If you click here, you will be at Silksoundbooks, and be listening to the dulcet tones of none other than Bill Nighy, of whom this blog is a meta-admirer (you know who I mean) as well as an admirer (me). Silksoundbooks is an audiobook venture specialising in the classics, backed by Mr Nighy, who not only provides a message on the site's home page, but reads Edgar Allen Poe's Dupin mysteries for your delectation. Users of the service can download "unforgettable performances" for £7.95 in mp3 format, mainly unabridged classics read by West End and Hollywood actors: Timothy West for Treasure Island, for example; Toby Stephens (a recently admired TV Mr Rochester) for Heart of Darkness; and Samantha Bond for Lady Chatterley's Lover. See here for the complete library so far (but if you skip the home page you will miss the lovely voice of Bill), and see here for the impressive list of performers.
Source: a three-week old Bookseller that I read on the train home from work this evening announced the service, but because the story is three weeks old, I can bring you this news when the Silksounds site is actually live.
Ahh -- you discovered this, Maxine. I should have sent you the link myself. Bill does read beautifully and does characters (especially women) very well. And I believe there are other silky voices in the library, all well worth hearing!
Posted by: Susan Balée | 21 June 2007 at 00:45
My wife and I just saw "Love, Actually" on DVD, and I don't think I can listen to him without the image in me head of him singing on the telly sans everything but a strategically placed electric guitar.
Posted by: Bill Peschel | 21 June 2007 at 23:14
He was the best thing about that movie, Bill. Keira was beautiful as ever, but not exactly acting very well on that occasion.
Posted by: Maxine | 22 June 2007 at 21:33
I downloaded A study in scarlet, read by Richard E Grant, and thought it was excellent. I'm happy that someone has finally recorded quality versions of these books - I love to listen to books when I'm driving, and I have to say they've got some impressive names in their line up of actors / readers it seems. Bill Nighy is a class actor too I might add!
Posted by: Ash James | 23 June 2007 at 14:44
Thanks, Ash -- good to know it is a good site as far as the recordings go. You will get no argument about Bill N on this blog!
Posted by: Maxine | 23 June 2007 at 17:08
I agree there are some good readers there. I particularly liked Geoffrey Palmer's reading of "Diary of a Nobody". I think, however, Bill Nighy is over-rated. His reading of the "Dupin Mysteries" was not all the rage in my opinion. Part 3 sounded like a catalog listing for a hardware store, to be honest.
Posted by: Hilda Knee | 27 June 2007 at 15:43
Hilda, if Bill wanted to read a vacuum cleaner aloud, I would probably pay to hear it. I think his voice is fantastic and he's not only good at reading, he's wonderful on a number of BBC radio plays. P'raps it was E.A. Poe whose 19th-century style tired you out.
Posted by: Susan Balée | 28 June 2007 at 04:46
A vacuum cleaner MANUAL, I mean!
Posted by: Susan Balée | 28 June 2007 at 04:47
Frankly, I think we've heard enough of Bill Nighy. He's become puffed up after his New York stint. He's no longer on the most-sought-after list, looking at the rejections he's gotten (Shameless, Harry Potter). It appears he's taken the Tom Cruise project in desparation and we'll see if that even gets going. Actors resort to doing audiobooks and radio plays when there's nothing else left for them to do, or in other words, no other work offers. The fact that he instigated this Silk Sound Books project, tells me he had to think of something to keep in the limelight. If no one else will offer him a job, he at least has the clout to make his own, to keep himself in the public eye. I used to like Bill Nighy, the old Bill Nighy who was a humble and courteous gentleman, but fame puffed him up to the point he's over-used and fallen. I feel sorry for you, Susan, if you would pay money to hear him read a vacuum cleaner manuel. Granted, I give you full points for your sense of humour.
Posted by: Hilda Knee | 28 June 2007 at 18:29
Sometimes, Hilda, otherwise sane people can have the strangest little foibles. Susan and her vacuum cleaners for one. I am pretty level-headed on the whole but I would probably pay to watch Viggo Mortensten doing the ironing for a couple of hours. Sad, I know, but there you have it. Welcome to Petrona, by the way, don't think I've seen you round these parts before. Anyone in particular you'd like me to post about for you? ;-)
Posted by: Maxine | 28 June 2007 at 18:41
Sorry, Maxine, having one of those days. But I really was disappointed in Bill Nighy's reading of the audiobook. He's done some great radio plays in the past, as Susan has correctly pointed out. Perhaps he's just not up to par anymore. We all get older and change, sometimes for the worse. I think he's worn and past his prime. Sorry Bill. You used to do it for me, but not anymore.
Posted by: Hilda Knee | 28 June 2007 at 18:51
Hilda, ouch. If anything, I think Bill has gotten better with age. I saw him on B'way in "The Vertical Hour" (3x, I was writing about it) and he floored me. I had no idea what a brilliant stage actor he is.
And courteous, gentlemanly -- yes! I had the honor of being invited to his dressing room the last time I saw the play and he was an absolutely warm, humble, friendly guy. In fact, there were some shy-ish older English people there and it was *BILL* keeping the conversation going, being sure everyone was included.
As it happens, he's been reading books on tape for a long time, so this isn't something new. He does have the misfortune of being 57, so he's not likely to be cast as the leading man in much, but you can bet I'll see whatever he's in. He always elevates his roles to something beyond the lines in the script.
Not sure why he irritates you so deeply. And I never heard he was offered anything in a Harry Potter movie, though Lord knows everyone else in England has been. And who wouldn't do a movie with Tom Cruise? Kenneth Branagh and Tom Wilkinson were also on board -- surely that's not company to be ashamed of. What's up, Hilda Knee?
Posted by: Susan Balée | 28 June 2007 at 20:06
I didn't download Bill Nighy's book, but did spot Kipling's Just so stories, which I loved when I was a kid, so I've also downloaded that for my 5 year old daughter, and I have to say it is absolutely superb! Art Malik reads it, and his voice on it is wonderful. I've actually enjoyed listening to it as much as my daughter to be honest!
(blush)
Posted by: Ash James | 04 July 2007 at 10:18