10 audiobooks for fans of Beowulf
- 1
The Essential Rumi
by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi, Coleman Barks, Reynold Alleyne Nicholson, A.J. Arberry, John Moyne
Narrated by Robertson Dean
★ 4.32 ABR Score (51.4K ratings)★ 4.39 Goodreads (50.8K) ★ 4.58 Audible (517)More about this pick
Coleman Barks' translations of the 13th-century Sufi mystic flow between ecstatic love poetry and profound spiritual insight. Robertson Dean's warm voice gives these timeless verses about divine longing their full emotional weight.
- 2
The Brothers K
by David James Duncan
Narrated by Robertson Dean
★ 4.17 ABR Score (17.2K ratings)★ 4.39 Goodreads (17.1K) ★ 4.78 Audible (83)More about this pick
Robertson Dean captures each family member's distinct voice as the Chance family navigates Vietnam War-era America through baseball, religion, and sibling bonds spanning decades.
- 3
A Brief History of Seven Killings
by Marlon James
Narrated by Robertson Dean, Cherise Boothe, Dwight Bacquie, Ryan Anderson, Johnathan McClain, Robert Younis, Thom Rivera
★ 3.98 ABR Score (40.8K ratings)★ 3.89 Goodreads (38.4K) ★ 4.25 Audible (2.4K)More about this pick
The 1976 attempt on Bob Marley's life explodes into Jamaica's political violence through multiple narrators spanning decades.
- 4
As I Lay Dying Novel
Sin and Salvation • Book 3
by William Faulkner
Narrated by Marc Cashman, Robertson Dean, Lina Patel, Lorna Raver, Jesmyn Ward
★ 3.78 ABR Score (190.8K ratings)★ 3.72 Goodreads (188.9K) ★ 4.03 Audible (1.9K)More about this pick
Faulkner's stream-of-consciousness masterpiece gets new life through multiple narrators representing the Bundren family's fractured perspectives. Each voice adds layers to this darkly comic journey to bury Addie Bundren.
- 5
This Side of Paradise
by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Narrated by Robertson Dean
★ 3.71 ABR Score (81.0K ratings)★ 3.63 Goodreads (80.6K) ★ 4.01 Audible (395)More about this pick
Fitzgerald's debut follows privileged Amory Blaine through Princeton and beyond as he drifts through love affairs and existential crises in the pre-war era.
- 6
Of Mice and Men Novella
by John Steinbeck
Narrated by Gary Sinise
★ 4.51 ABR Score (2.9M ratings)★ 3.9 Goodreads (2.9M) ★ 4.69 Audible (12.0K)More about this pick
Two migrant workers chase the American Dream during the Depression — George protecting his mentally disabled friend Lennie. Gary Sinise brings deep understanding to these characters, having played George on stage and screen.
- 7
The Old Man And The Sea Novel
by Ernest Hemingway
Narrated by Donald Sutherland
★ 4.43 ABR Score (1.3M ratings)★ 3.81 Goodreads (1.3M) ★ 4.66 Audible (13.8K)More about this pick
Santiago's epic struggle with a giant marlin in the Gulf Stream becomes a meditation on perseverance, enhanced by Donald Sutherland's weathered, contemplative reading.
- 8
The Sonnets - William Shakespeare
by William Shakespeare
Narrated by Alex Jennings
★ 4.06 ABR Score (113.2K ratings)★ 4.25 Goodreads (113.1K) ★ 4.39 Audible (57)More about this pick
Alex Jennings brings nuanced interpretation to Shakespeare's 154 interconnected poems, finding fresh meaning in verses that have sparked centuries of debate about love, beauty, and mortality.
- 9
A Christmas Carol
Narrated by Maxine Mitchell, Tim Paige, Lucy Rivers, Tieran Wilder, Devon Ryder, Gary Furlong, Joe Arden, Sebastian York, Troy Duran
★ 3.96 ABR Score (947.6K ratings)★ 4.09 Goodreads (947.6K) ★ 5 Audible (6)More about this pick
Ebenezer Scrooge faces three spirits who show him past, present, and future Christmases to save his soul from eternal misery. A nine-narrator performance brings new voices to Dickens's timeless tale of redemption and second chances.
- 10
Einstein’s Dreams
by Alan Lightman
Narrated by Grover Gardner
★ 3.94 ABR Score (44.1K ratings)★ 4.06 Goodreads (43.2K) ★ 4.14 Audible (918)More about this pick
Grover Gardner's meditative delivery transforms these interconnected visions of time into something hypnotic—each dream lands with quiet wonder rather than intellectual weight, making the physics feel deeply human.
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How We Rank Audiobooks
Rankings are driven by listener ratings and review counts from Audible and Goodreads. Books with high ratings across a large number of listeners rank higher — a 4.5 with 50,000 ratings says more than a 4.8 with 200.
Unlike most book lists, we weight audiobook-specific factors: narrator performance, production quality, and how well a story translates to audio. A great book with a poor narration isn't a great audiobook.
We don't accept paid placements or prioritize new releases. These rankings reflect what listeners actually enjoy, not what's being promoted.
Rankings update periodically as new ratings come in and new titles are added to the collection.