Maybe you don’t have a ton of time for reading and want to be able to listen to a book while commuting, folding laundry, going for a jog, or straight up relaxing. Or maybe you just prefer to listen. Either way, audiobooks are on a serious upswing.
According to the Audio Publishers Association, U.S. audiobook sales grew 9% in 2025, topping $2.43 billion. More than half of American adults have listened to an audiobook in the last year. Between Audible, your local library's app, and everything in between, there's never been an easier time to find great books to listen to.
There's some ongoing debate about whether listening really "counts" as reading. Here at Bookclubs, we're firmly team book, however you get the story into your brain. Read it, listen to it, whatever gets you to book club with something to say is great to us!
But not all audiobooks are created equal. Narration is its own art form. A great narrator (or full cast!) can pull you deeper into a story and reveal things about the characters a page just can't. So we rounded up the best books to listen to for your next book club pick.
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
Narrated by Maggi-Meg Reed, Jane Oppenheimer, Carly Robins, Jeff Ebner, David Pittu, Chris Andrew Ciulla, Mark Bramhall, Petrea Burchard, Robert Petkoff, Kimberly Farr, Jim Seybert, Cerris Morgan-Moyer, Jade Wheeler, Peter Ganim, and Steve West
An intimate novel about the transformative power of the written word and the beauty of slowing down to reconnect with the people we love. This full-cast narration won the 2025 Audie Award for Best Ensemble. Each letter-writer in this epistolary novel is voiced by a different voice actor.
Bookclubs user review from user boomersuener (10/10 stars):
I’m not usually a fan of books that are written in an epistolary format. However, The Correspondent is a beautifully woven story that left me thinking for days after finishing it. The audio version is especially well done.
Judge Stone by James Patterson, Viola Davis
Narrated by Viola Davis
Academy Award winning actress Viola Davis and the world's #1 bestselling author James Patterson's legal thriller, Judge Stone, "delivers first-class courtroom drama, small-town excitement, and strong characters all wrapped in a moral dilemma. Tense, readable, and relevant." (Kirkus Reviews, starred review)
Bookclubs user review from user ValerieRuiz (8/10 stars)
Wow, wow, wow! I’m so glad I listened to the audiobook version of Judge Stone because Viola Davis’ narration truly brought the plot to life. Set in the South, where politics deeply influences its people, you’re immediately immersed in a highly controversial case where your heart and the law clash.
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
Narrated by Ray Porter
A lone astronaut must save the earth from disaster in this incredible new science-based thriller from the number-one New York Times best-selling author of The Martian.
Bookclubs user review from user Jessica M (8/10 stars)
The audiobook *chef’s kiss*. Take two parts science, one part space odyssey, one part dry humor and two parts of the world is ending and someone needs to save humankind and you have this book. This is unlike anything I’ve read and I did enjoy it. It’s worth a listen!
Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera
Narrated by January LaVoy and Will Damron
What if you thought you murdered your best friend? And if everyone else thought so too? And what if the truth doesn't matter? After Lucy is found wandering the streets, covered in her best friend Savvy's blood, everyone thinks she is a murderer.
Bookclubs user review from user Karla (10/10 stars)
Loved it. I think it works way better as an audiobook, the interviews and descriptions of the podcast doesn’t hit the same when you’re reading it in the book. But the audiobook has the little music intro and the character voices were so well done.
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
Narrated by Meryl Streep
In this beautiful and moving novel about family, love, and growing up, Ann Patchett once again proves herself one of America’s finest writers.
In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters return to the family's orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake. As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew.
Bookclubs user review from user SLK33 (10/10 stars)
The audio version narrated by Meryl Streep is perfection.... The characters were well developed, the scenery vivid, and I was transported to each place and time. Listening to Lara recount her days at and surrounding Tom Lake was much like grabbing a well worn quilt and listening to your own mother. The perfect amount of nostalgia, surprises, secrets, and the lesson of how small decisions can change the trajectory of our lives. Meryl Streep was the perfect choice and I am already looking forward to my next time visiting this book.
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
Narrated by Tom Hanks
From Ann Patchett comes a powerful, richly moving story that explores the indelible bond between two siblings, the house of their childhood, and a past that will not let them go. The Dutch House is the story of a paradise lost, a tour de force that digs deeply into questions of inheritance, love and forgiveness, of how we want to see ourselves and of who we really are.
Bookclubs user review from user LucyN (10/10 stars)
5 stars goes to Tom Hanks reading this audio book! Do yourself a favor and give this a listen. He makes the story come alive. And the story is very good too!
None of This is True by Lisa Jewell
Narrated by Kristin Atherton, Ayesha Antoine, Louise Brealey, Alix Dunmore, Elliot Fitzpatrick, Lisa Jewell, Thomas Judd, Dominic Thorburn, Nicola Walker, and Jenny Walser
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author known for her “superb pacing, twisted characters, and captivating prose” (BuzzFeed), Lisa Jewell returns with a scintillating new psychological thriller about a woman who finds herself the subject of her own popular true crime podcast.
Bookclubs user review from user Mellific (10/10 stars)
I listened to this on audio and I read it on my own. So, I got to experience this book twice... I absolutely love how Lisa Jewell makes each POV the voice of the character down to their way of thinking and justifying. Even after reading this book and thinking I knew who was lying, I still had to ask myself if I got it right. The fact that I still think about this book long after reading it I think is a testimony to how amazing it is. I highly recommend this on audio to anyone who is interested.
I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
Narrated by Jennette McCurdy
A heartbreaking and hilarious memoir by iCarly and Sam & Cat star Jennette McCurdy about her struggles as a former child actor—including eating disorders, addiction, and a complicated relationship with her overbearing mother—and how she retook control of her life.
Bookclubs user review from user Laura (10/10 stars)
"Read" as an audiobook and glad I did because her narration was incredible. This is everything a celeb memoir should be, not ghost written and incredibly powerful industry exposé
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
Narrated by Marin Ireland and Michael Urie
After Tova Sullivan’s husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she’s been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago.
Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but wouldn’t dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors—until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova.
Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova’s son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it’s too late.
The audio edition is read by Marin Ireland with Michael Urie as the voice of Marcellus.
Bookclubs user review from user KBonner (9/10 stars)
I listened to the audio version and I'm so glad that I did! This is such a wonderful book with lots of different twists and turns, the many seasons of life that can be so very painful, and in that same life but in a different season joy arises in the most unexpected ways!
Finding Me by Viola Davis
Narrated by Viola Davis
Viola Davis narrates her prize-winning memoir (including winner of the 2023 Grammy for Best Audio Book, Narration, and Storytelling Recording, which netted her an EGOT), detailing her childhood in a crumbling apartment in Central Falls, Rhode Island, to the stage in New York City, and beyond.
Bookclubs user review from user Medilsom (8/10 stars)
This was an incredibly intense and moving experience. I chose to listen to the audiobook, and I firmly believe that hearing Viola Davis narrate her own story was far more powerful than simply reading the words on a page. Listening to her voice—the inflections, the way she laughs at herself, and the raw honesty as she comes to terms with her past—created an intimacy that felt like a private conversation.
Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey
Narrated by Matthew McConaughey
The life-changing memoir that has inspired millions of readers through the Academy Award–winning actor’s unflinching honesty, unconventional wisdom, and lessons learned the hard way about living with greater satisfaction.
Bookclubs user review from user Larayagunter (8/10 stars)
Pro tip: listen to the audiobook so you can hear it read by Matthew. This made the book even better to hear the connotation and personality of Matthew’s life. I loved the structure of writing with the “bumper stickers, prescriptions, and green lights.” What a crazy life he has lived and a beautiful outlook on this one life we get to live!
The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré
Narrated by Adjoa Andoh
The unforgettable, inspiring story of a teenage girl growing up in a rural Nigerian village who longs to get an education so that she can find her “louding voice” and speak up for herself, The Girl with the Louding Voice is a simultaneously heartbreaking and triumphant tale about the power of fighting for your dreams. Despite the seemingly insurmountable obstacles in her path, Adunni never loses sight of her goal of escaping the life of poverty she was born into so that she can build the future she chooses for herself – and help other girls like her do the same.
Bookclubs user review from user divasbookclub (10/10 stars)
Yes and YES...Abi Dare seriously put work into this novel! Our book club rated this a 5+
Most of our member listened to the Audible and WOW....The reader seriously brought life to ALL the characters. We laughed, cried, felt fear, empathy....EVERYTHING. It's a book filled with surprises and in certain case modern day facts of life in certain areas of Africa. This is the PERFECT novel for an Audible!
Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Narrated by Jennifer Beals, Benjamin Bratt. Judy Greer and Pablo Schreiber
A gripping novel about the whirlwind rise of an iconic 1970s rock group and their beautiful lead singer, revealing the mystery behind their infamous breakup—from the author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Malibu Rising, and Carrie Soto Is Back.
Bookclubs user review from user Fantasyfangirl (10/10 stars)
Maybe my favorite audio book I’ve ever listened to. I don’t know if I would have given it 5 stars if I hadn’t listened to it, but having voice actors do every character and allowing them to use real emotion and acting was awesome.
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
Narrated by Trevor Noah
Trevor Noah’s unlikely path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of The Daily Show began with a criminal act: his birth. Trevor was born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother at a time when such a union was punishable by five years in prison. Living proof of his parents’ indiscretion, Trevor was kept mostly indoors for the earliest years of his life, bound by the extreme and often absurd measures his mother took to hide him from a government that could, at any moment, steal him away. Finally liberated by the end of South Africa’s tyrannical white rule, Trevor and his mother set forth on a grand adventure, living openly and freely and embracing the opportunities won by a centuries-long struggle.
Bookclubs user review from user LadyAmandaW (10/10 stars)
I have already read the book, I just wanted to get a chance to hear the audio book. Trevor Noah narrates it himself and it is definitely worth the listen. Reading the book is one thing but, actually getting to hear Trevor narrate his story adds so much more behind the words. I definitely recommend giving this a listen
Where to Get Your Audiobook
Once you've picked your next book club read, here's where to find it:
- Audible: Owned by Amazon, it's the biggest audiobook library out there, with a huge selection. Pay-per-book or monthly subscriptions available.
- Libro.fm: Same huge catalog as Audible, but your purchase supports independent bookstores instead of Amazon. Great option if you want your book club to shop local.
- Libby / your local library: Free, if your library has it (and most do). The catch: popular titles often have a waitlist, so plan ahead if you're picking something for club that's currently trending.
- Spotify: Now includes audiobooks with a Premium subscription (limited hours per month), a nice option if you're already paying for it anyway.
- Everand (formerly Scribd): Subscription-based, unlimited listening, good if your book club burns through a lot of titles.
Whatever app you use, most let you adjust narration speed, which is worth experimenting with, some listeners prefer a slightly faster pace once they get used to a narrator's voice.