Congratulations are in order today for Jim Dale who won an Audie Award last night in Los Angeles for best “Solo Narration-Male” for his work on the US audio book of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. As we first reported back in February, Mr. Dale had been nominated in two categories for his work on “Deathly Hallows,” however the winner of the Audiobook of the Year went to The Chopin Manuscript. For those who have not heard Jim Dale’s work on the Potter audio book series, you can hear a sample of his recording from each of the Harry Potter novels, here via Random House.
Jim Dale is a real trooper and does a fine job unde real time pressure. As he explained in a recent interview, he has, in fact, only met JKR twice and they were very brief and not at all book performance related. Unlike Stephen Fry who is a close friend of Jo and often has her in the studio with him, Jim has to make do as best he can without so much of the admin and author support that Mr Fry so enjoys.
Yes -therefore -the Fry versions are by far superior and are, in effect the “authorised” versions but Jim still deserves credit for making the best of what he is given. The big question is, why ohy why, is America denied the best versions ? I gues the strange textual diffferences may be the reason but these are really very few in number and could be edited very smoothly.
Congrats ! =) He deserves it. I could possibly not read a whole entire book without even stuttering or messing up. (Although I`m sure he has probably messed up before & they’ve edited it or whatever…) But yeah, congrats anyway!
I have all of the Jim Dale versions and the first 3 of the Stephen Fry versions of the books.
I love them both for different reasons.
Yes, you do have to get the Stephen Fry versions from a vendor in GB. Even Canada gets the Jim Dale versions. I have had pretty good luck with Amazon GB.
With the currency exchange rate, they aren’t cheap, but they are worth it to me. ;)
OMG! Mr Dale, you most certainly deserved that award…I just finished listening to ALL the clips…I have to have this set. I have never heard of Stephen Fry.
I guess that makes me a little “slow on the uptake”! I want to hear his versions too! Does anyone know if they are available on Amazon.com [US]...I’m gonna go check. Again, congratulations, Mr Dale! Sue and Leaky, thanks as always!
I adore Jim dale. I read the books literally hundreds of times while driving, doing laundry, working, painting showering, etc, thanks to him.
I have listened to Fry’s version too. I don’t like it very much. he sounds like he has a chronic stuffy nose. As a nanny and former preschool teacher myself, I find myself anxiously wishing I could put a tissue up to his nose and say “BLOW!!!”
As for the seven books, I have the US editions purchased here, UK editions I purchased in Madrid, and the Spanish editions purchased in the US. I’ve heard exerpts from Mr. Dale’s and Mr. Fry’s work and prefer Mr. Fry for much the same reasons given by others above. The only differences between the later editions of the US and UK books is the use of coloquialisms. For instance the parts of an automobile, Hood, bonnet; fender, wing; trunk, boot etc. elevator, lift. toilet, loo.
There isn’t a ‘translation’ difference, I think the reason for two publishers is the US and UK copyrights.
I’ll see if I can order online from a European source and get the Fry version.
M Jones, i would really like to read the interview you mentioned. I have never come across any in depth ones from Jim Dale before (even here at Leaky I think). Can you tell us where? Or is it too long ago? I have read many of Fry’s interviews (and seen on tv) because he is a very popular national celebrity here.
Colloquial and idiosyncratic language is what gives a book its character. The removal and substitution of it is nonsense. American books are not changed when published in the UK. The books should be enjoyed in the original form in which JKR wrote them (not including language translations).
I have to be honest, I don’t like either Jim Dale OR Stephen Fry’s reading of the HP books. Mr. Fry is often praised to the skies, but (as much as I admire him in everything else he does) I think he’s really overrated in this regard.
People make too big a deal about them changing some of the language for the American editions. I’ll agree it’s a bit silly, and yes, I’d prefer they didn’t do it, but for heaven’s sake, it’s not the end of the world. It hardly ruins the books, or even takes anything away from them. Believe it or not, I and just about everyone I know was able to read the first book, in which the Weasleys kids repeatedly referred to Molly as “Mom” and the Beater’s bat was described as looking like a “baseball bat” instead of a “rounder’s bat” and – brace yourself now – WE WERE STILL ABLE TO ENJOY THEM!!! Shocking, but true.
The first audiobooks I ever listened to were Jim Dale’s Harry Potter tapes. I’ve been so spoiled by his awesome talent that I never consider listening to any other person’s work because it’s either boring or the emotions are portrayed too dramatically/dully. Congratulations Mr. Dale, you definitely deserve it!
I have the British verison of the books and i’m going to get the Stephen Fry versions of the audio books in the next couple of days. I’ve heard clips of him on youtube and i think he seems pretty good.
I think i will end up getting the American versions of the books and audio books as well though eventually because i live in America now and i just listened to a few of those clips from that link and i’ve decided that i like jim dale to.
I won’t be getting the American audio books for a while though because i don’t even have the American versions of the books yet and at the moment there not on my most wanted things list seeing as i already have the British versions of the books.
Actually does anyone know if they sell them in a big box set?
Jim Dale is a real trooper and does a fine job unde real time pressure. As he explained in a recent interview, he has, in fact, only met JKR twice and they were very brief and not at all book performance related. Unlike Stephen Fry who is a close friend of Jo and often has her in the studio with him, Jim has to make do as best he can without so much of the admin and author support that Mr Fry so enjoys.
Yes -therefore -the Fry versions are by far superior and are, in effect the “authorised” versions but Jim still deserves credit for making the best of what he is given. The big question is, why ohy why, is America denied the best versions ? I gues the strange textual diffferences may be the reason but these are really very few in number and could be edited very smoothly.
A real mystery..