Tag Archives: audiobooks

Listening to Narnia (Part 2)

Literature, , , ,

As mentioned in my previous entry, I recently bought The Chronicles of Narnia Unabridged Boxed Audiobook Set of HarperCollins for my birthday through Amazon.com. It’s been over a month since I first started listening to it (while driving alone – which I don’t really do that often, I usually have either my brother or boyfriend with me), and I’m now at the last CD of the last book.

Since I’ve already given my comments on the first four audiobooks, here are my comments on the last three.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader – narrated by Derek Jacobi

I have to admit, VDT is my second least favorite of the Narnia books. One reason is that I never really warmed up to the character of Eustace Scrubb. But Derek Jacobi did an amazing job with him. Pre-dragon Eustace was lofty and annoying, but later became actually… likeable. I particularly loved how he read what dragon Eustace was trying to write in the sand and ended with an exasperated “Oh, bother.” I actually had to double check my book to see if it was really there. It was, but I never noticed it before until Derek Jacobi brought it to life. I didn’t really care for his Lucy voice at the beginning, but it grew on me. I actually cried a bit towards the ending of VDT, when Lucy told Aslan, “It isn’t Narnia, you know… It’s you. We shan’t meet you there. And how can we live, never meeting you?”

The Silver Chair – narrated by Jeremy Northam

I was worried before listening to this because as I have mentioned before, SC is my favorite of the Narnia books, mainly because of its theme (remembering and following the signs) and its main character, Puddleglum the Marshwiggle. Although Puddleglum’s voice was not how I imagined it to be, and the Lady of the Green Kirtle did not trill her R’s as much as I thought she should have, it was nevertheless very well done. The banter between Jill Pole and Eustace Scrubb was always lively.

The Last Battle – narrated by Patrick Stewart

I mentioned in my previous entry that my favorite audiobook was The Magician’s Nephew. After the first chapter of hearing Professor X (Xavier) – er, I mean, Patrick Stewart – reading LB, I knew the people from HarperCollins saved the best for last. Patrick Stewart was amazing. There were particular moments in his reading that really stuck to my mind, such as when the Talking Dogs barked: “Welcome! Welcome! We’ll help, we’ll help, help, help. Show us how to help, show us how, how. How-how-how?” I also loved his voice for Puzzle and Shift and Poggin the Dwarf. He was able to distinguish each voice and give it a character of its own, so you always knew who was talking.

After listening to 30+ hours worth of reading, all I can say is that I can’t wait to start listening all over again!

Listening to Narnia (Part 1)

Literature, , , , ,

I recently bought The Chronicles of Narnia Unabridged Boxed Audiobook Set of HarperCollins for my birthday through Amazon.com, along with a new hardbound Narnia book. I got my package last 24 June (which was also my 40th month together with my boyfriend Sidney) and I’ve been listening to it whenever I’m driving alone (which isn’t actually that often).

This is my first time to listen to an audiobook and I wasn’t disappointed. At first, I thought there would be sound effects (like perhaps the sound of a river running or horses trotting) in the background, but it wasn’t like that at all. It was just one British voice reading the books out loud to you, changing the tone and accent of each character so that you’d distinctly know which was which.

I’ve already gone through the first four, and here are my comments:

The Magician’s Nephew – narrated by Kenneth Branagh

This is my definitely my favorite audiobook so far. There were two particular character voices I loved. The first is that of the cabby (who later became King Frank). In the book, it says he had a cockney accent, but since I’ve never heard of a cockney accent before, I had no idea how that would sound like. The audiobook really brought it to life for me, especially the part how his speech changed while Aslan was talking to him. The second was the Bulldog who kept arguing with the Elephant by saying, “I object to that remark very strongly.” The way he said it was so funny, I literally burst out laughing.

The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe – narrated by Michael York

I can’t actually remember much about this one. It was good, but not quite memorable. I liked the voice of Aslan, Peter and Jadis though.

The Horse and His Boy – narrated by Alex Jennings

This is my second favorite so far, mainly because the narrator was able to invent a distinctly Calormene accent for Rabadash, the Tisroc etc. I love how Rabadash said, “Oh my father and oh the delight of my eyes” in a drawling voice which really sounded as if the Tisroc was not the delight of his eyes. I just have one issue: how come Shasta and Aravis didn’t have the same accent, even though they both grew up in Calormen? Oh well.

Prince Caspian – narrated by Lynn Redgrave

I had apprehensions before listening to this one, because I didn’t know how all the predominantly male characters would be voiced in such a way as to distinguish one from another. You’d have to remember that nearly all the lead characters in Prince Caspian are male (e.g. Peter, Edmund, Caspian, Trumpkin, Dr. Cornelius, Miraz, Trufflehunter, etc). For all the other audiobooks, the narrators were male, and the female characters they had to do usually ranged from only one to three (e.g. Lucy, Susan, Polly, etc). But the narrator actually did a really good job, especially with Trumpkin. I just didn’t like her Aslan voice though.

You can read part 2 here.