If you have never gotten into audiobooks, or you think you cannot focus on them, the secret is starting with the right one. These eight gateway listens are so gripping and so well performed that they hook even skeptics, from a comedian reading his own childhood to a first-contact thriller you cannot switch off. Begin here and you will be a convert by the end.
Quick picks:
- Best overall: Born a Crime, narrated by Trevor Noah. Find the audiobook
- Most gripping: Project Hail Mary, narrated by Ray Porter. Find the audiobook
- Most fun: The Thursday Murder Club, narrated by Lesley Manville. Find the audiobook
Impossible to stop
1. Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
Narrated by Trevor Noah · Author-narrated
Noah voices every accent and language of his apartheid childhood himself. Consistently named the best memoir on audio.
→ Find the audiobook on Amazon2. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
Narrated by Ray Porter · Narrator steals the show
Ray Porter's performance turns the sound design and alien dialogue into something no page could match. The audiobook is the definitive version.
→ Find the audiobook on Amazon3. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
Narrated by Lesley Manville · Narrator steals the show
Four retirees solve murders. Manville gives each pensioner a personality you'll miss when it ends.
→ Find the audiobook on Amazon4. Educated by Tara Westover
Narrated by Julia Whelan · Narrator steals the show
Whelan carries the terror and tenderness of Westover's escape from an off-grid family without a false note.
→ Find the audiobook on AmazonEasy to love
5. Atomic Habits by James Clear
Narrated by James Clear · Author-narrated
The best-selling habits book, read by its author. Dominates Audible's charts for good reason.
→ Find the audiobook on Amazon6. Beach Read by Emily Henry
Narrated by Julia Whelan · Narrator steals the show
Two rival writers swap genres for a summer. Whelan is the reason Henry is an audio phenomenon.
→ Find the audiobook on Amazon7. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Narrated by Andy Serkis
Serkis's warm, wandering Bilbo makes this the ideal gateway to Middle-earth on audio.
→ Find the audiobook on Amazon8. The Martian by Andy Weir
Narrated by Wil Wheaton · Better on audio
Wheaton nails Watney's gallows humor. A survival thriller that plays like a stand-up set with rocket science.
→ Find the audiobook on AmazonHow we chose these
Audiobooks live or die on the performance, so we curated for the ear, not just the page. We looked for the editions listeners actually rave about: authors reading their own memoirs, full-cast productions that play like radio drama and narrators whose performances became definitive. Every narrator pairing here is a real, well-known edition. Our links go straight to each title's Amazon page, where the Audible, Kindle and print editions are all one tab away, so you can pick the format you want.
