voldy getting moldy

[frayadjacent]

I finished the Harry Potter audiobook series, read by Stephen Fry, about 30 minutes ago. I promptly watched the few HP vids I have on my HDD, including milly's Landslide, trelkez's The Adventure, and dualbunny's Snakes on a Plane. I still can't find a Hermione vid that satisfies my needs and I'm starting to wonder if I'll have to make one. Any recs are most welcome.

I haven't posted about the series since I was on book 5, because, well, I got busy. But I loved the last two books, more than I remembered. I don't think any of my opinions have changed drastically. I love Hermione and Luna even more than before, and Neville just as much. I find Draco Malfoy and Ron easier to forgive. But not enough that I'm chasing down the Draco and Draco/Harry vids and fic that fill many of the places I search.

Stephen Fry's reading was outstanding. Many characters I'd hardly noticed came to life with his performance. Even fairly minor charactersf, like Rufus Scrimgeour, that I'd previously had trouble keeping track of held more weight in my mind. I'm suprised by that, since I don't think of myself as a particularly auditory person. I hadn't listened to audiobooks before this because I thought I'd be unable to concentrate, and there were times when I found myself spacing out or distracted, but mostly not. I'd like to try more.

Comments

[calvinahobbes]

I think the narrator does play a very big role in my enjoyment of an audiobook. As you mention I really find that people who can do voices and balance a big cast of characters is important, but there's also simply something about whether a narrator's interpretation of a character corresponds to my own (I was listening to Rosamund Pike's reading of Pride and Prejudice, but she insists on making Mrs Bennet into well-meaning airhead, and it annoys me so much). That said, narrators that are really skilled that you might keep an eye out for are Dan Stevens, Juliet Stevenson and Simon Vance (The Complete Sherlock Holmes, for example).

Someone on a podcast I listen to mentioned that she mostly listens to audio narrations of books she's already read, and I actually think that's a very good trick, maybe especially for a beginner, because you don't need to hang onto every detail and doesn't matter if you space out a little sometimes.

I wish I had an easy way to relisten to the Fry books, but Audible only has the Jim Dale versions, alas.

[frayadjacent]

Yes, that makes total sense. Regarding the narrator's interpretation of character: I think that especially affected how I felt about Fred and George Weasley. I never disliked them, but they were never standout characters for me either. Something about Fry's interpretation made them work for me, though. At any rate there was no character for whom I disliked his interpretation. I heard several people complain about Jim Dale's depiction of Hermione, which made his narration a non-starter for me. People in this thread seem to be corroborating that!

I like the idea of listening to audiobooks you've already read. It makes sense -- I know the plot so it's OK if I space out during exposition, but I get to enjoy a new take on the characterisation.