Active discussions

Help protect children from gaming harms.

Take our survey

Please or to access all these features

Talk
What we're reading

Find your new favourite book or recommend one on our Book forum.

Original poster

Recommend me a long audiobook

63 replies

BorisTheShark · 08/03/2026 11:06

I need a new audiobook 😀

I like them long, like 30 hours long, bonus points if it’s part of a series I can get in to.

have recently read/listened to Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Strike collection, Fourth Wing collection, all of the Sarah J Mass, The Goldfinch, things like that

thanks!

OP posts:
Xiaoxiong · 08/03/2026 20:42

I much prefer Victorian novels read aloud than on the page - if Little Women is any guide, I think they were written to be read aloud to the family in instalments around the fire in the evening so it makes sense that they're more enjoyable as audiobooks.

I have suggested these before, but Miriam Margolyes reading Dickens on Audible is BRILLIANT. Bleak House is 43 hours and 12 minutes of awesomeness and she does all the voices too.

Once you find a good narrator you can "follow" them through other books. I loved Timothy West reading Barchester Towers (19h06min) so I listened to all the Trollopes he narrates, which made many hours of commuting, cooking and housework much more enjoyable.

AdarajamesAgain · 08/03/2026 19:48

I had the whole of Dragon Riders from Pern by Anne McCaffery on audio novel, took weeks to get through them all!
Lots of the apocalypse type omnibus on audible are 60+ hours

MsRosewater · 08/03/2026 19:23

Came to suggest ‘the covenant of water’ - it s excellent. Also th poison wood bible.

And, try - the Bee Sting and/or Skippy Dies by Paul Murray . I’ve not checked the actual duration but (as a Donna Tart fan) they were immersive and long

Celiathebanshee · 08/03/2026 19:17

Wolf hall, read brilliantly by Ben Miles

RebelMoon · 08/03/2026 18:11

JulietteNichols · 08/03/2026 17:51

I am Pilgrim and the the next one. Can't remember what it's called and who by!

By Terry Hayes. I Am Pilgrim is fantastic.

The other one is The Year Of The Locust, also well worth a read/listen but be prepared for a very strange detour about 2/3rds of the way in.

Also recommend Demon Copperhead if you've not read that.

TheCountessofLocksley · 08/03/2026 18:04

@AudiobookListenergood to know I’ve got the best yet to come. Think it will be my summer listen (am hoping for some long sunny days in the garden)

babasaclover · 08/03/2026 17:59

Stephen kings are regularly 16 hours long.

PaschaPenny · 08/03/2026 17:56

OrsolaRosso · 08/03/2026 11:17

How about The Seven Sisters series by Lucinda Riley?

I was going to recommend this too - great series.

JulietteNichols · 08/03/2026 17:51

I am Pilgrim and the the next one. Can't remember what it's called and who by!

Karistyleaftea · 08/03/2026 17:51

Strike series JK Rowling .
Robert Glenister narrates incredibly well, one of my absolute favourites.
Jodie Taylor's Chronicles of St Mary's are excellent too, Zara Ramm another fab narrator.
Stephen King books are incredible but I always read them so not much to contribute on the audio, except to say that Duma Key narrated by John Slattery is wonderful.
Happy listening.

SydneyPear · 08/03/2026 17:49

‘The Martian’ or ‘Project Hail Mary’. Also another
vote for the biggie Stephen Kings! And the other two Donna Tartt novels (‘The Little Friend’ is my favourite.)

MsPug · 08/03/2026 17:45

The nightingale Kristin Hannah is about a million hours

LifeInAHamsterWheel · 08/03/2026 17:44

I recently listened to Swan Song which was quite long but really good.

MyyearwithBarbara · 08/03/2026 17:41

The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert.

onpills4godsake · 08/03/2026 17:36

Word war z - one of the best audio books I have ever listened to

thursday murder club series - beautiful

Original poster
BorisTheShark · 08/03/2026 17:35

Thanks for all the recommendations, I can’t reply to you all

loads of good idea and several books I have read before, so presumably lots that I’d like from the list

off to listen to some previews on audible

OP posts:
Original poster
BorisTheShark · 08/03/2026 17:34

Isobel201 · 08/03/2026 11:37

The earth's children series by Jean M Auel, story about a cro magnon girl living in the prehistoric ice age on audible. Great stories to listen on a long car journey.

I have read these multiple times since I was a teen. Reckon I could whittle a spear thrower myself by now😂

OP posts:
Original poster
BorisTheShark · 08/03/2026 17:33

Terfymcnamechange · 08/03/2026 11:14

One I listen to repeatedly is A Woman In Berlin, which is the diary of a german woman trapped in Berlin as the Russian soldiers came in during WW2. Lots of violence and sexual violence, but fascinating.

Also Bridget Jones, and the Slow Horses series by Mick Herron. Oh, and Girl With a Dragon Tattoo!

I loved slow horses on telly 😀 couldn’t get on with girl with dragon tattoo reading it so maybe I’ll find it better on audio 🤔

OP posts:
JollyHostess101 · 08/03/2026 17:01

Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett are epic audiobooks!!

AudiobookListener · 08/03/2026 16:59

TheCountessofLocksley · 08/03/2026 11:43

London by Edward Rutherford…..there are many of them in the series, but London remains my favourite. Paris was good too and I’m just waiting to find the right time to start the one about the New Forest.

His books are FAB (well, except for all the girls sacrificed at Stonehenge in "Sarum"). I think the two Ireland ones and Ruska are even better than London, but Forest is the absolute best one.

Other nice long books:

The Eighth Life
Shogun (and that's the first of a big series)
War and Peace, of course.

outerspacepotato · 08/03/2026 13:05

Middlemarch read by Maureen O'Brien.

Not a series, but pretty epic.

Rictasmorticia · 08/03/2026 12:15

The count of o tie Christo and The Other Bennett Sister

Pennina · 08/03/2026 12:10

Stephen King has written some epics: The Stand (47 hours!), Under The Dome (34), 11-22-63 (30). Plus the Blue Umbrella trilogy.

BitOutOfPractice · 08/03/2026 12:02

There is a brand new reading of Pride and Prejudice out now that is read by Julie Andrews that is an utter delight.

ThisTimeWillBeDifferent · 08/03/2026 12:00

Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere books. There are loads to get into (at least 20), all fantasy, and some of the Stormlight archive are over 60hrs long 😁 the Mistborn trilogy (best to start with) are all 25-30 hrs.