Click here to get the audiobook for free Book Review: Surrounded by Liars In Surrounded by Liars, Thomas Erikson, a Swedish behavioral expert known for his work on the DISC model, embarks on a fascinating exploration of the complex world of lies. The book...
The 20 Best Audiobooks of All Time
Whether you’re doing the dishes, running errands, or taking a long walk, audiobooks are a great way to keep your mind and body active. Audiobooks are more popular than ever, especially in today’s hectic and stressful world, where there isn’t always time to sit down and read a physical book.
If you’ve never listened to an audiobook before, you might be wondering where to begin. You could start by listening to some free audiobooks to see if you like the audio experience — or you could let us do the legwork for you! We’ve compiled a list of 25 of the best audiobooks available, ranging from classics and old favorites to new releases that every book club will be talking about. There’s something here for everyone, whether you like fiction or nonfiction. So make sure your earbuds are fully charged because once you start listening, you won’t be able to stop!
Best Fiction Audiobooks
Time travel, Scottish Highland romance, and dashing men in kilts? It’s no surprise that Outlander has been a best-seller since its release in the 1990s — and has now been adapted into a hit TV series!
If you want to go back to the series’ beginnings, the Outlander books — including this audiobook — are not to be missed. These books, which begin when Claire Randall is thrown back in time to 18th-century Scotland, are equal parts sweeping romance and gripping time-travel fantasy. Spicy and sweet, these books will engulf you in their world and make you reluctant to leave.
This stunning blend of historical romance and time travel adventure has captivated millions of readers worldwide and propelled author Diana Gabaldon to the top of the New York Times best seller list. Outlander introduces a thrilling world of heroism and breathtaking thrills as one woman is torn between the past and the present, passion and love.
Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, returns from World War II and joins her husband for a second honeymoon in 1945. When she touches a boulder in an ancient stone ruin, she is instantly transported to 1743 Scotland, a place torn apart by war and raiding border clans. Will Claire be able to return to her own time, or will her fate be forever linked with Clan MacKenzie and the valiant James Fraser?
The Dutch House follows Danny Conroy’s life and is expertly narrated by Tom Hanks’ iconic voice. After a series of tragic events, Danny and Maeve are evicted from the opulent Dutch House, which their father had purchased several years before. This series of losses has shaken them so much that, no matter how much happiness and stability they manage to create for themselves in the coming decades, the two of them keep returning to sit across the street from the Dutch House every time they see each other. What follows is a sprawling family saga about loss, maturation, and finding one’s place in the world.
At the end of WWII, Cyril Conroy combines luck and a single astute investment to launch an enormous real estate empire that propels his family from poverty to enormous wealth. His first order of business is to purchase the Dutch House, an opulent estate in the Philadelphia suburbs. The house, intended as a surprise for his wife, sets in motion the undoing of everyone he cares about.
Cyril’s son Danny tells the story as he and his older sister, the brilliantly acerbic and self-assured Maeve, are exiled from their childhood home by their stepmother. The two wealthy siblings are thrown back into the poverty from which their parents had fled, and all they have to rely on is one another. This unbreakable bond between them both saves their lives and jeopardizes their futures.
Whether you’ve already finished watching Celeste Ng’s compelling Hulu adaptation of Little Fires Everywhere or are looking for an incredibly engaging story of family drama, Celeste Ng has you covered. This is the story of the Richardsons, a picture-perfect family from Shaker Heights, Ohio, whose lives are turned upside down when Mia Warren and her daughter, Pearl, move into the Richardsons’ rental property. These free spirits set in motion a chain of events that will forever alter the Richardsons’ perspective on life and the assumptions we hold about what it means to do the right thing.
Everything in Shaker Heights, a peaceful, progressive Cleveland suburb, is planned, from the layout of the winding roads to the colors of the houses to the successful lives its residents will lead. Elena Richardson, whose guiding principle is following the rules, epitomizes this spirit.
Mia Warren, an enigmatic artist, and single mother arrives in this idyllic bubble with her adolescent daughter, Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons. Mia and Pearl quickly become more than just tenants; all four Richardson children are drawn to the mother-daughter duo. Mia, on the other hand, has a mysterious past and a disregard for the status quo that threatens to upend this carefully ordered community.
Such a Fun Age is a bighearted story about race and privilege, set around a young Black babysitter, her well-intentioned employer, and a surprising connection that threatens to undo them both. It’s a striking and surprising debut novel from an exhilarating new voice.
This thoroughly modern novel follows Emira, a 25-year-old Black woman struggling to make ends meet, and Alix, her age but not social status peer. Alix, a white, married woman with a successful private blogging business, hires Emira to be a regular babysitter for her two children. Emira takes young Briar to the grocery store one night to keep Alix’s daughter out of the house during a family emergency, where they are confronted by a security guard who wants to know what this Black woman is doing with a white child.
Thus begins a plot that could only happen now, as Emira struggles to navigate racial issues and potential social media scandals, all while juggling a job, a social life, and some semblance of sanity. Such a Fun Age is one of those best audiobooks that feels like listening to a friend confess the latest details of their own life, narrated in Nicole Lewis’ confident and confidential tone.
Where the Crawdads Sing, written by a real-life zoologist, tells the story of Kya Clark, a girl who raised herself in a North Carolina marsh after her father abandoned her. Kya has spent years alone, surrounded by and learning from nothing but the wilderness around her. But her life is turned upside down by two men, and what follows is a riveting mystery filled with new lessons, heartbreak, and even suspected murder. This novel, rich in environmental detail, will immediately transport you to the untamed world of the marshlands, enveloping you in all the suspense and wonder they possess.
For years, rumors of the «Marsh Girl» have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new life – until the unthinkable happens.
Where the Crawdads Sing is at once an exquisite ode to the natural world, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story, and a surprising tale of possible murder. Owens reminds us that we are forever shaped by the children we once were, and that we are all subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.
You’ve probably heard people sing Lincoln’s praises in the Bardo before, and rightly so. With its fascinating exploration of the death of Abraham Lincoln’s son, Willie, this 2017 release swept across the stage. This novel hit countless «best of» lists and won the coveted Man Booker Prize for its imaginative, supernatural, and deeply compelling look at the loss of a child.
However, if you’ve never listened to the audiobook version, it’s safe to say that you still have a lot to learn about this book. This audiobook redefines what it means to use a full cast, with 166 narrators (including blockbuster names like Julianne Moore, Nick Offerman, Don Cheadle, and Susan Sarandon). Lincoln in the Bardo, with its breathtaking scope and brilliant execution, will be remembered as the pinnacle of audiobook performances for decades to come.
February 18, 1862, The Civil War has only been going on for about a year. The fighting has intensified, and the country is beginning to realize it is in for a long, bloody struggle. Meanwhile, President Lincoln’s beloved 11-year-old son, Willie, is gravely ill upstairs in the White House. Willie dies in a matter of days, despite predictions of a full recovery, and is laid to rest in a Georgetown cemetery.
«My poor boy,» the president says at the time, «he was too good for this earth.» «God has summoned him.» Newspapers report that a bereaved Lincoln returns to the crypt several times alone to hold his son’s body.
As we all know, the best audiobooks have a distinct voice — both from the author and from the narrator. Milkman possesses both of these qualities in spades.
The plot is straightforward: it’s a coming-of-age story about an unnamed young woman living in Northern Ireland during «The Troubles.» But her character is unforgettable, as she tells us about her world through the eyes of someone who manages to be distinct enough to be compelling while also being relatable enough to feel like her experiences could be shared by anyone. Add in the biting insight and the beautifully authentic accent, and you have an audiobook that you’ll want to savor, spreading it out over multiple days so that your experience doesn’t end too soon.
Being interesting is dangerous in this unnamed city. Our protagonist, the middle sister, is preoccupied with keeping her mother from discovering her possible boyfriend and keeping everyone in the dark about her encounter with Milkman. But when her first brother-in-law discovers her struggle and rumors spread, her middle sister transforms into «interesting» – the last thing she ever wanted to be. Being interesting means being noticed, and being noticed is dangerous. Milkman is a story about gossip and hearsay, silence, and purposeful deafness. It’s a tale of inaction with massive consequences.
We meet Theo, a 13-year-old boy who has suffered a tragic loss, in this coming-of-age novel by literary powerhouse Donna Tartt. Following this, he becomes obsessed with a painting, which eventually leads him down a completely different path in life. The Goldfinch follows Theo through his adolescence and into the seedy underbelly of the art world. The audio version requires more than 32 hours to complete, but the intricate character details, spellbinding language choices, and deeply personal suspense will make it feel much shorter.
It all starts with a boy. A 13-year-old New Yorker named Theo Decker miraculously survives an accident that kills his mother. After his father abandons him, Theo is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. Befuddled by his strange new Park Avenue home, disturbed by schoolmates who don’t know how to talk to him, and tormented above all by his unbearable longing for his mother, he clings to one thing that reminds him of her: a small, mysteriously captivating painting that eventually draws Theo into the underworld of art.
As an adult, Theo moves effortlessly between the rich’s drawing rooms and the dusty labyrinth of an antique store where he works. He is both alienated and in love, and he finds himself at the center of a dangerously narrowing circle.
Daisy Jones and the Six is one of those stories that begs to be read aloud. This full-cast narration quickly immerses you in the whirlwind history of the (sadly fictional) band Daisy Jones and the Six, told through a series of Behind the Music-style interviews. This book will have you bobbing your head to songs that don’t actually exist, desperately wishing they did, from their chance formation when a music producer throws them all together, to the heyday of sex, drugs, and rock and roll, all the way to their sudden and dramatic split.
A riveting novel about the meteoric rise of an iconic 1970s rock band and their stunning lead singer, as well as the mystery surrounding their infamous breakup.
Daisy is a girl coming of age in Los Angeles in the late 1960s, sneaking into Sunset Strip clubs, sleeping with rock stars, and fantasizing about singing at the Whisky a Go-Go. The sex and drugs are exciting, but her favorite music is rock ‘n’ roll. By the age of 20, her voice is becoming known, and she possesses the kind of reckless beauty that drives people insane. The Six, led by the brooding Billy Dunne, is also gaining traction. Billy’s girlfriend Camila finds out she’s pregnant on the eve of their first tour, and under the pressure of impending fatherhood and fame, he goes a little crazy on the road. Daisy and Billy cross paths when a producer realizes that pairing the two is the key to supercharged success. What happens next will live on in legend.
The Vignes twins split apart at the age of 16, each of their lives taking a very different path: one runs away and establishes a life far away from the small town she grew up in, passing herself and her daughter off as white; the other marries the darkest man she can find and is still in the same town where she spent her childhood years later. The story of what happens when these two sides of the family reunite are intense and compelling, ultimately probing race relations in the second half of the twentieth century. All of this would be reason enough to read this right now! But Shayna Small’s rich, no-nonsense voice, which carries this multigenerational family saga forward with grace and pizzazz, makes this audiobook version the cherry on top.
Brit Bennett creates a story that is both a riveting, emotional family story and a brilliant exploration of the American history passing by weaving together multiple strands and generations of this family from the Deep South to California, from the 1950s to the 1990s. The Vanishing Half considers the lasting influence of the past on a person’s decisions, desires, and expectations, and explores some of the various reasons and realms in which people sometimes feel drawn to live as something other than their origins.
Brit Bennett’s engrossing pause resister about family and relationships, like her New York Times best-selling debut The Mothers, is immersive and provocative, compassionate and wise.
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