audiobook voice actor recommendations

November 2, 2017 10:13 AM

I've been listening to a lot of audiobooks, and some voice actors are better than others. Two I like are Tom Weiner and Enn Reitel. Can you recommend more?
posted by the man of twists and turns to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (32 answers total)

Best answer: Kobna Holdbrook-Smith.
posted by rtha at 10:21 AM on November 2, 2017 [4 favorites]

Donal Donnelly.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 10:23 AM on November 2, 2017

I very much enjoyed listening to Emily Woo Zeller narrating "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up". I have both the original book(s) and the audio version and I really love Emily's voice.
posted by M. at 10:24 AM on November 2, 2017 [1 favorite]

I am a fan of Mary Robinette Kowal although I should disclaim that by saying we are casually acquainted as well.
posted by restless_nomad at 10:31 AM on November 2, 2017

I thought that Dick Hill's rendition of Pynchon's Against the Day was so good that I wrote a fan letter, which I don't think I'd ever done before.
posted by Jasper Fnorde at 10:53 AM on November 2, 2017 [2 favorites]

James Marsters (who played Spike on Buffy) is a great reader/actor. He is most known as a reader from The Dresden Files.
posted by a humble nudibranch at 11:01 AM on November 2, 2017 [1 favorite]

Linda Lavin did a wonderful job with Ruth Bader Ginsburg's My Own Words, which also includes excerpts from Ruth herself and even a stanza from a play. I've heard her performance on The Boston Girl is also amazing although I've not listened myself.
posted by notorious medium at 11:02 AM on November 2, 2017

Simon Prebble. I discovered him with his reading of Jonathon Strange & Mr. Norell.
posted by ShooBoo at 11:06 AM on November 2, 2017 [2 favorites]

Not exactly what you asked, but really enjoying Will Wheaton's work on Ready Player One.
posted by terrapin at 11:27 AM on November 2, 2017

John Lee. He's recorded many of Peter F. Hamilton and Alastair Reynolds' books, and his reading of China Miéville's Kraken is excellent.
posted by neushoorn at 11:40 AM on November 2, 2017 [3 favorites]

Heather Alicia Simms performed the audiobooks for a book trilogy where the last two were recorded a full 10 years apart and she still managed to a) create a unique voice for each character and b) recreate them exactly on all three recordings.
posted by Flannery Culp at 12:09 PM on November 2, 2017

John Keating - he has an Irish accent and I loved his reading of Airman by Eoin Colfer. The link has a lot of other books he has done.

Kobna is truly the Best Answer and I am glad you've marked him as such =)
posted by soelo at 12:20 PM on November 2, 2017 [2 favorites]

Juliet Stevenson is a wonderful reader - she’s read lots of Jane Austen on Audible, but I especially loved her reading of The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters.
posted by cardinalandcrow at 12:44 PM on November 2, 2017 [1 favorite]

Robin Sachs, particularly Glen Duncan's The Last Werewolf

Will Patton, Maggie Stiefvater's Raven Boys series

Steve West, Megan Whalen Turner's Thief series, Maggie Stiefvater's The Scorpio Races

George Guidall, Helen Wecker's The Golem and the Jinni

Susan Duerden, Daniel O'Malley's The Rook Files, Tea Obreht's The Tiger's Wife, China Mieville's Embassytown
posted by carrioncomfort at 12:52 PM on November 2, 2017

Karen Savage reads (beautifully) for Librivox and for various publishers.
posted by ALeaflikeStructure at 12:54 PM on November 2, 2017

I should have said also that while I am listening to her read Jane Austen on Librivox, she works in a variety of genres.
posted by ALeaflikeStructure at 12:58 PM on November 2, 2017

R. C. Bray narrated The Martian, and he's great. He got an Audie for that book (read it if you haven't, it makes a great audiobook!).
posted by radioamy at 12:58 PM on November 2, 2017 [1 favorite]

Oh also, David Sedaris reads his own audiobooks, and it makes them even more hysterical.
posted by radioamy at 12:59 PM on November 2, 2017 [3 favorites]

I loved Tom Stechschulte's reading of No Country for Old Men, Donna Tartt's of True Grit, and I thought Robin Miles's part in Lincoln in the Bardo was so good that I'm about to listen to another one of hers!
posted by exceptinsects at 1:15 PM on November 2, 2017

Richard Armitage is gorgeous and FUNNY (Heyer, Dickens), Alex Jennings, ANTON LESSER READING THE PHONE BOOK OR WHAT.EVER., John Le Carre, DFW and Charles Frazier reading their own work, seconding Sedaris and the authoritative Juliet Stevenson
posted by runincircles at 3:50 PM on November 2, 2017

Davina Porter
Luke Daniels

honestly, if you hit one you like, follow them around. the talent can make a lot of an average book! Davina is a good example of that -- she has narrated some froth but is sort of in that "I'd listen to her read a phone book" category of talented.
posted by acm at 3:53 PM on November 2, 2017 [2 favorites]

Jonathan Keeble (I liked his reading of Reginald Hill's Dalziel and Pascoe mysteries)
Simon Vance (I liked The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher)
Seconding Davina Porter.
Seconding Kobna Holdbrook-Smith.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 6:06 PM on November 2, 2017 [1 favorite]

A few of my favorites that I don't see mentioned above:

David Thorn ( particularly, his reading of Jonathan Stroud's Heroes of the Valley -- just fantastic work )
Joyce Irvine ( Queen of Candesce is one of my favorites )
Emily Bevan ( Several of Jonathan Stroud's Lockwood & Co novels )
Peter Kenny ( Sepkowski's Witcher series and Banks' Culture novels )

Seconding John Lee -- he is the voice of detective Bernie Gunther's internal monologue. I've also enjoyed Lee's readings of Melissa Scott and Jo Graham's Lost Things series.
posted by Kikkoman at 6:48 PM on November 2, 2017 [1 favorite]

I couldn't get a sense of what you liked about the linked readers so pardon the very uninformed response, but, everything Will Patton reads turns to gold as far as I'm concerned. You'll remember him from some movies but he's read books from Steven King and James Lee Burke among others.
posted by ftm at 6:56 PM on November 2, 2017

Kobna Holdbrook-Smith is the first audiobook performer whose name I had to know. And I won't read any of the Peter Grant books with just my eyes now -- I have to hear his audiobook performance!
posted by wenestvedt at 8:04 PM on November 2, 2017 [1 favorite]

Ray Porter and Mark Bramhall. My two absolute favorite narrators.

I would listen to Mark Bramhall read the dictionary because he would make it dry, very slightly acerbic but I'd feel in on the joke.
posted by 8dot3 at 6:27 AM on November 3, 2017

Barbara Rosenblatt, too. She does the Anna Pigeon series by Nevada Barr, and she's fantastic.
posted by 8dot3 at 6:28 AM on November 3, 2017

Raul Esparza is amazingly talented. Blown away by his range and ability to act multiple characters in "Under The Dome."
posted by Thistledown at 7:03 AM on November 3, 2017

Scott Brick! He's my favorite audiobook narrator. I listen to audiobooks I wouldn't normally listen to specifically because he's narrated them. He does a fabulous job!
posted by TurquoiseZebra at 8:47 AM on November 3, 2017

Will Patton's readings of Denis Johnson's Train Dreams / Jesus' Son (two books for one price) is amazing. He does a great job with Deliverance as well.

Bronson Pinchot's take on the Bayou Trilogy (3 books for price of 1) is also great.
posted by dobbs at 2:34 PM on March 12, 2018

Oh, and Craig Wasson's readings of James Ellroys books are excellent. Stephen King called his take on Blood's a Rover the best audiobook ever made.
posted by dobbs at 2:35 PM on March 12, 2018

I'm just finishing Carrie Fisher's reading of her own Princess Diarist. It just wouldn't be the same without hearing her own intended emphases. She's a riot and I can't wait to hear her read her other books.
posted by AnOrigamiLife at 3:22 PM on May 18, 2018