The best audiobooks in 2023: great reads you need to listen to today

Read by James Acaster

James Acaster’s rise from occasional panel show guest to top-tier British comic has been so gradual that we can’t pinpoint the exact moment it happened, but his best-selling book and the audiobook equivalent show us it was no fluke. Anyone who has been to one of the comedian’s live shows will know he’s a fantastic storyteller, whether he’s delivering a yarn in one go or breaking it up with equally hilarious asides, and the same goes for this audiobook.

Read by Adam Kay

Kay’s tales from his time as a junior doctor made for the surprise hit of 2017, sparking a live tour and upcoming BBC series. The former medic details his life in the profession with great humour and honesty, at a time when discussion around the National Health Service has never been more pertinent. Anyone familiar with Kay’s live shows and TV spots will know there’s no one better suited to delivering these anecdotes than the man himself.

Read by Perdita Weeks

Do you ever look around your friends, or even on public transport, and start noticing everyone is reading (and loving and raving about) the same book? Well, that's how we feel at the moment about Circe. It's a powerful rewriting of the Odyssey, which turns a story about subjugation into one of feminist empowerment. Don't be put off if you're not into Greek mythology, the prose are superb and the characters brilliantly written. Narrator Perdita Weeks does a great job of turning Miller's mythic words into a magical listening experience.

Read by Roy Dotrice

Perhaps you’re getting Game of Thrones withdrawal after watching the final season, or perhaps you’re one of those people who has deliberately avoided the HBO show until it was all done and dusted. Either way, we should be grateful British actor Roy Dotrice lent his voice to this audiobook series before his death in 2017. At more than 33 hours for book one, or 200 hours for the whole series, it’s a bit of a commitment. But it'll be worth it.

Read by Derren Brown

I know what you're thinking, not another self-help book, right? But Derren Brown's Happy is a little special. It may look like a self-help book, but the over-riding premise is that everything is actually quite fine – not ecstatically happy or terribly awful. It shines a considerate and fascinating light on all of the problems with many traditional approaches to feeling happier, bringing a refreshing new perspective that's grounded in a lot of Stoic thinking and traditional mindfulness practice. There's a version narrated by Derren himself too, which all goes to prove he's not just a great stage performer and mentalist, but a wise and compelling author and narrator.

Read by Taron Egerton

Forthright, funny and brilliantly written, Me tells Elton John’s history in what feels like a truthful and often self-critical manner. It was ghostwritten by veteran music journalist Alexis Petridis, who brings out Elton’s voice in hilarious style. While there are sections read by Elton himself, the bulk of the audiobook is narrated by Taron Egerton, who played him in 2019’s Rocketman.

Read by Martin Jarvis

Good Omens is currently one of our best Amazon Prime TV show picks at the moment, but the audiobook is just as fantastic – especially if you've got a vivid imagination. It's not read by authors Neil Gaiman or Terry Pratchett, but by British actor Martin Jarvis, who does a brilliant job at drawing us all into the fantastical narrative. It's well worth a listen, whether you're a fan of the original novel and new TV series or not.

Read by Julia Whelan

Educated, Westover’s memoir about the transformative power of education after escaping her survivalist upbringing, has been praised by the likes of Bill Gates and featured on plenty of end-of-year lists. American actress Whelan has received praise for her work on fiction audiobooks such as Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl, and she does Educated justice in her telling of Westover’s work, a true story like no other.

If you enjoyed the recently-released movie Little Women, then it might be time to revisit the book many of us read in our school days. But rather than actually read it, it's the perfect time to try the new audio book, which features a cast of voices including Mother March herself, the incredible Laura Dern.

Read by Louis Theroux

Louis Theroux launched this own podcast during lockdown. But his audio magnum opus is this autobiographical audiobook, a 13-hour exploration of his younger years, exactly how he got into TV and became the sort-of national treasure he is today. It is, of course, narrated by Theroux himself, and includes an extra fun chapter not seen in the written version.

If you like to listen to audiobooks as you wander about the world, don’t snooze on A Walk in the Woods. This is the travel story of Bill Bryson travelling across the Appalachian Trail with an old friend. The always slightly grumpy Bryson is out-grumped by his travel mate at points in this one, and it elevates the narrative into more of a novel-like listen than the usual Bryson travelogue. It’s narrated by William Roberts, who frankly does a much better job than Bryson would have done.

Read by Elisabeth Moss

You’ve probably already seen the TV adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale, in which Mad Men star Moss plays Offred, and the American actor does just as good a job narrating the audiobook version of Margaret Atwood’s modern classic. If you haven’t read the book or watched the show, this can act as a great introduction. If you’re already familiar with it, don’t let that act as an obstacle to you jumping in for the audiobook too.

Read by various

BoJack Horseman creator Bob-Waksberg has already given us one fantastic televisual musing on the human condition, and Someone Who... shows he’s just as capable on the page. His collection of short stories gets even better when placed in the hands of some TV greats, with Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s Stephanie Beatriz and Orange is the New Black’s Kimiko Glenn among those giving life to Bob-Waksberg’s words.

Read by Malcolm Gladwell

Gladwell’s work is best received when delivered by the author, allowing him to introduce the intricacies and attention to detail you might have missed when reading it yourself. Nowhere is this more true than in Outliers, in which he looks at what it takes to be the best in any number of disciplines across sport, business and more. Prepare to feel inadequate, but in a good way.

There are several types of great audiobook. But for the classic novel, you want to match top writing and character development with a narrator who can do justice to the prose. You guessed it, that’s The Dutch House’s whole deal. It’s an acclaimed drama in which we follow the lives of a brother and sister pair who grew up in the eponymous Dutch House. The secret ingredient is Tom Hanks, who narrates this audiobook beautifully. Marvellous.

Read by various

George Saunders’s ambitious Booker Prize-winning novel is arguably even more ambitious in audio form. A cast of 166 actors comes together to read the experimental tale of Abraham Lincoln’s reaction to the death of his son. Julianne Moore and Nick Offerman are among the narrators, a blend of famous names and individuals close to Saunders himself, for a version unlike any other. Not just an audiobook, but rather an audio experience.

Read by Michelle Obama

There’s every chance you’ve already read Becoming – after all, it’s one of the best-selling memoirs ever, and with good reason – but this is one that can benefit from the author’s actual voice. The former First Lady speaks with honesty when recalling her journey in sensitive detail. As much as you might have read the book with her voice in your head, nothing compares to actually hearing her.

Read by Lisa Taddeo, Tarr Lynne Barr, Marin Ireland and Mena Suvari

Three Women by Lisa Taddeo is one of the best-selling books of 2019. It's described as a record of unmet needs, unspoken thoughts, disappointments, hopes and unrelenting obsessions. It's narrated by the author herself, as well as a number of other narrators, including Mena Suvari.

Read by Armie Hammer

Hammer put in a career-best performance in the film adaptation of Aciman’s novel, earning countless award nominations for his part in Luca Guadagnino’s big-screen version. If you want to go back to the source material, then, it feels like a no-brainer to have Hammer himself relay it to you. Even if this is your first exposure to the coming-of-age novel, the actor’s delivery ensures the audiobook version is a wonderful place to start.