I love audiobooks. I am a busy working mom of four, and audiobooks make it possible for me to read a lot more books than I would be able to get through if I just waited for time to sit down and read.

That being said, not all audiobooks are created equal. I’ve listened to plenty of audiobooks that are mostly meh and some that are just awful. (If you know, you know.)

But I’ve also listened to several audiobooks that are so good, I wish I could go back and have that experience again for the first time.

I know it can sometimes be frustrating trying to find books that are great on audio, which is why I put together this list of the best audiobooks.

A good narrator can’t make a bad story good, but they can make a good story come alive. That’s the case with all of the books on this list.

I wanted to provide a good, long list that covers lots of different genres, so you would be sure to find something that would interest you. I’ve broken up the list by genre to make it easier to find the books that will likely appeal to you the most. That being said, you really can’t go wrong with any of the books on this list.

Every book on this list is an audiobook that I have personally listened to and loved.

If you’ve ever wondered if listening to audiobooks is the same as reading, check out this in-depth blog post I wrote on the subject.

(I will keep this list updated as new audiobooks make the cut, so bookmark this page so you know where to go next time you’re looking for a great book on audio.)

Happy listening!

Classic Literature Audiobooks

If you are intimidated by classic literature, listening to these books on audio can be a great way to make them easier to digest.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Whenever someone asks me for a book that is great on audio, this is the first book I always recommend. Not only is it one of my all-time favorite books, but Rosamund Pike’s reading of this book is so good that you will have a newfound respect for Pike’s acting abilities. If I didn’t know better, I would think that it was done with a full cast. Her ability to make her voice sound like Elizabeth Bennet one minute and then an old man the next minute is truly remarkable. She makes this book come alive. However, you can only get her rendition of Pride and Prejudice through the Audible app because it is one of their exclusive recordings. But I promise it is worth it. (I’ve included links to other versions on Libro.fm and Chirp if you don’t have an Audible account.)

Note: If you don’t already have an Audible account, they often have really good deals for new members. At the time of this writing, they have a deal where you can get the first 3 months for $0.99.

• Publication Year: 1813
• Length: 11 hours 35 minutes
• Narrator: Rosamund Pike

Where to Buy:

Audible

Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery

Anne of Green Gables is obviously one of the best books ever written, and I really love this rendition by actress Rachel McAdams. I think she does a great job of capturing all of Anne’s wild emotions and the other characters as well. Anne of Green Gables tells the story of a 12-year-old girl who comes to live with a brother and sister on Prince Edward Island. While they were expecting a boy, they decided to embrace Anne and adopt her. In many ways, they needed her as much as she needed them. This one is only available from Audible. (I’ve included links to other versions on Libro.fm and Chirp if you don’t have an Audible account.)

• Publication Year:
• Length: 9 hours 22 minutes
• Narrator: Rachel McAdams

Where to Buy:

Audible

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

There’s a reason why so many consider To Kill a Mockingbird the Great American Novel. If you haven’t read it, definitely put it on your TBR. I finally re-read it as an adult just last year, after only ever reading it in the 10th grade. (I don’t know about you, but I hardly remember the books I read in high school.) I now get why people literally name their children after Atticus Finch. He is definitely one of the best literary characters ever written. I listened to the version read by actress Sissy Spacek, and I thought it was excellent.

• Publication Year:
• Length: 12 hours 17 minutes
• Narrator: Sissy Spacek

Where to Buy:

Audible

Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw

If you are ever looking for a quick and fun listen, listen to Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw. I really enjoyed the version read by Stephen Fry, who is both a popular author and audiobook narrator. Pygmalion is actually a play, which is why it works so well in this format. You may know this story from the movie My Fair Lady with Audrey Hepburn. Language expert Professor Henry Higgins makes a bet that he can transform a poor girl, Eliza Doolittle, by teaching her to speak and act like a duchess. After he succeeds, Eliza feels lost about her future because she no longer fits in with her old life but isn’t truly accepted by the upper class. In Greek mythology, Pygmalion was a sculptor who decided to create the perfect woman. Aphrodite made her come to life, and Pygmalion married her.

• Publication Year:
• Length: 2 hours 38 minutes
• Narrator: Stephen Fry

Where to Buy:

Audible

Contemporary Fiction Audiobooks

We All Live Here by JoJo Moyes

I’m a sucker for a good British narrator, and I thought this story was great on audio. Lila’s life is a disaster. Her husband just traded her in for the local bombshell, her mother has passed away, she’s juggling parenting her two daughters, and her well-meaning but unwelcome stepfather has officially moved in. Just when she thought things couldn’t get worse, her long-absent biological father, who is also a famous American actor, shows up on her doorstep. Now, this writer has to somehow channel all the angst, humor, and found-family chaos into a manuscript for a book she hasn’t even started yet. Oh, and did I mention that she’s slowly starting to entertain the idea of dating? Great if you’re in the mood for a lighter read with a decent amount of depth.

• Publication Year: 2025
• Length: 12 hours 38 minutes
• Narrator: Jenna Coleman

Where to Buy:

Audible

The Husbands by Holly Gramazio

If you are in the mood for something with a bit of humor, check out The Husbands. Lauren is a single woman living in London who gets a huge surprise when she comes home one night to find a man named Michael claiming to be her husband, even though she’s never met him. When Michael goes into the attic, he vanishes, and a different husband comes down, along with a slightly altered version of her life. Lauren soon learns her attic is a magical machine that offers her an endless supply of husbands and parallel lives. Is there a “perfect” husband out there? If swapping lives is as easy as changing a lightbulb, when do you stop looking for something better and just start living the life you have? It’s a funny, strange story that makes you think about relationships and all the possibilities in life. This one also has a great British narrator who brings the book to life.

• Publication Year: 2024
• Length: 10 hours 30 minutes
• Narrator: Miranda Raison

Where to Buy:

Audible

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

Elizabeth Acevedo writes YA novels in free verse. She is also a free verse performer. Because of this, she actually reads her own books, and they are so good in this format. Her books are engaging stories that are beautifully written. The Poet X tells the story of Xiomara, who lives in Harlem with her strict Catholic parents. She starts writing poetry as a way to express her feelings about her crush, her family drama, and figuring out who she is. When she joins a poetry club at school, she finally finds her voice and the courage to stand up for herself. While I don’t always enjoy YA novels, I really enjoy Acevedo’s.

• Publication Year: 2018
• Length: 3 hours 30 minutes
• Narrator: Elizabeth Acevedo

Where to Buy:

Audible

With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo

I think this is the first novel of Acevedo’s that I read. Just like The Poet X, this one is also excellent. With the Fire on High follows Emoni, a teen mom in Philadelphia who has a gift for cooking and dreams of becoming a chef, but she’s struggling to balance raising her daughter, school, and helping her abuela with money. When she gets a chance to join her culinary class on a trip to Spain, she has to figure out how to chase her dreams while still taking care of her family and dealing with a new romance. You will be rooting for Emoni.

• Publication Year: 2019
• Length: 7 hours 27 minutes
• Narrator: Elizabeth Acevedo

Where to Buy:

Audible

Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo

Yes. All of Acevedo’s novels deserve to be on this list. Clap When You Land tells the story of two girls in the Dominican Republic and in New York who discover they’re sisters after their dad dies in a plane crash, even though neither knew the other existed. The book follows them as they deal with their grief, anger about their father’s secret double life, and slowly build a relationship with each other across the distance between their two very different worlds. This story is inspired by American Airlines Flight 587, which crashed in Queens, New York, in November 2001, just two months after 9/11. The plane was heading to the Dominican Republic when it went down, killing many Dominican Americans who were traveling between New York and the island, which really shook both communities. In this fictional story, the two girls’ father is killed in that plane crash.

• Publication Year: 2020
• Length: 5 hours 32 minutes
• Narrator: Elizabeth Acevedo

Where to Buy:

Audible

My Oxford Year by Julia Whelan

Julia Whelan is a very popular audiobook narrator who has read books by authors such as Emily Henry and Taylor Jenkins Reid. She’s also an author of two books, and this one is my favorite. My Oxford Year is about Ella, an American woman who goes to Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar for a year to study. She ends up falling hard for Jamie, who is one of her instructors. Their romance gets complicated when a heartbreaking secret comes out that changes everything, and they have to figure out if love is enough to get them through the tough stuff life throws at them. Netflix did a movie based on this book that’s worth watching, but it’s not as good as the book.

• Publication Year: 2018
• Length: 9 hours 58 minutes
• Narrator: Julia Whelan

Where to Buy:

Audible

Historical Fiction Audiobooks

James by Percival Everett

This is a super interesting book, and the audio version is excellent. James is a retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain from the perspective of Jim, a runaway slave who becomes Finn’s companion when they both escape down the Mississippi River. James offers an interesting take on slave culture, along with some surprising twists and turns. If you haven’t read Huckleberry Finn yet, I would definitely read that book first, or a lot of this book won’t make sense. Huck Finn is one of my all-time favorite books, so I was super excited to read James. (If you are intimidated by Huck Finn, it happens to be one of the books on my list of easy-to-read classics.)

• Publication Year: 2024
• Length: 7 hours 49 minutes
• Narrator: Dominic Hoffman

Where to Buy:

Audible

The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

This was one of my favorite books of 2024, and I thought it was great on audio. When the book opens, it’s 1972, and construction workers find a skeleton at the bottom of a well, revealing a deep, long-hidden secret about a community that protected a deaf, orphaned boy in the 1930s. The story weaves together the lives of the people who ran the little grocery store, the struggles they faced, and how they banded together to keep a terrible injustice hidden and look out for one another. It’s a tale of secrets, community, and the surprising ways people find kindness in difficult times. I loved all of the characters in this book and how real they come across.

• Publication Year: 2023
• Length: 12 hours 21 minutes
• Narrator: Dominic Hoffman

Where to Buy:

Audible

If I Were You by Lynn Austin

I think this is an underrated historical fiction book that more people should read. If you enjoy authors such as Kristin Hannah, I think Lynn Austin might be better. (Listen to this one and let me know what you think.) This was another fave from 2024, and probably one of my all-time favorite historical fiction novels. If I Were You is an epic novel set against the backdrop of World War II England, following the intense and complicated friendship between two polar opposites: Audrey Clarkson, a shy aristocrat, and Eve Dawson, the bold daughter of a maid. The story, framed by a mysterious encounter in 1950s America where Eve is impersonating Audrey, traces their lives from childhood through the war. It’s a tale of survival, envy, forgiveness, and faith that plunges the reader into the challenges of wartime London. The pre-war part of this novel totally gave me Downton Abbey vibes.

• Publication Year: 2020
• Length: 13 hours 35 minutes
• Narrator: Sarah Zimmerman

Where to Buy:

Audible

The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher

Do you ever make an assumption about what you think a book is about based on its title and cover, and turn out to be totally wrong? That was the case for me with this book. I totally thought this book was a summer read that mostly takes place at the beach, but I was totally wrong. Yes, part of it does take place on the coast in Spain and the coast in England, but that’s like a tenth of the story, if even that. In fact, about a quarter of the way through the book, the story takes us back to the beginning of World War 2 and reads like a historical fiction novel. (Which is why I put it in this category.) The Shell Seekers tells the story of Penelope Keeling, now an older woman, who is in possession of several highly valuable paintings by her artist father, one of which is titled “The Shell Seekers.” Two of her three children only see dollar signs, but as the story unfolds, we start to learn that the value these paintings have for Penelope is something money can’t buy. I loved this story and loved Penelope! This is my second Pilcher book, and I loved both.

• Publication Year: 1987
• Length: 19 hours 26 minutes
• Narrator: Hayley Atwell

Where to Buy:

Audible

Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

I’m convinced this book was written to be an audiobook. Whenever I see someone buying the physical book, I want to tell them to listen to the audiobook. This book reads like a fake documentary about a fictional ’70s rock band inspired by Fleetwood Mac. (Imagine reading the transcript from a documentary. It just wouldn’t be as good.) What really helps this audiobook come alive is that it is performed by a full cast. I know full casts have become more common, but when this book was released in 2019, it wasn’t. (After you listen to the audiobook, go watch the series on Prime Video. I thought it was well-done.)

• Publication Year: 2019
• Length: 9 hours 3 minutes
• Narrator: Jennifer Beals, Benjamin Bratt, Judy Greer, Pablo Schreiber

Where to Buy:

Audible

Literary Fiction Audiobooks

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

This is a very popular book, but the best way to read it is to listen to it. Remarkably Bright Creatures tells the story of an unlikely friendship between Tova, a lonely widow who cleans an aquarium, and Marcellus, a super-smart giant Pacific octopus who lives there. In the audio version, Marcellus gets his own voice actor, who does a great job of capturing this character’s humor. Initially, Marcellus almost seems like the comic relief of the story, but as the story unfolds, we learn there is a lot more going on with him. This turns out to be a sweet story of friendship and healing. If you are looking for a heartwarming read with an older protagonist, definitely pick this one up. So good!

• Publication Year: 2022
• Length: 11 hours 16 minutes
• Narrator: Marin Ireland

Where to Buy:

Audible

The People We Keep by Allison Larkin

This is another book read by Julia Whelan that I really enjoyed. April isn’t exactly an orphan because her dad is still alive, but she is so neglected that she knows she won’t be missed when she decides to skip town. April can play the guitar and she can sing. She travels from town to town, performing at open mic nights, and slowly builds a new life for herself by finding kindness and forming unexpected connections with the people she meets along the way. April is one of the characters you really root for. I love a found family story, and this one has all the FF vibes.

• Publication Year: 2021
• Length: 11 hours 8 minutes
• Narrator: Julia Whelan

Where to Buy:

Audible

Beartown by Fredrik Backman

Beartown centers on the junior ice hockey team in a small, isolated town in Sweden where hockey is their whole world. When star player Kevin commits a sexual assault against Maya, the daughter of the team’s general manager, the town is ripped apart. The book explores themes of loyalty, justice, and the moral failure that arises when youth sports are elevated above everything else, forcing the community to confront its own values. The audiobook is read by Marin Ireland, who might be one of my favorite narrators. (She’s also one of the narrators for Remarkably Bright Creatures above.)

• Publication Year: 2017
• Length: 13 hours 11 minutes
• Narrator: Marin Ireland

Where to Buy:

Audible

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

This is one of my favorite novels I read in 2025. I had a serious book hangover after finishing this book. The Goldfinch is a survival story about 13-year-old Theo Decker, whose life is forever changed after his mother is killed in a terrorist attack at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. His father left the family months earlier and is nowhere to be found. He gets taken in by his friend’s family, and he starts to form other friendships, some positive and some negative, that come to play a major role in his life. I found myself caring so much about what was going to happen to Theo, and I loved the interesting characters that came into his life. The Goldfinch is more than 700 pages in print and 32 hours on audio. I think this is a case in which the excellent narration made getting through this beefy book much more manageable.

• Publication Year: 2013
• Length: 32 hours 24 minutes
• Narrator: David Pittu

Where to Buy:

Audible

Mystery and Thriller Audiobooks

The Night Swim by Megan Goldin

This book and the sequel (below) are also books that I believe are designed to be listened to, not read. If you are a fan of true crime podcasts, these books are for you. The Night Swim follows Rachel Krall, a true crime podcaster who goes to a small coastal town to cover a rape trial between a champion swimmer and a teenage girl. While there, she starts getting mysterious letters asking her to investigate a 25-year-old drowning case of a girl named Jenny. As Rachel digs into both cases, she discovers the two stories are connected in disturbing ways. The story jumps between Rachel’s investigation, the current trial, and Jenny’s story. What makes this book so good on audio is that whenever Krall records a podcast episode, it sounds like a real podcast with a different actor, bumper music, and everything. I don’t read a lot of thrillers, but this is a series I have really enjoyed.

• Publication Year: 2020
• Length: 10 hours 25 minutes
• Narrator: Bailey Car, January LaVoy

Where to Buy:

Note: There’s one weird thing about this book: it is really hard to find on audio. I’m pretty sure when I first listened to it that it was on Audible, but you can’t get it on Audible or any other major audiobook app. However, I was able to find it through my library. My library uses Cloudlibrary for its ebooks and audiobooks. If you can’t find it, it’s totally fine to skip this book and move on to the next one.

Dark Corners by Megan Goldin

This is the sequel to The Night Swim and is done in the same format on audio. The only real connection between the two books is Rachel Krall. The stories are otherwise unconnected, which means you don’t need to read them in order. If you can’t find The Night Swim (see my note above), you can totally start with this one. This book is my favorite of the two (and I’m really hoping she writes more). In Dark Corners, Rachel Krall is invited by the FBI to help with a case involving a missing social media influencer, and they believe that a man in prison is somehow connected. This book has lots of layers and twists and turns you don’t see coming.

• Publication Year: 2022
• Length: 10 hours 45 minutes
• Narrator: André Santana, January LaVoy, Samantha Desz

Where to Buy:

Audible

Eight Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson

When Malcolm Kershaw had his first job at a bookstore, he was helping the owner get the store’s blog up and running, and he wrote a blog post titled “Eight Perfect Murders.” It was a list of blog posts in which he lists mystery novels in which the murders are the most difficult to solve because they could easily be mistaken for an accident or suicide. When Eight Perfect Murders opens, Mal is now the owner of his own mystery bookstore in Boston. He receives a visit from an FBI agent who thinks his old blog post may be the inspiration for a series of recent killings. Since Mal has knowledge of all of the books in the post, he starts helping the FBI agent with her investigation. This one is so good, and it has a lot of twists and turns I did not see coming. There’s more I wish I could say, but I don’t want to give away too much. You have to read it!

• Publication Year: 2020
• Length: 8 hours 3 minutes
• Narrator: Graham Halstead

Where to Buy:

Audible

In the Woods by Tana French

This was my first Tana French novel, and I will definitely be reading more. One of the things that impressed me about this book is just how well written it is, and it was also excellent on audio. There are two mysteries in this novel. One is present-day, and one is in 1984. The novel opens in 1984, when two children go missing in the woods near Dublin, Ireland, and one of the children who was with them is found alive. The one found alive is Rob Ryan, who is now a detective who gets called to investigate the murder of a teenage girl who is found dead, not far from where he lived as a boy. The book is as much about Rob as it is about the murder that he and his partner, Cassie, are called to investigate. This is book one in the Dublin Murder Squad series.

• Publication Year: 2007
• Length: 20 hours 24 minutes
• Narrator: Steven Crossley

Where to Buy:

Audible

Science Fiction Audiobooks

The Martian by Andy Weir

Mark Watney is an astronaut who gets left behind on Mars when his crew thinks he’s dead after a bad storm and has to leave in an emergency. Using his skills as a botanist and engineer, he figures out how to grow potatoes in Martian soil, make water, and survive alone on Mars while NASA scrambles to figure out how to rescue him. The whole book is full of his funny journal entries where he solves one deadly problem after another using science, duct tape, and a lot of dark humor to keep himself sane. Audiobook narrator Wil Wheaton has the perfect voice for Watney. Only available from Audible. (Many have said that Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir is also excellent on audio. I have this one on my TBR, and I will update here once I listen to it.)

• Publication Year: 2014
• Length: 10 hours 59 minutes
• Narrator: Wil Wheaton

Where to Buy:

Audible

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

In anticipation of the movie, I decided to listen to this one before it hit theaters. Soooo many people have said this is the best book on audio. My conclusion is that it is excellent in this format and the preferred way to read this book. Here’s why: There’s a character in this book who really needs his own voice, and that is reflected in this audiobook. In fact, I have heard people say they started reading the physical book first, but they couldn’t imagine what this particular character would sound like, and the audiobook really made him come alive. I will also say that if you’ve seen the movie, loved it, and found yourself wanting more, you will get it by listening to this audiobook. The other thing to know about this book is that it is very sciency. It really gets into the weeds (more than the movie), but this is also necessary to solve the problems they are facing. I loved it all!

Note: Just like The Martian, this one is only available from Audible.

• Publication Year: 2021
• Length: 16 hours 10 minutes
• Narrator: Ray Porter

Where to Buy:

Audible

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Never Let Me Go tells the story of Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy, who grow up at a special boarding school in England. As the story unfolds, the students there start to learn the truth about their existence. While it doesn’t seem like it at first glance, this is actually a dystopian novel. There is a struggle with identity, friendship, love, and what it means to be human. It’s a story about acceptance while still finding meaning in life.

• Publication Year: 2005
• Length: 9 hours 40 minutes
• Narrator: Rosalyn Landor

Where to Buy:

Audible

Non-Fiction Audiobooks

Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell

Malcolm Gladwell has a way of picking up on the nuances that most people miss, which is one of the reasons I find him super interesting. Talking to Strangers is especially good on audio because you feel like you are listening to a podcast. Talking to Strangers explores why people often misunderstand or misjudge others, and how these misunderstandings can lead to serious consequences. He uses real stories like spy cases, the Sandra Bland traffic stop, and Bernie Madoff’s fraud to show how our natural tendency to believe people and misread their emotions gets us into serious trouble.

• Publication Year: 2019
• Length: 8 hours 42 minutes
• Narrator: Malcolm Gladwell

Where to Buy:

Audible

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb

This is one of my favorite books I read in 2019. This is a memoir by Lori Gottlieb, a therapist who goes to therapy after a tough breakup. She tells that story along with the story of four of her patients and what they are struggling with. Read with the tissue box close by. While there is a lot of humor throughout this book, this one also had me in tears. Even though this is a long one, I felt like it flew by on audio.

• Publication Year: 2019
• Length: 14 hours 21 minutes
• Narrator: Brittany Pressley

Where to Buy:

Audible

If you’ve listened to any books on audio that you think are especially good, please share below!

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The post The 25 Best Audiobooks I’ve Ever Listened To (So Far) appeared first on Passion of Audiobooks.

Audiobooks are a great way to read more books while doing chores, commuting, walking, and a wide variety of activities. But they can also get pretty expensive (if you listen to a lot of them). Is it possible to get free audiobooks, and where can you find them? The good news is that you have SO MANY OPTIONS.

When I compare how much audiobooks used to cost (when you had to buy them on physical CDs or cassette tapes for $50+ a pop), paying a $15 subscription fee per month for an audiobook seems like a pretty good deal. But if you’re anything like me, you like to listen to more than one audiobook per month, and those costs can start to add up fast.

That led me to start looking for free and cheaper places to get audiobooks beyond the usual audiobook apps, and the good news is there are lots of ways to find them for free or at a steep discount.

This post is all about how to get free audiobooks.

1

Your Library

Yes, you can get free audiobooks from your library, but it can take some figuring out. When you get audiobooks from your library, you don’t do it from the same portal where you might reserve physical books. You have to do it from a separate app.

This is how to do it (or at least how it works for my library):

• Go to your library’s website
• Look for the section on Digital ebooks and audiobooks (check the menu in the main navigation or search for it if you can’t find it).
• On this page, your library should tell you which app they use for distributing their audiobooks. If you still can’t find it, you can also search for your library from the apps that libraries commonly use. Here are some commonly used apps:
  • Cloudlibrary
  • Hoopla
  • Libby
• Once you have the app downloaded and you are logged in, you can start searching for audiobooks!

Something to keep in mind is that you are borrowing these audiobooks, and after the borrowing period is up, the app will claw back the book. At my library, I’m allowed to borrow the books for two weeks. (If there isn’t a hold on the book, I can usually reborrow it right away.)

Also, if a book isn’t available to borrow right away, you can put a “hold” on it just like you would for a physical book. On my app, it shows how many days you have to wait until it becomes available, but wait times can be long for popular books. Because of this, my favorite use of the library for audiobooks is for backlist titles.

The other thing to keep in mind about the library is that it doesn’t tend to have an exhaustive library of books like an app like Audible or Libro.fm. If I want to borrow a more popular book, I might have to wait months for it to become available. If it’s a book I’m really eager to listen to, then I will just get it from a paid platform.

Another thing worth mentioning is that libraries still have audiobooks on physical CDs that you can also borrow for free (at least mine does).

2

Librivox

Librivox is a free library of audiobooks. All of the books you can get on Librivox are in the public domain and are read by volunteers. Books become part of the public domain when the copyright expires. (And there’s a variety of rules around when this is, depending on when the book was published.)

Librivox also offers digital ebooks, but they say they really consider themselves a library of audiobooks, since you can get public-domain ebooks elsewhere as well.

Given that Librivox only offers audiobooks in the public domain, it’s a good resource for classic books.

I like to browse their catalog by genre. They also have audiobooks in several languages.

They do have an app you can use to access audiobooks that can be downloaded from the App Store or the Google Play Store.

3

Digitalbook.io

Digitalbook.io offers both free ebooks and audiobooks. What it’s trying to do is create a library of all of the free audiobooks and ebooks from different sources around the web and bring them into one place. The sources they are gathering from include Librivox, Project Gutenberg, Google Books, Amazon, Apple Books, and more.

They say they offer more than 100,000 free audiobooks and ebooks. It also offers books in more than 60 languages.

Digitalbook also offers an app that can be accessed through the App Store or the Google Play Store.

4

As a Perk

These aren’t technically free, but if you are paying for one of these services, you actually get audiobooks as an additional perk of the service:

• Kindle Unlimited: Kindle Unlimited has several books that you can get on audio in addition to ebooks. (This is something I just discovered this year.) One thing that’s cool about this is that you can sync the audiobook with the Kindle app, and read the book on both and even take advantage of the Whispersync feature, which allows you to listen and read at the same time. It comes with a 30 Day Free trial, if you want to try it out. (Keep an eye out for deals around Prime Day and Black Friday, too.)
• Spotify: If you are a Spotify Premium member, your subscription includes 15 listening hours on any audiobook in their library. I don’t always subscribe to Spotify Premium, but when I do, one thing I like about this is that it allows me to try out different books without needing to fully commit (like you do when using a credit from a paid service).
• Amazon Music Unlimited: Amazon Music Unlimited also gives you one free audiobook per month from the Audible catalog. However, the app is not as robust as the Audible app. For example, you aren’t able to adjust the listening speed in the same increments as you can on the Audible app. But, if you’re paying for this service, definitely take advantage of your free audiobook!

There may be others! If you know of other apps or subscriptions that offer audiobooks as an additional perk, please share below!

5

YouTube and YouTube Music

Both YouTube and YouTube Music offer free audiobooks. All of the audiobooks on YouTube Music appear to be in the public domain, but that is not the case on YouTube. I did a search for “audiobooks full length”, and I saw several newer books in the search results.

There are also YouTube channels devoted to specific genres:

• Historical Fiction
• Thrillers & Crime Fiction and more Mysteries
• Classic Literature
• Action Novels
• Fantasy

Given that it’s YouTube, you will have to put up with ads throughout the book, but that’s a small price to pay for getting an audiobook for free!

6

Paid Services

This may seem counterintuitive, but several paid services also offer special free audiobooks, and you don’t always need to be a subscriber to take advantage of them. Here are some of the services that offer free audiobooks:

• Apple Books: To find these, go to the Apple Books app > Audiobook Store or Audiobooks (on mobile) > Sections Dropdown Menu (It’s on the top right of the screen) > Special Offers > Scroll down until you see “Great Free Listens.” (These instructions work whether you are using a Macbook, iPad, or iPhone.)
• Chirp: Chirp is a paid audiobook service that doesn’t have a membership. You pay as you go. Every Friday at Chirp is “Freebie Friday” where they offer one title for free. I recommend subscribing to their emails and/or text messages where they will notify you every week when the free book becomes available. (Chirp often has great deals on audiobooks. These aren’t free, but they are at a steep discount.)
• Audible: If you subscribe to the Audible Premium Plus membership (which is $14.95 per month) you get access to Audible’s Audible Plus catalog, which includes 150k audiobooks and podcasts. The books available rotate (sort of how shows and movies rotate in and out of Netflix), but they usually have a really good selection.
• Free Trials: A lot of paid subscriptions offer a free one-month trial to test out their service, including Audible, Audiobooks.com, and Barnes and Noble.

The good news is that if you are looking for ways to save money on audiobooks, you have A LOT of options! If you know of any other places to find free audiobooks, please share them in the comments below!

The post How to Get Free Audiobooks: The Ultimate Guide for Book Lovers appeared first on Passion of Audiobooks.

What is the best audiobook app? What is the best audiobook subscription? And what if you don’t want a subscription? What if you just want to pay as you go? Is that an option? In this post, I will try to answer all of these questions, and more!

I love audiobooks. I’ve been listening to audiobooks since before there were smartphones. The only way to get an audiobook back in the day was to buy it on cassette tapes or CDs (and yes, I wrote cassette tape and CD in plural because it took multiple tapes or CDs to contain a single audiobook).

The biggest problem with audiobooks at the time was that they were super expensive, which made them cost-prohibitive for the average person.

That means I never bought them.

I mean, who could really afford $60 for a single audiobook? Not me. (And no, that’s not a typo. That’s really how much they cost, if not more.)

At some point, I discovered that I could get audiobooks on CD at the library for free, and I was hooked. I still get audiobooks from my library, but libraries did and still do have limitations. (More details about getting audiobooks from your library below.)

With the advent of the internet and smartphones, we can now pretty much get any audiobook we want for a nominal fee.

But now, with so many audiobook platforms, it can be confusing to know which one to use.

Since I’ve used several platforms, I wanted to share my experience so you can choose the one that’s right for you.

This post is all about the best audiobook apps.

Let’s dive into it.

The Best Audiobook Apps Compared

1

Audible

Audible is the O.G. audiobook platform. I was actually an Audible member before they were bought by Amazon. I know some people may not like them because they are owned by Amazon, but if I’m being honest, it really is the best platform out there if you are purely looking at it from the consumer’s perspective. From their wide selection to the user experience on their audiobook app, it’s really hard to beat.

Audible Pros:

2

Libro.fm

Libro.fm has a very unique business model because some of the proceeds go to local bookstores, and not only that, you get to choose which local bookstore your account supports. I think this is really cool since independent bookstores aren’t really able to offer audiobooks. They also support other causes and are a Certified B Corporation. If you want an audiobook platform on a mission, this might be the one for you.

Libro.fm ProS:

3

Chirp

Price: Pay per book. There is no subscription option.

Chirp stands out as a purely pay-as-you-go option. Chirp was started by the same people who run the website BookBub, which is a popular book discovery website. While I’ve purchased audiobooks from Chirp and enjoy their platform, one thing I’ve found a bit odd is that one time when I purchased a book, they were asking for donations to offset being able to sell books so cheaply. My thought was that if you can’t afford to sell books so cheap, then raise your prices. It seems odd to ask for donations like this. That being said, I haven’t seen this in a while, so I think they’ve stopped doing it.

Chirp Pros:

• I like that there’s an option for people who want to avoid subscriptions altogether.
• Being owned by the same people who run BookBub, they seem really focused on helping you find really good deals.
• To make up for the lack of subscription, they have really great deals almost all the time, including free audiobooks on “Freebie Fridays,” and they have an ongoing list of free audiobooks here.
• They often do a “series sale” where you can buy an entire series together.
• You can stream an audiobook before downloading. (This is helpful if you want to start a new audiobook, but you aren’t near wifi, which can make it difficult.)
• Includes sleep timer
• Clean, easy-to-use platform
• Includes customer reviews
• Chirp allows customers to return audiobooks purchased within the last 45 days as long as you haven’t listened to a significant portion of the book.
• The audiobooks are yours forever.

Chirp Cons:

• Newer Popular books tend to be more expensive.
• You can’t buy audiobooks from the app. (If you try to do this, they will send you to the web.)
• You can add a “bookmark” to a spot in the book, but you can’t add a note.
• Can only increase listening speed by 1.1, 1.2, etc. (This is pretty standard, but I put this as a con since Audible allows even more precise speed changes.)

4

Audiobooks.com

Price: $14.95/month for 1 audiobook and 1 VIP book every month

Auiobooks.com Pros:

• They have more than 500,000 titles, which is a decent selection.
• You really get 2 audiobooks every month as part of your subscription. You get one credit you can use on any audiobook in their library, and the second one you can use on a book in their VIP Library: https://www.audiobooks.com/vip-selection, which includes more than 200 titles from a variety of genres.
• They offer additional deals, such as 2-for-1 audiobooks and other monthly deals
• You can do a 30-day free trial
• Includes customer reviews
• You can add a bookmark to a spot in an audiobook you may want to go back to, and you can leave a note.
• The audiobook app offers many customization options.
• They have a library of 10,000 always-free audiobooks
• You can purchase audiobooks without a subscription
• If you cancel, you retain ownership of the audiobooks. (This does not apply if you cancel during your free trial.)
• Audiobooks.com allows users to return an audiobook purchased within the last year.

Audiobooks.com Cons:

• When looking through the VIP Library, there is no way to filter by genre and there are 11 pages of audiobooks.
• Can only increase listening speed by 1.1, 1.2, etc. (This is pretty standard, but I put this as a con since Audible allows even more precise listening speeds.)

try audiobooks.com

5

Apple Books

Price: Pay per book. There is no subscription option.

Like Chirp, Apple Books is 100% pay-as-you-go. However, you do have to be part of the Apple ecosystem to access it. I think Apple Books (formerly iBooks) was one of the first audiobook platforms I ever tried. One thing I’ll say for Apple Books is that it’s a very enjoyable platform to use and navigate.

Apple Books Pros:

• They seem to have a large selection. (Apple says they have millions of titles, but they say this about both ebooks and audiobooks. It’s not clear exactly how many audiobooks they have, but they seem to have a large selection.)
• You can listen to Audible titles on the Apple Books app.
• In classic Apple style, the Apple Books store has a very clean and easy-to-use interface.
• They sell their audiobooks and their ebooks in the same place.
• While most of their audiobooks are full price, they do offer regular deals for $5 and $10.
• They also have several classic books for free. (And many of them are read by celebrities.)
• You can purchase audiobooks from the app
• You can share your books with up to five family members.
• The app has a Reading Goal tracker, but it only tracks books you read in the Apple Books app.
• Includes customer reviews

apple books Cons:

• The app does not have very good customization options.
• It’s only available to Apple users.
• Can only increase listening speed by 1.1, 1.2, etc. (This is pretty standard, but I put this as a con since Audible allows even more precise listening speeds.)
• Users can request a refund, but they don’t disclose what their exact return policy is.

Try apple books

6

Barnes & Noble

Price: $14.99/month for 1 Audiobook Credit or purchase a book a la carte without a subscription

Yes, Barnes & Noble sells audiobooks. Their audiobooks store used to be called NOOK Audiobooks, but now it’s called B&N Audiobooks. You can listen through their website or on the Barnes & Noble NOOK App. (You do not have to have a NOOK to use this app.)

Barnes & Noble Pros:

• More than 300,000 audiobooks available
• B&N has a lot of additional discounts, such as 30% off Audiobook Bestsellers; Buy One, Get One 50% Off; and other limited-time deals.
• You can purchase audiobooks from the app
• The first time you use the app, it walks you through how to use the features.
• You can add a bookmark with a note.
• It has a nice reading and listening tracker in your profile.
• If you are a Barnes & Noble member, you earn rewards on audiobook purchases, but not on audiobook subscriptions or audiobooks purchased with a credit.
• Includes sleep timer

Barnes & Noble Cons:

• Can only increase listening speed by 1.1, 1.2, etc. (This is pretty standard, but I put this as a con since Audible allows even more precise listening speeds.)
• I don’t like how the listening speed selector works. It’s a slider; instead of a button, and you aren’t sure what you are sliding to until you get there.
• It just shows track numbers, not chapter numbers or titles.
• Not a lot of customization options in the app.
• Audiobooks are nonreturnable.

7

Your Library

Price: Free!

A lot of people don’t know this, but you can get audiobooks from your library for free. Most libraries use one of these apps, so you’ll have to reach out to your library and find out which one they use. (My library uses cloudLibrary.)

• Libby
• Hoopla
• cloudLibrary

Library Pros:

• They are free!
• Great for backlist titles.

Library Cons:

• It’s a library service, so just like your real library, you are borrowing the book for a limited amount of time, and it will get clawed back after a certain amount of time. (At my library, the book gets automatically returned after two weeks.)
• There’s a long wait for new releases and more popular books, which is why I tend to use the library app for backlist titles. (You can wait months if not years for popular books.)
• You don’t get to keep the books
• There’s a limited selection
• No customer reviews

Apps that Include Audiobooks as an Additional Perk

It’s becoming increasingly common for platforms to include audiobooks as an additional perk of your subscription or membership. On these platforms, they don’t sell audiobooks exclusively, but if you use these platforms, you may also have access to audiobooks.

Spotify Premium

Price: Individual $12.99/month; Duo $18.99/month; Family $21.99/month

If you are a Spotify Premium member, you receive 15 hours of audiobook listening time with your subscription, which renews each month.

You can add Audiobooks+ to your account, which gives you an additional 15 hours of listening time for $11.99.

You also have the option of purchasing 10 additional listening hours if you use up your 15 hours and want more. They call this a Top-up, and it costs $12.99. Top-up hours carry over and are valid to use for 12 months from the purchase date.

The app allows users to adjust the narration speed to 1.1x, 1.2x, and all the way up to 3.5x.

Spotify displays customer ratings of books, but not written reviews.

Amazon Music Unlimited

Price: $11.99/month ($10.99/month for Prime members)

If you are an Amazon Music Unlimited member, you get one free audiobook per month from the Audible catalog of books.

You select and listen to the audiobooks right in the Amazon Music app.

However, it does not have all of the features available in the Audible app. For example, it doesn’t include a bookmark option, and you are very limited in how much you can adjust the speed of narration, starting with 1.2x, 1.4x, 1.5x, etc. (I would personally find this annoying, as I’m someone who prefers to start slow when I’m increasing my narration speed.)

Kindle Unlimited

Price: $11.99/month

Kindle Unlimited is a paid subscription that gives readers access to a wide variety of ebooks for no additional cost. They often have deals where you can access KU to try it out. For example, right now, you can do a 30 Day Free Trial or you can do a 2-month deal, where you pay $0.99 for the first 2 months. They often have really good deals for Black Friday and Prime Day.

Kindle Unlimited is great if you tend to fly through ebooks. I have also signed up for it during the summer when my kids are home more and reading more books.

I didn’t realize until about a month ago that you can also get audiobooks through Kindle Unlimited. Amazon does not offer audiobooks on all of the ebooks you get through KU, but it does have a decent selection.

You listen to these audiobooks through the Audible app, and you can sync these audiobooks with an ebook with Amazon’s Whispersync feature, which is something I personally like.

To find audiobooks on Kindle Unlimited, look for books that have a headphone next to it or go to the Audiobooks section on the website.

Kobo

Price: $7.99 for Kobo Plus Listen; $9.99 Kobo Plus Read & Listen

Similar to Kindle Unlimited, Kobo is an ebook platform that also offers audiobooks.

While you can just subscribe to their audiobook subscription, they don’t have the best selection, so I wouldn’t recommend this as your primary audiobook platform. This may make sense if you have a Kobo reader and you want to be able to sync your ebooks with an audiobook.

Kobo says they offer 150,000 audiobooks, which sounds like a lot, but it’s a lot less than the 650,000 offered by Libro.fm and over 1 million offered by Audible.

I also think their website doesn’t have the best user experience, and their app is a bit confusing to use.

That being said, readers rave about the Kobo eReader, which has become a serious competitor to the Amazon Kindle.

Book of the Month

Price: $12.99 to $17.99/month, depending on the membership plan

I’ve been a Book of the Month member since 2019. I think they do a good job of picking interesting reads across several genres, and I like their beautiful hardcover books. A couple of years ago, they started offering audiobooks, which I was initially excited about.

I opted for an audiobook a handful of times, but I found their audiobook app a bit disappointing. First, you can only increase the listening speed by 1.2x, 1.5x, and 2x. (I’m someone who likes to increase my speed by smaller increments than that.) Second, you can’t add any bookmarks or take any notes within the app.

I also started to realize that this really isn’t the best use of what Book of the Month offers. One of the best parts of Book of the Month is getting those beautiful hardcovers at such a discounted price. So I now just stick to their hardcovers.

That being said, I do appreciate that they’ve given their members this option.

Other Audiobook App

Here are some other audiobook platforms I haven’t used but that look worthwhile.

Downpour

Price: $12.99/month for 1 credit redeemable for 1 audiobook.

Users can also purchase audiobooks a la carte without a membership.

Downpour is owned by Blackstone Publishing, which started as an audiobook publisher in 1987, when audiobooks were created on cassette tapes. In addition to producing audiobooks, they now publish physical books, as well.)

One thing that’s unique about Downpour is that users can purchase audiobooks on CDs as well as digitally.

Downpour offers about 80,000 titles. While 80,000 titles isn’t the largest library, $12.99 is one of the cheapest audiobook memberships I’ve seen.

On Downpour, unused credits expire after one year.

Let me know if you’ve used Downpour and what you thought about it.

Everand

Price: $11.99/month for 1 unlock (1 unlock equals one title from their premium catalog of ebooks and audiobooks)

Subscribers also get unlimited access to a library of more than 20,000 ebooks, audiobooks, podcasts, and original titles.

Everand is an audiobook and ebook platform created by Scribd. While they don’t say exactly how many audiobook titles they have, they say they have more than 1.5 million titles between their ebook and audiobooks.

Customers say that if you cancel your subscription, you don’t get to keep the book, and that the “unlimited” library has limitations.

Let me know if you’ve used Everand and what you thought about it.

Bottom Line: What Audiobook Apps I Personally Use

While I tested most of the audiobook platforms in this post, there are five that I have used repeatedly: Audible, Libro.fm, Chirp, Spotify, and cloudLibrary.

I know that sounds like a lot; let me explain how I use all of these:

• Since both Audible and Libro.fm allow users to pause their subscriptions without losing access to their content, I will go back and forth between these two subscriptions, which allows me access to the exclusive recordings from Audible and support my local independent bookstore through Libro.fm.
• I purchase audiobooks from Chirp whenever they have a good deal on a book I want, which they do A LOT. (I personally love their series sales and other deals.)
• I don’t always pay for a Spotify Premium account, but when I do, I will take advantage of the 15 hours of listening time. Because Spotify gives its users hours instead of credits, I find it great for testing out audiobooks I’m on the fence about. (But remember that Audible and Libro.fm do allow users to return books they used a full credit for.)
• I use Kindle Unlimited seasonally (in the summer and when they have a good deal, such as for Black Friday). I will also listen to audiobooks through Kindle Unlimited during this time.
• I really like using the library for those backlist titles.

The point is that you don’t have to choose just one!

The post The 7 Best Audiobook Apps of 2026: Ranked and Reviewed appeared first on Passion of Audiobooks.

My preferred way of reading a book is the old-fashioned way — with a physical book. But as a working mother of four and an avid reader, I know for a fact that if audiobooks didn’t exist, I wouldn’t read nearly as many books as I do. As a result, I have become a huge fan of audiobooks, as they have become an essential part of my reading life,

And according to the stats, I’m not alone because many people listen to audiobooks. According to the long-running Infinite Dial report, 45 percent of the U.S. population are audiobook listeners. That’s roughly 129 million people. 

While audiobooks are not new (I remember checking out audio books from the library in the form of cassette tapes and/or CDs in the 90s), their popularity has grown in recent years with the advent of smartphones and audiobook platforms that allow you to access audiobooks for a small fee every month. (Back in the day, audiobooks were very expensive.) Technology has made audiobooks so easily accessible and affordable. 

As the use of audiobooks has increased, it brings up a lot of questions, including but not limited to the following:

• Is listening to an audiobook the same as reading a physical book?
• Does an audiobook count as reading?
• What are the pros of audiobooks?
• What are the cons of audio books?
• Do we learn better when we read the written word or when we listen?
• Do we retain information better when we read or listen?
• What about comprehension?
• Is listening to an audiobook ever better than reading?
• Is the brain activated differently when reading vs listening?
• Are there significant differences between reading and listening?
• Should a reading challenge include audiobooks?

This post aims to answer all these questions and more. 

Is Listening to an Audiobook the Same as Reading?

Comprehension

One factor that researchers have looked at is the question of comprehension. Does comprehension go down when you listen to a book versus reading it?

The conclusion is, no. 

A 2016 study found “no statistical differences were found” in the comprehension of those who listened to audio books compared to those who read the text. 

The study also compared reading and listening to those who did both simultaneously, which resulted in the same conclusion — that there was no significant difference in comprehension. 

The audiobook study was performed by Beth Rogowsky, Barabara Calhoun, and Paula Tallal.

The researchers did not just look at immediate comprehension. They also examined comprehension differences between women and men and comprehension differences two weeks after reading or listening to the material. 

Men and women were found to have the same levels of comprehension, and all participants had the same level of comprehension two weeks later. 

Cognitive Processes

Are there any cognitive differences between reading traditional books and listening? Reading and listening are technically two different skills that activate two different areas of the brain, but when it comes to the mental processes required for language processing, the same areas of the brain are used, according to a neuroscientist. 

Neuroscientist Dr. Kristen Willeumier told the health website Well and Good that while speech and print activate the brain differently, “semantic processing of the information occurs in the same cortical areas” and “both formats engage in multiple brain networks.”

“A consistent reading practice strengthens your ability to communicate and will improve your vocabulary, reasoning, concentration, and critical thinking skills while enhancing brain network connectivity,” Willeumier explained. 

Reading is a cognitively demanding activity that taps into several areas of the brain. And whether you are reading actual books or listening to the story, the brain still has to work to connect the details together, follow the plot, and make predictions about what’s going to happen in the story, she added.

Prosody

University of Virginia Professor of Psychology and reading researcher Daniel Willingham wrote in The New York Times that one of the differences between listening to the audio version and traditional reading is prosody. 

Prosody is described as the pitch, the tempo, and the stress used when pronouncing and speaking words. 

When we read, we have to infer meaning from the context in cases where the meaning could vary. 

Willingham uses the example of someone saying, “What a great party.” This could be interpreted as a compliment or a put-down. 

When reading, we have to figure that out on our own. An audiobook can serve as a tool here by providing the correct tone needed to interpret meaning. 

Organization

When reading a print or digital book, Willingham explains that there are organizational content signals such as paragraphs, chapter breaks, and headings. 

These things aid readers especially when reading books that address difficult subject matters. 

Audiobooks lack these cues you see in a printed book, which means that audiobooks may not be the best choice for all types of content. That being said, several audiobook platforms organize the content into chapters and show how long each chapter will take. 

What are the Benefits of Audiobooks?

One of the reasons audiobooks have grown in popularity is because there are so many benefits. Some of these include the following: 

• Make Long Commutes More Enjoyable. One of my favorite times to listen to an audiobook is in my car. Long drives can be drudgery, but I now look forward to my long commutes because I know I will also be able to use the time to read a good book.
• May Lead to Greater Empathy. Neuroscientist Kristen Wileumier says listening to audiobooks may lead to greater empathy and increased emotional intelligence. “Listening to an emotionally-driven storyteller engages emotional circuits in the brain and can heighten the intensity and imagery of the episodes, leading to deeper processing of the narrative and greater enjoyment of the material than experienced by reading a book,” she told Well and Good.
• You Can Multitask. One of my favorite parts of this form of reading is that I’m able to get a book in while working on other things. That being said, I have found that this typically only works for me if I’m working on mundane, mindless tasks such as washing dishes, cleaning, folding laundry, or, as I said above, driving. It also doesn’t work if I’m working on a mentally demanding task. 
• It Can Be a Group Activity. While I read several books aloud to my kids, we also listened to books together. This can also be a great way to pass time on a long road trip. One of our favorite activities is listening to audiobooks in the morning while driving to school. As of this writing, my six-year-old daughter is obsessed with the audio version of Winnie the Pooh.
• Easily Accessible. With the advent of audiobook apps, I love that I can pop in a book to pass the time if I get stuck waiting somewhere and I forgot to bring a physical book with me. 
• Great Performances. Most audiobooks you find today are performed by professional voice actors, and a good audiobook narrator can really make the story come alive. One recording that truly amazed me was Pride and Prejudice, which was read by actress Rosamund Pike. Her rendition of the male voices in the book will convince you that other actors are involved. In some cases, books will be recorded with a full cast. One of my favorites is Daisy Jones and the Six. This book was so well done that I actually can’t imagine the physical book being better, in this case. 
• Supports Those With Learning Disabilities. Reading researcher Daniel Willingham wrote in The New York Times that listening to the audio format of a book makes it easier for those who struggle with dyslexia to read books because “they allow listeners to get the meaning while skirting the work of decoding.”
• Supports Those With Visual Impairment. Audiobooks allow blind people and those with low vision a legitimate way to read an entire book without just relying on braille books. 
• Helps Reluctant Readers. I think one of the perks of an audiobook is that it may help reluctant readers who are still developing their reading skills be able to read books that are above their grade level.

What are the Benefits of Reading a Physical Book?

The research on the benefits of reading a book is mind-blowing. I often say that if someone could put all the benefits of reading into a pill, we would all be willing to wait in long lines to get it. Here are just some of the benefits of reading a physical book over an audiobook, although these benefits may vary depending on whether we are talking about someone more of a visual learner or an auditory learner:

• Retaining Information. A study done at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada found that when individuals read a written text, whether aloud to themselves or silently, they retain the information better than when listening to the material being read to them. 
• It Holds Your Attention Better. The same University of Waterloo study also found that when we read aloud to ourselves, there is a significant improvement in our interest level compared to listening to someone read aloud.
• You Can Highlight or Annotate. I’m someone who likes to highlight, star, and underline favorite passages in books. I also like to write notes in the margins. I will also sometimes take notes in the end pages of a book if I find it makes sense.
• Better for Those With Hearing Impairments. Visual reading works better for those with significant hearing loss or with hearing impairments. 
• Better for Difficult Texts. Reading expert Daniel Willingham says that real books are a better option for difficult texts where the aim is learning. When we read, it makes us focus and go at it a bit more slowly. “We reread the hard bits. We stop and think,” Willingham explains. This is “easier with print” when compared to the spoken word.

Do you want to learn more about all the benefits of reading? Check out my in-depth post about the amazing benefits of reading fiction. 

What are the Cons of Audiobooks?

• When There are A LOT of Characters. Now, this is just a personal observation, but whenever I listen to a book with A LOT of characters, I find it more difficult to keep track of everyone. (Have you noticed this, too?)
• It’s Slow. Technically speaking, it takes people longer to listen to the audio version of a book than to read it. Studies show that we typically read 200 to 400 words per minute. By comparison, an audiobook clocks in at about 150-160 words per minute. 
• You Can’t Highlight or Write in the Margins. I like to underline favorite quotes and take notes in the margins of my books — and not just nonfiction books. While some audiobook platforms have a way to “bookmark” passages you want to remember, it’s simply not as good as with a physical book or ebook. 
• Your Mind Wanders More. The University of Toronto study mentioned above also found that our minds wander more when we listen to an audiobook. That being said, the study also found that our minds wander more when we read silently versus reading the book aloud to ourselves. 
• Bad Performances. Just like there are great and amazing performances, some bad performances have led me to DNF a book. 
• Nonfiction books. Because you can’t highlight or take notes, and our minds tend to wander more when listening to audiobooks, I don’t think they are as good an option when it comes to nonfiction books. That being said, I have listened to several nonfiction books and found that listening to a nonfiction book is a way to determine if you want to buy the physical book. I have done this with a couple of books: Deep Work by Cal Newport, Building a Story Brand by Donald Miller, and Brain Maker by Dr. David Perlmutter. 

What are the Cons of Reading a Physical Book?

I don’t believe there are any cons to reading a book, but there are a few downsides when compared to listening to audiobooks. Here are a few: 

• No multitasking. One main con of reading a physical book or ebook is that you aren’t able to do other things while reading. This isn’t always a bad thing, but it’s definitely a downside compared to listening to a book. 
• Difficult pronunciations. One of the cons of reading is when you have a lot of confusing names or words you don’t know; this is where audiobooks can help improve the reading experience. 
• Long books. Holding a tome in your hands can be immensely intimidating. Holding your phone in your hand or your pocket is not. Audiobooks (and ebooks) make long books much more approachable. 
• Difficult texts. The same goes for difficult texts. Some books are more challenging to read or get through than others, and if you’re reading a physical book, you are pretty much on your own. This is where an audiobook can be used as a tool to make it easier to get through books that are difficult to read. Next time you want to read a classic book, try listening to it the first time you read it.

Audiobooks vs Reading: Which is Better?

As someone who has listened to hundreds of audiobooks, the answer to this question is that it depends.

Willingham says that audiobooks and print books seem to be equivalent to narrative texts but not to expository prose. In other words, they seem to work for fiction and narrative non-fiction but may not work as well for informational non-fiction. 

“Stories tend to be more predictable and employ familiar ideas, and expository essays more likely include unfamiliar content and require more strategic reading,” he explains. 

My experience is the same. I really enjoy fiction books on audio, and even then, there are certain genres that seem to have an edge. Some genres I especially like on audio are mysteries, thrillers, and some literary fiction. Slow-burn literary fiction does not work as well on audio because it may not hold your attention. 

While I have tried to listen to some nonfiction prose on audio, if I really liked the book, I ended up buying the physical book because I knew that would be the best format if I wanted to reference it later. 

It also depends on the audiobook narrator. In many cases, the narrator’s voice is perfect for the book, and sometimes it doesn’t quite work. 

For example, I recently listened to The Ocean at the End of the Sea by Neil Gaiman. Gaiman likes to read his own books, but I sometimes found it challenging to listen to. 

Why Audiobooks Have Become So Popular: A Brief History

The truth is that listening to books, or should we say stories, is nothing new. 

There is actually a long history of stories being passed down through an oral tradition, which was common in ancient times and before the age of the printing press. 

When I was in college, I remember learning that Homer’s Odyssey and Iliad were passed down orally. Those stories are easily as long as a novel. Yet, that oral tradition preserved those stories so that we still have them today. 

When I was a kid in the 80s, we used to call audiobooks “books on tape” because cassette tapes were the most commonly used medium of the day. Later on, they were called “books on CD” as compact discs became more common. But here’s the thing… it was expensive to own an audiobook compared to buying a physical book because books on tape or CD were very expensive. Purchasing a physical audiobook could cost $60 a pop or more. 

The digital age has changed, and the audiobook market has grown dramatically. In 2022, the audiobook market was valued at $5,364.9 million, and it is expected to grow 26 percent from 2023 to 2030, according to Grand View Research.

Conclusion: Is Listening to an Audiobook Cheating?

At the end of the day, listening to an audiobook is the same as being read aloud to. Maybe you had parents who read books aloud to you or teachers who would read aloud to the whole class. 

While we now know that listening to an audiobook is not exactly the same as reading, we also know that there are enough similarities to conclude that listening to the book should still count as reading. This is especially true if you are listening to narrative fiction. 

And if you want to listen to the audio version of a book for your book club, no, you are not cheating. 

So, enjoy those audiobooks!

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