So it seems like all your friends are in a book club now and somehow you missed the memo. Everyone posted their 2024 wrapped on Instagram. How are they meeting their reading goals? Don’t they have jobs, kids, meals to make, or dishes to clean?
Well, we at Libro.fm want you to join our club. Not only are audiobooks important for accessibility, but they help people read more books—even those who “don’t have time.” Read on to learn more about getting started on audio, and our audiobook recommendations!
Perfect gateway to reading
Audiobooks make reading accessible. They are useful to those with visual impairments, and enable readers to listen while doing chores, commuting, or even working. (Our new web player makes it even easier to multitask, and our data shows a spike in readers’ listening while on the clock. Why not get your imagination going while you’re sending emails or crunching numbers? We won’t tell 😉)
And all ages can enjoy reading with audiobooks. With immersive narration and a diverse catalog, listening with Libro.fm is a great way to keep your kids occupied and enriched (especially over summer break). They are also a great way to help young readers get more into physical books.
What makes a great first audiobook
Hopefully we’ve sold you on the magic of audiobooks, but now that you’re ready to get started, where do you begin?
Honestly…you can start anywhere! Genres like memoirs, thrillers, romance, and humor are a great way to kickstart your audiobook journey. Or if you know you enjoy theatrical productions, you can check out audiobooks with a full cast, or that incorporate music.
Regardless of how you start, give yourself room to try different types of audio. What you enjoy in print form you might not enjoy on audio, or you might need to speed it up, change up where/how you listen, or reread an old favorite to get comfortable with the format in the first place. (Learn more with our most unhinged tips for reading on audio).
The best audiobooks to get you hooked
Here’s a beginner’s guide to help you start listening, featuring a selection of our favorite audiobooks and what booksellers have to say about them.
Gideon the Ninth
“Trick or treat yourself to this deliciously gruesome and wickedly funny locked-house mystery! Journey to a haunted gothic manor in space with Gideon Nav, a foul-mouthed and dirty magazine-loving orphan of the Ninth House, pressed into service as the cavalier primary to her worst enemy, the heiress to the Ninth House, the necromantic lady Harrowhark Nonagesimus. Blood, guts, secret keys, necromancers, lesbians, and a whole lot of heart await!”
— Megan, Underground Books
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A Walk in the Park
“A truly lovely, nearly spiritual, account of two men’s trek through one of the most recognizable, yet strangely alien, landscapes on Earth. The reverence Fedarko holds for human connectivity is evident in every page, and the canyon itself is not only the dominant presence in the narrative, but also the vehicle the author uses to encourage deeper thought about the human condition. Written with staggering empathy and gorgeous prose, A Walk in the Park will leave its reader breathless with wonder. As an audio production, Kevin Fedarko is a gifted reader who takes his audience with him on the ups and down of the canyon walls, and whose narration style fits the story he wrote”
— Jenna, Off the Beaten Path
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Here We Go Again
“SOB!!! This was the friends-to-rivals-to-lovers queer neurodivergent road trip romcom of my dreams! I would absolutely recommend it to any fans of Casey McQuiston. My heart was full of emotions reading this book, and it had plenty of humor to break up the ugly crying. Bring this one up to the desk on a Saturday evening if you want your bookseller to experience ~emotional damage~ (please do! I love emotional damage!)”
— Megan, Sidetrack Bookshop
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Kindred
“A beautiful story of the complex heritage of Dana, a Black woman who mysteriously gets transported from the 1970s to the early 1800 antebellum south where she is faced with saving the white son of a plantation owner from drowning. Throughout, Dana journeys back and forth from present to past, and each of her stays in the past grows longer and more dangerous. Sci-fi mixed with historical fiction, this is a well-written, must-read, emotional story.”
— Jeanie, Ruby’s Books
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The Sea Gives Up the Dead
”There is not a single weak link in this collection of short stories-every tale caught me quickly and carried me away. A lovesick nanny slays a dragon. The devil tries to save her mother. A girl drowns and becomes a saint. Queer historical fiction with an expert application of fantasy and horror that more sharply illustrates what it means to be “othered,” Olguin’s collection is impressive and beautifully written.”
— Zoe, Bookshop Santa Cruz
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To Save and Destroy
”For: Anyone interested in anything human; interested in what in the world is happening in the world; anyone who is a fan of the author; anyone who loves when the author narrates; anyone who grapples with being the other… This is a must read, such an important work! It’s rare for me to ever want to ever meet authors, but I would be honored to have a conversation with Viet Thanh Nguyen about the weather!”
— Senufa, Undercover Books & Gifts
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The Au Pair Affair
”I am head over heels in love with Burgess and Tallulah! I mean, an overprotective hockey captain that falls first and falls hard, and nicknames her gorgeous? You can’t go wrong. Tessa Bailey knows how to bring the swooning full force.”
— Mandy Harris, Angel Wings Bookstore
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The Boyfriend
“When you meet someone who’s just too good to be true… Tom was a teenager in a home of alcoholism and violence, in love since he was 4, but dreaming dark dreams as girls have been disappearing at night… Now, Sydney has been on one too many bad dates, lost her best friend-but maybe has finally met the one? Exploring the perils of modern dating and true love, Freida McFadden builds a satisfying mystery in parallel, designed to keep you guessing until the end.”
— Jocelyn, Bookshop Santa Cruz
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The Covenant of Water
“Abraham Verghese’s tale spans eight decades of one south Indian family’s devastating relationship with water. Suspense builds when at least one person in each generation unaccountably dies by drowning. The family and village believe they’re cursed until one member, a woman in fact, has the scientific and medical abilities to look deeper. Verghese tells the story with warmth and compassion and gives us an unforgettable cast of characters you’ll grow to care about deeply. Easily one of my favorite books of 2023.”
— Patience, Underground Books
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The Arsonists’ City
”I really enjoyed this slow burning family drama about long held secrets, holding on to your heritage, and sibling relationships…The complexities in all her characters and their relationships is impressive and I love that no one was perfect… All in all, I was deeply engrossed in this story and the beautifully written words would stick with me throughout my day.”
— Kimi, Buttonwood Books and Toys
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All the Blues in the Sky
”A beautiful story-in-verse that takes us through Sage’s journey of grief after her best friend’s death. This is an accessible approach to helping a child navigate the death of a loved one. Sage’s story is best enjoyed as an audio book as poetry is meant to be spoken; Bahni Turpin’s voice gives an additional layer of beauty to this book.”
— Donna, The Well-Read Moose
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Gay the Pray Away
Valerie Danners is in a cult. She just doesn’t know it yet. When she finds a queer book at the library and smuggles it home, her conservative Christian homeschooling world begins to crack. And when the cutest girl she’s ever met shows up to Bible class, she starts to question everything. Publicly, the girls are close friends. Privately, they grasp at any chance to pursue their forbidden love story — until they are found out. Now Valerie must choose between staying with a family she fears will never accept her, or running away with the girl she loves.
View the audiobookOdds are you love books just as much as we do, but maybe something is holding you back from making audiobooks part of your routine. Whether you’re unsure where or how to begin, we hope this post has helped. And with over 500,000 audiobooks to choose from on Libro.fm, we know you’ll find your perfect match!