Hear 75 Free, Classic Audio Books on Spotify: Austen, Joyce, Bukowski, Kafka, Vonnegut, Poe, Shakespeare, Kerouac & More

spotify-free-audio-books

Here’s a little known tip. If you open Spotify, click “Browse” (in the left hand nav), then scroll way down to “Word,” you will find a number of free audiobook collections–readings by Sylvia PlathLangston Hughes, and Dylan Thomas; old time crime and sci-fi dramas; a big H.P. Lovecraft compendium and more. But that way of navigating things really only scratches the surface of what Spotify has to offer.

If you rummage around enough, you’ll find many quality recordings–everything from Christopher Lee reading Dracula and Frankenstein, to Kurt Vonnegut reading four of his novels, to a 68-hour playlist of Shakespeare’s plays being performed by legendary actors. We’ve found 75+ recordings in recent months and gradually added them to our collection, 1,000 Free Audio Books: Download Great Books for Free. But they seemed worth highlighting and calling to your attention here.

If you need Spotify’s free software, download it here. And if you find any other gems, please list them in the comments below and we’ll add them to our list.

  • Austen, JanePride and PrejudiceSpotify
  • Beckett, Samuel Waiting for Godot (Theatrical performance with Bert Lahr) – Spotify
  • Bukowski, Charles – 4 Hours of Bukowski Readings – Spotify
  • Bukowski, CharlesHostageSpotify
  • Bukowski, CharlesMaster CollectionSpotify
  • Burroughs, William S.Call Me Burroughs (his first spoken word album) – Spotify
  • Burroughs, William S. – Let Me Hang You (posthumous album settting readings of Naked Lunch to music) – Spotify
  • Carroll, Lewis – Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Read by Sir John Gielgud) – Spotify
  • Carroll, Lewis – Through the Looking Glass (Read by Joan Greenwood, Stanley Holloway) – Spotify

  • Ciardi, JohnAs If: Poems New and Selected by John Ciardi (read by the author) –Spotify
  • Coleridge, SamuelPoems (Read by Ralph Richardson) – Free Spotify
  • Collins, BillyThe Best Cigarette (Poetry collection read by the author) – Free Spotify
  • Collins, BillySoapSpotify
  • Conan Doyle, Arthur The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (64 Hours of Readings) – Spotify
  • Dante AlighieriThe Inferno, Cantos I-VIII (Read by John Ciardi) – Spotify
  • Defoe, Daniel Robinson Crusoe (Read by Nigel Graham)
  • Dickinson, EmilyPoems & Letters – Spotify
  • Eliot, T.S. – The Cocktail Party (Performed by Alec Guinness & Cathleen Nesbitt) – Free Spotify
  • Eliot, T.S.Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats (Read by T.S. Eliot) – Spotify playlist
  • Eliot, T.S. T.S. Eliot Reading Poems and ChorusesSpotify
  • Eliot T.S.T.S. Eliot Reads the Waste LandSpotify
  • Ferlinghetti, Lawrence A Coney Island of the MindSpotify
  • Frost, RobertRobert Frost Reads His PoetryFree Spotify
  • Ginsberg, AllenHowlSpotify
  • Ginsberg, Allen – First Blues: Rags, Ballads and Harmonium SongsSpotify
  • Ginsberg, AllenThe Last Word on First BluesSpotify
  • Ginsberg, Allen The Lion for Real – Free on Spotify
  • Ginsberg, Allen Witchita Vortex SutraSpotify
  • Hawthorne, Nathaniel – The Scarlet LetterSpotify
  • Hugo, Victor – The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Abridged version read by Christopher Lee) – Spotify
  • Hesse, Hermann – Siddhartha – Spotify
  • Hitchcock, Alfred – Alfred Hitchcock Presents Ghost Stories for Young PeopleSpotify
  • Hughes, LangstonLangston Hughes Reads Langston HughesSpotify
  • Hughes, Langston  The Dream Keeper and Other Poems of Langston Hughes (Read by Hughes) – Spotify
  • Hughes, Langston The Glory of Negro HistorySpotify
  • Hughes, LangstonThe Voice of Langston HughesSpotify
  • Joyce, James Dubliners – Free on Spotify
  • Joyce, James – “The Dead” (Read by Bart Wolffe) – Spotify
  • Kafka, Franz – The Metamorphosis – Spotify
  • Kerouac, Jack4 Albums with Kerouac Reciting Poetry & VerseSpotify
  • Leroux, GastonThe Phantom of the Opera (Abridged version read by Christopher Lee) – Spotify
  • Lovecraft, H.P – The Call of of Cthulhu & Other StoriesSpotify
  • Melville, Herman – Moby-Dick (Abridged version read by Hayward Morse) – Spotify
  • Miller, Arthur – Readings from The Crucible and Death of a SalesmanSpotify
  • Nabokov, Vladimir – Vladimir Nabokov Reads from Lolita & Selected Poems – Spotify
  • Nash, OgdenChristmas with Ogden NashSpotify
  • Nash, OgdenOgden Nash Reads Ogden NashSpotify
  • Neruda, PabloPablo Neruda Lee a Pablo Neruda (in Spanish) – Spotify
  • Orwell, George – Animal FarmSpotify
  • Poe, Edgar AllanThe Essential Edgar Allan PoeSpotify
  • Poe, Edgar AllanThe Mask of the Red Death (Read by William S. Burroughs) –Spotify
  • Prokofiev, SergeiPeter and the Wolf (Narrated by David Bowie) – Spotify
  • Sandburg, CarlA Lincoln Album: Readings by Carl SandurgSpotify
  • Sandburg, Carl The People YesSpotify
  • Sexton, AnneWhat’s ThatSpotify
  • Schiller, Friedrich – Poetry of Friedrich von Schiller: Read in German by KinskiSpotify
  • Shakespeare, William – A 68 Hour Playlist of Shakespeare’s Plays Being Performed by Great Actors: Gielgud, McKellen & MoreFree on Spotify
  • Shakespeare, WilliamHamlet (French translation by Marcel Pagnol) – SpotifyYouTube
  • Shakespeare, WilliamHamlet (Starring John Gielgud) – Spotify + Archive.org
  • Shakespeare, WilliamMacbeth (with Alec Guinness) – Free Spotify
  • Shelley, Mary – Frankenstein (Abridged version read by Christophe Lee) – Spotify
  • Shelley, Percy Bysshe Various Poems (Read by Vincent Price) – Free Spotify
  • Steinbeck, John – “The Snake” and “Johnny Bear” – Free Stream – Spotify
  • Stevenson, Robert Louis – The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde (Read by Christopher Lee) – Spotify
  • Stevenson, Robert Louis – Treasure Island (Read by Hans Conried) – Spotify
  • Stoker, Bram – Dracula (Read by Christopher Lee) – Spotify
  • Thomas, DylanDylan Thomas Reads 8 Hours of His PoetrySpotify
  • Thomas, Dylan An Evening with Dylan ThomasSpotify
  • Thomas, DylanRichard Burton Reads 15 Poems by Dylan Thomas – Spotify
  • Twain, Mark – The Adventures of Tom SawyerSpotify version
  • Vonnegut, Kurt Slaughterhouse 5, Cat’s Cradle, Breakfast of Champions, Welcome to the Monkey House (Abridged readings by Vonnegut) – Spotify
  • Welles, Orson – 61 Hours of Orson Welles’ Classic 1930s Radio Plays: War of the Worlds, Heart of Darkness & More – Spotify
  • Wells, HG – The War of the Worlds (Read by Maxwell Caulfield) – Spotify
  • Wilde, Oscar – The Importance of Being Earnest (Performed by John Gielgud) – Free
  • Woolf, Virginia – The Short StoriesSpotify
  • Yeats, William Butler – William Butler Reads His Own WorkSpotify

Looking for free, professionally-read audio books from Audible.com? Here’s a great, no-strings-attached deal. If you start a 30 day free trial with Audible.com, you can download two free audio books of your choice. Get more details on the offer here.

Related Content:

1,000 Free Audio Books: Download Great Books for Free

Free Online Literature Courses

Download Two Harry Potter Audio Books for Free (and Get the Rest of the Series for Cheap)


by | Permalink | Comments (6) |

Support Open Culture

We’re hoping to rely on our loyal readers rather than erratic ads. To support Open Culture’s educational mission, please consider making a donation. We accept PayPal, Venmo (@openculture), Patreon and Crypto! Please find all options here. We thank you!


Comments (6)
You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Leave a Reply

Quantcast
Open Culture was founded by Dan Colman.