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 sc ...

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) , image_seal = WhitePlainsSeal.png , seal_link = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = U.S. state, State , su ...

and narrates his works in a small basement studio in nearby Irvington, New York. 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, genres and themes, including history, music, scie ...

's ''

Gravity's Rainbow ''Gravity's Rainbow'' is a 1973 novel by American writer Thomas Pynchon. The narrative is set primarily in Europe at the end of World War II and centers on the design, production and dispatch of V-2 rockets by the German military. In particular, ...

'' in 1986, and then again in 2014 as a new recording. Guidall said the book took about 1 month working full-time daily and was one of his most difficult works. 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 The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards originally given by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City. In September 2014, the awards were jointly presented and administered with the A ...

(Obie) for his performance in the

Off Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

play ''Cinders'' *

Audie Award The Audie Awards (, rhymes with "gaudy"; abbreviated from ''audiobook''), or simply the Audies, are awards for achievement in spoken word, particularly audiobook narration and audiodrama performance, published in the United States of America. They ...

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 to G ...

's ''

A Widow For One Year ''A Widow for One Year'' is a 1998 novel by American writer John Irving, the ninth of his novels to be published. The first third of the novel was adapted into the film ''The Door in the Floor ''The Door in the Floor'' is a 2004 American drama ...

'' *

for

Wally Lamb Wally Lamb (born October 17, 1950) is an American author known as the writer of the novels '' She's Come Undone'' and ''I Know This Much Is True'', both of which were selected for Oprah's Book Club. He was the director of the Writing Center at N ...

's ''

I Know This Much Is True ''I Know This Much Is True'' is the second novel by Wally Lamb, published in 1998. It was featured in Oprah's Book Club for June 1998. Plot summary The novel takes place in Three Rivers, Connecticut, in the early 1990s. Dominick Birdsey's ide ...

'' *

Audio Publishers Association The Audio Publishers Association (APA) is the first and only not-for-profit trade organization of the audiobook industry in the United States. Its mission is to "advocate the common, collective business interests of audio publishers." Membership is ...

Special Achievement Award (lifetime achievement).

References

External links

George Guidall
official website. {{DEFAULTSORT:Guidall, George Audiobook narrators Living people 1938 births

Biography

Awards and honors

See also

References

External links