We may grow up, but we still love having a story read to us.
Here are 10 great audiobooks to lose yourself in—some told by new narrators, others, by voices you already know and love. Many well-loved actors have taken to narration. Audible.com has signed up a string of stars, including Kate Winslet, Anne Hathaway, Samuel L. Jackson, Claire Danes, Meg Ryan, Hilary Swank, and Susan Sarandon.
It’s the perfect way to kick back and take a break from a challenging day. Better than a glass of wine and a bag of chips!
1) Graham Greene’s The End of the Affair, narrated by Colin Firth
This World War II-era British classic about the turbulent relationship between an English novelist and the wife of a civil servant examines jealousy, obsession and love. And who better to read you a book about romance than Colin Firth, the actor who played Mr. Darcy?
2) Lost at Sea: the Jon Ronson Mysteries, narrated by Jon Ronson
The New York Times best-selling author writes about the eccentric and fascinating people he has met, from a woman attempting to build a fully-functioning robotic replica of the love of her life, to a man who has spent years preparing to greet aliens when they come to earth.
3) Roger Hobbs’ Ghostman, narrated by Jake Weber
This thriller starts in Atlantic City when a casino heist goes wrong, and moves across the globe, as protagonist Jake guides listeners through a tale of deception, murder and suspense.
4) Charles Portis’s Norwood, narrated by David Aaron Baker
First released as a novel in 1966, this best-selling audiobook follow hapless southerner Norwood Pratt, as he travels from Texas to New York, then back again iwhile looking for $70 owed to him by an old friend—and meets a comical characters along the way.
5) Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants, narrated by John Randolph Jones and David Ledoux
After he is left orphaned, Jacob joins the circus, a glittering world set against the dreariness of Prohibition and Depression-era America. But he soon learns there is a dark side to what goes on underneath the big tent.
6) Keith Richards’s Life, narrated by Johnny Depp
Depp’s gravelly voice adds the perfect extra edge to the Rolling Stones guitarist’s candid biography. Not that it wasn’t gritty enough on its own.
7) Jenny Lawson’s Let’s Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir, narrated by Jenny Lawson
The self-styled “Blogess,” Lawson shares her most hilariously embarrassing moments, delivering her punchlines as she wrote them. She shows listeners that sometimes the instances they’d most like to forget, are in fact the most important.
8) Jerzy Kosinski’s Being There, narrated by Dustin Hoffman
This novel offers a satirical take on American media culture, and actor Dustin Hoffman is the perfect narrator for Kosinski’s naïve, anti-hero main character.
9) Stephen King’s Doctor Sleep, narrated by Stephen King
In this novel, Dan Torrance (the boy protagonist of The Shining) returns to the haunted hotel of his childhood as a middle-aged man. Voted audible.com’s audiobook of the year for 2013.
10) Joan Didion’s Slouching Towards Bethlehem, narrated by Diane Keaton
Keaton performs Didion’s acclaimed 1968 collection of essays, transporting readers back to the center of America’s 1960s counterculture.
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