the list please always let me know so they can be corrected.

[sun surfer]

I just had the idea to help keep things clearer for anyone checking the list and posts, that if I'm making a post and the list isn't updated through it, I'll try to mention what # post the list is updated through when posting.

(E.G.- The list is updated through mid-post #43 as of when I'm posting this.)

[sun surfer]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Oliver Wyman ... from SeaBookGuy's list

The name Wyman isn't on SeaBookGuy's list but pwalker8 mentioned them. Is that what you meant, or is Wyman maybe an aka for someone on SeaBookGuy's list?

I've listened to Heyborne's Modesitt narrations. I'd probably go with a 3 for him. Though I might stretch up to a 4.

Sooo, would that be a 3, 3.5, 4, or?

[sun surfer]

Aaaaand I'm caught up with all the posts so far.

Well, except for the questions I have for CRussel just above, and this one:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Tom Weiner narrated the book Armor by John Steakley.I thought he did an excellent job especially the different voices. If anyone wants to check thi out, it's available at Hoopla.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

As I don't like 1-5, I'm going with 1-10 and please do not try to translate that to 1-5 as that's inaccurate. I'm going with a rating of 9 out of 10. This is not the same as 5 out of 5 or 4 out of 5.

Jon, I have you as unrated for this in the list since the list ratings are 1-5, but I could put you down for a 4.5; just let me know if you'd like that.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by sun surfer

The name Wyman isn't on SeaBookGuy's list but pwalker8 mentioned them. Is that what you meant, or is Wyman maybe an aka for someone on SeaBookGuy's list?

Yes, sorry, from pwalker8's list. I started out doing one thing, and then conflated that with responding to another, and the whole got mixed up in the process. Sorry.

Sooo, would that be a 3, 3.5, 4, or?

That would be a 3 for Heybourne. There's no real precision to any of these ratings, partly because so often they vary from book to book, and definitely from series to series. But I didn't find Heybourne more than acceptable.

[sun surfer]

There's a lot of info in the OP list so as mentioned above if anyone sees anything amiss please let me know and we'll figure it out, whether it's spelling, math(s), missed info or whatever.

Also as mentioned, relevant opinion quotes are now included in the spoilers for each narrator from this thread as reference. Hopefully this'll help anyone looking for an idea of a narrator to quickly read a short focused synopsis of what we think. If you see any mistakes with any of your quotes or would prefer anything be added, deleted or changed with any part of your quotes just let me know and it shall be done!

On the same wavelength, if anyone ever wants to update any rating they've given just post and we'll revise it.

Finally, I think this narrator rating list could be useful in two different ways. The first is for someone wanting to know about a particular narrator which they can then look up on the list alphabetically. The second is for someone wanting to find a good narrator in general or out of a group of specific options for a book they're interested in. In this case, it might help to more easily see the highest-rated narrators, so there's a try-out of bolding any narrator over 4 stars with two or more ratings.

[sun surfer]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Yes, sorry, from pwalker8's list. I started out doing one thing, and then conflated that with responding to another, and the whole got mixed up in the process. Sorry.

No problem! I just didn't want to miss a possible aka.

That would be a 3 for Heybourne. There's no real precision to any of these ratings, partly because so often they vary from book to book, and definitely from series to series. But I didn't find Heybourne more than acceptable.

Done.

[sun surfer]

I decided to find what I'd listened to George Guidall on before and just realised it's the oddest thing that Audible does not list the narrators in one's library of bought books. I figured out that I listened to him on Zorba the Greek and he did a good job so I'll give him a 4.