{"id":215420,"date":"2025-09-10T11:58:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T11:58:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/215420\/"},"modified":"2025-09-10T11:58:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T11:58:14","slug":"the-11-best-celebrity-narrated-audiobooks-from-tom-hardy-doing-1984-to-jake-gyllenhaals-the-great-gatsby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/215420\/","title":{"rendered":"The 11 Best Celebrity-Narrated Audiobooks, From Tom Hardy Doing \u20181984\u2019 to Jake Gyllenhaal’s \u2018The Great Gatsby\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are some beloved books that we return to again and again. There are others that, try as we might, we just…can’t…get….through. <\/p>\n

Either category can benefit from be tackled in a different way: listening to the audiobook version. Perhaps you need to hear a familiar text delivered in a new tone; perhaps you just want to finally get all the way to the epilogue. Even better, there are plenty of celebrity readers \u2013 an astonishing firmament, in fact \u2013 who can help you in these endeavours. We’ve selected the best of the current crop of readers and writers that are right for you.
<\/p>\n

Jake Gyllenhaal reads \u2018 The Great Gatsby’ by F Scott Fitzgerald\"new<\/p>\n

Bruce Glikas<\/p>\n

For an actor who\u2019s often played men trying to understand their place in the world (Donnie Darko, Jarhead), Jake Gyllenhaal is the dream candidate for reading F Scott Fitzgerald\u2019s timelessly romantic and tragic account of a mysterious millionaire chasing the love of his life and the American dream.<\/p>\n

What to Read Next<\/p>\n

LISTEN HERE<\/a><\/p>\n

Michael Sheen reads \u2018 The Book of Dust’ by Philip Pullman \"new<\/p>\n

Dominik Bindl<\/p>\n

There are few actors who pour themselves into their roles quite like Michael Sheen (The Damned United, Good Omens), and with The Book of Dust, the Welsh actor has a host of characters to get his teeth into. He\u2019s recorded the first two books in the trilogy already \u2013 La Belle Sauvage and The Secret Commonwealth \u2013 and the third, The Rose Field, will be released in October. <\/p>\n

LISTEN HERE<\/a><\/p>\n

Chiwetel Ejiofor reads ‘Piranesi’ by Susanna Clarke<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"los<\/p>\n

Kayla Oaddams<\/p>\n

Susanna Clarke\u2019s tale is not about the 18th century Italian artist of the same name, though it does nod to his work in its depiction of a young man trapped in a strange, labyrinthine house. Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave) knows just how to deliver majesty and mystery, which is exactly what is required for this enigmatic novel. <\/p>\n

LISTEN HERE<\/a><\/p>\n

Tim Robbins reads ‘Farenheit 451’ by Ray Bradbury\"hollywood,<\/p>\n

Mike Coppola<\/p>\n

To read Ray Bradbury\u2019s iconic 1953 dystopian novel about a future American society hellbent on burning books<\/a>, you need a reader who can deliver both a veneer of American everymanism with an undercurrent of something darker. The Player\u2019s Tim Robbins is the perfect pick. <\/p>\n

LISTEN HERE<\/a><\/p>\n

Andrew Garfield, Cynthia Erivo, Andrew Scott and Tom Hardy read ‘1984’ by George Orwell\"venice,<\/p>\n

JB Lacroix<\/p>\n

Is there a more perfect casting of the voice of Big Brother than Tom Hardy<\/a>? Surely no actors bring such a heady combination of magnetism and menace. And he\u2019s far from alone in this starry performance of George Orwell\u2019s dystopian nightmare, which also features Andrew Garfield as Winston, Cynthia Erivo as Julia and Andrew Scott as O\u2019Brien.<\/p>\n

LISTEN HERE<\/a><\/p>\n

Matt Bomer reads ‘A Little Life’ by Hanya Yanagihara \"santa<\/p>\n

Daniele Venturelli<\/p>\n

If you like the idea of acknowledging the 10th anniversary of Hanya Yanagihara\u2019s saga of one special man\u2019s spectacular decline by revisiting it, then you can fill your boots with nearly 29 hours of it with this new audiobook version, read by Matt Bomer. If you\u2019ve not read\/listened to it before, have a hankie on hand. <\/p>\n

LISTEN HERE<\/a><\/p>\n

Jeremy Irons reads ‘Lolita’ by Vladimir Nabokov\"rome,<\/p>\n

Stefania D’Alessandro<\/p>\n

Sometimes with an audiobook version of a novel, it\u2019s best not to overthink the casting. Jeremy Irons has already appeared in the memorable 1997 film adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov\u2019s deeply unsettling novel about the paedophilic infatuation of a perverted poet with a young girl, so he gets the Humbert Humbert gig again for this audiobook version. <\/p>\n

LISTEN HERE<\/a><\/p>\n

Nick Offerman, David Sedaris and more read ‘Lincoln in the Bardo’ by George Saunders\"los<\/p>\n

Matt Winkelmeyer<\/p>\n

The amount of herding cats that must have gone into the narration of George Saunders\u2019 Booker-Prize-winning book about the ghostly encounters of Abraham Lincoln\u2019s late son Willie must have been extensive. Though Saunders, Nick Offerman and David Sedaris get the main credits, there were 163 other voices involved, including Julianne Moore, Lena Dunham and Keegan-Michael Key. Unsurprisingly, it was awarded \u201caudiobook of the year\u201d in 2018. <\/p>\n

LISTEN HERE<\/a><\/p>\n

Dan Stevens does ‘Frankenstein’ by Mary Shelley\"today<\/p>\n

NBC<\/p>\n

Mary Shelley\u2019s tragic story of a man and his monster is in the ether once again with Guillermo del Toro\u2019s film version forthcoming, but it\u2019s a moral that\u2019s always worth revisiting for what it tells us about humanity, dignity, and the ethics of ambition. Downton Abbey\u2019s Dan Stevens has a voice that you\u2019d be happy to hear read the phonebook, so the fact that this is a twisty gothic nightmare is an extra thrill. <\/p>\n

LISTEN HERE<\/a><\/p>\n

Benedict Cumberbatch does ‘The Order of Time’ by Carlo Rovelli \"cannes,<\/p>\n

Gareth Cattermole<\/p>\n

Another audiobook of the year winner from 2018 (in a different competition), Benedict Cumberbatch reads Carlo Rovelli\u2019s delicately told story of, well, time: how it works, if it works, if it even exists. Of course the physical concepts under discussion are complex, but Rovelli explains them beautifully, and Cumberbatch\u2019s narration does the same. <\/p>\n

LISTEN HERE<\/a><\/p>\n

Michael C Hall reads ‘Pet Sematary’ by Stephen King\"new<\/p>\n

Noam Galai<\/p>\n

You hate to see an actor getting typecast, but if they\u2019re so good at being creepy, maybe they\u2019re right to lean into it. Dexter\u2019s Michael C Hall reading Stephen King\u2019s 1983 horror novel Pet Sematary is pretty genius casting as far as we\u2019re concerned, even if it\u2019s one we might want to skip at bedtime. <\/p>\n

LISTEN HERE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There are some beloved books that we return to again and again. There are others that, try as…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":215421,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[1022,2392,117771,1201,171,3181,1200,117770,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-215420","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-content-type-feature","10":"tag-contentid-67a5ccb0-50fb-4b6d-a0cc-881f4d036afc","11":"tag-displaytype-standard-article","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-hasproduct-true","14":"tag-locale-gb","15":"tag-shorttitle-the-11-best-celebrity-narrated-audiobooks","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115179888363460029","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215420\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}