If you spend a lot of time listening to audiobooks, you know how much a narrator can make–or break–a book. Finding a narrator you like is as subjective as any other art form. If you listen to someone who reads in a way that really meshes with your tastes and enhances a book, remember that you can find more read by that narrator in the library catalog by searching for the name. The narrator is always listed in the record as an added author or as “read by,” so you can find them wherever your listening takes you!

Here are some recommendations by our staff. Happy listening!

Matthew Blaney: Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe • Recommended by Shauna

“Say Nothing is an excellent and compelling work of nonfiction. Listening to Matthew Blaney’s broad Irish brogue enhances the story and Keefe’s writing to fully immerse you in the world of Northern Ireland and the Troubles. The storytelling and narration were so good, they drove me in search of more on the topic. Luckily, Hulu obliged by adapting the book into a very good limited series in 2024; and Stuart Neville’s The Ghosts of Belfast (Book 1 of his Belfast Novels) makes a suspenseful, psychologically intense companion with as much truth in its focus on a former IRA assassin who is haunted by his crimes.”

Frankie Corzo • Recommended by Brigida

“Frankie Corzo has narrated over 200 books and is an Audie Award and Earphones Award winning narrator. Her voice has been praised as smooth, enthralling and eloquent—an especially good match for supernatural and horror novels. I especially appreciate her clear delivery and respect for Spanish and other languages when narrating translated or bicultural stories. In the extensive list of audiobooks that she has narrated, you can find Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Gothic, Cozy Mysteries, and Literary Fiction for adults, teens, and children. Ms. Corzo has narrated important nonfiction works such as Death and Life of Aida Hernandez, and the upcoming El Paso: Five Families and One Hundred Years of Blood, Migration, Race, and Memory. Her audiobooks can be found as compact disc throughout our libraries and in digital format in our Libby, Cloud Library, and Palace platforms. Fun fact: Frankie Corzo is the narrator for both our 2026 One City, One Story title, The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami AND the 2023 Summer OCOS title, L.A. Weather by Maria Amparo Escandón.”

Lynette Freeman: Black Cake  by Charmaine Wilkerson • Recommended by Claire

Freeman’s lovely Caribbean accent enhances the book.

Anything by Simon Vance is always good!

Jonathan Groff: The Killer Across the Table: Unlocking the Secrets of Serial Killers and Predators with the FBI’s original Mindhunter by John E. Douglas  • Recommended by Karla

Helen Laser: Yellowface by R.F. Kuang • Recommended by Christina

John Lee: Century Trilogy and Kinsgsbridge Novels by Ken Follett • Recommended by Shauna

“John Lee, an actor, producer and playwright from England, has narrated hundreds of audiobooks, so if you try one of these suggestions and enjoy his reading, you’ll find tons more to listen to! Lee brings the past to life when he narrates these series by Ken Follett. For the Century Trilogy (Fall of Giants / Winter of the World / Edge of Eternity), which spans the 20th century from WWI to WWII and the Cold War years, Lee creates subtle shifts in tone or accent to differentiate characters in England, the US, Wales or Germany. He narrates clearly and at a good pace to keep you engaged through nearly 100 hours (total for all three books). Similarly, Lee’s narration enhances Follett’s other series of historical fiction. The Kingsbridge novels (The Pillars of the Earth / World Without End /A Column of Fire / The Evening and the Morning / The Armor of Light) cover 600 years (from the 12th to the 18th centuries) in the life of a single English city and the people who live there. Something about Lee’s subtlety and quiet, assured delivery is appealing to me. I don’t particularly want a full cast of readers performing all the characters, or any narrator who hams it up too much. For my tastes it’s about a narrator who is confident in letting the writing shine by reading in a straightforward manner and letting the story tell itself.”

Anton Lesser • Recommended by Young

“Anton Lesser is a classically trained British actor who has a naturally great voice for playing Shakespearean characters and basically any characters that require a dramatic voice with great intellectual and emotional depth. I came across his name many years ago when I listened to his narration of John Milton’s Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained. His voice is perfect for reading these two English poems aloud. An actor by training, he has a good vocal range that he uses to bring any novel or poem to life. He does an amazing job representing Satan, Sin, Death, the fallen angels, Adam, Eve, and God with his voice. Lesser does book narrations for other works of literature, and he does a phenomenal job across different genres.”

Natalie Naudus • Recommended by Chloe

“Natalie Naudus is a queer author and audiobook narrator almost exclusively for sapphic novels. Like Julia Whelan, she has a very calming and neutral voice that is easy to listen to. Good audiobooks that Natalie has narrated: Never Ever Getting Back Together by Sophie Gonzales and I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston.”

Trevor Noah: Born a Crime by Trevor Noah • Recommended by Claire

“The absolute top of the list should be Born A Crime, read by Trever Noah himself.  Apart from reading it really well, he also does various accents, including Xhosa clicks.  Definitely  a case where the audiobook is better than the physical book.”

Brittany Pressley and Jesse Valinsky • Recommended by Chloe

“Jesse Valinsky and Brittany Pressley tend to read for lighthearted romances, and YA/Teen titles, but I think that their voices work well in those contexts. Jesse in particular does a good job of capturing exasperated, anxious teenage girl really well. Brittany is also good at doing different character voices, which is not something that every narrator can pull off convincingly. Maybe it’s because my expectations for a YA title are different than adult fiction–I might be a little more forgiving of questionable writing/plot since I know I am about 15 years removed from being the target audience for these books–but I actually do think that these women have managed to enhance some otherwise middling or forgettable books, with their voices. If nothing else, they narrate audiobooks that are really fun/entertaining to listen to.

“Good Brittany Pressley audiobooks: Well Met by Jen Deluca and Again, But Better by Christine Riccio

“Good Jesse Valinsky audiobooks: Better Than The Movies and Nothing Like the Movies by Lynn Painter”

Julia Whelan • Recommended by Chloe

“If you have listened to any audiobook narrated by a woman over the past few years, you have most likely heard Julia Whelan’s voice. She is prolific, and I can see why she is so sought after. Her voice is very calming, but also very neutral. Some people’s voices can be distracting or grating to listen to, but Julia’s isn’t. She helps keep the focus on the words and it helps me as a listener feel more engaged in the story. I don’t know if I would listen to her read anything/everything (a good narration can’t fix bad writing), but Julia does a great job of enhancing the enjoyment of almost every audiobook I listen to. Some favorite audiobooks narrated by Julia: Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid and People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry.”

Julia Whelan: My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh • Recommended by Christina

“In this darkly funny novel, a young woman in early 2000s New York decides to opt out of life for a year by sleeping it off with a pharmacy’s worth of pills. Julia Whelan makes the narrator’s blankness feel intentional, funny, and oddly intimate rather than flat. Whelan balances deadpan humor with grief, keeping you hooked even when the character is trying very hard not to feel anything. “