***The Starry-Eyed Revue***: narrators to avoid

Jen has been a fan of audiobooks since she first discovered the SYNC program in 2011 and listened to Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater, and she's been pushing audio on everyone she knows since. Including April, who's now a big fan of audiobooks, as well. We told you about some of our favorite books on audio earlier this month and even offered up a chance for two of you to win one of them from our list, but we thought we'd continue the discussion since it's one of our favorite topics.

April: For me I think they have to have a pleasant voice. Annoying voices just won't do. I've only just started listening to audiobooks this year, so I don't have as much experience in this as Jen does, but I really enjoy when they have accents! Accents are fun, like for instance, The Scorpio Races and Cruel Beauty. I can't really read in an accent, so listening to it in narration adds to the story. Narrating with feeling is a major plus, too. If the main character is scared, I want to hear it in his/her voice.

Jen: To me, a great a narrator makes a story come to life; they're not just reading what's on the page in front of them. Which is one of the reasons I really enjoy when the author narrates the audiobook for their own story. They know what emotions, what feelings to convey because they're the one who wrote it to begin with. And I'm with April on the accents, especially when they feel right for the story, like when it's set in another country, or is a piece of historical fiction, or the author is from another country and you know that they'd speak with an accent. I also enjoy audiobooks narrated by actors I already know and love. Actors are usually already known for having good, clear speaking voices, and they're great at acting out the book using their voice because that's pretty much what they already do for a living. Below are some examples of my favorite types of narrators:

Authors - Neil Gaiman reads most of his own books, Robin Benway reads her Also Known As series, Libba Bray reads Beauty Queens, etc.

Accented Audiobooks - The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater is also among my favorites; anything by an Aussie author with an Aussie narrator: Graffiti Moon, Stolen: A Letter to my Captor, Jellicoe Road

Actors - Will Patton narrating Maggie Stiefvater's Raven Cycle, Heather Lind narrating Moira Young's Dust Lands trilogy, Ed Westwick narrating a couple of Cassandra Clare books (Heather Lind also narrates with him on one of those :D)

April: I've mostly listened to female narrators. A few of my faves are Katie Schorr from The Wells End, Suzy Jackson from Since You've Been Gone, Jennifer Ikeda from Just Listen, and Shannon McManus from Maybe One Day.

I've only listened to one male narrator so far and that was Steve West from The Scorpio Races. His voice was "OMG Hot". When I was talking about accents above, this one was the best. And I have to mention that Fiona Hardingham who narrated along with him was pretty awesome too.

Jen: I've collected quite a list of favorite narrators over the last few years. =) One of my absolute favorites for the male perspective in a YA novel is MacLeod Andrews, followed closely by Nick Podehl (who read Will Grayson, Will Grayson with MacLeod Andrews - sample below), Dan Bittner (the Shiver series by Maggie Stiefvater), and Kirby Heyborne (Katja Millay's The Sea of Tranquility).

I have too many favorite female narrators to link all of them up, but here are a few of the ones I frequently listen to: Rebecca Soler, Khristine Hvam, Rebecca Lowman, Julia Whelan, and Kate Rudd. Others I really enjoy listening to are Tavia Gilbert, Heather Lind, Caitlin Davies, Shannon McManus, Tara Sands, Cassandra Campbell, Jennifer Ikeda, Katherine Kellgren, Fiona Hardingham, and Gabra Zackman. These ladies are all fabulous at voicing both female and male characters, as well as making each voice sound separate and adding in accents where needed...especially the first two on the list.

April: Since I haven't listened to many audiobooks yet, I don't have a long list of narrators I avoid. I do have one though, and that is Stina Nielsen. She narrated The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen. I was so excited to listen to that book, but I had to return it after about 5 minutes in because you could hear the spit in her mouth while she talked. No lie, talk about nasty. I'm sure I will run into other I don't like but so far I've been pretty lucky with my choices!

Jen: There aren't many narrators that I just can't stand to listen to, but Justine Eyre is one of them. Which is crazy because I know sooo many people who just love her. And maybe it's just the way she portrayed the books I was listening to at the time (the Fallen series by Lauren Kate and Seraphina by Rachel Hartman), but I haven't given her another chance to ruin a book for me since. It's sad, though, because she narrated The Winner's Curse, which I read and loved, and I'd like to listen to the audio just to try it out because I've heard it's really awesome. But I'm scared. Anyone want to vouch for her and tell me that the TWC audiobook is phenomenal?

Another narrator that I thought I disliked is Kirby Heyborne. Until I listened to The Sea of Tranquility and realized that I must have been thinking of another male narrator because I lovedlovedloved his portrayal of Josh Fucking Bennett. Mayhap I was thinking of Todd Haberkorn? The last names are kinda similar, I guess.

All I know is, I'm glad I don't have all that many narrators to avoid at this point. Sure, there are some that don't quite do the book justice, but those are far and few between. :D

Are you an audiobook aficionado? Tell us your thoughts below on audiobooks: your favorites, the best narrators, the narrators you avoid, etc. And then don't forget to stop by our giveaway to enter to win one of our favorite audiobooks...the contest ends on Monday night! Happy listening!