If you can find them I highly recommend listening to the Douglas Adams recordings, it is much better listening to the actual author read his own books IMO. Fantastic books no matter how you listen to them.
this post was submitted on 29 Sep 2023
397 points (99.0% liked)
Books
10337 readers
1 users here now
Book reader community.
founded 4 years ago
MODERATORS
I agree in this case, but not every author is a good reader, and even when they are, their voice isn't always the right voice. I love Stephen King to death, but I'll pass on him reading The Stand. Meanwhile, I wouldn't listen to On Writing read by anyone else.
I enjoyed Needful Things narrated by him, don't think The Stand I listened to was by him though. I do agree On Writing is a good choice by him, helps it's about King too. Of course Needful Things starts with a couple of Maine old timers sounding like they're talking on a porch which his accent conveys very well. The first narrator for the Dark Tower series did Roland perfectly, was more difficult when they had to switch and definitely wouldn't want King instead, though it'd almost make sense if you know the story.
I didn't mean that King had read the stand, just that he would be wrong for that part. I can't think of one he read that he wasn't a good choice for, except maybe Desperation.
King read Wind through the Keyhole. That's how I learned that Rolands name is pronounced Des-chain and not De-schain apparently. Don't like it.
I agree there's definitely a few books I've stopped listening to because I didn't like the narration style or voice.
I have Fry doing the first book and Adams doing at least one othe book, I find Adams a bit flat but I do agree he does a good job. I listened to one of the Freeman read books and it didn't feel quite right but he's probably closer to Adams than Fry. That said I enjoyed Fry's Harry Potter readings many times so that may influence my preference. Generally I think authors will give their intended inflections in the reading which does help with the feel of a book.
Stephen Fry has what might be the best voice for audiobooks ever. It's like having your British grandfather read you a bedtime story. I imagine. I mean, my grandfathers were from Chicago and Missouri, so I guess I wouldn't know, but still.
And it was when reading this comment that I realized I was thinking of Philip J Fry and Stephen Fry is not him.
🧠💨
Billy West reading H2G2 in Fry’s voice is now something that I need.
Why not Zoidberg?
Fry’s reading of Harry Potter is one of my favourite pieces of media of all time. And I’m not a Harry Potter fan. He’s an absolute master. I’m in. Thanks!
Did you know that the books are based on a BBC radio play? So this is basically a audiobook based on a radio play
If you want to go down that rabbit hole it gets pretty convoluted. Adam's talks about it in his biography. Its more of an amorphous blob than a cinematic universe.
amorphous blob
I don't need to biography to know that that's a good description of the books and stuff.
The order of the stories is a different one in the books and the radio play, but who cares about the order.
Also: the original radio play was made into the first 2 (or 3?) books. Than he continued writing and later (I think about a decade) he made a radio play out of the other books.
Yes, please. I've got a couple of Fry's autobiographies on audiobook and holy crap. You don't even really have to pay attention to them; just hearing him talk is relaxing, and the interesting stories are just a bonus.
For half a moment, I thought this said "read by Philip Fry." Stephen makes a lot more sense.
P.J. Fry Reading: "The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't."
(Out loud to himself): "Huh, I never noticed that before!"
The Vogons are winning again, we are the greetest. Now we will leave earth for no raisin
If anyone wants the Radio Plays I can share a Google drive link
EDIT Here you go
Includes original radio series and the noughties radio series (adaptations of books - not as good but has the original cast and is entertaining)
The 70s records - essentially the commercial version of the first radio series - has the Disaster Area sequence in the for 'Black Ship' instead of the shapehifting aliens.
The Dirk Gently radio series with Harry Enfield. Inferior to the books but the most faithful adaptation.
Yes, please!
Edit: Thanks!
Have updated comment above 🙂
So... What would be a good way to download and listen to this on Android?
Smartaudiobook player is brilliant, free, and will remember your place in the story. To download, choose 'desktop mode' in your android browser then click where it says '310 files' to download it all in one go. Took me 30-45 minutes, it's about 1.3Gb in size.
+1 Smart audiobook. I paid for mine to get the extra options and ad free experience. Totally worth. The best audiobook player out there.
Yes, smartaudiobook player is great. Would recommend.
Just started downloading following your instructions.
Just press download, unzip and listen to it on VLC (available on F-Droid)
Yeah how do you do that. Also I don't want to be downloading malware or such. anyway to scan for malicious content
If you're using your phone, scroll down to download options and choose whichever you like. You could run it through VirusTotal or some other service if you like, but I trust Internet Archive and my device is still fine!
Yeah my phone just doesn't like it. Shame I'd like to get google to read me the book. I've read it before. Fantastic read. Highly recommend it to everyone.
Its fine. You can trust me 😏
Are you a dolphin offering me free screensavers?
I put all my audiobooks on Plex and I use a specific app on my phone for listening to them.
It's not supported officially and it's janky but it works.
Is this from the people who pirated Stephen Fry's voice with AI wizadry?
It was uploaded more than a year ago so I think it's safe. It also feels very legit with the intro music and all that.
Edit: And I know this argument isn't going to hold for much longer, but the narration feels very human.