Most of the other commenters have the same problem:
• A good story as usual from Bryson, but instead of the familiar voice of the author that has graced his other books we get an interloper....
• what the @#% was Audible thinking, having someone other than Mr. Bryson read this?
• I love Bill Bryson and have listened to all of his books. Most, unlike this one, are narrated by Bryson himself in his mild, sleepy tones. Maybe it's the different narrator (who does a fine job) or maybe it's the decades that have passed since his earlier tours through Britain, but I found this book to be more "grumpy old fart" than bemused traveller.....
• ... It was only when I hit "Play" that I learned that... Bill didn't provide his own narration. I was despondent. Why, Bill? Too busy fighting for the rights of hedgerows? Bad case of laryngitis? As a fellow Colonial it's been Bryson's narrative style, his sense of comedic timing, and his firsthand knowledge of the events he discusses that has made me visit so many of the places he has described... I am distressed each time I spend time listening to "Little Dribbling". It's not that there's anything at all wrong with Nathan Osgood. To the contrary, he's excellent, and were it a book by any other author I would happily give 5 stars. Here, however, I find myself constantly imagining how the book would have been narrated by the author. It's like listening to two books at once; a horrible cross to bear. So, no offense, Nathan, but why, Bill, why?
• I've just started listening, and this reader is okay. But Bill is great at narrating his own work, and I was fully expecting that I'd hear his voice. I never expected for a moment to hear someone else. We need another version with a Bryson narration.
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New Coke vibe
You are obviously intelligent, Althouse. I just do not get this fascination for that modestly, at best, talented hack writer.
This was a contributing factor in the Violier suicide.
"You are obviously intelligent, Althouse. I just do not get this fascination for that modestly, at best, talented hack writer."
His voice! I use the audiobooks to fall asleep. I wish I knew of another voice that could work like his. It's utterly unique.
As far as the content, the voice brings out the content.
Bryson grew up in Des Moines, then moved to England where he's lived for a long time. So he has an odd hybrid accent. But the voice is very gentle, no harsh edge. He doesn't put too much stress on his words, but enough to convey the humor, outrage, charm or whatever. It's just magical for me... in a sleep-related way. If my judgment is off, consider whether it's off because I've spent years asleep with his voice in my ear.
I wish I knew of another voice that could work like his
Amy Tan? Maya Angelou? Jim Dale works for
many, too.
Ah well if you are going to listen to his books (and him reading them) as a bed time story, then I understand the despair.
OTOH my initial reaction was--well you can always read the dang thing. My favorite anecdote in a Bryson book occurs in his book about his travels in Australia. It involves no sound. He's been out in the bush, away from news and all that. He has not heard or read about Billy Jeff's dalliance in the Oval Office with Ms. Lewinsky. He walks into a noisy Australian bar. The TV is on, but the sound is off--the local blokes have more to worry about (e.g. hoisting the next Fosters) than any bleary news from CNN.
Well as Bryson writes the story (hmmh--wonder if it is on an audiobook) he looks up at the TV screen. CNN is flashing a picture of Clinton walking in the Rose Garden. Hillary is walking with him. And not only Hillary, but young Ms. Chelsea is tagging along. Bryson begins to suspect that Billy Jeff is in some kind of trouble (the Clintons always stage a photo op of domestic semi-bliss when they are in trouble). But Bryson says that he really knew that Clinton was in big, big trouble because the photo op of the friendly family walk in the Rose Garden included the family dog!
Well you get your laughs where you find them--and that was one of the funniest couple of pages I've read in years.
I guess I have to confess that I have never listened to his voice. So maybe I will lay off him.
They have done studies that show that guys with good voices get laid more. Once I had a chest cold and was answering the phone for a pizza place in college and was told my voice was sexy and got asked if I was the one delivering the pizza. One more incident of having the red pill jammed down my throat.
rehajm said..."I wish I knew of another voice that could work like his. Amy Tan? Maya Angelou? Jim Dale works for
many, too."
Give me links to particular books. I have tried many. The one other voice I've accepted is Simon Vance reading J. Maarten Troost.
Here are those books.
I have other audiobooks with Simon Vance reading, but I don't like them for sleeping. They are find for walking around.
I like Grover Gardner as a reader, but absolutely not for sleeping.
The Bryson books are good, better and best. The best is probably A Short History of Everything. It is a condensed college education refresher that brings us up on the latest new discoveries in many fields.
The Road to Little Dribbling, as read, is without Bryson's light touch to satire. It has more hateful ridicule/satire towards dummies Bryson meets in this reader's tone. But I never heard that before , even in A Walk in The Woods, whose walk was with a real dumb dummy.
Also 1927 is an excellent Bryson History narration.
I didn't realize Bryson read Bryson but he is very good. Sometimes it doesn't work out. I love the audiobook of Leonard Mlodinow's "The Drunkard's Walk" read by professional reader Sean Pratt. His next book "Subliminal" is also good but he decided to read it and it isn't nearly as good.
On the other hand, Niall Ferguson is an excellent reader of his books.
Johann Sebastian Bach's immortal Goldberg Variations were originally commissioned as a cure for insomnia, much to the composer's amusement.
Give me links to particular books.
Amy Tan
Jim Dale
Middlebrow. If you were going to put a picture next to middlebrow in the dictionary, it would be Bryson's.
Thanks, rehamj
I never listen to fiction while sleeping. I much prefer a nonfiction book that involves a travel to particular places, without anything too disturbing happening. Descriptions of places, humorous insights and encounters....
I love to listen to David Sedaris, but his books are too short and there are sone chapters recorded liveI and I hate clapping. They also put music between the chapters,
Garrison Keillor's stories about Lake Wobegon sound very warm and endearing when told in his own voice. However, reading his books containing the same stories gives me the impression that he holds most of his Mist County characters in contempt.
Interesting that nothing is a high standard but it is exceeded in falling asleep to spoken word. Why not fall asleep to the sound of nothing.
"Interesting that nothing is a high standard but it is exceeded in falling asleep to spoken word. Why not fall asleep to the sound of nothing."
Can't get to nothing when you have a brain.
"Can't get to nothing when you have a brain."
I get what you are saying. But shouldn't you strive for nothing. This is what zen tries to acheive. The sound of breathing is very close to nothing.
What was Audible thinking?
It wasn't Audible's call. It was Random House Audio that produced the audiobook.
Though Audible does have its own studios, and does publish some audiobooks. Most of their audiobooks are produced by the original book publishers.
Personally, it's his writing I don't care for. Haven't heard his voice.
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