If you’ve ever hauled around a suitcase bulging with heavy hardbacks, you’ve probably asked yourself: surely there’s an easier way to do this? There is. The best audiobooks give you everything you can get in print, but they fit, weightlessly, on your phone. No need to agonise over what to bring in your hand luggage – bring everything!
There are other benefits too. One is not having to stare at a page (or Kindle screen). If you’re on a long run, a road trip or lying comatose on a sun lounger, getting that literary goodness piped directly into your ears is essential. Another is about who reads the book: if it’s voiced by the author, or (as is increasingly the case) a famous actor, it can be brought to life in a way your own reading can’t. Take a look at our selection, which ranges from reimagined classics to the best new releases, and find the perfect one to press play on.
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, read by Simon Callow
Charles Dickens’s books were the prestige TV of their day: long, episodic narratives filled with dramatic twists, elaborate sub-plots and memorable characters. A Tale of Two Cities, which spans London and Paris around the time of the French Revolution, is one of his most entertaining novels – and the audiobook, read (in a range of voices) by the actor Simon Callow, brings all the drama alive. Something to savour – or binge – just like a box set. Listen here.
Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion, read by Diane Keaton
No author was cool, in both senses, quite like Joan Didion. Her prose was analytic and unblinking, and her style – she posed for Céline towards the end of her life – was impeccable. Her first essay collection, Slouching Towards Bethlehem, takes apart the 1960s counterculture in some of the finest non-fiction ever put to page. Here, it’s voiced by Diane Keaton, another supremely accomplished and superbly dressed icon of American life. Listen here.
Down The Drain by Julia Fox, read by the author
A more modern icon of America life here, but Julia Fox deserves the accolade too. She’s packed a lot into her 34 years: a childhood split between Italy and America; a brief career as a dominatrix; a breakout role as Adam Sandler’s love interest in Uncut Gems; and now an unshakeable status as a reigning It girl and member of the Charli XCX extended universe. Down the Drain is her memoir, which she narrates herself in her inimitable New York drawl. Listen here.
