# The 17 Best Audiobooks of All Time

> Some of these recordings keep one familiar voice for the whole book; others hand it to a cast of dozens. Memoirs read by the people who lived them sit beside novels that found their perfect narrator.

*By YPB Team · Published November 8, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/the-17-best-audiobooks-of-all-time*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Harry Potter (Stephen Fry)**
   Stephen Fry's unabridged reading of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the UK audiobook edition of the first novel.
2. **Project Hail Mary**
   Andy Weir's 2021 science-fiction novel read by Ray Porter, named Audiobook of the Year at the 2022 Audie Awards.
3. **Born a Crime**
   Trevor Noah's 2016 memoir of growing up in apartheid South Africa, read by the author.
4. **Lincoln in the Bardo**
   George Saunders' 2017 novel performed by a cast of 166 voices including Nick Offerman and David Sedaris, Audiobook of the Year at the 2018 Audie Awards.
5. **World War Z**
   Max Brooks' 2006 oral history of a zombie war, recorded with a full cast that grew in the 2013 complete edition.
6. **The Hobbit (Andy Serkis)**
   Andy Serkis's unabridged 2020 reading of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit.
7. **Pride and Prejudice (Rosamund Pike)**
   Rosamund Pike's unabridged reading of Jane Austen's novel, released by Audible in December 2015.
8. **Bossypants**
   Tina Fey's 2011 comic memoir about Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock, read by the author.
9. **Dune**
   Frank Herbert's 1965 novel in Macmillan Audio's unabridged recording read by Simon Vance with Scott Brick, Orlagh Cassidy, Euan Morton and others.
10. **Ready Player One**
   Ernest Cline's 2011 novel of a virtual-reality treasure hunt, read by Wil Wheaton.
11. **The Martian**
   Andy Weir's novel of an astronaut stranded on Mars, read by R.C. Bray in the 2013 Podium recording.
12. **A Promised Land**
   Barack Obama's 2020 presidential memoir read by the author across roughly 29 hours.
13. **Anansi Boys**
   Neil Gaiman's 2005 novel about the sons of the trickster god Anansi, read by Lenny Henry.
14. **Educated**
   Tara Westover's 2018 memoir of leaving a survivalist family in Idaho for Cambridge, read by Julia Whelan.
15. **The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy**
   Douglas Adams' 1979 comic science-fiction novel in Stephen Fry's unabridged 2005 reading.
16. **Greenlights**
   Matthew McConaughey's 2020 memoir drawn from his journals, read by the author.
17. **Circe**
   Madeline Miller's 2018 retelling of the Greek witch Circe's life, read by Perdita Weeks.

Tags: books, audiobooks, narration