5-star audiobooks according to a certified audiobook hater

Welcome back to Worth the Chat. I’m writing this as I count down the hours to the Love Island UK season finale—bless up to VPNs for making it possible to digitally teleport across the pond and bypass the three-day delay. But its ending is bringing a sudden lull to my content diet, coinciding with the end-of-month premiere slump. And really, unless you're a superhero nerd (congratulations, because Comic-Con absolutely fed you this weekend), pop culture seems to be taking a little summer vacation.

So what am I doing with my newfound entertainment hours? Finally making a dent in my towering TBR.

I've been performatively packing books in my beach bag all summer with every intention of reading them, only to make it through a page or two before reaching for my phone or gabbing with a friend. The thing is, I love reading. I love books, I'm in two book clubs, and I spend an embarrassing amount of time keeping up with new releases (hence the towering TBR). But somewhere between buying a book or getting that Libby notification, and actually starting it, it begins to feel less like entertainment and more like homework. In other words, I'm in a reading slump.

Bookish queens know the answer to getting out of said slump is audiobooks. Unfortunately, I find most audiobooks are really, really bad. I struggle with the monotony of single narrators, and cringe out hard over romance spoken word. It takes a profoundly talented performer—and a production team willing to treat the audiobook as more than a box to check during publishing—to create something special.

It’s why I mainly stick to memoirs narrated by the celebrity themselves (these are my favorites). But every once in a while, a fiction audiobook comes along that treats the format as the main event.

Keep scrolling for the rare fiction audiobooks that made this certified audiobook hater admit defeat.

Narrated by a full 20+ cast including: Benjamin Bratt, Judy Greer, and audiobook QUEEN Julia Whelan

If you know me, you knew this was coming. I've squeezed Daisy Jones into Pix newsletters every chance I get because I genuinely think it's the perfect audiobook. The entire novel is structured as an oral history, so every character gets their own voice. Instead of reading interview transcripts, it feels like you're listening to the world's greatest music documentary. The cast completely disappears into the roles, and by the end you'll probably forget the band never actually existed. I've recommended this audiobook to more than 20 people, and every single one has come back to tell me I was right—even my dad, who exclusively listens to British crime novels.