Literary Criticism bestsellers

A Swim in a Pond in the Rain

In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life

By: George Saunders
Narrated by: George Saunders, Phylicia Rashad, Nick Offerman, Glenn Close, Keith David, Rainn Wilson, BD Wong & Renée Elise Goldsberry
Length: 14 hours 44 minutes

“In this literal master class on literature and writing, Saunders earnestly yet playfully dissects 19th-century Russian short stories to discover how they exude life to this very day, while highlighting methods any aspiring writer can employ. The huge bonus: reading the wondrous stories themselves, and experiencing Tolstoy’s authority, Chekhov’s... Read more

Divine Might

Goddesses in Greek Myth

By: Natalie Haynes
Narrated by: Natalie Haynes
Length: 9 hours 11 minutes

“Natalie Haynes writes as if she knows these goddesses personally, and this audiobook is her telling us all their secrets. I found myself falling back in love with greek mythology, and looking at it's female deities in new lights, for better and for worse. Read more

Odyssey

Stephen Fry’s Greek Myths: Book #4

By: Stephen Fry
Narrated by: Stephen Fry
Length: 10 hours 36 minutes

Brought to you by Penguin.

A Sunday Times bestseller

The next book in Stephen Fry's acclaimed internationally bestselling Greek myths series telling the story of The Odyssey.

Sometimes the hardest journey is the way back home . . .

Wily Odysseus, King of Ithaca, has won Troy for the Greeks – after a decade of brutal, bloody warfare. But now this... Read more about Odyssey

Orwell's Roses

By: Rebecca Solnit
Narrated by: Rebecca Solnit
Length: 7 hours 51 minutes

“Solnit's Orwell's Roses beautifully illuminated how Orwell's political commitments were deeply rooted in his passion for his local, natural world. His ability to critique both the far left and far rught while still finding beauty and pleasure is perhaps the most hopeful political message I've encountered in a long time. Read more

Jane Austen's Bookshelf

A Rare Book Collector's Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend

By: Rebecca Romney
Narrated by: Rebecca Romney
Length: 11 hours 46 minutes

“I'm not particularly an Austen fan but I've followed Romney's dive into Romancelandia and was excited to get into this adjacent work. While this is absolutely an insight into the lives and writings of authors with whom Austen would have been familiar, it is more interestingly a look at a studied collector's process and a personal look into a... Read more

Language as Liberation

Reflections on the American Canon

By: Toni Morrison
Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
Length: 8 hours 36 minutes

Nobel laureate and Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Beloved Toni Morrison investigates Black characters in the American literary canon and the way they shaped the nation’s collective unconscious.

In a dazzling series of lectures from her tenure as a professor at Princeton University, Toni Morrison interrogates America’s most famous works and... Read more about Language as Liberation

Slouching Towards Bethlehem

Essays

Picador Modern Classics

By: Joan Didion
Narrated by: Maya Hawke
Length: 6 hours 23 minutes

“In this snapshot of mid-century American culture, Didion, deliberate and unabashed, takes the reader on journeys across the United States - from Newport, to Sacramento, to Hollywood, to Hawaii, and back to San Francisco - digesting political unrest, youthful buoyancy, and fundamental questions of morality and human responsibility. Her essays... Read more

Pandora's Jar

Women in the Greek Myths

By: Natalie Haynes
Narrated by: Natalie Haynes
Length: 9 hours 24 minutes

“Funny, sharp explications of what these sometimes not-very-nice women were up to, and how they sometimes made idiots of . . . but read on!”—Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaid's TaleThe national bestselling author of A Thousand Ships returns with a fascinating, eye-opening take on the remarkable women at the heart of classical stories... Read more about Pandora's Jar

The Language of the Night

Essays on Writing, Science Fiction, and Fantasy

By: Ursula K. Le Guin
Narrated by: Alyssa Bresnahan & Michael Crouch
Length: 9 hours 54 minutes

“Delightful, refreshing, composed of words most warm and ever-welcoming. As a lover of all things Le Guin, even I expected this collection to be a rather dense, academic read (she is, after all, a brilliant mind, and essays on writing by such an author...I was excited for the challenge). I feel very humbled, by her humility. My surprise feels a... Read more

Immediacy

Or, The Style of Too Late Capitalism

By: Anna Kornbluh
Narrated by: Sara Sheckells
Length: 8 hours 50 minutes

Why speed, flow, and direct expression now dominate cultural style Contemporary cultural style boosts transparency and instantaneity. These are values absorbed from our current economic conditions of disintermediation: cutting out the middleman. Like Uber, but for art. Immediacy names this style to make sense of what we lose when the... Read more about Immediacy

Dead and Alive

Essays

By: Zadie Smith
Narrated by: Zadie Smith
Length: 9 hours 34 minutes

“Better known for her novels, Zadie Smith is also a prolific essayist, as evidenced by this, her third collection. Far from overstructured or academic, Smith’s essay style is loose and free-flowing, allowing her mind to question and consider as it will. She avoids hard and fast conclusions in favor of continual exploration. I particularly loved... Read more

Snape

The Definitive Analysis of Hogwarts’s Mysterious Potions Master

By: Lorrie Kim
Narrated by: Michelle H. Lee
Length: 13 hours 18 minutes

While the Harry Potter series may follow the journey of the Boy Who Lived, if you want to know the whole story, keep your eyes fixed on Severus Snape. This greasy-haired, grumpy genius, one of J. K. Rowling's most enduring gifts to English literature, is the archetypal ill-tempered teacher: demanding, acerbic, and impossible to ignore. Over the... Read more about Snape

Dark Renaissance

The Dangerous Times and Fatal Genius of Shakespeare's Greatest Rival

By: Stephen Greenblatt
Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
Length: 9 hours 47 minutes

“In his lifetime, Christopher Marlowe was regarded as Elizabethan England’s greatest playwright…but then he was killed in a fight over his bar tab. Spoiler, I guess? Anyway, that’s why you’ve heard of Hamlet but probably not Tamberlaine. Stephen Greenblatt’s Dark Renaissance is not just a biography of Shakespeare’s Wario but a fascinating and... Read more

What We Talk About When We Talk About Books

The History and Future of Reading

By: Leah Price
Narrated by: Elisabeth Rodgers
Length: 5 hours 35 minutes

“A quick listen/read for anyone looking to learn more about our attitudes towards books and reading throughout history. For example, did you know that there was a time that doctors would write prescriptions for library books??? You would take your prescription to your local librarian who would hand you a self-help book to support you through... Read more

Monsters

A Fan's Dilemma

By: Claire Dederer
Narrated by: Claire Dederer
Length: 8 hours 14 minutes

“As a reader and a bookseller and a lover of all kinds of art, I’m confronted daily by the question of how to reconcile my love with the sometimes horrible artists who created those works. This intelligent essay collection gave me a lot to think about and was even comforting in the end. Read more

Trick Mirror

Reflections on Self-Delusion

By: Jia Tolentino
Narrated by: Jia Tolentino
Length: 9 hours 46 minutes

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “From The New Yorker’s beloved cultural critic comes a bold, unflinching collection of essays about self-deception, examining everything from scammer culture to reality television.”—Esquire

Book Club Pick for Now Read This, from PBS NewsHour and The New York Times • “A whip-smart, challenging book.”—Zadie Smith • “Jia... Read more about Trick Mirror

Shakespeare

The World as Stage

By: Bill Bryson
Narrated by: Bill Bryson
Length: 5 hours 29 minutes

Shakespeare: The Illustrated Edition is an exquisitely illustrated, updated edition of Bill Bryson’s bestselling biography of William Shakespeare that takes the reader on an enthralling tour through Elizabethan England and the eccentricities of Shakespearean scholarship. With more than 100 color and black-and-white illustrations throughout, and... Read more about Shakespeare

Girlhood

By: Melissa Febos
Narrated by: Melissa Febos
Length: 8 hours 13 minutes

Bloomsbury presents Girlhood written and read by Melissa Febos.

National Book Critics Circle Award Winner
National Bestseller
Lambda Literary Award Finalist

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY TIME * NPR * The Washington Post * Kirkus Reviews * Washington Independent Review of Books * The Millions * Electric Literature * Ms Magazine * Entropy... Read more about Girlhood

Minor Feelings

An Asian American Reckoning

By: Cathy Park Hong
Narrated by: Cathy Park Hong
Length: 6 hours 52 minutes

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST • NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER • ONE OF TIME’S 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE • A ruthlessly honest, emotionally charged, and utterly original exploration of Asian American consciousness

“Brilliant . . . To read this book is to become more human.”—Claudia Rankine, author of... Read more about Minor Feelings

One Aladdin Two Lamps

By: Jeanette Winterson
Narrated by: Dana Haqjoo & Jeanette Winterson
Length: 6 hours 46 minutes

“Enchanting, unexpected, and razor-sharp. Jeanette Winterson and Shahrazad are the perfect copilots to take us into new worlds on the wings of old stories.” —Kamila Shamsie, award-winning author of Home Fire

I can change the story because I am the story.

“One of the most daring and inventive writers of our time” (Elle) weaves together memoir,... Read more about One Aladdin Two Lamps

The Heroine's Journey

For Writers, Readers, and Fans of Pop Culture

By: Gail Carriger
Narrated by: Starla Huchton
Length: 7 hours 32 minutes

Tired of the hero's journey?Frustrated that funny, romantic, and comforting stories aren't taken seriously?Sad that the books and movies you love never seem to be critically acclaimed, even when they sell like crazy?The heroine's journey is here to help. Multiple New York Times bestselling author Gail Carriger presents a clear concise analysis... Read more about The Heroine's Journey

On Morrison

By: Namwali Serpell
Narrated by: January LaVoy
Length: 12 hours 55 minutes

An illuminating, electrifying exploration of the work of Toni Morrison by an award-winning novelist and Harvard professor—“a revelatory encounter with the Nobel laureate’s oeuvre” (The New York Times)

“In this lavish yet clear-eyed study, Serpell shows how Morrison breathed new life into the novel. This is literary criticism at its... Read more about On Morrison

Sexual Personae

Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson

By: Camille Paglia
Narrated by: Emily Durante
Length: 35 hours 15 minutes

In this brilliantly original book, Camille Paglia identifies some of the major patterns that have endured in western culture from ancient Egypt and Greece to the present. According to Paglia, one source of continuity is paganism, which, undefeated by Judeo-Christianity, continues to flourish in art, eroticism, astrology, and pop culture. Others,... Read more about Sexual Personae

Hollywood's Eve

Eve Babitz and the Secret History of L.A.

By: Lili Anolik
Narrated by: Jayme Mattler
Length: 7 hours 45 minutes

The quintessential biography of Eve Babitz (1943-2021), the brilliant chronicler of 1960s and 70s Hollywood hedonism and one of the most original American voices of her time.

“I practically snorted this book, stayed up all night with it. Anolik decodes, ruptures, and ultimately intensifies Eve’s singular irresistible glitz.” —Jia Tolentino, The... Read more about Hollywood's Eve

Bunk

The Rise of Hoaxes, Humbug, Plagiarists, Phonies, Post-Facts, and Fake News

By: Kevin Young
Narrated by: Mirron Willis
Length: 20 hours 24 minutes

Bunk traces the history of the hoax as a peculiarly American phenomenon, examining what motivates hucksters and makes the rest of us so gullible. Disturbingly, Young finds that fakery is woven from stereotype and suspicion, race being the most insidious American hoax of all. He chronicles how Barnum came to fame by displaying figures like Joice... Read more about Bunk

Bad Feminist

Essays

By: Roxane Gay
Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
Length: 11 hours 46 minutes

“Roxane Gay is so great at weaving the intimate and personal with what is most bewildering and upsetting at this moment in culture. She is always looking, always thinking, always passionate, always careful, always right there.”  — Sheila Heti, author of How Should a Person Be?A New York Times BestsellerBest Book of the Year:... Read more about Bad Feminist

Armageddon in Retrospect

By: Kurt Vonnegut
Narrated by: Rip Torn
Length: 5 hours 15 minutes

The New York Times bestseller from the author of Slaughterhouse-Five—a “gripping” posthumous collection of Kurt Vonnegut’s previously unpublished work on the subject of war and peace.

A fitting tribute to a literary legend and a profoundly humane humorist, Armageddon in Retrospect is a collection of twelve previously unpublished writings. Imbued... Read more about Armageddon in Retrospect

Leaves of Grass

By: Walt Whitman
Narrated by: Mel Foster
Length: 15 hours 55 minutes

Abraham Lincoln read it with approval, but Emily Dickinson described its bold language and themes as "disgraceful." And Ralph Waldo Emerson found Leaves of Grass "the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom that America has yet contributed," calling it a "combination of the Bhagavad Gita and the New York Herald." Published at the author's own... Read more about Leaves of Grass

Alan Bennett: Diaries

Read by Alan Bennett

By: Alan Bennett
Narrated by: Alan Bennett
Length: 9 hours 3 minutes

Classic memoirs from the acclaimed English actor, author, playwright, and screenwriter

Alan Bennett is one of the country's most celebrated and best-loved authors. This unmissable collection of diaries and memoirs brings together for the first time Telling Tales, Diaries: 1980-1990, the autobiographical section of Untold Stories, which covers the... Read more about Alan Bennett: Diaries

Doctor Strange: A Decade of Dark Magic

Marvel Age of Comics

By: Stuart Moore
Narrated by: Jason Lasky
Length: 2 hours 32 minutes

Bloomsbury presents Doctor Strange: A Decade of Dark Magic by Stuart Moore, read by Jason Lasky.

Explore the Stories Behind the Legends

Enter a world where reality bends, and magic reigns supreme.

From psychedelic dimensions to counterculture cool, Doctor Strange was unlike anything else in comics. One of Marvel’s most fascinating early... Read more about Doctor Strange: A Decade of Dark Magic

The Hard Crowd

Essays 2000–2020

By: Rachel Kushner
Narrated by: Rachel Kushner
Length: 7 hours 52 minutes

Brought to you by Penguin.

A wildly original first essay collection from the bestselling, Booker Prize-shortlisted author of
The Mars Room

In her twenties Rachel Kushner went to Mexico in pursuit of her first love - motorbikes - to compete in the notorious and deadly race, Cabo 1000. As fellow racers died on the roadside, bikes were stolen and... Read more about The Hard Crowd

The Uncollected Essays of Elizabeth Hardwick

By: Elizabeth Hardwick
Narrated by: Elizabeth Wiley
Length: 12 hours 19 minutes

Essays on music, art, pop culture, literature, and politics by the renowned essayist and observer of contemporary life, now collected together for the first time.



The Uncollected Essays of Elizabeth Hardwick is a companion collection to The Collected Essays, a book that proved a revelation of what, for many, had been an open secret: that... Read more about The Uncollected Essays of Elizabeth Hardwick

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling (Book Analysis)

Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide

BrightSummaries.com

By: Bright Summaries
Narrated by: Sara Wright
Length: 31 minutes

Unlock the more straightforward side of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban with this concise and insightful summary and analysis! This engaging summary presents an analysis of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling, which follows the Boy Who Lived during his third year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This... Read more about Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling (Book Analysis)

Guided Mandarin Chinese

By: Robin Homer
Narrated by: Robin Homer & Yilan Luan
Length: 14 hours 58 minutes

Stop worrying about taking notes, losing track of what you've learned or working out what to learn next. This course guides you through the Mandarin language step by step.
Each new question adds a tiny building block to what you already know rather than introducing entirely new sentences and telling you to memorize them. Instead you can... Read more about Guided Mandarin Chinese

The Boundless Deep

Young Tennyson, Science and the Crisis of Belief

By: Richard Holmes
Narrated by: Oliver Hembrough
Length: 15 hours 1 minute

*SHORTLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE* *SHORTLISTED FOR THE POL ROGER DUFF COOPER PRIZE* A Book of the Year in the Times; Telegraph; Spectator; Financial Times; Observer; Waterstones and Daunt Books A dazzling new... Read more about The Boundless Deep

Ruin the Sacred Truths

Poetry and Belief from the Bible to the Present

By: Harold Bloom
Narrated by: Mort Crim
Length: 7 hours 11 minutes

Harold Bloom surveys with majestic view the literature of the West from the Old Testament to Samuel Beckett. He provocatively rereads the Yahwist (or "J") writer, Jeremiah, Job, Jonah, the Illiad, the Aeneid, Dante's Divine Comedy, Hamlet, King Lear, Othello, the Henry IV plays, Paradise Lost, Blake's Milton, Wordsworth's Prelude, and works by... Read more about Ruin the Sacred Truths

One in a Millennial

On Friendship, Feelings, Fangirls, and Fitting In

By: Kate Kennedy
Length: 9 hours 26 minutes

“Kate Kennedy’s One in a Millennial is the memoir you didn’t know you needed to understand the chaos of adulting in the digital age. She blends pop culture references with millennial struggles like navigating mental health, figuring out relationships, and making sense of a world that’s kinda falling apart. It’s raw, funny, and real—perfect for... Read more

Didion and Babitz

By: Lili Anolik
Narrated by: Lili Anolik
Length: 12 hours 46 minutes

“Great book connecting Babitz and Didion. You get a fuller picture of 70s California learning about both of them. A must read for any Didion fan. Babitz is a great foil for Didion. I had never heard of Babitz before. Glad to have learned about her. The name dropping is pretty cool too: Harrison Ford, Steve Martin, Ed and Paul Ruscha, Jim Morrison... Read more

A Hobbit, a Wardrobe, and a Great War

How J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis Rediscovered Faith, Friendship, and Heroism in the Cataclysm of 1914-1918

By: Joseph Loconte
Narrated by: Dave Hoffman
Length: 6 hours 38 minutes

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERDeepen your insight into and appreciation for the writings J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis as you explore the untold story of how the First World War shaped their lives, faith, and writings.Had there been no Great War, there would have been no Hobbit, no Lord of the Rings, no Narnia—perhaps even no conversion to... Read more about A Hobbit, a Wardrobe, and a Great War

Jane Austen at Home

A Biography (250th Birthday Edition)

By: Lucy Worsley
Narrated by: Lucy Worsley
Length: 17 hours 17 minutes

“You can tell that this biography was written by someone who truly values Jane Austen and has taken such an interesting approach to Jane. Learning about her life and her displacement from a sense of 'home' throughout her adult life adds so much interesting context to her work. This audiobook edition is particularly recommended - Lucy Worsley... Read more

Save the Cat! Writes a Novel

The Last Book On Novel Writing You'll Ever Need

Save the Cat!

By: Jessica Brody
Narrated by: Jessica Brody
Length: 10 hours 49 minutes

The first novel-writing guide from the best-selling Save the Cat! story-structure series, which reveals the 15 essential plot points needed to make any novel a success.

Novelist Jessica Brody presents a comprehensive story-structure guide for novelists that applies the famed Save the Cat! screenwriting methodology to the world of novel writing.... Read more about Save the Cat! Writes a Novel

Minority Rule

Adventures in the Culture War – the instant Sunday Times bestseller

By: Ash Sarkar
Narrated by: Ash Sarkar
Length: 9 hours 17 minutes

“This book is a great summary of the current "culture wars" that the UK is experiencing - and has been for a few years now. Ash's takes are nuanced and well articulated, I found myself taking notes frequently! She builds in context both historical and cultural in a way that a lot of other commentators neglect to do. The fact that the author... Read more

The Real Lolita

The Kidnapping of Sally Horner and the Novel that Scandalized the World

By: Sarah Weinman
Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
Length: 7 hours 26 minutes

“Any fan of Nabokov’s Lolita will be enthralled by Sarah Weinman’s investigation of the real-life kidnapping and sexual assault that became the basis for the 20th-century masterpiece. Weinman dives deep into the archives to piece together the ties between fact and fiction, even when the author or the victim’s family refused to discuss history.... Read more

The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time

By: Robert Jordan & Teresa Patterson
Narrated by: Paul Woodson
Length: 10 hours 16 minutes

Since its debut in 1990, The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan has captivated millions of readers around the globe with its scope, originality, and compelling characters.



The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and go, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth returns... Read more about The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time

To Save and to Destroy

Writing as an Other

By: Viet Thanh Nguyen
Narrated by: Viet Thanh Nguyen
Length: 5 hours 20 minutes

“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... Read more

Culture Creep

Notes on the Pop Apocalypse

By: Alice Bolin
Narrated by: Kristen Sieh
Length: 8 hours 7 minutes

“Bolin’s interrogation of pop culture was fascinating to listen to, by turns insightful, analytical, and vulnerable. She captures the essence of 2025 better than anyone else I’ve read, tracing its long and ugly roots backwards, with fascinating stopovers at Animal Crossing, the Hamilton craze, the rise and fall of teen magazines, and the end of... Read more

Red Comet

The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath

By: Heather Clark
Narrated by: Laura Jennings
Length: 45 hours 27 minutes

PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST • The highly anticipated biography of Sylvia Plath that focuses on her remarkable literary and intellectual achievements, while restoring the woman behind the long-held myths about her life and art.

“One of the most beautiful biographies I've ever read." —Glennon Doyle, author of #1 New York Times Bestseller, Untamed

A... Read more about Red Comet

Burning Questions

Essays and Occasional Pieces, 2004 to 2021

By: Margaret Atwood
Narrated by: Margaret Atwood & Full Cast
Length: 19 hours

“Atwood is brilliant--obviously, yes, but wonderfully so, nonetheless. These pieces took me to somewhere I have never traveled on the wings of a goddess. She informs, scolds, gives warnings, and inspires action. She talks about books she's written and books others have written. She speaks with authority and humility. I listen with awe and gratitude. Read more

I Want to Burn this Place Down

Essays

By: Maris Kreizman
Narrated by: Maris Kreizman
Length: 4 hours 39 minutes

A TIME Must-Read of 2025 A debut essay collection by the inimitable cultural critic Maris Kreizman—an introspective, searing account of the life experiences that have pushed this former “good Democrat” even further to the political leftAt the heart of this funny, acerbic, and bravely honest book of essays is Maris Kreizman, a former rule... Read more about I Want to Burn this Place Down

Reading Genesis

By: Marilynne Robinson
Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
Length: 12 hours 41 minutes

One of our greatest novelists and thinkers presents a radiant, thrilling interpretation of the book of Genesis.

“[Suzanne] Toren's narration highlights Genesis as a work of literature that is especially beautiful when read aloud.”—AudioFile

For generations, the book of Genesis has been treated by scholars as a collection of documents by various... Read more about Reading Genesis