30 Best Audiobooks of All Time

Actor Stephen Fry is an audiobook legend. In addition to voicing the hysterical Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, he also did his own take on the Harry Potter franchise. This time, he takes on another titan of British literature: Sherlock Holmes. He reads all four novels and five collections of short stories featuring the world's greatest detective in a classic series mystery buffs will love.

This humorous biography of Revolutionary War hero Marquis de Lafayette is narrated by an all-star, A-team lineup of comedians, including Patton Oswalt, Fred Armisen, John Hodgman and Nick Offerman. It's still on Amazon's bestseller list for audiobooks, even though it came out in 2015. Even if you aren't a history person, this one is worth your time.

Fans of The Handmaid's Tale will want to try Stone Mattress, a series of short stories by legend Margaret Atwood. Because each story has its own narrator, readers range from Catastrophe's Rob Delaney to The Young and the Restless star Lorna Raver. Atwood herself narrates the last one, to top it all off.

Ronan Farrow won a Pulitzer Prize for breaking the Harvey Weinstein scandal for The New Yorker but the road to publication was a long and rocky one. News and history buffs will love this behind-the-scenes story about how he got his work out into the world — along with the scare tactics, from surveillance to intimidation, employed to try and stop him.

Harry Potter needs no introduction, but the audiobook can be a great way to start kids off on the series. British actor Jim Dale's whimsical take on each of the characters' voices gives the story a renewed sense of wonder, so you'll fall even more in love with all of your favorite Hogwarts inhabitants.

RELATED: 30 Magical Harry Potter Gift Ideas for Your Favorite Potterhead

Does getting snowed in at a remote ski resort with your coworkers sound like your worst nightmare? Oh don't worry, it could get so much worse. And it does, in this gripping suspense by mistress of horror Ruth Ware. You'll want to hold your breath all the way to the shocking end.

This immersive version of Gladwell's book explores the ways our approach to strangers can invite conflict. It features the voices of the criminologists, scientists and military psychologists Gladwell interviewed for the book, as well as reenactments of court transcripts and even audio from the arrest of Sandra Bland.

True confession time: I once laughed so hard while listening to David Sedaris that I nearly fell off a treadmill. So maybe sit down before you turn on this audiobook that features Sedaris moving to France and butchering the language, among other too-funny tales.

Lots of audiobooks have won awards, but this one has also broken records: It won a spot in the Guinness World Records for the "most character voices in an audiobook." If you're counting, that's 224 characters to be exact. According to the record, Roy Doltrice gives each of them a "distinct and distinguishable" voice, a real feat for any actor.

If there's a better voice for this expansive Patchett novel than Tom Hanks, we've never heard it. This moving story explores the bonds between siblings, the meaning of home and how much our past influences who we become.

Two loner teens Aristotle and Dante couldn't be more different, and that's part of what brings them together. The unlikely match form a deep and lasting friendship in this coming-of-age novel your tweens will adore. Hamilton creator and Mary Poppins Returns star Lin-Manuel Miranda narrates this one, so you know the voice work is stellar.

RELATED: 40 Fantastic LGBTQ+ Books to Read for Pride Month (and Beyond)

Actress Sissy Spacek narrates this classic novel with an unfussy and confident style that lets Harper Lee's story shine through. She doesn't need to rely on a bunch of gimmick voices and accents when the source material gives her so much fantastic material to work with.

In this sci-fi thriller, FBI detective Chris Shane's consciousness jumps between machines. And because Shane is therefore genderless, readers can fill in that information for themselves. You can listen to the book narrated by Amber Benson, or the version read by Wil Wheaton, depending on your preferred experience.

What does the collapse of a massive Ponzi scheme have to do with a woman mysteriously disappearing from a ship between ports of call? You'll just have to tune into this masterful audiobook from the author of Station Eleven and Sea of Tranquility.

RELATED: The 20 Best and Most-Anticipated Books of 2022

Michelle Obama narrates her memoir herself, giving it an extra-personal feel. Listen to her tell her own story of her journey from the South Side of Chicago to the White House in this inspirational story about a woman coming into her own.

RELATED: Michelle Obama on Facing Criticism, Life After the White House and Advice for Meghan Markle

This stunning collection about Indigenous Latina women living in the Northwest will break your heart open, and the sensitivity and range of the cast that reads them is astounding. Short stories make great audiobooks for dipping into one at a time, so turn to this one if you don't have long stretches to fill.

RELATED: 22 Best Books by Latinx Authors to Read Beyond Hispanic Heritage Month

Twin sisters raised in a small, Southern Black community run away at 16 and end up taking very different paths. One returns with her daughter years later, the other goes on to live as a white woman, with a husband who knows nothing about her background. It's a story about family and identity that addresses the subject of race in a fresh way that will stick with you.

RELATED: 25 Books By Black Authors to Add to Your Reading List

With so many of us spending more time at home these days, you may have found yourself thinking more about your own house and how it came to be the way that it is. This comforting book delves into the history behind our habitat and habits that may make you look at your own surroundings in a new way.

This spooky tale follows the story of Nobody Owens, known to his friends as Bod. He's being raised by ghosts and ghouls in a graveyard in this story that will send chills crawling up your spine. A whole band of actors, including Fleabag's Andrew Scott and Gladiator's Derek Jacobi, bring the story to life in a wonderfully robust way.

If you haven't read this classic since high school, let Jake Gyllenhaal's narration help you fall back in love with it. The jazz age never sounded so good. And if your kids have to read it for school, listening will give them a different perspective than the page and maybe get them to finish their reading assignment with less nagging.