Audiobooks, Best Books, Education, Fiction & Literature, Literature, Nonfiction

35 of the Best Narrated Audiobooks

November 30, 2015July 25, 2018 by

“What are the best narrated audiobooks?” We looked at 21 articles and 221 different audiobooks in an attempt to answer that very question. Below you will find our results of the 35 top audiobook narrations of all-time. Click here to see the methodology used to create and rank all the books.

Make sure to check out our follow up Best Audiobook Narrators list as well!

The type of intro paragraph that can found in a Top Audiobook listicle:

Reading is wonderful. It’s hard to think of anything else in the world that quite equals the pleasure one finds when lost in a good book. Unfortunately so many great books come out every year with so many classics waiting on the shelf to be read that it can become overwhelming. There are only so many hours in the day when you can sit back and enjoy the written word. Enter Audiobooks. Audiobooks do what no normal book can, allowing you to listen and consume wherever you are. Driving to work, cleaning the house, working out, it doesn’t matter the activity, audiobooks can fill the most mundane parts of your life with stories and knowledge.

Before you plug in and start listening the days away, take a look at our list of the 35 best-narrated audiobooks for some ideas of where to begin! Whether you’re interested in epic fantasy or grounded personal journies, we have the (audio)book for you!

Things you will find in “Best of” Audiobook Narration lists:

British people
Comedians (with a 90% chance of the comedian Having appeared in an NBC Comedy at one point in their life)
Fantasy Series
Authors reading their own book
The phrase “Brings the books to life”
Lists of the times a day people can listen to audiobooks. These almost always include: The car (or commute), while cleaning, working out, or making food.

The 35 best narrated Audiobooks (in ascending order)

Total lists consulted: 21
Unique books listed: 221 (see bottom of page for full list)

35.) A Game of Thrones collection (Books 1-7) by George R. R. Martin

Narrator: Roy Dotrice
Appears on: 2 lists
Learn More / Buy

34.) A Rage in Harlem by Chester Himes

Narrator: Samuel L. Jackson
Appears on: 2 lists
Learn More / Buy

1.) Bossypants by Tina Fey

Narrated by: Tina Fey
Appears On: 10 Lists
Learn More / Buy

The 187 Remaining Audiobooks Appearing on a Single List

11/22/1963 by Stephen King
1984 by George Orwell; narrated by Simon Prebble
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
A Delicate Truth written and read by John le Carré
A Farewell to Arms John Slettery
A Happy Marriage by Rafael Yglesias; narrated by Grover Gardner
A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray, read by Tavia Gilbert
A Wizard of Earthsea read by Karen Archer
Abhorsen Trilogy Garth Nix
All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy; narrated by Frank Muller
Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada, tr by Michael Hofmann
American Gods by Neil Gaiman; narrated by Dennis Boutsikaris, Daniel
Oreskes, Ron McLarty, Sarah Jones
An Apple a Day
An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield
Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
Anthem
Assassination Vacation Sarah Vowell
Beautiful Ruins By Jess Walter
Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande
Being There read by Dustin Hoffman
Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty, read by Caroline Lee
Bird Box by Josh Malerman, read by Cassandra Campbell
Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS Written by Kurt Vonnegut Narrated by
John Malkovich
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men (by David Foster Wallace; narrated
by David Foster Wallace, Bobby Cannavale, Michael Cerveris, Will
Forte, Malcolm Goodwin, John Krasinski, Christopher Meloni, Chris
Messina, Max Minghella, Dennis O’Hare)
Brighton Rock by Graham Greene
Brown Girl Dreaming” by Jacqueline Woodson
Carsick by John Waters, read by the author
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Creativity, Inc.’ by Ed Catmull and Amy Wallace
Cuckoo’s Calling
David Attenborough In His Own Words Narrator: David Attenborough
Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitaniaby Erik Larson, read by
Scott Brick
Decisive’ by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill
Destiny’s Captive by Beverly Jenkins, read by Thomas Penny
Dracula read by Alan Cumming
Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us’ by Daniel H. Pink
Dry by Augusten Burroughs
Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less’ by Greg McKeown
FAHRENHEIT 451 Ray Bradbury Tim Robbins
Frindle by Andrew Clements
Games Without Rules: The Often-Interrupted History of Afghanistan by
Tamim Ansary, read by the author
Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl
Geek Love by Katherine Dunne
Getting to Yes: How To Negotiate Agreement Without Giving In’ by Roger
Fisher and William Ury
Go Set A Watchman, Harper Lee Narrator: Reese Witherspoon
Good to Great’ by Jim Collins
Gotta Have It: 69 Stories of Sudden Sex
Happy Is the New Healthy
Have a Little Faith” by Mitch Albom
Here We Go Again: My Life in Television
Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of The Beatles
Geoff Emerick
How To Train Your Dragon” series by Cressida Cowell
How to Win an Election
How to Win Friends & Influence People’ by Dale Carnegie
If You Ask Me (And of Course You Won’t)” by Betty White
In a Sunburned Country By Bill Bryson
In Cold Blood (by Truman Capote; narrated by Scott Brick)
In Real Life
Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me Mindy Kaling
James Bond series by Ian Fleming
Jesus’ Son Will Patton
John Carter Edgar Rice Burroughs
Landline by Rainbow Rowell, read by Rebecca Lowman
Landmarks by Robert Macfarlane
Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead’ by Sheryl Sandberg
Lemony Snicket Tim Curry
Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls
Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy by Karen Abbott, read by Karen White
Lies of Locke Lamora (Scott B. Lynch
LIfe After LIfe
Life of Pi (by Yaan Martel; narrated by Jeff Woodman)
Lock In by John Scalzi, read by Wil Wheaton or by Amber Benson
Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish: A Novel David Rakoff
Matilda, by Roald Dahl Narrator: Kate Winslet
Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War (by Karl Marlantes; narrated by
Bronson Pinchot)
Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
Midwinterblood” by Marcus Sedgwick
Motherless Brooklyn Steve Buscemi
Mrs. Dalloway read by Annette Bening
My Life as a White Trash Zombie
My Man Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse
My Story by Elizabeth Smart
NATIVE SON Richard Wright Narrated by James Earl Jones
Neverwhere Neil Gaiman
Not My Father’s Son by Alan Cumming, read by the author
Okay For Now
Outling Your Novel
Pack of Two read by Hilary Swank
Paris Letters by Janice MacLeod, read by Tavia Gilbert
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, read by Sean Barrett
Peter and the Starcatchers” by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson
Plain Tales from the Hills by Rudyard Kipling
Pleasantville by Attica Locke, read by J.D. Jackson
Red Moon” written and read by Minnesota author Benjamin Percy
Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch Narrated by: Kobna Holdbrook-
Smith
Saints of the Shadow Bible by Ian Rankin
Self-Inflicted Wounds by Aisha Tyler, read by the author
Shantaram (by Gregory David Roberts; narrated by Humphrey Bower);
Society’s Child: My Autobiography By Janis Ian
Someday, Someday, Maybe Lauren Graham
Song of Solomon Toni Morrison
State of Wonder by Anne Patchett
Still Foolin’ Em
Stone Mattress by Margaret Atwood, read by Rob Delaney et al.
Suddenly One Summerby Julie James, read by Karen White
Swerve Stephen Greenblatt
Talk Like TED: The 9 Public Speaking Secrets of the World’s Top Minds’
by Carmine Gallo
Tamar by Mal Peet
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln” by Doris
Kearns Goodwin
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
The American Lover by Rose Tremain
The Art of Happiness, by Dalai Lama Narrator: Howard C. Cutler
The Art of Racing in the Rain” by Garth Stein
THE ART OF WAR Written by Sun Tzu Narrated by Aidan Gillen (Game
of Thrones, The Wire)
The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama
The Birth of the Pill by Jonathan Eig, read by Gayle Hendrix
The Boggart” by Susan Cooper
The Book of Unknown Americans” by Cristina Henriquez
The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak, read by Allan Corduner
The Dark Tower Series (Stephen King
The Declaration” by Gemma Malley
The Dip
The Dresden Files” series by Jim Butcher, read by James Marsters
The Embassy of Cambodia written and read by Zadie Smith
The Funny Thing Is… by Ellen DeGeneres
The Ghosts of Belfast (by Stuart Neville; narrated by Gerard Doyle)
The Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins Narrated by: Clare Corbett,
Louise Brealey, and India Fisher
The Girl With All the Giftsby M. R. Carey, read by Finty Williams
The Golden Hour” by Maiya Williams
The Good Lord Bird by James McBride, read by Michael Boatman
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Heroes (Joe Abercrombie)
The Horse in My Garage and Other Stories
The Human Comedy read by Meg Ryan
The Humans by Matt Haig, read by Mark Meadows
The Invention of Wings” by Sue Monk Kidd
The Known World by Edward P. Jones, read by Kevin Free
The Language Hoax
The Last Cigarette: the Smoking Diaries Volume 3 written and read by
Simon Gray
The Last Gunfight: The Real Story of the Shootout at the O.K. Corral
and How It Changed the American West by Jeff Guinn, read by Stephen
Hoye
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid Bill Bryson
The Magicians (Lev Grossman)
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hatby Oliver Sacks
The Member of the Wedding read by Susan Sarandon
The Millennium Trilogy (by Stieg Larsson; narrated by Simon Vance);
The Myth of You and Me
The Name of the Wind (Patrick Rothfuss)
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
The Poets Corner (by John Lithgow; narrated by Morgan Freeman, Susan
Sarandon, Helen Mirren, Glenn Close, Gary Sinese, John Lithgow)
The Poisonwood Bible By Barbara Kingsolver
The Princess Affair
The Productivity Blueprint
The Proud Tower: A Portrait of the World Before the War, 1890-1914,
read by Wanda McCaddon
The Real Doctor Will See You Shortly
The Red Necklace, read by Tom Hiddleston
The Return of the Native Alan Rickman
The Sally Lockhart Quatrain (by Philip Pullman; narrated by Anton
Lesser)
The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
The Sheltering Sky read by Jennifer Connelly
The Stand by Stephen King
THE THINGS THEY CARRIED Tim O’Brien Narrated by Bryan Cranston
The Thirteenth Tale (by Diane Setterfield; narrated by Bianca Amato &
Jill Tanner)
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet David Mitchell
The Trumpet of the Swan” by E.B. White
The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma, read by Georgia King and Sandy
Rustin
The Warded Man (Peter V. Brett)
The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi, read by Almarie Guerra
The Way of Kings (Brandon Sanderson
The Wheel of Time (Robert Jordan
The Whites by Richard Price writing as Harry Brandt, read by Ari
Fliakos
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz read by Anne Hathaway
Therese Raquin read by Kate Winslet
This Boy: a Memoir of a Childhood written and read by Alan Johnson
This is how you lose her Junot Diaz
Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed, read by Phil Gigante
Tin Roof Blowdown by James Lee Burke
To The Lighthouse read by Nicole Kidman
Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck
UR
Us by David Nicholls
What If? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions
by Randall Munroe, read by Wil Wheaton
When to Rob a Bank: …And 131 More Warped Suggestions and Well-
Intended Rants’ by Stephen J. Dubner & Stephen D. Levitt
When We Were the Kennedys
Wolf Hall, read by Simon Slater
Wonder” by R. J. Palacio