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The Princess Diaries: Audiobooks

by Cherie Lee

When Mia Thermopolis learns she's a princess her world changes--for the worse! This story turns most little girls' dream into a nightmare for one New York teen. In The Princess Diaries Meg Cabot imagines the hijinks, antics, and neurotic wonderings of a modern unwilling royal.

Two different voice actors read these books but they have similar styles, so if I hadn't checked the back, I might not have noticed. Anne Hathaway, who plays Mia in the movie, reads some while the rest are read by Clea Lewis who has acted in several TV shows as well as done voices for cartoons. Some of the boys sound different with the different readers, but Mia sounds pretty much the same throughout. They also start with beautiful classical music over the Little Princess quotes at the beginning of each book which are probably the most moving things in the entire series.

I listened to seven of these which might lead one to believe that I like them, and I suppose I would have to confess I didn't hate them as much as I initially wanted to, but I still think the movie version is better. The reason being is that in the movie you can imagine that Mia is smart which makes her easier to sympathize with. In the book you can't hold onto any such delusions since you can see her every inane thought. Admittedly her father and grandmother are far more comical in the books, but the movie (while not the most profound) is definitely more profound than these books.

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