(Near) Professional Quality books on Librivox

[WillAdams]

While I'm very grateful for the efforts of the volunteers at Librivox, unfortunately, most of the recordings which I've listened to have come off as amateurish.

This thread is for the books which are the gems in the rough there.

[WillAdams]

Little Fuzzy --- H. Beam PIPER (1904 - 1964)

Jack Holloway, a prospector on the planet Zarathustra discovers small furry creatures. These creatures are obviously intelligent, but are they animals or are they sapient? If they are sapient the planet will be declared a protected zone and the company that is developing the planet commercially will lose their exclusive rights to the resources... (Summary by tabithat)

https://librivox.org/little-fuzzy-by-h-beam-piper/

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by WillAdams

While I'm very grateful for the efforts of the volunteers at Librivox, unfortunately, most of the recordings which I've listened to have come off as amateurish.

This thread is for the books which are the gems in the rough there.

Great idea for a thread. Finding quality recordings is certainly a daunting task.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by WillAdams

Little Fuzzy --- H. Beam PIPER (1904 - 1964)

Jack Holloway, a prospector on the planet Zarathustra discovers small furry creatures. These creatures are obviously intelligent, but are they animals or are they sapient? If they are sapient the planet will be declared a protected zone and the company that is developing the planet commercially will lose their exclusive rights to the resources... (Summary by tabithat)

https://librivox.org/little-fuzzy-by-h-beam-piper/

Thanks; I'll give this one a shot

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by WillAdams

Little Fuzzy --- H. Beam PIPER (1904 - 1964)

BTW, what device do you listen to audiobooks on? and do you use any of the LibriVox apps out there for selection, download, and playback?

[Catlady]

I am very impressed with the books done by Elizabeth Klett. She has done professional recordings as well as LibriVox recordings.

Here's a link to her LibriVox recordings.

[Hokuspokus]

There is a a big grey area between very good amateur and professional quality, depending on what one expects and on personnel taste. Anyway, here are some of the very best LibriVox readers:

Ruth Golding https://librivox.org/reader/2607
Cori Samuel https://librivox.org/reader/92
David Barnes https://librivox.org/reader/94
Andy Minter https://librivox.org/reader/152
Mark F. Smith https://librivox.org/reader/204
Ralph Snelson https://librivox.org/reader/2140
Kara Shallenberg https://librivox.org/reader/19

On their catalog pages click on "solo" (upper left part of the page), to get only books read entirely by them.

A good way to find readers you like is to check out the many collections on LibriVox, mystery, Sci-Fi, short works, non fiction, ...

[chromedome]

I couldn't agree more re: Mark F. Smith, I've recently listened to a few classics read by Mark F. Smith of South Carolina.

Adventures of Tom Sawyer / Huck Fin , Robinson Crusoe, Treasure Island - White Fang, Call of the Wild and others. He does a brilliant job of the voices - Especially with Long John Silver in Treasure Island (Brilliant).

I found Ralph SNelson a bit more difficult - I think, for me, his voice is a bit too 'thick' for the want of a better word. I recently listened through "The Land that Time Forgot" and really struggled at times. Admittedly I tend to listen in noisy environments such as when driving home from work or out walking or in the gym. The pitch of his voice seems to drop too low and the pronunciation is not always crisp enough for me to deduce what is being said, without upping the volume and rewinding a bit. It might be that his voice is better suited to dedicated listening, however, when I have that kind of quiet I'm usually reading the normal way ;-)

Regards,

Greg

[badgoodDeb]

Sherlock Holmes in "The Hound of the Baskerville" made a 13 hr drive disappear, earlier this summer. I just checked -- it was read by Laurie Ann Walden (or some such spelling variation). I haven't listened to many, but this seems very well done to me.

On the other hand, Anna Katherine Greene's "The Mystery of the Hasty Arrow" seemed a very early-century book (women fainting and behaving like idiots) . AND the reader put pauses in all the wrong places, and pronounced some words wrong (imho). Richard Gilmer (Hilmer?) (sp?) was his name.

I'm not sure where these were found, because I bought them on eBay (that being easiest for my first bunch). But they did serve to get me interested in audiobooks!

[WillAdams]

I burn MP3s to CD-Rs and listen to them when traveling --- I've started to put them on SD cards and listen to them while cutting the lawn (I use a reel mower) using my daughter's on V@MP3 player.

[ApK]

Great thread idea. I'll try 'Little Fuzzy' for sure.
My past experience with Librevox has been a little disappointing. Wonderful idea, but not everyone with good intentions is a good narrator, much less a good voice actor, which is what a good audiobook really requires.
And just the fact that some books might have chapters by several different readers means that, even if they were all good, which is unlikely, the experience can be jarring, and hard to get fully engaged with.
Sort of like if the font and color of a text book changed every few pages.

P.S. I listen on my smartphone, using the excellent Listen Audiobook Player app, most often played through my Bluetooth-connected car stereo, while commuting.

[Piepan]

Originally Posted by ApK

Great thread idea.

Hear Hear. Thank you to everyone who has suggestions of good narrators of Librivox titles. I haven't tried any Librivox audiobooks myself yet, so I greatly appreciate the folks who have done so and can suggest the ones worth trying.

[Antoinekamel]

Originally Posted by Piepan

Hear Hear. Thank you to everyone who has suggestions of good narrators of Librivox titles. I haven't tried any Librivox audiobooks myself yet, so I greatly appreciate the folks who have done so and can suggest the ones worth trying.

[2]

[badgoodDeb]

Do people prefer readers who voice different characters differently? The Sherlock Holmes that I enjoyed just had A Reader. And that's all I wanted. (Not that I've tried the alternative; I suppose I might like that too.)
I mean, there aren't different voices when I read on paper or ereader. So ... ?

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

Do people prefer readers who voice different characters differently? The Sherlock Holmes that I enjoyed just had A Reader. And that's all I wanted. (Not that I've tried the alternative; I suppose I might like that too.)
I mean, there aren't different voices when I read on paper or ereader. So ... ?

I like some variation, but I prefer when they don't go overboard. It's annoying when a female narrator tries to do a deep male character voice, and even worse is the reverse--the male narrators sound silly when they go all falsetto for a female character. I don't want to be thinking about the character's voice--it shouldn't be calling attention to itself. I want to be thinking about the character's words. It's better if the narrator keeps to slight variations in inflection, pacing, etc. to distinguish characters.