This year, I hope to increase my audiobook listening, and I am sharing the audiobooks I plan to listen to.
I have listened to audiobooks for years, but once I stopped homeschooling, my audiobook listening decreased to just a few a year.
I want to fix that in 2026.
For me, this means fewer podcasts and more audiobooks.
My goal for 2026 is to listen to at least one audiobook a month. I think this is something I can easily do because one of my other goals is to scroll through social media and the news less.
I love news and politics, but in 2025, I realized that I was just listening to too much of it. I want to use the time I spent listening to those things to read more books.
In 2025, I listened to the Noiser podcast of Julie Andrews reading Pride and Prejudice. I loved listening to it and decided to do more classics on audio in 2026.
I have read a lot of classics like Jane Austen, Anne of Green Gables, and others, but it has been years. Other books like The Chronicles of Narnia, I have only read one or two in the series.
In 2026, I want to reread some of the classics I have read before and finish some series I started years ago.
I also like to listen to mysteries, like Agatha Christie on audio, so I want to listen to more of those this year.
I also added a few random books to my list because I think the audio will be good. I am also looking for more audiobooks to listen to, so I would love to hear what I should add to the list.
Audiobooks To Listen To In 2026
We have an audible subscription and have Spotify, so that is how I will get most of these books. I also use the library for audiobooks.
Emma by Jane Austen, narrated by Multiple People. I read this years ago and am looking forward to listening to it this time.
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. This is another one that I read years ago and am looking forward to listening to it this time.
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery. I read the first few books in the Anne of Green Gables series when I was a kid. When I was homeschooling my kids, we listened to audiobooks from the library. That was back when they were on cassettes and CDs. I decided that since I want to read more YA books in 2026, it would be a good time to listen to the audiobook again.
Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell. I have watched the BBC show Cranford, but I am not sure if I have read the whole book. I know I started it, but I don’t think I ever finished reading it. I am looking forward to trying the audiobook.
Little Women by Louis May Alcott. This is another one that I read as a kid, and again when I was homeschooling my kids. I started this one at the end of December and finished it this week. I loved it. I think I appreciated it more this time than I did when I read it years ago. I listened to Little Women by Louisa May Allcott in January.
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. I have read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and my kids listened to the audiobook series, but I have never read the entire series. I thought adding it ot my audiobooks for 2026 might help me finish the whole series.
My Life In France by Julia Child. I read this book at least ten years ago. I have been thinking of rereading it, so I decided to add it to the books I want to listen to this year.
Agatha Christie Books. I have a goal to read all of Agatha Christie’s Hercule Periot books. I have enjoyed several of them on audio, so listening to more this year will help me reach that goal.
Big Dumb Eyes by Nate Bargatze. My daughter gave my husband this book for Christmas, and I decided it would be great on audio since Nate Bargatze narrated it.
I would love to hear your suggestions for other audiobooks to add to my list. If you love audiobooks, please share your favorites in the comments.
I’ve only st arted listening to audiobooks and I’m glad that I did! I’m listening to The British Are Coming by Rick Atkinson right now. I think that I find non fiction and very science heavy books (like Project Hail Mary) to be easier to listen to.
The British are Coming has been on my tbr list for awhile. It sounds like a great book. Audiobooks are a great way to get more nonfiction in.
In the past I’ve had difficulty retaining or staying engaged with audio books as I am a visual learner. However, I really enjoy listening to biography audio books when they are read by the author. Kathie Lee Gifford reads for her audio books and the time flies by.
Memoirs narrated by the authors are some of my favorite audiobooks! I have not listened to any by Kathie Lee Gifford, but I definitely know who she is and can imagine that she is great at narrating her books. I will look some of them up. Thank you!
I really love the Anne of Green Gables version read by actress Rachel McAdams, but you can only get that one on Audible. For the rest of the series, I like the ones read by Barbara Caruso.
I have a book blog, too, where I recently did a post on my top 25 audiobooks: https://forthejoyofbooks.com/best-audiobooks/
I will say that the one genre I have a hard time listening to on audio is fantasy because they tend to have a lot of characters, but I can see it working well for a re-read. (Any book with a lot of character tends to be harder on audio.)
The Rachel McAdams one is the one I was planning for Anne of Green Gables, but I wasn’t sure after that. So thank you for the suggestion for the others in the series.
I can definitely see why fantasy would be hard on audio!
You have a great list started. I almost always have an audiobook going during commute time and enjoy listening to classics, especially those that have foreign words (ie. all the French names in A Tale of Two Cities). I listened to the Chronicles of Narnia series last month. This week I’ll be starting The Last of the Mohicans.
Other than classics, I try to choose audiobooks from titles that are on my TBR list. It’s a helpful way to make progress on my goal of reading the books I already own.
I have never read The Last of the Mohicans. I would love to hear what you think of it when you are done because we have similar reading tastes.
I have mixed feelings. The descriptive narrative is so wordy that it’s almost burdensome. On the other hand, the story is so gripping that I couldn’t wait to find out what would happen next. The audiobook was 15 hours and while I usually listen on my commute, I was listening every chance I could get and finished it in 4 days. It was really good and also really intense, and I’m glad I read it but don’t see myself reading it a second time.
I’m pretty new to audiobooks too, but have begun to really enjoy them. The Unselected Journals of Emma M Lion were the audiobooks that made me love audiobooks. My next favorites have been Kate Quinn The Rose Code and currently The Alice Network.
I love Emma M. Lion and Kate Quinn books, but I have read them print version. I am so glad to hear that the audio versions are great too! If I reread Emma M. Lion I will do audio on the reread.
I love audiobooks. One that I loved last year was Miss Benson’s Beetle by Rachel Joyce. It’s a wonderful story about friendship inspired by two real-life friends.
I am so glad to know that the audio of Miss Benson’s Beetle is good! I have it on my to be read list, so I might have to do the audiobook version.