# Stephen King Reading His Own Books **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 27, 2017, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-reading-his-own-books/797425 "2017-09-27T14:30:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-reading-his-own-books/797425/21 "2017-09-27T16:11:44Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > 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. Yeah – I have a copy of this on cassette, too. The package says “In 3D Sound”, because it was in that very deliberate stereo that gave you a sense of being surrounded by the action. Just what you want with something like “The Mist” > **[The Mist : In 3-D Sound: King, Stephen, Full Cast Dramatization: 9780671621384:...](https://www.amazon.com/Mist-3-D-Sound-Stephen-King/dp/0671621386)** > > The Mist : In 3-D Sound \[King, Stephen, Full Cast Dramatization\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. The Mist : In 3-D Sound [http://www.sffaudio.com/stephen-kings-the-mist-in-3d-sound/](http://www.sffaudio.com/stephen-kings-the-mist-in-3d-sound/) > **[The Mist by Stephen King (1993, Compact Disc, Abridged edition) for sale...](https://www.ebay.com/p/1685050)** > > Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for The Mist by Stephen King (1993, Compact Disc, Abridged edition) at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products! ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-reading-his-own-books/797425/22 "2017-09-27T16:49:40Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > 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 was going to say exactly that. Also, IIRC, he read the middle part (the dorm card game) of _Hearts in Atlantis_ and I thought it was just about perfect. ---
**Author:** ![Greathouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greathouse/32/2992_2.png) [@Greathouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greathouse)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-reading-his-own-books/797425/23 "2017-09-27T17:08:02Z")
Maybe I am being a bit too harsh in my judgement since others don’t seem to be bothered by it, and some seem to enjoy it. The book I listened to previous to Desperation was The Tommyknockers and it was read by Edward Herrmann. He did an amazing job with the voices, accents, inflections, everything really. I don’t want to say that I’ll lower my standards, but I’ll try to lighten up and be more open to his interpretation. ---
**Author:** ![The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-reading-his-own-books/797425/24 "2017-09-27T17:51:26Z")
Yeah, I don’t think he has the best voice for audio books, but the award for worst narrating voice that I’ve heard goes to Andrew Solomon. I got the audio book _Far from the Tree_, and I really, really liked the book, but his voice was so horrible that I considered abandoning the book after only about 20 minutes, just because I didn’t know if I could keep listening to it. And as someone else mentioned upthread, Neil Gaiman is a writer who reads his books well. ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2017, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-reading-his-own-books/797425/25 "2017-09-27T17:56:27Z")
> [@Greathouse](#): > > Maybe I am being a bit too harsh in my judgement since others don’t seem to be bothered by it, and some seem to enjoy it. The book I listened to previous to Desperation was The Tommyknockers and it was read by Edward Herrmann. He did an amazing job with the voices, accents, inflections, everything really. > > I don’t want to say that I’ll lower my standards, but I’ll try to lighten up and be more open to his interpretation. You read _The Tommyknockers_, you’ve already lowered your standards! 😃 King is excellent, IMO, on _Bag of Bones_, one of his actually scary books. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2017, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-reading-his-own-books/797425/26 "2017-09-28T13:36:23Z")
I’ve said this about King before and I’ll say it again: When he gets it right, nobody does it better. When he gets it wrong, nobody does it worse. I’m willing to put up with The Tommyknockers in exchange for The Green Mile. ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2017, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-reading-his-own-books/797425/27 "2017-10-02T02:03:37Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I’ve said this about King before and I’ll say it again: When he gets it right, nobody does it better. When he gets it wrong, nobody does it worse. > > I’m willing to put up with The Tommyknockers in exchange for The Green Mile. That’s how I feel about Cujo. The good ones make you wonder if the bad ones are on you. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-reading-his-own-books/797425/28 "2017-10-05T00:53:13Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > 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. Here’s [silent film of Mark Twain](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqaSOw1WhjI) . Sorry that there’s no sound. ---
**Author:** ![Trancephalic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trancephalic/32/380_2.png) [@Trancephalic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trancephalic)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-reading-his-own-books/797425/29 "2017-10-05T01:20:20Z")
Meteor shit! ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-reading-his-own-books/797425/30 "2017-10-05T02:01:37Z")
The real shame when it comes to audiobooks of King’s works is that several were read by Frank Muller, who was really good at narration, and he had a terrible motorcycle accident that left him in terrible shape until he died six years later. Other interesting recordings I’ve heard was Philip Pullman plus a full cast doing _His Dark Materials_, Simon Vance and Patrick Tull trading off books in Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin series, a terrible narration by Anna Fields of some of Catherine Asaro’s work (she tried doing this low-pitched thing for male characters that just didn’t work), and Patrick Stewart reading C.S. Lewis’ _The Last Battle_. Most of the audiobooks of Orson Scott Card’s various Ender-related works use multiple narrators or a full cast as well. My parents have Tolkien reading/singing his work on vinyl. I’ve never heard it, as we didn’t have a record player I was allowed to use as a kid and I’m not sure I trust the the needle on the USB-connected one I have now to play anything potentially delicate. Heck, I bought the player on a whim new-in-box at a garage sale years ago and have yet to even open it. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-reading-his-own-books/797425/31 "2017-10-05T02:14:42Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > Not sure why he chooses to do it but I can’t imagine it’s about the money. \ Could he _be_ any richer? \ It’s a good question. I like when the author reads the book mainly because they tend to know how to pronounce the things they wrote about. I was listening to a James Bond audiobook and for some reason the narrator kept pronouncing his codename as “Oh Oh Seven” instead of “Double-Oh Seven”. Anyone even remotely familiar with James Bond would know to pronounce it “Double Oh Seven” as Ian Fleming himself pronounced it “Double Oh Seven”. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-reading-his-own-books/797425/32 "2017-10-05T03:59:15Z")
Why does he even bother? I mean, he already knows how they end. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-reading-his-own-books/797425/33 "2017-10-05T04:58:04Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > Why does he even bother? I mean, he already knows how they end. 15 years ago I wrote an Neon Genesis Evangelion fanfic that was 30 chapters long and I basically forgot all of it until I reread it about a year ago. The only thing I really remembered was the ending to it. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-reading-his-own-books/797425/34 "2017-10-05T12:33:46Z")
> [@Paintcharge](#): > > Ha! My mom was in a play with him in college. She said he was a terrible actor back then. And kind of a wierdo, too, which is not too surprising. Well, at least he’s handsome. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-reading-his-own-books/797425/35 "2017-10-05T13:36:55Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > Why does he even bother? I mean, he already knows how they end. To keep continuity in the sequels? ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-reading-his-own-books/797425/36 "2017-10-05T18:02:40Z")
I can’t stand listening to King reading his own books. It’s not the nasal tone that bothers me, though–it’s all the mouth noises. He sounds so…_wet_ when he reads. Smacking and swallowing and…ew. At least he did in _Bag of Bones_, which I managed to get through but it wasn’t a pleasant experience. I love SK’s books, btw. I’ve been a fan since grade school. He just needs a real narrator. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stephen-king-reading-his-own-books/797425.md?page=1)