After hearing more than a few of these versions, the reasons many of these actors had trouble finding employment in more visible roles is more than obvious. Bearing in mind that most unabridged versions of novels take hours to complete, what may seem like a unique and interesting approach at the beginning of the book can become annoying and distracting by its end. For was notable, for instance, because it was the first time she wrote from the male perspective. Sanders, by the way, isn't the only male reader to fall into this particular trap. Many actors seem to believe that reading a woman's part requires them to put on a falsetto, making them all sound like bored drag queens and rendering it impossible to take any of the female characters seriously.
Gender switching aside, a reader's voice alone can be enough to make a book unlistenable.
The unabridged version of J.G. Ballard's Empire of the Sun , for instance, comes in a handsome volume containing at least 12 cassettes, but with David Case as the reader, you'll probably never get through it. Often the best readers are the authors themselves. They convey the meaning best because they know what they meant when they wrote it. For entertainment purposes, T. Coraghessan Boyle's lively reading of his novel The Road to Wellville rivals the 1995 film version of his story. Hearing writers tell their own stories is particularly effective if you're listening to an autobiography.