George Guidall (born June 7, 1938
[) is a prolific ]audiobook
An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements.
Spoken audio has been available in sch ...
narrator and theatre actor. As of November 2014, he had recorded over 1,270 audiobooks, which was believed to be the record at the time.
Biography
Guidall is from New Jersey.[ His family name is Shapiro, his stage name is Guidall a permutation of Gedalyah, his Hebrew name.][ Guidall's father was a pharmacist, and his four brothers also went into the medical profession.][ Guidall bucked the trend and went into theater.][ He received a master's degree in social work in his 50s, going on to provide counseling during the day while acting at night.][ He heard about audiobook narration through a fellow actor.][
Guidall lives in ]White Plains, New York
(Always Faithful)
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and narrates his works in a small basement studio in nearby Irvington, New York
Irvington, sometimes known as Irvington-on-Hudson,Staff (ndg"The Irvington Gazette (Irvington-On-Hudson, N.Y.) 1907-1969"Library of Congress is a suburban village in the town of Greenburgh in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is l ...
.[ He typically takes 3 to 4 days to complete a book.][
His narrations include ]Thomas Pynchon
Thomas Ruggles Pynchon Jr. ( , ; born May 8, 1937) is an American novelist noted for his dense and complex novels. His fiction and non-fiction writings encompass a vast array of subject matter, Literary genre, genres and Theme (narrative), them ...
's '' Gravity's Rainbow'' in 1986, and then again in 2014 as a new recording.[
Guidall says he reads all his books beforehand and seeks to understand the book, not to just impart information but emotion and performance.][ Guidall says many narrators are "just reading out loud. They don't have an emotional underpinning. There’s a rhythm to speech in terms of what's implied. If it's raining in the book, there’s got to be something about the voice that evokes the rain."][ Guidall says audiobook narration "expands the author's intent, brings it into an immediacy. I ''am'' the author when I'm doing it. I'm a literary hermit crab finding a home in someone else's imagined truth."][
Guidall provides occasional presentations at libraries called "The Art and Artifice of Audiobook Narration".][
]
Awards and honors
* Off-Broadway Theater Award (Obie) for his performance in the Off Broadway play ''Cinders''[
* Audie Award for ]John Irving
John Winslow Irving (born John Wallace Blunt Jr.; March 2, 1942) is an American-Canadian novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter.
Irving achieved critical and popular acclaim after the international success of '' The World According t ...
's '' A Widow For One Year''
* Audie Award for Wally Lamb's '' I Know This Much Is True''
* Audio Publishers Association Special Achievement Award (lifetime achievement).
See also
* Grover Gardner
References
External links
George Guidall
official website.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guidall, George
Audiobook narrators
Living people
1938 births