Robin Miles is an excellent reader. I’ve listened to both fiction and nonfiction read by her, and she’s always terrific. (Not all readers do an equally good job with both.) Her reading of
We Need New Names, NoViolet Bulowayo, is probably my favorite of hers that I’ve listened to.
I told AW Admin I would flip through my library and se if there are any other performances that stood out beside those I listed above. Here are a couple more:
If you like Victorian literature (I do), then there are a stable of really excellent English readers whom you can always count on. Simon Vance is one - I’ve been listening to his readings of Trollope lately but he’s all over my library. Nadia May is another - her readings of George Eliot are among my favorites. Finally Wanda McCaddon’s reading of Vanity Fair,
Thackeray, captures the satiric tone perfectly and is often laugh-out-loud hilarious.
The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath, read by Maggie Gyllenhaal, surprised me. She has a relatively flat, affectless style, which ordinarily isn’t great for audiobooks, but really works brilliantly for the subject matter here. (I don’t recommend her reading of
Anna Karenina.)
I generally stay away from audiobooks read by the author. Reading aloud is a very different skill from writing, and most authors can’t do it. Professional voice actors are really required, especially for fiction.
That’s probably enough for now. I have tons of audiobooks that I’ve enjoyed, and I could keep going, but the ones I mentioned in my post above are really a tier above anything else I’ve mentioned here. Have fun.