In my opinion the problem is the difference between the books and the productions. First of all, I’m Italian so I listen many books in Italian language and about them I think it’s like movies: you can find for example excellent movies with high budget and others with medium or low budget. There are books read by interesting performers as the saga of Harry Potter or Dune. They lead the listener into the story. Others instead are simple readers. I found an interesting podcast if you want try: it is LeVar Burton Reads you know?