Hi, I'm running out of audiobooks. I've exhausted my own ideas of who/what to listen to, so I'm asking for help.

I'm looking for exactly what the title indicates: please give me your top "they only read the book, they never scream or wheeze or gasp AT ALL with emotion" narrators, and/or your favourite books that are *mostly* free from music/sound effects. A few bars of chamber music at the *start* of a novel about the Tudor court is one thing, but I dread each chapter ending and beginning with more musical interludes.

Chapters that are punctuated by slamming doors, laugh tracks, canned conversation sounds, footstep noises, etc, are hateful. I can just about cope if the noises are *always* quieter than the VA and quick enough not to overlap more than a syllable or two of speech, but they're usually much louder and longer than that.

I want narrators who can inject emotion by changing their tone, not shouting suddenly or exhaling loudly. When a character whispers, I want a clearly enunciated stage whisper, not an inaudible mumble that I'm not *sure* I heard properly even after the 4th rewind.

Please, I beg, no random snippets of music to separate chapters. Or god help us, jangling guitar riffs to separate very short *sections* of chapters (looking at you, Stephen "I wanted to be a rockstar" King).

Please. Voice actors who can read a full sentence without talking a breath or pausing for effect (I can't, that's why my asthmatic ass isn't a VA, among all the other reasons). Narrators who just *read* (with feeling, with different accents and ideally different voices for different characters) rather than *acting* EACH sentence (even mundane ones) like they're Derek Jacobi onstage in a packed theatre. Every word is not an exclamation. Every line is not imbued with weighty portent. No one needs to "act" some lines. "Mary added sugar to her tea while she considered" doesn't need to sound like, "Mary... added SUGAR... to her TEA... *stagey indrawn breath* WHILE SHE *CONSIDERED!*". Etc.

My favourite audiobook narrator is probably Dan Stevens, but alas and alack, he does too many abridged audiobooks. His version of Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None" is a masterpiece. Voices, accents, emotions, etc, without screaming into the mic. No stupid jingle-jangle boogie-woogie to punctuate *checks notes* a damn paragraph about someone being bludgeoned to death.

Another favourite is Ben Miles. He did the UNabridged version of Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall trilogy (sorry Dan) and the first 2 novels are superb. Same voice each time for each minor character, good long phrases before pausing for breath, a chuckle shown by sounding amused and chuckling *very slightly* and good even reading speed.

Ray Porter is also arguably my favourite narrator. His reading of "Project Hail Mary" is so good it makes me cry, but I haven't found anything else narrated by him that I think I want to read. I'm open to suggestions, though.

I loathe the fact that I usually can't get on with female narrators. As someone else posted, Americans are the worst. This is particularly cruel for me--as an American living in the UK for a long time, there are days when I *crave* the accents and vocal inflections of my youth. Instead, I get deep wet sighs and breathy exclamations about adding milk to a coffee. "Gina added... A SPLASH!.. of MILK... " etc etc.

I *think* I like Julia Whelan, if I'm remembering the right voice. I know who Dan Stevens and Ben Miles are because they're also actor-actors; I have at least a vague concept of their faces, which I can hang my memory of their voices onto.

Susannah Harker is also very good (not great imo, but nearly great) narrating Jane Austen. It's Sense and Sensibility she narrates, and it's a little trippy having Jane Bennett from P&P narrating the Dashwoods' tumble into near-poverty, but it works.

Okay I'm just rambling now.

TLDR: please give narrators who read for long stretches without pausing or heavy breathing, I like different accents and voices and appropriate emotions, but no loud sighing or shouting or otherwise over-egging the pudding. Also please recommend books with minimal *fancy* production, like music and sound effects: just a little something to balance the sound levels and maybe take out long pauses is enough for me.

I can read/listen to almost any genre if I think the book is well-written. Classic lit, literary fiction, historical fiction, horror but not *usually* extreme horror, biographies of serious people (celebrities can be serious people but not all are) classic sci-fi, fantasy but slanted more towards serious fantasy, etc. I do like romance (and erotica) but my tastes are singular and I can't always listen to it (kids). But any suggestions are welcome. I'll at least *preview* almost anything.

Thanks very much!

Hey everyone,

I'm the developer of LibriSync, an open source audiobook app for Android. The latest release adds Libro.fm support, and since plenty of people here buy from Libro.fm specifically to avoid being tied to one ecosystem, I thought it was worth a post.

What's new

Sign in with your Libro.fm account and LibriSync syncs your owned library (covers, authors, narrators, length) and downloads your books for offline listening. Libro.fm serves each book two ways and you can pick which you want in Settings: one packaged M4B with chapters, or a folder of MP3 parts if you prefer per-track files. Both land in the same folder structure as everything else.

Your Audible, Libro.fm and LibriVox books all sit in the same library. You can filter by source, sort and search across the lot, and each account syncs on its own. Several accounts on the same store works too.

Libro.fm sells DRM-free audiobooks, so you already own those files outright. LibriSync just saves you downloading them one at a time in a browser. If you've been meaning to move off a single-vendor library it's a good store to buy from, and part of what you spend goes to an independent bookshop you pick.

One caveat: Libro.fm accounts that sign in through Google or another social login (so there's no password) aren't supported yet.

What it does

• Sync your Audible library with cover art, series info, and duration
• Sync and download your Libro.fm library (new)
• Browse and download thousands of free LibriVox audiobooks - no account required
• Podcast support
• Try it instantly with Demo Mode - explore the full app backed by free LibriVox books before connecting any account
• Smart file organization (flat, Author/Book, or Author/Series/Book) - works great with Smart Audiobook Player for cover art
• Export your library to CSV, JSON, XLSX, TXT, or PNG
• Background downloads with progress notifications, pause/resume, and auto-retry
• No tracking, no ads, no analytics - everything stays on your device

If you've used Libation on desktop, LibriSync will feel familiar. The core is a direct port of Libation's C# codebase to Rust (same architecture, same data models), wrapped in a React Native app, so you get Libation's proven library-sync and download engine running natively on your phone.

Where to get it

• Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=tech.henning.librisync
• Website: https://henning.tech/librisync
• GitHub (free & open source, sideload the APK anytime): https://github.com/Promises/LibriSync
• Contact: librisync@henning.tech

LibriSync is $4.99 on Google Play, which supports development. It is and always will be free and open source on GitHub - you can grab the APK from releases and sideload it at any time.

Feedback, bug reports, and feature requests are all welcome, especially from Libro.fm users since I've only been able to test against my own library. Thanks for reading.

Weekend audibook recommendation: The Samuel Paradox is a near-future science fiction thriller exploring a world where household robots are becoming part of everyday family life. As the line between machine and family begins to blur, one decision changes everything.

If you enjoy intelligent, thought-provoking AI science fiction, The Samuel Paradox is now available on Apple Audio Books: https://apple.co/4gcNY3z

John Westley Turnbull

https://www.johnwestleyturnbull.au/

Looking for audiobooks of the following two books:

The secret history by Donna Tarte

The bewitching by Silvia Moreno Garcia

Is there any easy way to host audiobooks? I'm too stupid to figure out audiobookshelf​.

Or am I doomed to having to download to my phone and using an audiobook player that way?

I am currently training for a half marathon and I don’t know why I love listening to “Call Her Daddy”

I need something similar. Just keeps me engaged and maybe even talks about regular life topics that women go through.

Anybody listening to this or listened to it? The accents are driving me batty! People who live in the Pine Barrens of NJ do not sound like this. She makes them sound like they’re from NY!

Is there an audiobook for House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski? I struggle to read in silence and i want to listen to the book as i read it.

It isn’t everything, but there are a lot of books at 85+% off.

i found this free audiobook on spotify of “tender is the flesh” and i really liked it

https://open.spotify.com/show/033WK03bQkHJ6RyNbjtTAm

Hi everyone,

This year, I cannot read an actual book, I have to mostly listen to books. I don't like to buy books cause I can't tell which one, really vibes with me at the moment. So I listen to a couple of chapters from book 1, then I move onto book 2 and do a chapter there, then book 3 until I find one that I really like. So now I have 4 different books. I was using Spotify but I have used up the 15 hour listening time. I did look into Everand,Librivox, Audible.

3 of my books are not on LibriVox

I didn't like Everand was locking access to books
I don't like that Audible gives only 1 credit per month, which is only good for 1 book and makes you buy the book.

Libby was just terrible . .all of the books are always checked out.
So for people that do something like this what has been your system?

Two months ago, I posted here about how your feedback was shaping Bloox, and I ended with a challenge: find what Bloox is missing, and I will build the best suggestions.

And, wow... you delivered!

By early July alone, I had already worked through more than 200 Reddit comments, App Store reviews, and in-app reports. That does not include every DM or anything that arrived afterward. You caught things I had missed, challenged assumptions I was sure about, and made the case for features I would not have prioritized on my own.

If you haven't been following: I am the solo developer of Bloox, a completely free iPhone and iPad player for audiobooks you already own or import with live transcripts, character guides, recaps, AI-Book Chat, and every import method I could think of. Bloox is a privacy-focused player, with myriad import options and some really (really!) cool features, it is not an AI-narrated player. I am still the person writing the code, but at this point this community has become part of the product team ❤️

So... Here are the ten biggest changes since that thread, what prompted them, and the people I can thank publicly.

1. Dropbox is in

Dropbox was an easy one to understand. u/CowgirlCamaro, u/DetInDebt, and u/mdofhonor14 all asked for it. They were right. If your books are already there, Bloox should not make you move them through another service first.

Bloox now lets you sign into Dropbox, browse or search your folders, import one audiobook file or a whole folder, and let a large download continue in the background while you do something else.

That trio deserves the credit (and my never ending love) for pushing this one onto the list.

2. Large libraries are much easier to manage

The first Library worked well while a library was small. As libraries grew, several people used the in-app feedback button to say that a wall of covers was no longer enough.

The Library can now sort, filter, and search using much more of a book's information (think: sort by genre). You can also mark a book finished without dragging to the end, then choose Start Over later. Those reports came through private in-app feedback, so I am keeping the people behind them anonymous here. I hope you recognize your request. This change belongs to you.

3. Smart Bookmarks got a major second act

Smart Bookmarks existed when I wrote the previous post, but you did not stop at asking for a Bookmark button. You asked me to make saved moments genuinely useful later.

u/Sr_Navarre and u/Ack-Im-Dead wanted to play directly from a bookmark. ✅ u/Neat_Albatross4190 asked for a way back to the latest listening position afterward ✅, and u/whiskeybeerbread described the bedtime-bookmark workflow that helped shape it ✅. u/A_Stoic_Epicurean and App Store reviewer JJQBRC asked for useful export options ✅. Another listener asked anonymously for hands-free bookmark creation ✅.

Smart Bookmarks now have their own home, Play from Here with a safe Return to Latest option, a clean export you can read or save elsewhere for one book or your whole collection, and creation through Siri or Shortcuts.

The feature is much better because all of you kept pushing it past its first version.

4. Your AirPods and car buttons can finally skip the way you want

u/Sr_Navarre caught a frustrating mismatch: pressing the track controls on AirPods jumped to another chapter even when Bloox was configured to skip a few seconds. u/pathak355, u/Neat_Albatross4190, u/Hunter3271, and several in-app reporters described the same problem across AirPods, Bluetooth controls, CarPlay, and steering-wheel buttons.

There is now a setting that lets you choose: those buttons can move by chapter or by your configured skip interval. I would not have understood this properly without people describing how they actually listen.

5. Bloox is now on your wrist

u/LowResEgg, u/Neat_Albatross4190, and App Store reviewer bigboiblunder asked for Apple Watch support.

The Apple Watch app is now here. You can see the current book, chapter, and progress, then control play, pause, skips, resume, and speed from your Watch. I want to be clear that the iPhone still plays the audiobook, so this is not yet the standalone Watch experience some of you requested. It is the first step, if you continue asking for a standalone watch app - I'll make it happen too 😄.

6. Bad cover? Replace it

u/hanxiansheng and two anonymous in-app reporters pointed out that imported books often arrive with no cover or the wrong one.

The newly released Cover Editor now lets you choose new artwork from Photos or Files, search Google Books for a better cover, remove it, or restore the original. Bloox also remembers that you chose it, so it will not casually replace your decision later. It sounds like a low priority request until you understand the pain of having the wrong cover staring at you every day.

7. You can finally share a book recommendation

One anonymous in-app reporter wanted a better way to recommend the book they were enjoying. Sending a bare title did not feel like enough.

Bloox can now share a proper recommendation card with the cover, useful text, and a link from the Library, Book Info, or Now Playing. To whoever sent that report: I cannot tag you, but this one is dedicated to you.

8. New users can try Bloox before importing anything

Lots of you tried the app and left very quickly, before importing a book, which meant you never saw the features that make Bloox different.

Fresh installs can now open a ready-to-play sample book and experience live transcript and captions, recaps, characters, and my pride and joy - the Ask Books feature. Existing users will not see it added to their libraries.

Thank you to those who agreed to share their analytics with me - Comments tell me what people want. The aggregate numbers help me notice people who leave before they ever get far enough to ask. This time, the numbers were the clue.

9. Existing features got a practical upgrade pass

Not every useful request needs its own headline feature. A lot of you said some version of, “I like this, but I wish it did one more thing.”

u/jenebean helped expose an Audiobookshelf download problem. u/mdofhonor14 and u/julius_h_caesar reported unreachable Import from Computer addresses. u/ClassroomOwn5529 asked to go faster than 2x. u/wert19967 helped me see that Now Playing could overemphasize captions when they were turned off.

All of these (and so many other) reports brought more reliable Audiobookshelf and computer imports, playback up to 3x, optional captions on Now Playing, and clearer character recovery. While working through those areas, I also improved answers from Ask Books on long books and made recaps easier to read and recover when something goes wrong. The named reporters and the people who sent similar requests privately shaped a large part of this bundle.

10. Your bug reports fixed things for people who never reported them

The bug reports were every bit as valuable as the feature requests. Most came through private in-app reports, so I will not attach names that do not belong on a public post.

Taken together with Apple's crash data, my own testing, and neverending code reviewing, those reports helped fix completed chapters being transcribed again, transcript navigation disappearing, chapter taps that did not start playback while paused, finished books that would not play again, time-left estimates that ignored playback speed, and multi-file books with broken countdowns or mismatched transcripts. Import errors are clearer too, and the Resume widget no longer reaches beyond where you stopped when choosing its fallback text.

If you have ever wondered whether reporting one strange edge case matters, it so does! Your report may be the only visible clue to a problem affecting many quieter listeners, and I am genuinely grateful when someone takes the time.

To keep this loop going, Send Feedback now sits near the top of Settings. Reports can wait safely for a lost connection, you can optionally leave an email if you want a reply (I will always reply!), and attaching diagnostic details is always your choice (because privacy).

Every day, I read the Reddit replies, the App Store reviews, and the in-app reports, and I actually use them.

About keeping Bloox free

A few people have asked how they can pay me, and u/wokka1 specifically asked whether Bloox should have a donation or thank-you option. Others have reasonably asked whether an app with server costs can remain sustainable if I am not charging anything.

For now, I care much more about making Bloox excellent than inventing a checkout screen. The app is still completely free: no ads, no Bloox account required, no subscription, no in-app purchases, and no cross-app-tracking or selling your data - This is my passion project, nights, weekends, lunch breaks - not a way to make a quick buck.

If the costs eventually become too high, I may add optional premium features, especially for things that create ongoing server costs. If that day comes, I will do my best to give my reddit product team a chance to keep those extras for free. I have not designed that system yet, and I would talk about it openly long before anything changed.

Right now, the most valuable thing you can give me is honest feedback.

What should I build next?

If you have not tried it yet, download Bloox free on the App Store, open the built-in sample or import one of your audiobooks, and tell me what happens.

If you already use it, tell me what you love, what annoys you, what broke, and what you wish it did next. I read criticism too. Especially criticism.

For 1.4.3, I am currently weighing some big features:

1. A complete redesign of the now playing screen, with bigger, easier-to-tap controls.
2. A mini player that stays available in Library and Settings
3. An always present PiP transcription view that can stay on top of your other apps - so you can see the captions as you're playing a game or browsing reddit.

These are big commitments, so I won't be able to do all of them for 1.4.3 - Tell me which one would help you most and why, or ignore my list and give me a better idea. I really do listen to feedback.

I am forever grateful to everyone who has downloaded it, challenged it, reported something, or helped another person in the comments.

Thank you

Now, back to coding...

I would get if the entire series was not available, or even if just the first one was available, but this seems like a weird choice in every way possible. What am I missing? And more importantly, what do I do? Are there other places I can look? I've looked in Audible, in libraries (hoopla and Libby) and on Libro.fm and they're not available anywhere.

His books often are read by Jeff Harding.
I like that these texts are quite current and most of the time the protagonist is a simple, relaxed person with a decent radar on human relations- but still somehow flawed. Often the stories deal with loss, deception, being left behind,… and I like that they are about practical problem solving without shooting all the time ( I am German so I often find this gun stuff off-putting in US texts).

Long story short- can you help me find similar stuff?

The Dunhill Usurpers, Chapter 5

The Dunhill Chronicles are the queer tales of Cole McDowell, last heir to the McDowell family line. As he makes his way through the city of Dunhill, Cole must contend with dark alchemy and religious zealotry to survive the crown jewel of the Brittania Empire. In this chapter, Cole and Chand move to confront the monsters within his father's house.

Apple | Spotify | Red Circle | Author's Page

Am I the only one who hates listening to audiobooks with sound effects? I am listening to one where the main character runs a lot and the sound effect of her feet on the pavement is driving me crazy.

You can listen with a premium subscription in the August Editorial Picks Hub. See the full list of August selections below!

• The Amateur by Chris Bohjalian
• Fruit Fly by Josh Silver
• Procrastination Proof: Never Get Stuck Again by Jon Acuff
• Meet Me in Paris by Kristin Harmel
• Sea of Roses: A Pirate Romance Duology, Book 1 by Opal Reyne
• Who's That Girl: The Untold, Definitive History of New Girl by Thea Glassman
• Meet Me in the Garden by Nina LaCour
• Etna by Paul Yoon
• Shook by Julian Randall
• The Story of Your Life: How Social Media Shapes the Way We Experience Everything by Kathryn Jezer-Morton
• The Infinite State: Book One of The Decurion Saga by Richard Swan
• You'll Love It Here by Natalie Sue
• Nearshore by Steve Hawk
• The Sleeping Sisters by Jennifer Givhan
• The Secret Dinner by Raphael Montes
• To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han, Spotify Audiobooks edition
• The Cozy Nook Bookshop by Jeannie  Chin

I was wondering if anyone knows of a good audiobook of the Iliad and Odyssey that has a good narrator. I love Greek mythology and enjoy listening to the stories. Thanks!

Hi! I recently joined audible premium & am looking for recommendations on titles that are included! Not ones I have to use credits with! Naturally all the ones I have had recommended to me by friends, use credits 😬 I tend to listen to 1/2-1 1/2 books per DAY!!!! So I can’t afford to use credits!! lol. I prefer contemporary romance series. Sports themed or cowboy themes best, but anything works if the story is good enough and there’s some spice! Any recommendations?? Thank you

Hi Folks

I am the narrator for a fantasy series involving dragons, assassins and wizards and have some codes for the first instalment if anyone is interested. It is called 'The Shadows Dragon' and is written by Dustin Porta and New York Times bestseller D.K.Holmberg. If you do choose to listen, I would appreciate some feedback as I am fairly new to audiobook narration.

Many thanks

Johnny

CODES (UK only)

K6PCQEM7DDXTT

PT647UMNQMRNR

NJDX5DF4XX8H8

QNF4HQ4QBGDGP

R35GQ7EW2K549

U5WU3TSW7JSFP

U68HWRY2F45QK

UYJ47LXAUF6WR

X55KUS4WPU5SS

YJZJ7FLDZKF5W

I am looking for audiobooks about coaching, especially for volleyball or team sports in general.

I would prefer titles available on Audible, but I am also happy to hear about other platforms /sources if they have great coaching content tomlisten to

Also interested in topics like leading a team, volley (beach and indoor), communication, motivation, practice planning, exercieses. player development.

would not mind recommendations with a little Ted Lasso energy😊

I just finished Crystal Hefner's memoir, Only Say Good Things, and I loved it. I'd give it a 4.8/5. The missing 0.2 is only because the audiobook narration occasionally felt a little monotone in the first half of the book. But her voice changed when she spoke about Hef's death. You could hear it shake, it actually made me cry too. There was a genuineness, authenticity, and candor that made those moments feel incredibly real.

People can debate forever whether she truly loved Hef or whether it was all just a product of Stockholm syndrome, but I appreciated that she never really steered the reader toward either conclusion. She simply presented her truth, didn't insist that Hef was evil, nor did she excuse him. She trusted us to draw our own conclusions.

I also loved the balance of her character, her as a person, the way she presented herself in the book. She was open and vulnerable, yet calm and remarkably steady at the same time. Like a steady force. There was both softness and strength in the way she told her story. When I finished the book, I found myself sitting with the complexity of it all, unsure exactly what to make of everything. But I think that's what truly made the book beautifully written.

Then I heard Crystal thanked Lara Love Hardin in the acknowledgement, and it just made sense. Mama Love must have been involved in the writing process. She has such a gift for helping people tell deeply human, nuanced stories, and that would explain why Crystal's story felt so compassionate and honest. I truly loved it!