Just what is it that makes an audio book such as _Relic_ by Preston and Child and narrated by David Colacci, so much better than the paper version? No dog-eared tapes -- No crumbs from someone elses lunch stuck between the pages -- or more importantly, no Blood, Sweat or Tears stuck to the page! And let us not even think about the fact that the library book you are treasuring tonight has perhaps accompanied someone to bed -- that someone propping the book on their skivvies -- or even worse -- no skivvies! No such qualms about that Cassette tape -- protected in its player. And there is always the matter of safety -- trying to read a book while driving to work is a bit risky -- and the more spellbinding the book the more dangerous it is. On a more serious note, there is nothing quite like the SHARED experience of two or more people listening to the same story -- with all of them forming their own images in their own minds. You might say a movie can do that too, but not with such full immersion of the senses and the mind. There's also the all important Wide-eyed eye contact you can make during those exciting parts of the book -- do that with a movie and you've just missed that helicopter explosion!
When you have listened to as many books on tape as I have -- perhaps a hundred in a couple of years and many before that -- including many radio dramatizations by BBC Radio and others -- you have heard story-telling the way it was meant to be. You get familiar and comfortable with the narrators just as you might have become comfortable with favorite authors. In fact you tend to trust your favorite narrator to read books that you will like as well. You start to do on-line library searches based on your favorite narrators -- making a note of all the interesting titles he or she has done. The actual author be damned and the subject matter is of secondary importance.
I have my favorites. The abovementioned _Relic_ which was the original book from which sprang the not-so-successful movie version _The Relic_ is a spellbinding audio version narrated -- almost dramatized -- masterfully by David Colacci. The best narrators have a repertoire of voices that at times you would swear cannot possibly be from the same person. Such is the case in _Relic_ with hard-bitten New York cop voices, smooth FBI man, professors, women and the "Reading" voice as well. Here the narrator adds an extra depth to the story -- the anguish and fear in the voice, breathlessness, elation, dread, and omnious foreboding. They are all made to soar through the air as the unknown horrific killer stalks people thru the murky underground tunnels of the Museum of Natural History in New York City.
My whole family has followed Frodo thru the BBC Radio dramatization of _The Lord Of The Rings_ more than once. It is admittedly an abridged based-on-book version, yet it has introduced us to many of my now favorite narrators such as Stephen Thorne as Treebeard's voice as well as other minor voice parts. I have recently listened to him in Mary Stewart's Arthurian trilogy of unabridged recordings of _The Crystal Caves_, _The Hollow Hills_ and _The Last Enchantment_ where his fatherly voice added so much to these humanistic portrayals of Merlin and Arthur from their boyhood to manhood. And that led to yet more branching out as he has narrated some of the Brother Cadfael chronicles by the late Ellis Peters. Whether it is a monk or a common scoundrel or a Prince, sheriff, nun or damsel, Stephen Thorne sends up one distinctive voice after another. He is a Master storyteller.
You can even compare narrators doing similar material as Patrick Tull narrates the majority of the Brother Cadfael series and adds a slightly different but equally convincing sound to the episodes that he has read. My son has brought home numerous audio versions of the _Redwall_ series of young peoples stories where Tull does the narration. Filled with heroic mice and moles and scheming rats, bobcats or weasels, Tull makes an already mystical set of tales form right between your mind's eye. Finally I have hear him bring to life portions of _The Cantebury Tales_ by Chaucer. A voice that places you right there at a campfire listening to, perhaps, _The Millers Tale_ as if you were one of the travelers.
A list of masterful narrators would not be complete without mentioning William Gaminara -- who is in fact a British stage actor when he is not narrating the _Sharpe's Rifles_ series of 14 books written by Bernard Cornwell. These are novels of adventure, tell stories of the British fight against Napoleon thru Richard Sharpe and his ever present friend Patrick Harper -- two soldiers in Lord Wellington's army. The range of voices required is astounding -- British, Irish, French, German, men and women, common soldiers and pompous Officers, spanish partisans, American privateers. All of these seamlessly woven into the unabridged audio versions of this series. Unfortunately for his admirers, Gaminara has done few other narrations besides the Sharpe's series. I for one, hope for many more in the future.
Another rare but promising narrator is J.C. Howe who read Dean Koontz _Watchers_ novel about a wonderful genetic Super Dog and a horrific genetic beast. The story is a thriller and Howe's voice brings out the wonder and soul of a dog who is as smart as any human as well as the dread and terror of a being who is the living nightmare of man's primitive urge to kill and destroy. And on the subject of primitive instincts to kill, yet woven into a wonderful story that had my wife practically bursting with tears towards the uncertain end was the entertaining and even educational _Raptor Red_ novel by Robert T. Bakker (of Jurassic Park Raptor technical advisor fame) narrated by Richard M. Davidson. The story is speculative scientific fiction by a knowledgeable scientist. The storytelling by Davidson brings to life a world that you would hope and pray WOULD have existed 60 million years ago. The story is of a female raptor (named Raptor Red) along with a sister Raptor and two raptor chicks, and a male raptor suitor. It includes a whole world of familiar creatures you might know in picture and name, but now you glimpse how they think and how they might have lived their daily lives. It may be sentimental at times but it is a story that is lovingly told -- I *wanted* to believe it.
There are many women also doing book narrations. One that I have recently heard with great pleasure is C.J. Kritt narrating _Pigs In Heaven_ by Barbara Kingsolver. She does the voices of many different women, men and child characters, including a wonderfully right-on Valley Girl voice for a woman who had changed her name to Barbie(tm) (yes the 'tm' is part of her legal name). Barbie(tm) lives her life as if she was the Barbiedoll Barbie. Kritt gives excellent renditions of laid back small town folks, a strident Native American attorney, and uses just the right touch of inflected humor, anxiety or a confidential air to fit the scene that she is reading through. She also narrates the Kay Scarpetta Chief Medical Examiner detective novels for Priscilla Cornwell and the Carlotta Carlyle P.I. novels for Linda Barnes.
An article on narrators would not be complete without fully mentioning George Guidall who is the Grand Master of narrators. Probably most widely know for his narrations of the Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee Navajo detective novels by Tony Hillerman, he has done many many other narrations from portions of _Cantebury Tales_ to Henri Chierre's _Papillon_ and others. A search of his name on our admittedly extensive regional library system came up with 211 entries. He has even had the privilege to become the voice of the epic poem Beowolf -- one which cries out to be Spoken not just read in silence. A better storytelling voice you could not find. He has the voice of a grandfather sitting and reading to you next to a fireplace on a cold winter night.
Here ends my first journey through audio books. Perhaps you will see one of
these narrators listed at your own library or bookstore. I recommend giving them a
listen and perhaps your eyes will be opened to the world of audio books.
Here are some other Audio books that I recommend: