The Best Audiobooks Under 5 Hours

Let's start off with a classic. Even after 100 years, listeners can't seem to get enough of The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald's tale of love and decadence during the Roaring Twenties. Nick Carraway is the narrator of the novel, sharing stories about all he sees in West Egg, including the lavish parties thrown by his millionaire neighbor, Jay Gatsby, and Gatsby's love for the beautiful—but married—Daisy Buchanan. Performing the narration for this acclaimed audio version is none other than Academy Award-nominated actor Jake Gyllenhaal.

Call for the Dead is the fantastic first book in John le Carré's George Smiley series. It's the thriller that launched his career, chronicling the escapades of an intelligence officer with a British overseas intelligence agency. Smiley would go on to be featured in le Carré's most famous novel, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and all of the George Smiley audiobooks are expertly narrated by English actor Michael Jayston.

The writings of Muriel Spark are genius, but somehow remain lesser-known classics. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is her most famous work, about a school teacher at an all-girls academy who has a real connection with her students, several of whom form a special group of her prized pupils. Narrating this classic British tale is the always brilliant actress Miriam Margolyes, who won a BAFTA Award for her role in The Age of Innocence and played Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter films.

Author Mohsin Hamid lends his voice to his novel about a young Pakistani immigrant's life in America, and how it changes after the events of September 11th. Changez was pursuing the American dream in NYC, as well pursuing a beautiful American woman, when that national tragedy caused him to lose everything. A story of heartbreak and disillusionment, The Reluctant Fundamentalist will make listeners think about how some Americans treat other Americans.

Saturday Night Live star Kate McKinnon and her real-life sister Emily Lynne created this Audible Original about Queen Mortuana of the Night Realm and her clueless minion Jojo, who receive word of a peasant rebellion and set off in search of an artifact that will squash the rebellion and keep the queen on the throne. Yes, Heads Will Roll is as amazing as it sounds, and features all-star guest voices from bazillion-time-award-honoree Meryl Streep and Game of Thrones star Peter Dinklage.

This is one of the best sci-fi short stories of the last few years. It's a wonderful novella about the Time War, and two time-traveling rivals, Red and Blue, who start to fall in love despite their loyalty to opposing factions and the danger it brings to their lives. And for two great characters, the audiobook features two great narrators: accomplished voice actors Cynthia Farrell and Emily Woo Zeller.

Ta-da! This is an uproarious collection of personal essays and more from the talented, award-winning star of the musical comedy series, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Rachel Bloom is known for her honesty, and in I Want to Be Where the Normal People Are, she details what it's like living with OCD and depression while juggling rising fame. Oh, and she tells funny stories about her childhood, made all the more hilarious by her pitch-perfect delivery.

Brené Brown has become one of the most respected and sought-after speakers, thanks to her lectures and best-selling books about the topics of courage, vulnerability, shame, and empathy. In Braving the Wilderness, Brown shares her wisdom about what it means to belong in a society where people are continuing to become more polarized. For Brown, true belonging is a daily practice that demands integrity and authenticity—something she believes can be achieved by those brave enough to try.

This highly lauded novel is one of the best short YA books of the decade, and an important one too. Author Nic Stone delivers a hard, visceral look at American race relations, as young Justyce McAllister tries to live by the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., but is still subjected to the difficulties and dangers of being Black in America. Dear Martin and its follow-up, Dear Justyce, are both expertly performed by The Wire actor and Hall of Fame narrator Dion Graham.

Of all Roald Dahl's works, this audiobook might be the choice best for young bookworms, as it features a book-loving protagonist. Matilda is a sweet little girl with terrible parents who don't understand her, and a horrible headmistress, Ms. Trunchbull, who is out to get her. But when Matilda fights back, she discovers she has a special superhuman power. This version of the beloved Matilda is narrated by the acclaimed performer Kate Winslet (who we’d argue could make even the phone book sound amazing).

The Giver is another classic work of young adult fiction, written before there really was such a classification. It's about the time of the annual Ceremony, when each 12-year-old receives a life assignment determined by the Elders. Jonas is given a special assignment, which leads him to a man known only as The Giver, and soon Jonas is left to question the foundations of their very society. Famed character actor Ron Rifkin narrates Lois Lowry's dystopian tale.

As relevant today as it was when it was first published, Man’s Search for Meaning is a book for finding strength and purpose in times of great despair.

“This is a book I reread a lot … it gives me hope … it gives me a sense of strength.”—Anderson Cooper, Anderson Cooper 360/CNN

Viktor E. Frankl was a medical doctor at a psychiatric hospital in 1942 when he became a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps in World War II. In 1946, he published this book about his camp experiences and a method of psychotherapy he developed. Forty-five years later, it was still named one of the most influential books in the United States.

Part One describes his three years in four Nazi concentration camps, which took the lives of his wife, father, mother, and brother. He closely observed inmates’ reactions to their situation, as well as how survivors came to terms with their liberation.

Part Two, introducing logotherapy, is an academic discussion of the psychological reactions experienced by all inmates to one degree or another. It solidified Frankl’s early theory that humanity’s primary motivational force is finding meaning in one’s life.

In Germany, titled Ein Psychologe erlebt das Konzentrationslager, or A Psychologist Experiences the Concentration Camp, its title in the first English translation was From Death-Camp to Existentialism. As of 2022, this book has sold 16 million copies and been published in 52 languages.

Caitlin Doughty is absolutely hilarious—not a quality you might expect in a mortician. But Doughty has a smart, death-positive take on dying, and she shares it with the world in her books and her YouTube series Ask a Mortician. In Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs?, she answers questions she has been asked by children about all kinds of topics surrounding death, because she knows grown-ups are curious about these things too—they're just afraid to ask.