No matter what some people say, listening to audiobooks is reading. The information is exactly the same whether you pick up a hardcover or pop your AirPods in. You’re just reading with your ears instead of your eyes!
One of the best ways to get audiobooks is with Audible, Amazon’s audiobook subscription platform. For $14.99/month, you’ll get a credit every month to use on any book in Audible’s catalog, plus access to Audible Originals and more free-to-subscriber titles. Even if you decide to cancel, the books that you used credits on are yours to keep.
Not sold on audiobooks just yet? You’re not alone — even as a lifelong reader, I didn’t really embrace reading via audio until last year.
We talked to Mackenzie Newcomb, a literary consultant and founder of Top Shelf Book Consulting who primarily reads audiobooks (they made up a majority of the 103 books she read last year!).
Newcomb also started Bad Bitch Book Club — the fully online book club with a motto of “you can read with us” is over 25,000 members strong on Facebook, where it’s primarily based, and has 30,000 followers on Instagram.
“Audiobooks are the only reason I am able to keep up with all of the reading I need to do for work,” Newcomb said. “As a new mom, I rarely have a free hand, much less two. Not only do they entertain me when my four-month-old fails to be a great conversationalist, but they allow me to do something for myself while taking care of someone else.”
If not being able to absorb the information you’re reading is a concern of yours, Newcomb says that she gets a lot more out of audiobooks than physical books, because someone is reading every word to her.
“As someone with ADHD, I have the tendency to have a difficult time focusing on reading physical books and often have to read the same page over and over again to retain all of the information,” she explained.
Some of the things that make an audiobook truly great to Newcomb include full-cast narration. “Great voice acting is also, obviously, a major component of what makes a great audiobook.”
Newcomb also has a few tips for audio newcomers or people who don’t think audiobooks are for them.
“Try listening at 1.5x speed,” she suggests. “If you have a hard time following an audiobook, it’s probably because it’s too slow.”
(I tend to listen on 2 – 2.3x, but recognize that could be a bit too fast for most people.)
Another way Newcomb gets her audiobook listening in is by multitasking. “I recommend listening to an audiobook while cleaning or while commuting in the car to make time go by faster! I also occasionally listen while playing games on my phone.”
Below, we’ve rounded up the Best Audible books across multiple genres and topics; we’ve also noted whether each book is one of Newcomb’s picks, a Decider editor’s pick, or a best seller on Amazon or the New York Times.
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