If you enjoy listening to books as audiobooks, it's a great time to be alive. From Rosamund Pike narrating Pride and Prejudice, Jeremy Irons reading Lolita to Meryl Streep telling the story of Heartburn, many prominent actors have signed up for performing their favourite books in unabridged versions.
Below, some of the books that have been recommended by experts on Five Books that have been performed as audiobooks by well-known actors:
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Narrated by Elisabeth Moss
Listening time: 11 hours and 22 minutes
There are a number of audiobook versions of Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel. This one is narrated by the cast of the TV series, led by Elisabeth Moss, who won an Emmy for her role.
The End of the Affair by Graham Greene
Narrated by Colin Firth
Listening time: 6 hours and 28 minutes
British actor Colin Firth’s reading of Graham Greene’s 1951 novel about a doomed adulterous affair was published to great critical acclaim, winning the Audie Award for the best audiobook of the year in 2013.
Wolf Hall trilogy by Hilary Mantel
Narrated by Ben Miles
Listening time: 25 hours and 12 minutes
“His voice is as close as can be to the voice that’s in my head as I write,” said Hilary Mantel of award-winning actor Ben Miles. He also acted the part of Thomas Cromwell for the Royal Shakespeare Company, and according to Mantel “his insights from the rehearsal room helped shape the story.”
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz
Narrated by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Karen Olivo
Listening time: 9 hours and 54 minutes
The audiobook version of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel is narrated by the legendary Lin-Manuel Miranda and Tony award winner Karen Olivo.
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
Narrated by Ell Potter
Listening time: 12 hours and 42 minutes
Maggie O’Farrell’s novel Hamnet, a fictionalised account of the short life of Shakespeare’s son, is read beautifully as an audiobook by British actor and writer Ell Potter.
Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
Narrated by Dominic West
Listening time: 7 hours and 5 minutes
British actor and director Dominic West gives a pitch-perfect performance as the narrator of Ishiguro’s hauntingly beautiful novel. His Mr Stevens, an ageing butler looking back upon his life in service with mounting regret, is a carefully-constructed shell of English restraint, within which tempests rage.
Wolf Hall trilogy by Hilary Mantel
Narrated by Ben Miles
Listening time: 25 hours and 12 minutes
“His voice is as close as can be to the voice that’s in my head as I write,” said Hilary Mantel of award-winning actor Ben Miles. He also acted the part of Thomas Cromwell for the Royal Shakespeare Company, and according to Mantel “his insights from the rehearsal room helped shape the story.”
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Narrated by Jake Gyllenhaal
Listening time: 4 hours and 49 minutes
BAFTA-winning actor Jake Gyllenhaal becomes Nick Carraway, our guide through the glittering yet destructive pull of materialism in pre-Depression New York. Gyllenhaal portrays all the ambivalences of Fitzgerald’s narrator, thrown into this world of decadence and obsession, while breathing new life into this endlessly re-readable novel.
The Spire by William Golding
Narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch
Listening time: 6 hours and 49 minutes
British actor Benedict Cumberbatch narrates the Nobel Literature Prize winner’s historical novel set in medieval England.
To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
Narrated by Juliet Stevenson
Listening time: 6 hours and 38 minutes
The audiobook of To the Lighthouse has been performed separately by two great actors: Australia’s Nicole Kidman and Britain’s Juliet Stevenson, an accomplished audiobook narrator.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Narrated by Sissy Spacek
Listening time: 12 hours and 17 minutes
Academy Award-winning actress Sissy Spacek narrates To Kill a Mockingbird. She gives a warm and emotionally nuanced reading of this poignant American classic.
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
Narrated by Colin Farrell
Listening time: 8 hours and 17 minutes
What better way to experience James Joyce’s first novel than hearing Colin Farrell dive into Joyce’s streams of consciousness with all the natural musicality of his Irish accent?
Heartburn by Nora Ephron
Narrated by Meryl Streep
Listening time: 5 hours and 30 minutes
Acting legend Meryl Streep, who starred in the movie, takes on the audiobook narration of Heartburn. (If you’re a Streep fan, one other novel she has also narrated is Colm Tóibín’s The Testament of Mary, a historical novel about Jesus’s mother)
The Long Take by Robin Robertson
Narrated by Kerry Shale
Listening time: 5 hours and 27 minutes
Canadian actor Kerry Shale narrates this powerful novel that follows a D-Day veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder as he goes in search of freedom and repair in post-war America.
The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan
Narrated by Robert Powell
Listening time: 3 hours and 53 minutes
Award-winning actor Robert Powell, who played Richard Hannay in the 1978 movie adaptation narrates John Buchan’s 1915 adventure novel.
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
Narrated by Tom Hanks
Listening time: 9 hours and 53 minutes
Tom Hanks pulls off this reading of The Dutch House by Ann Patchett.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Narrated by Stephen Fry
Listening time: 5 hours and 51 minutes
Stephen Fry is an experienced and funny narrator, perfect for one of the world’s most unique novels (If you’re a Stephen Fry fan, he has also narrated the Sherlock Holmes stories and the Harry Potter series).
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Narrated by Maggie Gyllenhaal
Listening time: 7 hours and 24 minutes
American actress and producer Maggie Gyllenhaal captures Esther Greenwood’s intense struggle with mental illness in Sylvia Plath’s devastating semibiographical novel.
The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien
Narrated by Andy Serkis
Listening time: 65 hours and 17 minutes
Andy Serkis (who played Gollum in the movie) takes on JRR Tolkien’s epic trilogy.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Narrated by Dan Stevens
Listening time: 8 hours and 35 minutes
Dan Stevens (of Downton Abbey) reads Mary Shelley’s classic story about the scientist Victor Frankenstein and the creature he puts together.
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Narrated by Jeremy Irons
Listening time: 11 hours and 28 minutes
Jeremy Irons, who plays Humbert Humbert in the movie, does an amazing job narrating Nabokov’s tale of obsession.
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Narrated by Thandiwe Newton
Listening time: 19 hours and 10 minutes
BAFTA-winning actress Thandiwe Newton narrates Charlotte Brontë’s classic novel.
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Narrated by Martin Jarvis
Listening time: 17 hours and 32 minutes
The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope
Narrated by Timothy West
Listening time: 32 hours and 25 minutes
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Narrated by Greg Wise and Sasha Reeves
Listening time: 18 hours and 14 minutes
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
Narrated by John C Reilly
Listening time: 10 hrs and 32 mins
Persuasion by Jane Austen
Narrated by Great Scacchi
Listening time: 8 hours and 13 minutes
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Narrated by Rosamund Pike
Listening time: 11 hours and 35 minutes
Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh
Narrated by Tam Dean Burn
Listening time: 12 hours and 1 minute
Casino Royale by Ian Fleming
Narrated by Dan Stevens
Listening time: 5 hours and 2 minutes
The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie
Narrated by Hugh Fraser
Listening time: 6 hours
September 29, 2024
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