Whether they were too long, too complicated, or you just never found the time to get stuck in, everyone has half a library’s worth of books they really wish they’d got around to reading – and maybe pretend they have read. But, we’ll have no judgment here. Instead, here are nine books you really should have read, but probably haven’t, that you can listen to on Audible.
The French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles, narrated by Paul Shelley
17 hours and 5 minutes
At 445 pages long and with three – yes, three! – different endings explored within the text, The French Lieutenant’s Woman has a reputation for being an intimidating novel. That being said, John Fowles’ meticulously crafted Victorian world (aided by the hindsight of narrating from the 1960s) isn’t one to be missed, as its contemporary use of metaphor and tone delivers a unique perspective on 19th-century society.
Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari, narrated by Derek Perkins
14 hours and 53 minutes
Whether you’ve read Harari’s excellent precursor to Homo Deus, Sapiens, or whether you’re trying to answer some urgent existential questions about the future of humanity, Homo Deus will enthrall and potentially terrify you. Focusing on the ever-growing reach of artificial intelligence, Homo Deus offers a gripping prophecy for a species that, for the first time in life’s 3.5bn-year history, no longer needs nature to evolve.
Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, translation by Susan Bernofsky, narrated by Edoardo Ballerini
2 hours and 8 minutes
In this dark farce of a novella, Gregor Samsa awakes to find himself transformed into the physical manifestation of his dreary life as a dissatisfied travelling salesman – ungeheures Ungeziefer, which is one of those clever German words that has no true English translation, but roughly means “giant vermin”. Underneath several layers of metaphor and grotesque characterisations is a compelling tale that could be as much about depression and domestic cruelty as it is a Marxist portrayal of wage-labour. Though short, Metamorphosis’ ability to mean different things depending on the listener’s current state of mind gives the 1915 masterpiece plenty of mileage.
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, narrated by David Horovitch
38 hours and 5 minutes
Tolstoy writes detail as if it were a form of worship, paying deep attention to every last molecule that goes into creating the Tsarist Russia from which Anna Karenina’s tragic love story is told. One of the most widely respected novels of all time, its stream of consciousness – hitherto a relatively underemployed device – has inspired the great modernists, from Virginia Woolf to James Joyce.
A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James, narrated by Robertson Dean, Cherise Boothe, Dwight Bacquie, Ryan Anderson, Jonathan McClain, Robert Younis and Thom Rivera
26 hours
Jamaican patois – the language in which a fair portion of James’s Man Booker Prize winning novel is written – is really an oral language. That, plus the book’s hefty 688 page count, and its unflinching imagining of Jamaica at its most corrupt, makes it the perfect audiobook to get stuck into.
Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama, narrated by Barack Obama
7 hours and 12 minutes
Often received in Christmas stockings, but too rarely read, Dreams from My Father charts the personal life and dealings of the former president, from childhood to enrolment at Harvard University. Published before he ever stepped foot in the Oval Office, this is an honest, reflective memoir that proves Obama is as much a writer and storyteller as he is a political leader – even Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison agrees.
The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling, narrated by Tom Hollander
17 hours and 49 minutes
JK Rowling’s first novel since the Harry Potter series may not have flipped the literary world on its head, but for those who enjoyed the wizarding world, The Casual Vacancy bears a number of literary similarities; primarily, Rowling’s obsessions with death (Barry and Nana Cath are adored in death like Harry’s parents), self-contained communities (Hogwarts is swapped for the suburban town of Pagford), and gorgeous attention to detail when it comes to scene-setting and dialogue.
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, narrated by Adjoa Andoh
17 hours and 28 minutes
How can you become black, when you are already black? This seemingly impossible question is answered with deft simplicity in Adichie’s 2013 novel, which examines blackness in Nigeria, the US and UK through the eyes of two lovers who are separated after they leave their native Lagos. They face racial realities in the west that highlight how the life trajectories of black people are still highly influenced by global anti-blackness, regardless of where they call “home”.
1984 by George Orwell, narrated by Andrew Wincott
12 hours and 19 minutes
You’ve probably flicked through the first few chapters of Orwell’s gripping, dystopian classic back when you were an angsty undergraduate, but an irresponsible drinks offer at the students’ union stopped you from ever finishing it. Now, you wryly refer to things as “Orwellian” at dinner parties, completely ignorant of the phrase’s true meaning and desperate to hide the fact you only got to page 60.
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