My new voice belongs to Edward Herrmann. He has allowed me to use it for 448 pages. The actor has recorded the audiobook version of my memoir, Life Itself, and my author's copies arrived a few days ago.
Listening to it, I discovered for the first time a benefit from losing my own speaking voice: If I could still speak, I suppose I would probably have recorded it myself, and I wouldn't have been able to do that anywhere as near as well as Herrmann does.
My editor, Mitch Hoffman, suggested a few readers he was confident would do a good job. Herrmann's name leaped up from his email.
I've always admired his acting, and there is a little newspaperman in his lineage: He played William Randolph Hearst in Bogdanovich's "The Cat's Meow." If my voice is performed by the actor who played Hearst, doesn't that make me only two degrees of separation from Orson Welles? My math may be shaky.
Listening, I understood why actors are not like the rest of us. I would have deluded myself that I did a great job of reading my book. I would have been wrong in many ways, but let me give you one example: I would have tried to "sell" the material. It wouldn't have been allowed to speak for itself. Some of you have heard me telling a joke. The rest have been more fortunate. I'm a good joke-teller, I fancy, but my delivery is a sales pitch that translates as This is funny! This is funny! This is funny! Finally I arrive at a punch line that translates as: This is your cue to laugh!Edward Herrmann is a pro. He positions the material in the foreground but he never tries to sell it. He brings it into existence clearly, concisely, with flawless control of timing and tone. It doesn't sound as if he's "reading." It sounds like he might have had these memories -- as if he's confiding events and conversations he remembers. He's friendly, but not like some affable uncle crowding you on the sofa. He doesn't insist that we listen.
There are a lot of people quoted voices in the book. Lee Marvin. John Wayne. Robert Mitchum. Werner Herzog. Ingmar Bergman. Robert Altman. Their voices are familiar. Herrmann doesn't try to do imitations. He evokes them, with control and tact. Mike Royko and Studs Terkel are Chicagoans. My friend John McHugh is Irish. My friend Billy Baxter sounds like he's stepped from the Broadway of Damon Runyon. Herrmann has never heard them. He creates voices for them that in my opinion allow you to understand who they are. Few people still alive knew my parents. They live in the audiobook, because he sounds as he he knew them, and is remembering.I've been a lifelong reader. My love for physical books is old and deep. I also love audiobooks, and have listened to probably 300 of them. Sometimes they stay with me better than the printed ones. I avoid abridgments in most cases, and listened to Simon Callow read all 12 novels in Anthony Powell's A Dance to the Music of Time twice. Every word. It became part of my experience. Now I'm re-reading it in print, and I can hear the voices.
I tried to read Patrick Suskind's Perfume and never really got into it. Then I listened to Sean Barrett reading it, and it was so enthralling that if it was playing in the car I'd leave the engine idling for half an hour in the alley while an chapter finished. I started James Joyce's Ulysses several times and always bogged down. After I heard it performed by Jim Norton and Marcella Riordan, I got it. It's all voices. Hearing them from readers who knew such people, I could finally hear them in my mind.The Diary of Samuel Pepys is so long I certainly would never have read it, although I own two hardbound editions. I get slowed down by the period spelling and language use, and the unfamiliar expressions. I listened to Kenneth Branagh's performance, and it was like being confided in by a naughty, delightful friend. Pepys is human, flawed, sinful, determined to improve. A gossip. A statesman. A rogue. He joins the crowd in my mind.
It's safe to say I'm familiar with Life Itself. I lived those events, knew those people, wrote those words, copy-read them on my computer, a second time on galleys, and finally on page proofs. I thought I'd slip the Herrmann version into the machine for a test drive. I couldn't stop listening. He was telling me my own story, and he made me want to hear what came next.
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Edward Herrmann reads Chapter 21 (*click*)
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Pre-order Life, Itself as book or audiobook:
<i>Photo in front of Playboy theater by the great Art Shay.</i>
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What a fantastic choice, Roger. I just listened to the whole chapter. Mr. Hermann is my favorite audiobook reader. I've listened to Daivd McCullough's "The Great Bridge" as read by Mr. Hermann, and his performance, along with McCullough's writing, is incredible. From what I could tell from the 22 minutes of this chapter from your book, your writing and Mr. Hermann may be just as great a combination.
Wonderful, especially being able to listen to a chapter; I may get the audio version instead. I've enjoyed Hermann in his many narrations of specials for the History Channel and similar; he has an ease and fluidity which never gets in the way of the content, a rare gift.
I especially enjoyed your comparison of black & white vs. color. As long as I'm about it, I wonder if you've ever compared the care and quantity of effort that goes into the visual (95% by my reckoning) against the auditory. Try this: watch a recent film with no audio, then listen to a recent film with no visual. Which works better? So why is everything about the picture instead of the storytelling? Ah well, it's a useless lament. Nobody's going to do radio dramas anymore.
I can (and do!) listen to anything read by Edward Herrmann or Jim Dale. If they read the value of pi to a billion digits, listening would be time well spent.
I'd been looking at a copy of "Brave New World" (with an introduction by Margaret Atwood!!!) on my desk for a while, trying to persuade my brain to pick it up and start reading. A headache brought on by a sinus infection prevented it. Print is hard on an aching brain. I listened to that sample chapter--the first time I've ever listened to an audio book and been pleased--and now I'm convinced that I have to buy this book, and maybe buy an audiobook for the car.
Aside from Pixar (who seems to get it right no matter what) I despise the trend where animation movies need stars to attract audience. There is nothing like a good voice actor. Mr. Hermann might be an actor but he sure sounds like an accomplished voice actor as well, indeed it feels like a perfect choice for your story because listening to him was like riding some memory wave that gently led me from story to another
I have to say thought that I wholeheartedly disagree with your assessment that you write today as you wrote back then. I've been reading your reviews for the past 8-9 years now and it is clear that ever since you lost your voice your style has dramatically changed. Your sense of humor has sharpened, your wit has more grip and you dig deeper into personal experience when you use them.
All of this is especially true for bad movies. You make me laugh more than ever, the good kind mind you, one that requires a deep personal culture and knowledge in order to fully be appreciated.
Phil
As usual, your thoughts and insight are wonderful. Thank you for sharing with us. You are my favorite newspaper man.
I left Chicago in 1971 to embark on a series of adventures. When i returned a few years later, I remember finding it strange the Playboy had become Sandburg.
Wow!
I was thinking of reading that introduction and recording it, but that was just kind of a thought as I was reading it.
Maybe, but I don't think so.
This was great. I am not going to sit here and write every thought I have about this journal entry and the audio book. Let the simplicity of my comment express the immense appreciation for everything you write and share with us.
Thank you.
What a wonderful post Roger. I can sometimes find myself unable to "get" books that are highly regarded. Maybe now I can think to listen to the audiobook and maybe find it was that I didn't know those voices yet.
Listening to the excerpt, it seems to me you did end up becoming a novelist anyway Rog. The best thing I can say about it is that once it ended, my mind automatically said "c'mon, go on!" (or the Spanish equivalent, I'm not sure).
The voice is fine, I probably would have picked Bill Curtis but this is fine.
Personally I'm going with the printed edition. It feels much more collectable.
Having to suffer through an extensive commute for my work, I can honestly say that I would've lost my mind if it wasn't for audiobooks. Two series that I can recommend without hesitation are the first 3 volumes of SONG OF FIRE AND ICE by George R.R. Martin as read by Roy Dotrice, and the 3 book retelling of the Arthur saga ENEMY OF GOD written by Bernard Cornwell. I've listened to them again and again, and if you haven't heard them, they are breathtaking performances.
I will check out your recommendations, and will be purchasing LIFE ITSELF on audio the moment it comes out. Stay well, Roger.
-Mr.Shemp (a gawky kid when you signed my book at that little bookstore in New Buffalo so many, many years ago -- I still have it!)
This is sort of proof of how comfortable I get into certain patterns and how difficult it is to free myself of them. In the last six months, Roger, I have gotten so use to your voice being provided by BIll Kurtis that I know that excepting Mr. Herrmann on the audio book will take some getting use to.
Edward Herrmann is a good actor. I have gotten use to it over the past decade from various specials on The History Channel. Listening to him IS like listening to an uncle, the kind that always has the best stories.
I am looking forward to the audio book of "Life, Itself", but it will take some getting use to.
That's it. I'm ordering my first audio book.
As a former digital editor, engineer, and director of books on tape, it's great to read such a sincere appreciation. More work goes into them than most people realize! A good audiobook requires the right combination of reader with text, appropriate direction, and, ultimately, the selection and digital editing of thousands of takes into one cohesive work.
One of my personal favorite audiobook revelations was working on the digital editing of Tim Curry's performance of Garth Nix's "Sabriel." It both introduced me to Nix and somehow increased my already great appreciation of Curry!
Personally, I don't like recorded books. Maybe I'm not giving them a good enough chance. A close friend of mine buys them often for his long drives around the country. I can see how that would appeal but I wonder how he keeps from getting distracted. I'm not a multi-tasker when it comes to reading. I prefer no distractions. I think the voice itself becomes a distraction, especially if it's a famous person.
You did make an excellent point about a book narrated by Kenneth Branagh. There was indeed one audio book I enjoyed for the very reasons you mentioned, it helped with the period spelling and language. It also had excellent atmospherics, wind and rain, etc.. It was more like an Orson Wells radio broadcast then a typical audio book. I can't remember which one it was however. I think it was a reading from a novel by another Wells, this one of the H.G. variety.
Loved hearing that excerpt, but I noticed something funny, towards the end I heard: "I'm not one of those purists who believed that talkies were perfect and sound ruined everything" which I'm guessing was supposed to be "I'm not one of those purists who believed that SILENTS were perfect and sound ruined everything."
I'm not trying to be one of those people who points out mistakes to be smug (I'm not a fan of those people), just thought that was odd.
Ebert: Hmmm.
I didn't even listen to it yet (I'm downloading it now to my external hard drive), but I have a few audio books that I haven't listened to yet. One of them is Neil Gaiman, and two are by Ed McBain, one of them is himself reading his own book. That should be interesting.
I'm listening to Ed Herrmann reading your book as I write this.
You've achieved your dream Roger, you're writing a column like Royko's & just as good as his was.
I started reading Royko when my dad showed me his column, which was originally on the next to the last page of section one of the Daily News.
But I wish Herrmann had pronounced "tuchus" correctly, with the guttural "cchh" sound.
Two comments:
1. I believe the reason people don't like B&W films is that the overwhelming majority have only seen them on TV, where they don't have that luminosity.
2. It's just not home video that causes us to not go to a theater. The prices are out of control, as are the audiences, what with cellphones, texting & such.
And one question though. I thought that Dr. Loyal Davis lived on E. Lake Shore Dr., not the North Shore.
I'm a little disappointed the job didn't go to Jon Lovitz, but I have admired Edward Herrmann since seeing him in an episode of MASH years ago, and must admit he makes a fine vocal you. But might I suggest when it comes to casting the movie version of Roger Ebert, you go with Arnold Schwarzenegger? He needs a mature yet sensitive role to get him back into the acting game. OK maybe he doesn't have the kind of voice artistry that Herrmann has, but c'mon, just imagine him delivering this line:
"I hated, hated, hated, hated, HATED this movie !!! Arrgghhh!" (punctuated with a long burst from a machine gun)
Here's the tag line:
Two thumbs up - in your eye sockets!
As a librarian, I am constantly checking out audiobooks at work and listening to them wherever I drive.
One of my favorite discoveries is an unabridged production of Herman Melville's MOBY-DICK (perhaps my favorite novel) performed with gusto by character actor William Hootkins (Star Wars, Network, etc.). I can't recommend it highly enough.
Christopher Lee's reading of J.R.R. Tolkien's THE CHILDREN OF HURIN is likewise superb.
And if you are a Tim Curry fan, he performed the majority of the books in Lemony Snicket's A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS, as well as Garth Nix's ABHORSEN TRILOGY.
Edward Herrmann rocks and so does R. Ebert. A winning combination. I recently started an audiobook in which the author read his own first chapter and then Herrmann picked up the story. The improvement was significant. Nothing against the author, but Herrmann's reading was just spot on.
Right now I'm listening to "The War Lovers," and, sad to report, the reader is undermining the effect of the writing by putting too much of what he apparently thinks are appropriate emotions in each sentence.
It seems to me that there are different ways of being good where audiobook readings are concerned. A year or so ago I listened to Tim Robbins' reading of "The Great Gatsby" in which he changes his voice as he reads the dialogue of different characters. His Daisy is a kind of falsetto that you might think would be silly and distracting, but, to my surprise, it worked just right for me. I don't picture Edward Herrmann taking that approach. Chacun à son goût?
RE: Audiobooks
I have never been able to get into audiobooks. For one, most are abridged. Second, I do not believe I have the aural attention span for them. As a time saver, they only make sense to me when driving, in tight public transportation spaces, or while doing work around the home. I continuously find myself having to rewind because my mind wandered or I was too focused on something else.
When I optically read something I enjoy I slip into an immersive state where the world around me disappears. I take a train to and from work every day and have time to read the old fashioned way.
I have yet to experience an audio book. On the plus side eyes are spared. On the other hand, something is lost, when we hear something meant to be read. You can't pencil it. It becomes an interpretation because no one is transparent. Nothing matches the purity of reading.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. I was utterly transported listening to this. A lovely reminder of things not too long ago, not too far away. And Mr Herrmann perfectly captures your voice, in every sense.
I can't wait to hear Mr. Herrmann's work, and to follow along with your actual printed words in front of me.
I'm glad you enjoy audiobooks. It is just like having a perceptive, trusted, great-voiced person reading to you, isn't it?
I have a 90 minute round trip to work each day, and use that time to listen to audiobooks. I try to choose books that I know I'd have trouble reading. I've listened to Moby Dick, The Illiad and the Odyssey and Beowulf among many others. Although I love the tactile, immersive feeling of reading an actual book, I was surprised by how much I've enjoyed the experience provided by audio books as well. Given the amount of derision often heaped on this format, I appreciate your positive comments.
I've had a fondness for Edward Hermann since seeing him, when I was a very young boy, in the movie "The North Avenue Irregulars" which also introduced me to the great Cloris Leachman. Not a Great Movie perhaps, but I enjoyed it immensely. As the years have gone by, I've seen both of them in stronger, more demanding material, and have realized that my young self had pretty good taste. As do you. Excellent choice, Roger.
@Amos,
My wholly unsolicited advice: pick up that copy of "Brave New World." It's well worth the aches.
Since Kane and Hearst aren’t technically exactly the same guy, I figure that would be three degrees of separation. Actually, though you may not have realized it, you already were only three degrees from Mr. Welles. Believe it or not, Edy Willians of Beyond the Valley of the Dolls fame and George Sanders appeared together in the Sonny and Cher movie Good Times, and Mr. Sanders and Orson Welles were both in The Kremlin Letter.
On behalf of audiobook narrators everywhere, I'd like to thank you for lifting up Ed Hermann for the adulation of all. I was thrilled a few years back to perform in a multi-voice audiobook production of Saint Joan with Ed and found myself stumbling over nearly every line, so nervous was I to actually meet the man I've listened to for decades now. Every glowing review he receives is well-earned, yet still somehow falls short of the mark; he brings so much to everything he works on. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on his performance, Roger, I'm very much looking forward to listening.
Best,
Scott Brick
I wasn't sure at first, but Herrmann is an excellent choice to voice this material. I find his delivery and tone somewhere between Ebert and Siskel, evoking recent memories of those archive recordings posted here on this blog.
I think what sticks in my mind is what is said, correctly, about movies in general lacking intelligent and funny characters who are that way not because it serves the plot but because the writer has a chance to put beautiful dialogue on a page to be taken and given wings by an equally skilled actor. Too often modern films use dialogue scenes as bridge points to justify a wad of over-complicated special effects shots which are so dense they are actually empty, because your mind is overloaded and shuts down.
The Star Wars Prequels and the trilogy of live action (a jokingly applied term considering the amount of physics-defying CGI) Transformers movies feature flat and uninteresting lead characters. If the audience relates better precisely because their leads are so lifeless, perhaps it hints at a deeper problem with the psychological makeup of your average moviegoer, the warning signs of shortening attention spans and rampant consumerism effectively shutting down intellectual potential in the modern man.
The movies that have touched me have been those that dared. Gattaca, Synecdoche New York, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Pulp Fiction and so forth. As I probe further back in the history of celluloid I find other pictures equal to or better than those, including Seven Samurai, The Good The Bad & The Ugly, The Big Sleep. Flawed, interesting characters who have memorable arcs, moments that educate just as much as they entertain, a satisfying conclusion. Those are the things I value in any kind of movie or television show, and increasingly I find American television of the early 21st century closer to this ideal than many of the Hollywood efforts made only a relatively short distance away. Budget limitations preclude the use of predictable CGI that goes for cheap, fleeting spectacle and insist upon great actors who are parts of a compelling story.
To boil down a whole bunch of beliefs that could go on for many more pages, I think your memoir is going to be exactly the sort of thought-provoking piece that attains many of the heights the films I have namechecked scaled. And as a lifelong lover, critic and analyst of the entire film process I think that's just about the highest compliment you could be paid.
Or maybe it's just me over-reaching... I can never tell. :D
Since you've mentioned that you enjoy Wodehouse: Frederick Davidson's readings of the Jeeves series often make me laugh so hard I need to stop myself from driving off the side of the road!
And John Allen Nelson, reading "Zoo Story", begins to weep while telling the story of a dying chimpanzee, and continues reading. It's a wonderfully powerful moment.
As the disgruntled General Clayton yelled to Col. Henry Blake across the filed during the hilarious football sequence in M*A*S*H, "I see you got a ringer, eh?". Seriously, getting Edward Herrmann to do your audiobook is an inspired choice and something that Mom would have love (sadly, she passed away in 1999). an avid reader, my Mom suffered a massive stroke in 1981 and had difficulty reading, so she embraced the aduiobooks at the local library and quickly found join in them. I can hardly remember a time where I did not see her with the huge tapemachine, playing an audiobook that even included the previous week's Newsweek. She and my Dad never missed an episode of Siskel & Ebert on TV, so I know she would greatly have looked forward to hear Edward Herrmann read your book.
I adore audio books. They make my daily commute not just tolerable, but enjoyable. I personally can't listen to fiction. It aggravates me when the reader hams up the dialogue. But biographies, memoirs, and histories are like listening to a dynamic professor command a lecture hall. Bill Bryson's books are my favorite audio books.
I'm looking forward to "Life Itself".
Great choice, Roger. Herrmann's reading style is always a treat. Another recommendation I'd give is his reading of "Presumed Innocent," by Scott Turow. From Rusty Sabich's narrative, to the droll Judge Little, to the nasal Tommy Molto, to the courtly Sandy Stern, Hermann's work was just a joy.
Roger
How Green Was My Valley read by Patrick Tull. You'll be hooked as soon as you hear him voice the title.
Debra
I've enjoyed him since my first viewing of The Paper Chase. Great choice! That's a pretty big responsiblity, being the voice of Roger Ebert. I look forward to hearing your book.
Eeek and whew. Setting up new state-of-art computer. Soon I shall be so smart no one will be able to understand me at all.
I almost accident'ly c&p'd a confidential thing from a Kenyan journalist instead of what I had. He says "Obama Jr's history is Nairobian, not American." Hey, if you bring that one up, this could be a kicker.
Anyway. Yeah, what a voice. I haven't time for audiobooks at home, reading's much faster. But I reckon you've got a hotcake seller for commuters!
Ooo, awesome choice!
And I know you didn't watch the tv series, but he was great as Mr. Gilmore on the Gilmore Girls!. But then, he studied drama at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (on a Fullbright Fellowship.) Ie: RADA trained.
"I love the spoken word. I love hearing it. The way the words can seduce you." - Edward Herrmann
I'm reading Roger's book now (what can I say? I know a guy ...) and I 'hear' his voice with every sentence. Perhaps it's because it's a voice I've heard since the PBS show began airing so many years ago. But it's more likely due to the fact that the writing itself gives the words their own voice -- well, the writer's voice in words. This has always been the case with Roger's writing, I think. I too enjoy audio books, especially memoirs read by the author. It sounds like the writer is telling you the story while you take a drive together, share a drink at a table or wash the dishes. (There's an image: washing the dishes while Roger tells you about the time he bought a ticket to see 'From Russia With Love' at a black-only theater in Cape Town. He drys, of course.) Herrmann is an inspired choice because he reads with such sensitivity and warmth, major ingredients of 'Life Itself.' The good news I want to share is, we can still hear Roger's voice. So, if you'll excuse me, I have some reading to do.
Ever since I first saw him in an episode of MASH, I have greatly admired Edward Herrmann. He is so natural he never seems to be "acting". Yet, whenever I read your words, either from reviews or your blog, I still hear your voice as clearly as if you were sitting with me in the room. So while listening to this, I found I kept hearing both your voices talking at once and felt conflicted. I look forward to the release of your book but think I will read the words on the page myself with your voice speaking them in my head.
SOLD! I usually prefer to read, but Edward Herrmann -- what a brilliant choice...for you. [Runs to place order with Amazon...]
Quote...Paul; I have admired Edward Herrmann since seeing him in an episode of MASH years ago,
Wasn't that a great episode. One of the most dramatic of the series, a true high water mark of television drama.
Bobcat Goldthwait wasn't available?
I worked at Goodman Theatre in the 70's when Edward Herrmann appeared there. He's a great actor and a lovely human being. I've been a fan ever since.
Look at you in that picture, Rog - how great is that?
It occurs to me that after they perfect the technology that will give you an electronic simulation of your old voice back, Roger, E book readers like kindle will be able to read whatever book you want in whatever voice you want. Personally I would stick with a looney tunes voice pack - imagine Tweety reading Moby Dick, Foghorn Leghorn reading The Great Gatsby, the Tazmanian Devil reading Anne of Green Gables and Elmer Fudd reading Mein Kampf.
Roger, I read all your Journal entries with enthusiasm but have not commented until now. I sent a link to this post to my father, a film lover and Chicagoan (b. 1942), enticing him by name-dropping a few old Chicago theaters as well as "The Third Man," "Ikiru" and Sydney Greenstreet. Here is what he replied:
"Thanks a lot! I listened to the whole mp3, and not in the bathtub [as I had suggested]. It is very evocative and I actually remember all the theaters he mentions (he forgot the Vogue Theatre, near the Marigold Wrestling Arena... The Vogue had 'love seats' and it was said that a lot of 'breast stroke' took place there. He also did not mention the Mode (pronounced 'Mo-Day') Theatre, which often showed a western, as well as serials that continued week after week and where there were also yo-yo contests). Btw, what a great job!"
Of course, these are teenage memories of the Fifties. I wonder if he ever watched the movies... Thanks, Greg
Bobcat? Sheesh, what about Gilbert Gottfried?
I've never heard a book on tape. It might be time.
While I might have preferred Nate Herman to Ed Herrmann, Ed was a much more viable option that the other Herman: Pee Wee.
Mr. Ebert, I'm very glad you were able to get a good actor to do your reading, one that understands timing and rhythm, and especially how to read. Unfortunately, now that SAG has horned in on the audiobook industry, I've come across more than a few recent audiobooks that were spoiled because the job was given to some actor or actress who have no experience in reading and do not understand the nuances that are endemic to this art, which is so very different from stage or screen acting. I do wish that professional actors would stick to their own line of work and not barge in on audiobooks. There are numerous very good readers who can't get nearly as much work as they used to, and that's sad. Honing your particular skills over a lifetime doesn't count anymore, I guess; now it's all about selling the product with a household name, quality be damned. *sigh*
I shall get a copy of this when it comes out, as I do love good audiobooks, and Herrmann has always been such an outstanding, underrated performer. My recommendations would definitely include Campbell Scott reading the uncut version of Stephen King's The Shining and The Stand (which is kinda funny, since I don't much like him as an actor onscreen). He really is a brilliant reader who gets not only tone and rhythm, character and story, but also has the rare knack of understanding the space created in a listener's mind, and how to use it the way a stage actor uses the boards. I hope to hear more of his work.
Can't wait to read the book. I'm wondering why you didn't use your CereProc voice. Haven't they finished yet? It isn't even being used on your Office segments. I hope you aren't dead by the time they finish.
You the man, Roger.
He was good in Take Down
Roger, I recall you were working with CereProc to recreate your own voice on the computer you use for text to speech. How is that going?
I wish Edward Hermann would read to me this year's National Book Award winner "Lord of Misrule" by Jaimy Gordon. The NBA is like the opposite of the Academy Awards, which is great, because they're not afraid to award works that are completely obscure, but they shouldn't do it at the expense of an obvious choice, such as this year's Pulitzer Prize winner. Does anybody out there remember Lily Tuck's "The News from Paraguay", the 2004 winner(that year Phillip Roth's "The Plot Against America" went unnominated).
My problem with audio books is this: when I sit down and read a book, I keep my eyes on the page; but, listening on my computer, I find myself looking things up, and thus lose at least some of the attention I should be paying.
Also, when I read a book, I often stop to follow a train of thought initiated by something in the text. Or I may wish to flip back a page and reread something to cement it in my mind. So, pleasant as it is to have Edward Hermann's voice in my ear, I think I'll stick with print.
(Love what you say about black & white. There is something magical about it. But apparently right after that you wrote "talkies" when you meant "silents".)
Sorry I misspelled Edward Herrmann's name. (Bet he's used to it, though!)
Oh, what the hell. Just pre-ordered the hardback, even though I'm still jobless and my only income is from my twice-weekly fiction column. (See link.) I'm close to deadline on the next installment, and I'll think of this one as buying me that book and hours of enjoyment.
My sister listens to audio versions of Laurell K. Hamilton novels within full ear shot on a regular basis. I deserve nothing less than your full pity.
Your book will probably be my first trial with audiobook. I will read the book first and then I will decide whether it is worthwhile to buy the audiobook version. Thanks for providing a wonderful audio clip and recommending other good audiobooks. I'm very interested in listening to "Ulysses".
That was wonderful! I had to laugh very hard at the part with the wedding pictures, because just recently I had that very same experience. How goofy my parents looked and how myterious and beautiful my grandparents looked in their wedding pictures.
Also, the last few sentences gave my goosebumps. Wouldn't it be great to be swept away by a movie more often? I remember first seeing "Amlie" when I was still little. I walked out of the theater in a kind of dream state and had the film music stuck in my head all day.
I'm looking forward to your book Roger, thank you for sharing your life with us!
I love to read, but I also agree that some more heavy books are more enjoyable to hear rather than to read. Nearly anything by Joyce would be a good example. I read Pepys when I was in college, and I hated his writing. Perhaps an audio version is in order.
What a fantastic choice. Be careful though...he IS the head vampire.
I smiled, Roger, when I looked at your picture there at the top. I immediately thought of a quote by Groucho in 'Horse Feathers':
"I remember the day he left: A mere boy and a beardless youth. I kissed'em both goodbye."
Listened again, technically. Sounds like a vocal booth and one of those cylindrical EV-1 mics.
A friend of mine does voice-overs and audio books. He's got the kind of voice I wish I was born with. He sounds like what I always thought Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. sounded like until I attended one of his lectures one evening in Berkeley, CA, for a couple local papers.
To my great surprise, the real Vonnegut sounded a lot like me... that's to say unimpressive. I shifted my focus carefully and, sure enough, he wrote as he talked, not as he spake. It just didn't sound like much of anything by way of air and vocal chords.
Ironically, people tend to think I sound like how I thought Kurt Vonnegut must sound until they'd hear me in person, then realize that I sound as unimpressive as I thought Kurt Vonnegut sounded in person.
So it goes. The Late Mr. Vonnegut, Jr., and I share a brotherhood in the little-attended League of Unimpressive Sounding People.
What would you sound like if I hadn't heard your speaking voice first, Rodge? Well, guess what. You sound now exactly as you did in 1967, before I'd ever heard a' you,
It turns out I never was paying that much attention to what your air-and-vocal chord voice sounded like. I know this because now and then I watch your old shows on YouTube, and you sound like a kind of squeaky kid. Your writing has yet to sound like a squeaky kid's in my head.
Oops, almost forgot, my unimpressive voice may be discerned by clicking on my name. I don't know who put it on YouTube.
I was asked recently what kinds of books I like to read. I didn't have a ready answer, but I thought about the question for a while after the fact. I've settled on this: I like to read books that are worth reading aloud.
I've was always familiar with his voice, because it is distinct, but I didn't know its dramatic virtues until he became the narrator for Liberty! The American Revolution in 1997. I more recently listened to his reading of H.G. Wells's Invisible Man and highly recommend it.
I think, if you want to get a layered effect, you should listen to the audio book while reading along with it, because it will activate different parts of the brain together; the reading part of your brain has a different effect then the audio part etc.
If you want to see what I mean, then go to this link from his other blog/interview with Errol Morris, where I typed the whole interview down so you could read it while listening to it.
You'll see it's a much better experience to read along with it as you're hearing it.
(you can click my name to go here)
http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2010/09/a_seance_with_errol_morris.html#comment-1056647
(video is from here at the top of the page)
from this blog http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2010/09/a_seance_with_errol_morris.html
I throughly enjoyed this chapter! I used to secretly feel as though I missed my calling as a movie critic. I am now remembering why I felt that way while listening to your chapter. Thank you for sharing your love for art. I will be ordering your book on audio.
I could never read Dickens - but when Roy Dotrice *spoke* Dickens, I fell in love. So I understand your feeling about reading Perfume - which I also could not *read* - so I will see if my wonderful library has the Sean Bean spoken word version. I will always love Christopher Cazenove who read Daniel Boorstin's The Discoverers - on a long, long car trip. And who can compare to Jim Dale?
Honestly, the first time I heard him on At The Movies I thought it was Roger's computer-generated synthetic voice.
To me, Herrmann sounds like he's reading to a kindergarten class in a very adult tone.
Ebert: You've never heard him on At fhe Movies.
Did you ever feel like as you wrote about the past that your imagination and writing of the event superseded the actual memory?
I have not been a prolific writer for a decade, but I wrote a particularly good short story about my cousin Wendy once and the Wendy of real life I am afraid has been supplanted by the Wendy of the story.
Dear Roger,
Just finished listening to Chapter 21 and have ordered the audio book. Also took in the beginning of the book in the previous post. As a fellow child of the early war - 1939 for me - and having grown up in Detroit, your reminiscences are most vibrant. My father and mother and I listened to the first atomic bomb test on the radio. The explosion going on and on and on to the point where my father was brought to tears. And my mother to no words at all - no small feat. Our little family audience around the tiny Philco tube filled radio in our teeny house in Franklin, the 'town that time forgot.'.
I share the missing of the great halls and audiences these days as well. Radio City for an afternoon with my dad, the Rockettes and a film in that spectacular cathedral was my idea of a good time. Detroit had it's own wonders too. But all that is pretty well long gone. Now we are blessed with a lovely little theatre in our home. We are a little audience watching as much good stuff as we can find, much as my dad and mom and I made a little audience around the Philco.
I'm up for an experiment when your book arrives. We shall play it in the theatre with a wee audience to laugh and tear together and savor your voice through the words and wonderful voicing of Mr. Herrmann. Lights down low, glasses of wine and if we smoked I'd pass out some cigars to mark the occasion of our attempt to return to high radio. A chapter every now and then and a while to talk it over. Our own salon with you sharing stories with us.
I write this in Montrose Colorado, with an overnight before shuttling off to Telluride for this years Show and whatever delights it may bring. I met you just once, probably twelve years ago now. We were walking from the hot dog counter into the Max. You were kind enough to let me greet you. Thanks to your blog I feel satisfyingly closer to you and will speak of you and think of you over the next days.
Thank you for your profound journalism and courage Roger. You are ever an inspiration to the man in me who must stand up and deal with my own myeloma. Blessings.
Sorry, I thought you were referring to the guy who reads your current reviews on the show. Haven't heard him in several weeks, as they've been running the Siskel & Ebert retro shows (which I must say I prefer!!!)
That's metaphysically absurd. How can you know what he heard?
Edward Herrmann? And here I just watched The Paper Chase not two days ago. Nice coincidence!
Hello,
I doubt Roger Ebert will read this but if you do why don't you make it easier to send fan mail? All I can find is some email on your website giving warnings in capital letters of what not to do and what email to send what to.
I recently watched Once Around and I thought it was a great movie. Truly rare. And well since I can't write it I my as well say that your the only film critic, really the only critic or writer whose presence in the mainstream media that left an impression. You don't simply write excellent reviews you do it candidly and with your own inclusion of relevant information regarding the production and unique perspective. Your an excellent writer and doubtlessly the only one that can make the reader think.
Anyway I hope you don't decide to retire anytime soon and continue to write great reviews.
Ebert: Thanks. You can post messages here. Or consider my Facebook page.
http://on.fb.me/k5p46j
Harumph. The proper quote goes: "That's a metaphysical impossibility, Daddy-o! How can we tell what you hear?"
"I didn't hear that."
Mr. Hermann is a brilliant choice for all the reasons you stated. And thank you, thank you--maybe I can get through Pepys after all!!
Roger, I was disappointed to see that Mr. Hermann is also the narrator for Dick Cheney's new memoir. I guess Mr. Hermann doesn't apply any political judgement when he chooses his jobs. I wish he would have. I'd imagine you would be less thrilled to know that "your" voice is also Cheney's voice.
I loved, loved, loved the first chapter! I honestly think I could hear you speaking through him.
Listening to that chapter, I learned something I didn't know. The great Warren Zevon, in his brilliant song "Excitable Boy," sang,
He took in the 4 a.m. show at the Clark
(Excitable boy they all said)
And he bit the usherette's leg in the dark
(Excitable boy they all said)
I always wondered what kind of theatre would have both a 4 a.m. show and an usherette. Now I know.
As for the experience of listening to the chapter, Herrmann is a wonderful voice-actor, and he was a great choice. But something in my brain kept turning his voice into Roger's. No -- that's not quite right. Rather, I kept hearing Roger's voice behind Herrmann's. I spent so many hours watching and listening to Roger discuss films that his intonations and rhythms, and even his gestures, expressions, and body movements were ingrained in me. For example, back when Roger was . . . well . . . whatever the male equivalent of zaftig is, if Gene said something he thought was crazy, he would, with some slight difficulty, physically re-orient himself in the chair, as if to face him more head-on either because he didn't believe what he was hearing, or because he was preparing to face an opponent directly. Again, Herrmann is great, but listening to him is a little like watching the re-make of Psycho: Vince Vaughn gives a good performance, but damn it, I know that's supposed to be Tony Perkins.
As for great audio-books, it's rare that an author reads his own works well. But one who does is Neil Gaiman. I listened to his reading of Neverwhere and it is stunning. He actually gives each character and the narrator distinct voices, which could have been a disaster. Fortunately, had he not been an author, he could have been another Mel Blanc or Maurice Lemarche (who once did 29 voices on an episode of The Critic).
You'd think that poets would read their own works well, but as a rule they don't. Seamus Heaney is a rare exception; he's a marvelous performer of his own works. But William Carlos Williams sounded like an old woman. T.S. Eliot isn't much better. And even Yeats, who had the advantage of being Irish, read his own works badly. Recently, the Scottish musician Mike Scott (his band for the last three decades off and on is called The Waterboys) set twenty-two of Yeats's poems to music. To hear those great poems set to music and sung by someone who can hear the music in them is a revelation. (You can find some videos of them on Youtube under "An Evening with Mr. Yeats" and Mike Scott.)
Roger, nice decision going with Edward Herrmann. I was wondering, was Sean Barrett ever a consideration? The reason i mention his was because of you're review from years ago of Perfume: The Story of Murder. In the review you wrote the following of Sean Barrett, "The audiobook, read by Sean Barrett, is the best audio performance I have ever heard; he snuffles and sniffles his way to greatness and you almost believe he is inhaling bliss, or the essence of a stone. I once almost destroyed a dinner party by putting it on for "five minutes," after which nobody wanted to stop listening.". You later went on to write in the review, "Why I have read the book twice and given away a dozen copies of the audiobook, I cannot explain."
You can only imagine what i did after reading this review. Bought the book and read it. Then gave away 2 or 3 copies to some friends. Then bought the audiobook. I was stunned by his audio performance. It was quite dramatical. I was hooked after he just read the first 3-4 paragraphs.
Sean Barrett read with excellent clarity and an aloofness that captured Grenouille’s abominable character.
While you yourself are not an abominable person would he have he been able to capture you in the best possible way? I wonder.
Richard
Toronto
PS Hope to bump into you at this year’s tiff
I recently experience a bit of an audio book via Keith Richards' biography. I bought it online for my ipad because the hardcover is close to 600 pages and a pain to carry sometimes. Anyway, the digital book has an "enhanced section" where two chapters are read by Richards himself and Johnny Depp. It was amazing. Loved it. I don't plan on buying audio books exclusively but the experience was lovely.
I cant wait to hear the clip of Hermann reading your book. It's taking awhile to load so I will have to get back to it.
I pre-ordered your book ages ago, (hard copy) Will you be offering an enhanced version digitally? I'd go for that!
Roger, I've always thought of you as a mensch, a righteous gentleman, but I think with all your troubles, and how you've managed to triumph against them, you've become something more -- a tzadik.
The Jewish tradition, at least among the Black Hat Orthodox, is that the fate of the world is bound up in the behavior of 36 (or more, but no less) men who have conquered their evil inclinations and who provide examples to follow for all the rest of us. Tzadiks may not know they are tzadiks and they can be every day persons, not high and mighty.
I think you're a tzadik and feel blessed that you're here.
Well, now I am going to have to buy Life Itself on audio too! I believe Edward Herrmann voiced Einstein, and he was great. I am currently reading Life Itself, and I have to say I am enjoying it even more than I expected. I grew up watching Siskel and Ebert, and then Ebert and Roeper, so when I got the book I was most excited to read about those chapters. However, now that I am reading the early chapters, they are so richly written, so colorful and nostalgic and delicious, I don't want them to end.
Thank you for putting out an incredible read, Mr. Ebert. Definitely the best thing I have read this year. What a treasure! And that applies to the book AND to Roger!