I happen to have all Stephen King audio book up to 2011. I enjoy listening to them in my truck while I do my daily commute to and from work. A couple of the books are read by King himself and he is absolutely fucking shit at reading his stories. I’m unsure if he is a severe allergy sufferer or otherwise holds his nose during his book readings, but it sure fucking sounds like it. He also is clearly not a voice actor and should stick to just writing the stories. He is completely unable to convey emotion while reading the story and his monotone delivery is super annoying. I’m wondering if this was an attempt to try and keep more of the money since he would be able to pocket the money that would otherwise be used to pay real voice talent, or if he is so vain to think he actually does this type of thing well.
I wish the publisher would release other versions of these books read by real voice talent so I can enjoy them.
One other unrelated thing about some of the books that sucks is when they try to put high tension music sounds in random spots of the story. For instance someone will be thinking about dinner recipes or the narrator is describing some random part of the scenery and out of nowhere really high pitched violin screeches overpower the voice actor and seriously distract from the story.
Hee! The part about wondering if he holds his nose is a great set up for all the SK haters out there:p
I’m not partial to audio books in general and I have heard his speaking voice so I can imagine it’s not a great experience. It does make me giggle to imagine him reading Delores Claiborne, though.
Not sure why he chooses to do it but I can’t imagine it’s about the money. <Chandler Bing> Could he be any richer? <CB> It’s a good question.
I’ve listened to some Stephen King audiobooks. I agree that he’s not the best reader, but he’s far from the worst. I could listen to him at length.
Art Buchwald recognized that he wasn’t the best voice (I’ve heard him lecture). For one of his audiobooks, he read only one item – obviously his favorite – then turned the reading duties over to someone else (for which I was grateful).
Other writers who aren’t all that great to listen to:
Michael Lewis (Liar’s Poker, The Big Short, Moneyball, etc.) – sounds very amateurish
John McPhee Control of Nature, etc.) – sounds as if he’s reading aloud stuff that he’s seeing for the very first time.
Ernest Hemingway – I was surprised when I listened to a recording of him reading his own works. Somehow, you thought it’d be easy to read those short simple sentences. But there’s more to it than that.
T.S. Eliot – I once heard a recording of him reading “The Wasteland”. It sounded like a soulless robot reading. Actually, that’s an insult to soulless robots.
Readers who are surprisingly good
Spider Robinson – Amazingly good voice and inflection. I’ve never heard him read his own work, but the recording of him reading Heinlein’s Rocketship Galileo really broght it to life.
James Doohan – I’ve listened to him read some of the Star Trek novels on audio. Not only is he a good reader, he does a great job of mimicking other characters’ voices. He had utilized this skill on the Star Trek animated series, years before.
John Lithgow – I’d expect him to be good, but I didn’t realize how good he could be until I heard him reading Tom Wolfe’s Bonfire of the Vanities.
Does he do the voices? I mean, I know his native accent is Maine but does he pile it on or change it in any way when he’s speaking in the person of one of the “old timers” or goofier characters?
Sidebar: If you can find it, there exists a version of “The Mist,” done as a radio play. William Sadler (“Shawshank Redemption,” “The Mist” [movie]) plays the hero, David Drayton, and it’s 95% of an excellent job.
King’s voice isn’t bad, but it is an acquired taste, and yes, he isn’t a professional voice actor.
He read the audio version of On Writing; it was perfectly appropriate for him to do so, and he did just fine with it. I’ve also enjoyed his readings of at least a couple of his short stories.
I would love to have a recording of Charles Dickens or Mark Twain reading their own works, even though there are perfectly good modern audio versions.
I dunno, “The Wasteland” kind of calls for a soulless reading, wouldn’t you say? I mean, the whole poem is very carefully designed to be barren and lifeless.
I think King did a good job on Needful Things and a couple of other of his books, though I can’t remember which. There are definitely worse voice actors working.
Is there such a thing as a non-serious cocaine habit?
i did listen to the shining audiobook from Audible read by a really good voice actor (forgot the name) and it had like eerie music playing in the background - actually creeped me out !
Yes. I’d supply you more detail, but my only copy is on–I believe they were called–“cassette.” No player. My only gripe was a tendency to slip into “radio description” in the middle of a monster skirmish. Other than that, well worth a listen. I did see it on CD once in some library, several years ago.
