Musing Mondays, is a weekly meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading that asks book bloggers to muse about one of the following each week…
• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• What book are you currently desperate to get your hands on? Tell us about it!
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!
• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it then!
My Musing:
Let’s see here…I think I’m going to opt for the bookish rant option. The narrator for Nora Roberts’ Black Hills was AWFUL! Considering that the story was excruciatingly long and tedious, it’s a wonder how I managed to power through the entire thing. But hey, audiobooks are expensive and I hate wasting a monthly Audible credit.
Here’s the thing: Dudes should not narrate sappy romance books, mainly because they sound like drunken drag queens with their nasally high-pitched “female voices.” I just couldn’t take the main character seriously because he made her sound RIDICULOUS!
I’m not saying that I don’t like male narrators. In fact, they’re excellent for any genre other than romance. Have you ever heard a book narrated by Neil Gaimen? Incredible! Oh and I also adore Jim Frangione, the narrator for Spencer Quinn’s Chet and Bernie Mysteries. He does an excellent job capturing Chet’s happy-go-lucky dog voice!
So there’s my bookish rant. Sorry to sound like a crusty curmudgeon. Next time I promise to choose a much more chipper topic!
BUBBLE BUBBLE BOOKS & TROUBLE 
Oh no! Bad narrators are the worst. There are a few men, like Simon Vance, who I think can do men’s and women’s voices as well, but a lot of men really do just sounds out of breath when trying to sound like a woman!
Agreed! Only a rare few can do a woman’s voice without sounding idiotic. I’ll have to check out Simon Vance’s audiobooks!
I’m not really familiar with audio books, I’ve only ever listened to one, and I thought it was ridiculous – because the narrator was doing different voices for the characters. I thought it was because I’d picked a young adult audio book, but it sounds like it isn’t the case if they do it for Nora Roberts’ books too! 😦
Here’s my musing for the week: The Ocean at the End of the Lane
Thanks for the comment! Audiobooks are kind of a mixed bag. If you get a crummy narrator, forget about it!