10 audiobooks for fans of The Canterbury Tales
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Sophie’s World
by Jostein Gaarder, Paulette Møller
Narrated by Simon Vance
★ 4.18 ABR Score (287.0K ratings)★ 3.97 Goodreads (284.9K) ★ 4.42 Audible (2.0K)16h 53m listening time • Released 2007Simon Vance makes a philosophical mystery genuinely gripping—his performance pulls you through sixteen hours of existential questions like they're plot twists, not lectures.
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Cloud Atlas
by David Mitchell
Narrated by Scott Brick, Cassandra Campbell, Kim Mai Guest, Kirby Heyborne, John Lee, Richard Matthews, David Mitchell, Gabrielle Zevin
★ 4.01 ABR Score (276.8K ratings)★ 4.01 Goodreads (269.8K) ★ 4.11 Audible (7.1K)19h 48m listening time • Released 2004Seven narrators make this nested-worlds epic feel like a conversation across centuries, each voice perfectly matched to its era and character. It's the rare audiobook where the medium doesn't just serve the story—it becomes essential to how you experience it.
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Doctor Zhivago
by Boris Pasternak
Narrated by John Lee
★ 3.97 ABR Score (104.6K ratings)★ 4.01 Goodreads (103.8K) ★ 4.18 Audible (787)23h 18m listening time • Released 2011 -
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame
by Victor Hugo
Narrated by Simon Vance
★ 3.89 ABR Score (220.8K ratings)★ 4.02 Goodreads (220.8K) ★ 4.67 Audible (6)18h 35m listening time • Released 2022 -
Brown Dog
by Jim Harrison
Narrated by Bronson Pinchot, Ray Porter, Lloyd James
★ 4.00 ABR Score (3.2K ratings)★ 4.17 Goodreads (2.8K) ★ 4.37 Audible (459)18h 10m listening time • Released 2013Three narrators bring Harrison's irreverent Michigan rogue to life with perfectly calibrated voices—this collection captures BD's messy charm and dark humor better than reading it alone ever could.
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The small house at Allington
Chronicles of Barsetshire • Book 5
by Anthony Trollope
Narrated by Simon Vance
★ 3.77 ABR Score (379 ratings)★ 4.27 Goodreads (26) ★ 4.4 Audible (353)22h 59m listening time • Released 2007Simon Vance's narration transforms Trollope's masterpiece of romantic entanglement and social constraint into something achingly human—you'll hear the desperation beneath every drawing-room conversation.
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Demon Copperhead
by Barbara Kingsolver
Narrated by Charlie Thurston
★ 4.81 ABR Score (858.9K ratings)★ 4.46 Goodreads (824.6K) ★ 4.77 Audible (34.3K)21h 3m listening time • Released 2022 -
The Storyteller
by Jodi Picoult
Narrated by Mozhan Marno, Jennifer Ikeda, Edoardo Ballerini, Suzanne Toren, Fred Berman
★ 4.57 ABR Score (299.1K ratings)★ 4.3 Goodreads (278.1K) ★ 4.61 Audible (21.0K)18h 13m listening time • Released 2013Multiple narrators bring genuine depth to this emotional story about complicity and forgiveness—each voice makes you feel like you're hearing a different person's truth.
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The House of the Spirits
Trilogía Involuntaria • Book 3
by Isabel Allende, Magda Bogin
Narrated by Thom Rivera, Marisol Ramirez
★ 4.35 ABR Score (328.3K ratings)★ 4.3 Goodreads (325.3K) ★ 4.45 Audible (3.0K)18h 51m listening time • Released 2016 -
The Godfather
The Godfather • Book 1
by Mario Puzo
Narrated by Joe Mantegna
★ 4.35 ABR Score (468.1K ratings)★ 4.4 Goodreads (468.0K) ★ 4.88 Audible (128)18h 5m listening time • Released 2014Puzo's crime epic isn't just a novel about the Mafia — it's a story about power, family, and the American dream pursued by any means necessary.
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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.