Best audiobook reader voting. Rating of the best audiobooks: list, reviews and reader reviews

1. Sergei Chonishvili

The most famous books voiced by Sergei Chonishvili: detective stories by Boris Akunin about Erast Fandorin, novels “S.N.U.F.F.” and “Love for Three Zuckerbrins” by Viktor Pelevin, “Fishermen and Winegrowers” by Mikhail Kharit.

Most of the audiobooks in Russian are voiced by the famous actor Sergei Chonishvili. You can't look for such a connoisseur of literature among the actors! And not only literature: in most famous films (The Avengers, 2 Fast 2 Furious, 47 Ronin) the characters speak in his voice. The famous “Emmanuel Gedeonovich” from “Election Day” is also Sergei Chonishvili. Deep sound, control of intonation, a “live” voice that allows you to make the text prominent and atmospheric - that’s all he does. If Chonishvili has read the novel, then, firstly, it is an excellent book, and secondly, you are guaranteed to listen to it to the end. His most recent work is Mikhail Kharit’s novel “Fishermen and Vinegrowers,” a powerful fantasy about the approaching apocalypse.

2. Igor Knyazev

The most famous books voiced by Igor Knyazev:“The House in Which...” Mariam Petrosyan, “All the Light We Cannot See” by Anthony Dorr, novels by Haruki Murakami, “Mr. Mercedes” by Stephen King.

Igor Knyazev “entered” audiobooks from the technical side. A professional sound engineer, one day he decided to give his wife a gift and read her favorite book. It was love at first sight - books for the reader and reader for the books. Since then, Igor has not only narrated books, but is also the founder of the small chamber audio theater “ABuki”, whose members turn any book into a full-fledged audio performance with sound and musical special effects. Musical arrangement is the main distinguishing feature of all books read by Igor Knyazev.

3. Alexander Klyukvin

The most famous books voiced by Alexander Klyukvin: novels by Boris Akunin about Erast Fandorin, books by JK Rowling about Harry Potter, “Batman Apollo” by Victor Pelevin.

Theater and film actor Alexander Klyukvin is a master of all voices. His signature voice is used by Morpheus in the game Fallout and Forrest Gump in the film of the same name. If Klyukvin takes on any book, it means a professional one-man theater awaits us. The ability to speak in different voices, to emphasize the significance of a particular moment in the hero’s life, and to create tension makes him indispensable when dubbing adventure literature. No wonder it was Klyukvin who was given the job of reading JK Rowling’s Harry Potter novels.

4. Alexander Filippenko

The most famous books voiced by Alexander Filippenko:“Planet “Water” by Boris Akunin, “Solaris” by Stanislav Lem, stories by Mikhail Zoshchenko.

The famous theater and film actor Alexander Filippenko does not have many recorded audio works. His main hobby is one-man performances, reading fragments of books from the stage. Filippenko works not only with his voice, but also with his facial expressions, single-handedly holding the viewer’s attention. His famous one-man shows “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich”, “The Laughter of the Fathers” - an evening of Soviet satire by Zoshchenko and Nikolai Erdman, selected prose by Sergei Dovlatov. But even the opportunity to listen to Alexander Filippenko’s speeches recorded, in audiobook format, is a great gift.

5. Alexey Borzunov

The most famous books voiced by Alexey Borzunov:"Perfumer. The Story of a Murderer" by Patrick Suskind, "Dracula" by Bram Stoker.

The king of dubbing, Alexei Borzunov, is known by his voice to millions of Soviet housewives. For them, he is Luis Alberto Salvatierra from the series “The Rich Also Cry.” Children remember him as Scrooge McDuck from DuckTales. But in fact, Alexey Borzunov is an actor of the dramatic genre, which is why he is most successful at reading the classics and such dramatic works as “Perfume” by Suskind.

6. Alexander Bordukov

The most famous books voiced by Alexander Bordukov: a series of books about Petson and Findus by Sven Nordqvist, stories about Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle.

The main merit of theater and film actor Alexander Bordukov is the voice acting of the famous stories by Arthur Conan Doyle about the detective Sherlock Holmes. For fans of Vasily Livanov, it was surprising how accurately Bordukov was able to transfer the voice of the famous hero into audio format. By the way, Bordukov has voiced quite a few classics, his main pearl being “The Great Gatsby” by Francis Scott Fitzgerald.

7. Vadim Maksimov

The most famous books voiced by Vadim Maksimov:“Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury, science fiction novels by Henry Lyon Oldie, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” by Ken Kesey, “The Pit” by Alexander Kuprin, “The Iliad” by Homer.

If you want high-quality science fiction, look for books narrated by Vadim Maksimov. The main skill of this reader is the ability to tell a story with intonation, making every line of the character resonate with you as a personal experience.

Now you can find a huge selection of audiobooks on different topics, be it business, biographies or ordinary fiction. Audiobooks are a growing industry right now. In an era of fast life you need new way absorb literature. And here audiobooks fit perfectly. However, not all books stand out for their good execution. We’ll try to figure out what there are, how to choose audiobooks, and list the best readers.

A little history

The first audiobooks appeared back in 1932. Initially they were offered to the visually impaired and were issued free of charge. Their duration was only a few minutes. Around the same time, radio dramas began appearing on the radio. October 30, 1938 happened significant event— Orson Welles and his colleagues are staging “War of the Worlds” and many people in the United States, not hearing that it is a play, begin to panic about the arrival of aliens.

The most sensational radio show. Americans confused the audio play with the arrival of aliens

In 1952, the first commercial audiobook on record was released. In the late 60s, audiobooks began to be released on audio cassettes. Until the beginning of the 21st century, the audiobook business existed, but rather sluggishly. But already in the new century, the industry began to flourish, disks and the Internet began to spread widely. Gradually, amateurs are joining the professional readers. Over the past couple of years, books in audio format have been viewed with less negativity, and more and more books are being released simultaneously with the printed version.

Types of audiobooks

So, essentially we have three options - listen to a professional team that records in studios; an amateur team consisting of an announcer and a sound editor who do everything at home, or some amateur who does everything alone.

Publishing houses are increasingly releasing audiobooks immediately after the release of the printed edition. If you buy an audiobook in official online stores or listen to them in special services, then you will find only high-quality books read by professional speakers or theater and film actors. Among such actors you can find Khabensky, Smekhov, Vitorgan and others. We have known their voices since childhood and they read perfectly.

Among other professional readers, one can highlight Vyacheslav Gerasimov, Irina Erisanova or Artem Karapetyan - these are announcers of the old, still Soviet school. They have been voicing this for a long time and thoroughly. Personally, I am not very attracted to their work - they mainly voice classics and the manner of their performance is too slow - a purely subjective opinion. But their contribution to dubbing audiobooks is invaluable.

There is another interesting audiobook format - audio plays or radio plays. The format when a book is read by several actors - usually for radio broadcasts. They originated in the 30s of the last century. True, it is worth understanding that often audio plays are an incomplete version of the book, but an adapted and reduced version, to invest in timing and radio format. Some of my favorites are The Great Gatsby and The Dark Tower (more on that below).

If you download an audiobook from torrents or listen to it on any sites, you can end up with completely disgusting readers who do not have the necessary equipment and experience. I will not list them, since I avoid such things in every possible way. Download samples and listen a little to see if the voice and sound quality suits you.

And the most common option is semi-professional readers, who usually have their own sound editor. Their work on high level and they choose more interesting books to the modern reader. Usually in the description they say LI - amateur performance. These readers can also be found in official stores and services. I will list many of them below.

The best audiobook readers

Well, now I’ll list my favorite performers with their advantages and, sometimes, disadvantages. And, of course, audiobooks that are worth listening to, performed by them.

Roman Volkov

Must listen: Stephen King's Dark Tower series

Listen to the sample:

Roman Volkov usually works in a team with other professional and not very professional actors - his Vargtroms Studio has been persistently voicing the Dark Tower series for many years and has almost reached the end of the story. It is “The Dark Tower” that they are making in the form of an audio play, only full version. This is very high quality work.

Along the way, Roman voices other, less significant books.

Vlad Kopp

Must listen:"Generation "P"" by Victor Pelevin

Listen to the sample:

Vlad Kopp is a professional film announcer, computer games, videos for YouTube channels. For a very long time he also hosted the radio program “Model for Assembly,” in which he read mostly science fiction stories. But sometimes there were entire novels. And all this to the accompaniment of cool electronic music. “MDS” eventually migrated to the Internet, so it’s not difficult to find Kopp’s old and new works.

DrLutz

Must listen:"American Gods" by Neil Gaiman

Listen to the sample:

I have never been able to find out who is hiding under this nickname. All I could find were a couple of photos (hopefully they were his). But the stories about Jeeves and Wooster in his performance become even funnier, although it seemed impossible. But his best work is “ American Gods". Unfortunately, DrLutz hasn’t announced anything new for a long time.

Sergei Chonishvili

Must listen:"Martin Eden" by Jack London

Listen to the sample:

What unites a businessman driving a car, a student on the morning subway and a housewife cleaning? The answer is simple - the ability to read a book. Today, even for the busiest person it is accessible and simple: listen to your favorite work in audio format. In addition to a headset or speakers, you will, of course, need the book itself. The rating of the best audiobooks presented in the article will help you understand all their diversity. It describes the genres, titles and names of those who make the work come to life.

Best audiobooks: rating "Fantastic"

Fantasy works are perhaps the most popular among readers of books in audio format. There are no long artistic descriptions in the plot; the narrative is dynamic and intriguing. Therefore, the effect of listening to such a book can be compared to watching an action-packed film. But this, of course, depends on the quality of the presentation. The following works can boast of this:

The works of the Strugatsky brothers “Inhabited Island”, “Monday Begins on Saturday”, “It’s Hard to Be God” and others occupy leading positions in the list of “Best Audio Books: Rating “Fiction”. They are voiced by L. Yarmolnik, A. Rezalin or M. Chernyak. But each of them is a separate fascinating story about a fictional, but so familiar to everyone world.
The second position is rightfully deserved by audiobooks authored by Max Fry: “Debut in Echo”, “Stranger”, “Nests of Chimeras”. The voice acting by D. Verovoy perfectly conveys the atmosphere of detective fiction, fantasy, illusions, unusual irony or harsh humor.
The works of S. Lukyanenko "The Cleaner" and "The Klutz" voiced by A. Andrienok are light, fascinating prose about a fictional world and a lonely hero who fights in it and writes his own story.
The fantastic world described in D. Glukhovsky's work "Metro 2033" combines the best traditions of the genre - fictional monster characters, saving the world and a modern hero. Voice acting belongs to E. Kamenetsky.

Audiobooks: modern prose

"Flowers for Algernon" by D. Keyes is a heartfelt story that combines elements of psychology, fantasy and romanticism. It is read in one breath, and in the voice acting by S. Yanishevsky it rightfully becomes the leader of the rating.
The rating of the best audiobooks continues with “Bury me behind the baseboard” by P. Sanaev in his own voice-over. Who, if not the author, would better convey what is described - the atmosphere of Soviet childhood through the eyes of a child, love, betrayal and the world in general?
“Fight Club” by Ch. Palahniuk is a cult work, which when performed by D. Zemtsov takes on a special coloring. Read or listen, but don’t tell anyone about fight club!
"The House in Which..." M. Petrosyan is a magically real, artistic, but from the real world, fascinating book voiced by I. Knyazev.
"Game of Thrones" by J. Martin shocked the world not only with its literary presentation, but also with its high-quality film adaptation. The time has come to evaluate the work in the audio version performed by Dmitry and Elena Polonetsky.

Classics: audiobook ratings

"The Master and Margarita" - M. Bulgakov's ageless book received new life thanks to the work of A. Klyukvin, M. Sukhanov and D. Moroz.
The dubbing of the works of father and son Dumas “The Three Musketeers” and “The Count of Monte Cristo” by V. Gerasimov brings them an honorable 2nd place.
“Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka” by Gogol came to life in the voice of A. Klyukvin and continues to delight lovers of life-affirming and kind works.
The performer of the book “Three Comrades” by Remarque V. Antonik will plunge into the world of true friendship, love and humanity.
Melville's "Moby Dick" became even more charming and fascinating thanks to the voice of V. Gemasimov.
Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment" is rightfully on everyone's list best books. The audio, which also belongs to V. Gerasimov, is no exception.

Educational and scientific literature: rating

Popular literature also includes the best audiobooks. The reader rating in this genre can be represented as follows:

“Rich Dad, Poor Dad” by R. Kiyosaki and S. Lecter is an original guide to the relationship between the financial state of the family and raising children.
A. Carr, “The Easy Way to Quit Smoking” is a book with a title that speaks for itself. Reviews from readers indicate that the method proposed by the author really works.
“The Subconscious Can Do Anything” by J. Kehoe is a popular book about activating the brain and self-programming for a happy life.
“The Psychology of Influence” by R. Cialdini is a work not only for specialists. A collection of effective practices that will help influence people and protect themselves from unwanted attention.
“How to Make Anyone Fall in Love with You” by L. Landes is another witty guide with a flashy title. Talks about the 6 components of romantic love.

Audiobooks for children

"The Little Prince" by Exupery is deservedly considered a textbook of goodness and universal human values. The book is a must-read not only for children, but also for adults who are mired in pressing problems. Voice acting is provided by K. Khabensky and M. Efremov.
The series of stories about Harry Potter is a whole culture today. JK Rowling and her brainchild were voiced for the audio book format by the talented performer A. Klyukvin.
It is impossible to imagine children's literature without Tom Sawyer and his avid companion Huck Finn. The performer of the book, A. Kotov, can let Mark Twain’s heroes into the world of boyish adventures.
An entire audio play is dedicated to the adventures of the girl Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass - fairy-tale worlds created by L. Carroll. The actions of the book were voiced by V. Abdulov and G. Ivanova, as well as V. Bondarev, M. Khvorostova and O. Dolonina.

Best audiobook performers: ranking

The quality of an audiobook depends not so much on its genre as on the quality of execution. After all, the first means exclusively a person’s personal literary preferences, and there will be as many opinions as there are people. The audio format involves the transformation of visual information into auditory information. The same book will be perceived completely differently if read aloud different people. Therefore, there are those who do it better than others. The timbre of their voice, intonation, and emotional involvement make it possible to create a rating of the best audiobooks.

Theater and film actors often engage in this type of activity. In addition to dubbing foreign films, they are also trusted with reading the plot of books. But these are quite rare cases. There are also those people who do this more often and are professionals in their field. They will be discussed further.

Alexey Borzunov is the voice of such famous works, like “Perfume”, “The Picture of Dorian Gray”, “The White Guard”, “The Humiliated and Insulted” and other books in which it is important to convey the tragedy and realism of life.
Alexander Klyukvin. He is responsible for the voice-over of fundamental classics such as “War and Peace”, “The Inspector General”, “The Master and Margarita”, as well as more modern ones - the stories about Harry Potter. The voice of this man is also familiar to fans of the cult series about Alpha. Distinctive feature- this is the ability to convey the character and mood of very different, dissimilar characters.
Vyacheslav Gerasimov is a broadcaster with 30 years of experience, a master of intonation and the author of voice acting for many cult works of classical and modern prose: "Dead Souls", "Idiot", "Black Stones", "Wheel of Fortune" and many others.
Maxim Pinsker is the owner of a charming low timbre of his voice, which gave readers the opportunity to hear such classic works as “The Captain’s Daughter”, “Three Comrades”, “Lolita” and many others.
Alexander Kotov is the voice of tragicomic works, who managed to voice the stories about Tom Sawyer, “Ivanhoe”, “Notre Dame Cathedral”, “The Red and the Black”.
Alexander Bordukov, who owns the voice of characters from stories about Sherlock Holmes, Madame Bovary, and The Great Gatsby.
Ivan Litvinov, a talent for very accurately conveying the characters’ personalities and the atmosphere of the work. The beloved works of Bulgakov, Orwell, King, Dostoevsky and many others were read in his voice.
Alexander Khorlin is a true master in verbally depicting exciting travels, adventures and heroes with unconventional thinking. These are "Gulliver's Adventures", and "Crime and Punishment", and "Lord of the Flies", and "The Collector".
Oleg Buldakov is a versatile personality who has tried himself in many professions; his main instrument is his voice. He went from being a radio DJ to a TV presenter and, of course, a performer of audio versions of books. Many of King's works, "The Wasp Factory", "Truth" are his best audiobooks.

The rating of works and the people who voiced them can be supplemented. It may change every year. One thing is constant - even with the development of technology, the number of readers does not change. On the contrary, progress makes it possible to read your favorite works in conditions that are not intended for this. And this trend cannot but rejoice.

It's strange that so few people listen to audiobooks. I think people just don’t know what a thrill it is!

pros

Good audiobooks create more vivid images and stronger emotions in my head than a good movie. Perhaps this is because the images in your head are more reliable than the images on the screen. In movies, actors play roles, and I can rarely completely disengage from their performance. And here only good story and an interesting storyteller.

Your eyes don't get tired of paper or screen. And so I look at the luminous points all day long. An hour without screens is a luxury.

Can be combined with other activities that do not require the brain. Walking, traveling, household chores, cooking.

Audiobooks are soothing. I stopped getting annoyed with people on the subway and on the roads when I became heavily addicted to audiobooks.

I used to read books from my phone before going to bed. But a glowing screen doesn't help the brain relax. The proximity of Facebook also did not contribute to falling asleep. And I leave the phone with the audiobook to charge and broadcast at the other end of the room. When I fall asleep, the audiobook soon pauses itself using the iTired program. It's comfortable.

Minuses

Requires the ability to maintain attention for a long time. For me it’s easy and fun, but for others it’s torture. Some people are unlucky)

Information is absorbed worse. This is critical for complex professional literature.

You can watch movies and TV series together; this usually doesn’t work with audiobooks. In this way they are more like books.

There are books that last 6, 8 and even 12 hours. You can’t listen to this in one go, and they don’t give them convenient 40-minute episodes.

Bad reading kills all the fun. There are not many well-performed audiobooks. There are very few well-executed audiobooks.

Which audiobooks to start with

Max Fry - Labyrinths Echo

Read by Denis Verovoy

Very pleasant tales about friendship, magic and the fight against dark masters. The performer Denis Verovoy is simply wonderful! "You never know where you'll get lucky" ;-)

Arkady and Boris Strugatsky - It's hard to be a god

Read by Leonid Yarmolnik
3h 48m

Stanislaw Lem - Solaris

Performers: Vladislav Vetrov, Armen Dzhigarkhanyan, Alexander Filipenko, Tatyana Shpagina and others
3h 45m

This is no longer just an audiobook, it's an audio play. Many performers read a book based on their roles. The effect of complete immersion occurs. Book about space extraterrestrial intelligence, human and non-human relations. If you listen in the dark and silence, it can become very unsettling.

Boris Akunin - The Adventures of Erast Fandorin

The performers are different. The correct ones are where there is a black cover and the Soyuz publishing house.

The coolest ones are “Azazel”, “State Councilor”, “Coronation, or the Last of the Novels” and “The Diamond Chariot”. It’s better to start with “Azazel”, and then the order becomes less important.

Victor Pelevin - Chapaev and Emptiness

Read by Alexander Sklyar

The first Zen Buddhist novel. Pelevin's best. Excellent performance.

Yulian Semyonov - Seventeen moments of spring

There they perform a song at the beginning - don’t be alarmed, then there will only be an audiobook.

There is also a legendary Model for assembly

This is a radio program that has been broadcast nightly since 1995 on various radio stations. For tens of thousands of people, she became a guide to the world of audiobooks and science fiction. I also listened to it with pleasure, sometimes I sat in the car at the entrance for an extra hour - I was wondering how it would all end there. But now it’s hard to listen to her. Too specific and loud music in the background. And many books are abridged. The coolest stories are those by, for example, Ray Bradbury. You can find and download from the catalog on the Club website models for assembly.

Where to buy, how to download, how to listen

I buy audiobooks at Litres. If it’s not there, I download it on Rutreker. Then I search on the Internet. Litres also has some good mobile applications. When I had an iPhone, I downloaded audiobooks in m4b format, added them to iTunes, and from there to the phone. If necessary, converted mp3 to m4b using Markable. Now I’m an Android and most often I listen directly from the liters application. It's not bad, but it eats up the battery a lot.

How to start

It is better to listen to your first audiobooks in the same way as watching good films or TV series - carefully and without distractions. And then move on to the options “on the road”, “in the background” or “before bed”.

Try it!

P.S. For those who also listen to audiobooks, please recommend something good in the comments.