Stories Read Aloud for Every Age

Reading is my hobby, my passion and my obsession. I am not afraid to admit that I collect (hoard) books and have more than 7,000 books in my house. They are in every room, in every corner. My husband fears for the structural integrity of our floors on higher levels. He is not wrong to do so. Books are heavy.

I cannot stop buying them. Each one offers such possibilities. Will they become a friend or a mentor? Will they disappoint, but teach me why that is? Will they linger on my shelves for years waiting for me to open them knowing I may never catch up with my stack of books to read.

My library is a source of pride, happiness and anticipation. It feeds me and sustains me. It gives me comfort.

I am an addict.

A book addict.

When I can’t read, I turn to audio books. I love to listen while I use the treadmill or go on long solo road trips. For those short jaunts about town, I turn to audio short stories.

The great news is that there are plenty of places to get audio files for free, here are some of my favorite:


Short Stories & Audio Books for an Adult Audience

Selected Shorts by Symphony Space is available through iTunes or directly from the Symphony Space shop. This is my favorite spot for short stories. Recent offerings are available for free through iTunes, but older stories can be found at the Symphony Space shop for a nominal fee. They record these short stories in New York during performances where actors perform the stories live. There is nothing quite like hearing Meryl Streep, Leonard Nemoy, Alec Baldwin and other top actors read stories from the world’s best short stories.

Dearly Departed Authors Reading Aloud
Flannery O’Connor, Hemingway, Vonnegut, James Joyce, and more. Authors reading their words aloud even though they are no longer with us. Do not miss this experience. You won’t regret it. I promise. And if you are ever in New York, get tickets to a live performance.

LibraVox
Books in the public domain read aloud by volunteers. You can listen to thousands of books in the catalog or volunteer to read yourself.

Open Culture
This site offers 630 free audio books, all of which are in the public domain.

Audible.com
While this is a pay service that operates much like Netflix, but for audio books, it does offer a free 30-day trial. They have the latest and greatest in publishing.

iBooks
iBooks (through iTunes) also offers a range of free audiobooks, as well as newer titles for a fee. So does Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

Lit2Go
Lit2Go offers free selections from authors and America’s founders in MP3 format. This site includes books, poems and speeches. It is worth checking out as it has a slightly different offering than other sites.

The Guardian Story Podcast
The Guardian has a short story podcast available that includes an interview with the story’s writer and a reading of the work by a different writer. The podcast is available for free.

Listen to Genius Short StoriesFree short story downloads read by professional narrators. It is a limited list, but a good one.

Public Libraries & Overdrive
Nearly every public library offers free audiobooks through their web sites or through books on tape/CD. This is a great way to find more current titles. Besides it is a wonderful way to support your local library system.

Children’s & Young Adult Fiction

For those of us who still love children’s books and young adult, here are a few sites worth checking out:

The Children’s Book Council
The Children’s Book Council offers authors reading their books on a YouTube channel. Not the entire book, but still fun. You will find a wide range of authors on this site, including some of the most popular young adult authors, like John Green, Suzanne Collins and Lemony Snicket.

StoryLineOnline
This is for the child in all of us. Storyline has members of SAG (Screen Actors Guild) reading picture books. What’s better than Betty White reading “Harry the Dirty Dog” by Gene Zion? Grab a child and have a listen.

Speakaboos
This is another site with authors reading picture books aloud. The actors include Kevin Bacon, Kelly Ripa, and more.

StorytimeOnline UK
British celebrities reading books for young and middle grade students from under age 5 through 11 and older.

A Favorite Author Reading:

Lastly, but most importantly, here are some links to a favorite author reading a variety of selections:

Neil Gaiman Reading “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens

Neil Gaiman Reading “The Graveyard Book” in its entirety.

Neil Gaiman and Friends Reading Coraline
This is a video. Each chapter is read by a different person. The entire book is available in changing voices.

Happy listening!