Lightweight audiobooks in English. Audio books in English for all levels: why, what and how to listen and read

The method of learning English using listening to audio books is no less effective than other basic methods. Do not put off audiobooks in the long box.

If you have at least minimal knowledge of the language, then, by all means, start listening to audio books of an initial level of complexity.

Audio books in English are of different types:

  • Books voiced by native speakers - professionals.  This is the best and best quality version of audio books. Text, pronunciation, pace, clear pronunciation, intonation will meet all standards. Undoubtedly, this version of the book for listening will be useful to absolutely everyone. However, such books are not so many and at the same time they are often paid.
  • Books voiced by native speakers.  These are collections of audio files that ordinary people in English-speaking countries put on the Internet. Records can be of various quality, as most often people make them at home, and not at recording studios in a team with the masters of this matter.

    The main problem may be reading the text by people with different accents, therefore the same text read by different people will be perceived differently.

    But such books are widely used in the public domain and are useful to listen to in order to get used to and learn to understand live English. Choose your favorite books and enjoy and benefit from such listening.

  • Books voiced by Russian-speaking experts.  These are, as a rule, good quality audio books that you can use for classes without any fear of memorizing mistakes or something like that. But it is worth remembering that no matter how well a Russian person speaks English, he is not a native speaker of this language. At the initial stage, such books are recommended for compulsory listening to everyone who studies English and wants to achieve results in this difficult matter.

    Audio files are recorded in professional recording studios on good equipment, which makes them quality. All words are pronounced clearly, clearly, legibly. The pace is usually a bit slow, so that it is easier for beginners to parse words and understand the meaning.

  • Books voiced by special programs. Such books are not widely distributed, but they are still found on the Internet. The quality of such records is good enough, but it’s good for robots, as the text is read unemotionally, at the same pace, with one intonation. Although all words are pronounced according to the transcription in the dictionary, listening to such audio is very boring.

Why is it better to learn English from audio books?

Everyone understands that you need maximum practice and various kinds of exercises in order to learn English successfully. The most difficult thing is communication and understanding of native speakers.

You can thoroughly learn the rules of grammar, have a huge vocabulary, speak monologues in English well, but at the same time do not understand native speakers. Live English cannot be understood unless you practice listening to it.

When you first hear the speech of a native speaker, you immediately feel the difference from the speech of a Russian-speaking person in English. In order to understand the British, they must be listened to.

Vocabulary expansion

Undoubtedly, when listening to books in English, almost every sentence contains new words or new combinations of already known words. Even if you do not write the words in a separate notebook or notebook, do not look for the translation of words in dictionaries, new words will still fall into your passive vocabulary.

Of course, it will be very useful if you immediately transfer such words from a passive to an active reserve, but for this you need to remember it and try to use it in speech in the future, at least until the word passes from short-term into long-term memory.

It is not necessary to remember all unknown words from an audiobook in English, select only those that you use in your native speech, with which you are used to expressing your thoughts.

If you do not feel the word in Russian, are not used to using it in everyday life, then it is unlikely to become useful to you at the initial stage of learning English. Perhaps when you learn a foreign language at a fairly high level, you will return to these words.

Learning spoken grammar

Grammar of the English language is a very complex aspect, since it has many times, turns, structures, constructions and exceptions to all rules.

In English classes, all the rules and cases in which you need to use one or another time are analyzed in detail.

But in a living speech, we do not always have time to catch which particular point of the rule a person was guided by, used a certain time, design.

However, if you listen to similar sentences several times, then this will not cause confusion, it will just become an automatic habit to speak and hear just such an option.

When listening to audio books in English, an inductive study takes place, that is, for certain similar sentences, you can logically understand the rule.

That is, on private examples, you can build a general rule.

English Speaking

Many argue that without immersion in the language environment it is impossible to learn the language of its native speakers. But where to find so many native English volunteers to surround them with all interested students?

Of course, anyone who has the opportunity to travel will be able to plunge into the English-speaking environment at least for a while. But this is not subject to all.

In order to simulate such a useful environment in any way, it is necessary to listen to at least the recordings made by the British. And this is just the audiobook. By listening to English speech regularly, you can develop good listening and speech recognition skills of English.

You can learn anytime, anywhere

The availability of teaching English using audio books is a very attractive advantage. Most people have mp3 players, phones that support audio playback, tablets and other modern devices.

To start listening to audio books, you only need Internet access to listen online or download your favorite book. You can use audio books to learn English at any convenient time and in any place convenient for you.

Someone in such a useful way takes a break at work, someone listens to books on the way home in public transport, someone from the habit of childhood listens before bedtime, and someone helps audio books to relax and distract from problems.

There would be a desire to listen to audio books in English, and the time and place for this can always be found.

How to choose the right audiobooks for beginners?

  • The main rule that should be followed when choosing an audiobook is that the book should be liked !!!

The book should bring you, first of all, pleasure. Perhaps it will be your favorite book, which you have repeatedly re-read in Russian, or the book that your friends recommended you to read for a long time, but you still haven’t reached it.

The main thing is that it arouses your interest and desire to know its contents, a new sound in English.

  • The book should match your level of English.

Countless disputes are on the topic: What is better to listen to adapted books or originals? Of course, listening to the originals is very useful. But can a beginner learn English to listen and understand Shakespeare in the original and will it bring him as much benefit as an adapted text? ..

For beginners, it is still better to choose what will be, as they say, in the teeth. Therefore, choose a book of the desired level from the total number of adapted audio books and combine pleasant listening with useful.

  • The book should be of the volume that you can master.

You should not choose a book that you will listen to for three years, and in the end you will not be able to remember how it all began.

If you do not have a lot of free time to listen to audio books, then it is better to choose a small story that you listen to in a few days or a week, but at the same time you will not forget anything and get good motivation.

Pride in overcoming an audiobook will encourage you to listen to another one.

Where can I find audio books for beginners in English online?

On the Internet, a huge number of audio books in English of different levels and quality, so any search engine will give you, if not thousands, then at least hundreds or dozens of useful sites with audio books for any such request.

A complete list of audiobooks in English that you can download or listen online from the cloud, including books not designed as separate entries.

If you have not found any audiobook on our website, we may not have managed to add a cover and description yet, but you can already download it here.

You can download adapted audiobooks in English both in the form of audio recordings voiced by a professional speaker (native speaker), and in the form of text in pdf or doc format, which is very convenient for serious and deep work with the selected work.

  Level - Starter (the easiest audiobooks in English for beginners)

  Level - Beginner

Book title Author Availability of audio books
  Jenny doooley +
Tim vicar +
  Mark twain +
  Jennifer bassett +
  Rowen akinyemi +
  Dangerous journey Alwyn cox +
The Blue Diamond Sherlok Holmes Arthur Conan Doyle +
  The house on the hill Elizabeth Laird +
The mill on the floss George Elliot +
George Sees Stars Dave couper +
  The watchers Jennifer bassett +
One way Ticket Short Stories Jennifer bassett +
  Beauty and the beast Jenny doooley +
London John escott +
Journey to the center of the Earth Jules vern +
  20,000 Leagues under the Sea Jules verne +
  Battle of newton road Leslie dunkling +
  Little women Louisa M. Alcott +
Locked room Peter Viney +
  A song for ben Sandra slater +
  Robin hood Stephen colbourn +
  Rich Man, Poor Man T.C.Jupp +
The elephant man Tim vicar +
The wizard of oz Frank baum +
The monkeys paw W. W. Jacobs +

  Elementary Level

Book title Author Availability of audio books
Arthur Conan Doyle +
H. G. Wells +
  Robert Louis Stevenson +
  Daniel Defoe +
  Arthur Conan Doyle +
  Conan Doyle Arthur +
  Arthur Conan Doyle +
  Oscar wilde +
  Mary shelley +
  Susan hill +
The collector Peter Viney +
Jane eyes C bronte +
  Room 13 and other ghost stories James M.R. +
Anne of green gables L.M. Montgomery +
Logan’s Choice   Richard MacAndrew +
Mr Bean in Town John escot +
  Dawson’s Creek Shifting into Overdrive   C. J. Anders +
  King arthur and the knights of the round table Deborah tempest +
  Simply Suspense Frank stockton +
Huckleberry finn Mark twain +
Swan lake Jenny doooley +
  Dawson’s Creek Major Meltdown K S Rodriguez +
  Dawson’s creek long hot summer   K. S. Rodriguez +
Dawson’s Creek The Beginning of Everything Else Kevin williamson +
  Adventures in wonderland   Lewis carroll +
  The Princess Diaries Book 2 Meg cabot +
  Voodoo island Michael duckworth +
  Casualty Peter Viney +
  Strawberry and the sensations Peter Viney +
  Underground Peter Viney +
Robinson crusoe Daniel Defoe +
The eyes of montezuma Stephen rabley +
  The visit Tim vicar +
The Legends of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle Washington irving +

  Level - Pre-Intermediate (adapted audio books in English of medium difficulty level)

Book title Author Availability of audio books
Peter Viney +
  Tim vicar +
  Jack london +
Charles Dickens +
Stephen colbourn +
Philip prowse +
Edgar Allan Poe +
Edgar Allan Poe +
Edgar Allan Poe +
Edgar Allan Poe +
  African adventure Margaret Iggulden +
  Jane eyes C. Bronte +
  How to be an alien Mikes, George +
  Just good friends Penny hancock +
  The prince and the pauper Twain mark +
  How I Met Myself David A Hill +
  Tales of mystery and imagination Edgar Allan Poe +
  Sense and sensibility Jane austen +
  Milo Jennifer bassett +
  Excalibur Jenny doooley +
  The blue scarab Jenny doooley +
  Love story Erich segal +
  An ideal husband Oscar wilde +
  The canterville ghost Oscar wilde +
  The picture of dorian gray Oscar wilde +
  The young king and other stories Oscar wilde +
  The beatles Paul shipton +
  Sherlock holmes investigates Sir Arthur Conan Doyle +
  The secret garden   David Foulds +
  Sunnyvista city   Peter Viney +
  The mark of zorro   Johnston mcculley +
  The phantom airman   Allan frrewin jones +

  Level - Intermediate

Book title Author Availability of audio books
  Mario puzo +
  Jonathan swift +
  Jerome K. Jerome +
  Philip prowse +
Richard Chisholm +
Jane austen +
  A tidy ghost   Viney, Peter +
  Count Vlad   Dooley, Jenny +
  Great crimes   John escott +
  The thirty nine steps   J. buchan +
  Little women   Louisa M. Alcott +
  Case of missing madonna   Alan mclean +
  The night of the green dragon   Dorothy dixon +
  A tale of two cities   Charles Dickens +
  Management gurus   David evans +
  A Kiss Before Dying   Ira Levin +
  But was it murder   Jania barrell +
  Jack the ripper   Peter Foreman +
  Dr.Jekyll & Mr.Hyde   R.L. Stevenson +
  A taste of murder   Sue arengo +
  Le morte dArthur   Thomas malory +
  City of lights   Tim vicar +
  The hitch-hiker   Tim vicar +
  Space affair   Peter Viney +
  The treasure of monte cristo   Alexandre Dumas +
  The wizard of oz   L. Frank Baum +
  Three Great Playes of Shackspeare   W. shackspeare +
  Treasure island   Robert Louis Stevenson +
  Robinson crusoe   Daniel Defoe +
  The canterville ghost   Oscar wilde +

  Upper-Intermediate Level

Book title Author Availability of audio books
  R.M. Ballantyne +
  Philip prowse +
  A space odyssey   A.C. Clarke +
  Doctor no   Ian fleming +
  Tales of mistery and imagination   E.A.Poe +
  Ghost stories   Rosemary border +
  Goldfinger   Ian fleming +
  Pride and prejudice   Jane austen +
  My cousin rachel   Daphne du Maurier +
  Oliver twist   Charles Dickens +
  Space invaders   Geoffrey matthews +
  The queen of death   John milne +
  The smuggler   Piers flowright +
  The sign of four   Sir Arthur Conan Doyle +
  The Speckled Band and Other Stories   Sir Arthur Conan Doyle +
  Wuthering heights   Emily bront +
  Sense and sensibility   Austen, Jane +
  The great gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald +
  The sign of four Sir Arthur Conan Doyle +
  The woman who disappeared Philip prowse +
  Therese raquin   Emile zola +

The appearance of audio books was a great gift for those who like to read, who are always busy with everyday activities, work, study ... Although not! Just in school, they became a help. Especially audio books for learning English have significantly accelerated, simplified and diversified the learning process.

True, another problem arose: what works to choose for learning English from audio books? And then - where to look for, download or buy them? This article will answer every question. We will distribute, literally “sort through” the best audio books for beginners to learn English from scratch, for intermediate and advanced levels, and show several sources of high-quality recordings.

Audiobooks for learning English by levels

We say “study”, we mean “book”, right? This is what the classic source of knowledge looks like in the view of most students. But we do not offer you an English textbook or even an English tutorial, but much more fascinating literature. But first, your move: honestly determine your level of language proficiency in order to select the adapted audiobooks correctly, in this list they are grouped by training level:

Elementary, Beginner, or A1-A2:

  • The Happy Prince Oscar Wilde
  • The Phantom of the Opera (Phantom of the Opera) by Gaston Leroux
  • The Wizard of Oz by Frank Baum
  • Robin Hood (“Robin Hood”) in Stephen Colburn’s adapted retelling
  • Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
  • White Fang ("White Fang") Jack London.

These books have common features that make them ideal for beginners to learn English, including for children in grades 2 and 3. This is a common vocabulary, simple forms of the times, basic grammatical constructions, fascinating stories.

Intermediate, Elementary, or B1:

  • Emma ("Emma") Jane Austen
  • The Great Gatsby Francis-Scott Fitzgerald
  • The Red-Headed League ("Union of the Red") Arthur Conan Doyle
  • Robinson Crusoe ("Robinson Crusoe") by Daniel Defoe (adapted text).

You are probably familiar with these stories, but listening in the original language will reveal their meaning in a new way. Adapted audio books ensure that you understand the text.

Upper Intermediate, or B2:

  • Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll’s Adventures in Wonderland)
  • A murder is announced (Agatha Christie)
  • Three men in a boat (“Three in a boat”) Jerome K. Jerome
  • A Space Odyssey (Space Odyssey) by Arthur Clark
  • Therese Raquin (Theresa Raken) by Emil Zola
  • GoldFinger ("Goldfinger") Jan Fleming.

Even difficult moments will be clear thanks to your vocabulary at this level. And exciting stories motivate you to listen further and / or again (yes, learning English using audio books suggests and recommends re-listening!).

Advanced, or C1:

  • The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ("The Incredible Story of Benjamin Button") by Francis Scott Fitzgerald
  • The memoirs of geisha ("Memoirs of a geisha") by Arthur Golden
  • Schindler’s List by Thomas Kenilli
  • The Moonstone ("Moonstone") by Wilkie Collins
  • Adventures of Huckleberry Finn ("The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn") by Mark Twain.

Please note that many of these works are filmed. Watching these films in English (as well as those from our list) will help consolidate the vocabulary.

How to choose audio books in English for beginners

Audio books in English for beginners from our list are just indicative examples. After listening to them, a boundless world of literature in English will open before you. But you need to choose your works carefully to combine the pleasant (good book) with the useful (learning English).

    Choose to your liking. Do not force yourself to “listen” to a work just because it is a classic or a universally recognized masterpiece. Look for genres, styles and works that you personally like.

    Choose a speaker - that is, the voice that voiced the book. Your perception of a particular work, as well as the method of learning English from audio books in general, greatly depends on it. If it’s difficult to perceive the British accent, listen to the American announcers. Men or women - the choice is yours.

    Choose the speed of perception. Audiobooks allow you to listen to a complex or liked episode several times, pause and then continue listening at a convenient time. This is their advantage over listening to live interlocutors.

With a mass of undeniable advantages, audio books have some drawbacks. But they can and should be taken into account in order to maximize the benefits of the technique.


Just a few tips on how to make learning English using audio books more efficient:

    Go from simple to complex. As you deepen your knowledge and expand your vocabulary, choose more complex pieces. Otherwise, the meaning will be lost and erased from memory.

    Read, not just listen. It will be great if you have the same work in two formats: in the form of text and an audiobook. But books with translation, of course, are not suitable. Your task is to perceive the same text both by ear and visually.

    Take a look. Some people make notes in books that they read. When listening to an audiobook in English, take notes in a notebook: write down the names of the characters, a brief description of their characters, the main events of the plot.

And be sure to use the new vocabulary yourself. Do not leave new words in books, transfer them to real life, use them, tell your friends the content, discuss the work in a language club.

Where to download audio books in English for free?

The World Wide Web has it all, so it can be so hard to find something specific. If you are looking for audio books to learn English, check out these resources:

  • voicesinthedark.com

    freeclassicaudiobooks.com

Here is another list of sites with audio books in English. Now you are ready to learn English on audio books. Headphones, a player - and forward, on business and into the world of literature. Do the cleaning, travel, walk the dog, play sports and at the same time listen to audio books in English.

Stage 1 (Elementary): This is the beginner level. Audio books of this level are distinguished by simple vocabulary and elementary grammar.

Stage 2 (Beginner): audiobooks are also simple from a lexical and grammatical point of view, easily understood by beginners to learn a language.

Stage 3 (Pre-Intermediate): audio books of “moderate severity”, there are still no special difficulties, however, in terms of grammar, a very wide range of grammatical tenses is already used here.

Stage 4 (Intermediate): audio books of this level are already approaching in terms of their lexical and grammatical complexity to natural works of art.

Stage 5 (Upper-Intermediate): fifth-level audio books are almost authentic works of art with a small adaptation of overly complex and not widely used grammatical constructions, as well as small lexical corrections.

All audio books are given texts, which is designed to facilitate listening in case of difficulty.

Elementary Beginner Pre-Intermediate Intermediate Upper-Intermediate

Tim Vicary “The Elephant Man”.
  He is not beautiful. His mother does not want him, children run away from him. People laugh at him, and call him ‘The Elephant Man’.

Mark Twain “Huckleberry Finn”.
  Who wants to live in a house, wear clean clothes, be good, and go to school every day? Not young Huckleberry Finn, that’s for sure. So Huck runs away, and is soon floating down the great Mississippi River on a raft. With him is Jim, a black slave who is also running away. But life is not always easy for the two friends. And there’s 300 dollars waiting for anyone who catches poor Jim. . .

Rudyard Kipling “Jungle Book”.
  In the jungle of Southern India the Seeonee Wolf-Pack has a new cub. He is not a wolf - he is Mowgli, a human child, but he knows nothing of the world of men. He lives and hunts with his brothers the wolves. Baloo the bear and Bagheera the panther are his friends and teachers. And Shere Khan, the man-eating tiger, is his enemy.

O. Henry “New Yorkers Short Stories”.
  A housewife, a tramp, a lawyer, a waitress, an actress - ordinary people living ordinary lives in New York at the beginning of this century. The city has changed greatly since that time, but its people are much the same. Some are rich, some are poor, some are happy, some are sad, some have found love, some are looking for love.

Daniel Defoe “Robinson Crusoe”.
  I often walked along the shore, and one day I saw something in the sand. I went over to look at it more carefully. . . It was a footprint - the footprint of a man! ’. In 1659 Robinson Crusoe was shipwrecked on a small island off the coast of South America. After fifteen years alone, he suddenly learns that there is another person on the island. But will this man be a friend - or an enemy?

Joyce Hannam “The Death of Karen Silkwood”.
  This is the story of Karen Silkwood. It begins with her death. Why does her story begin where it should end? Certain people wanted her death to be an ending. Why? What were they afraid of? Karen Silkwood had something to tell us, and she believed that it was important. Why didn’t she live to tell us? Will we ever know what really happened? The questions go on and on, but there are no answers. This is a true story. It happened in Oklahoma, USA, where Karen Silkwood lived and worked. . . and died.

Rosemary Border “The Piano”.
  One day, a farmer tells a farm boy to take everything out of an old building and throw it away. ‘It’s all rubbish,’ he says. ‘In the middle of all the rubbish, the boy finds a beautiful old piano. He has never played before, but now, when his fingers touch the piano, he begins to play. He closes his eyes and the music comes to him - and the music moves his fingers. When he opens his eyes again, he knows that his life is changed for ever ...

Erich Segal “Love Story”.
  This is a love story you won’t forget. Oliver Barrett meets Jenny Cavilleri. He plays sports, she plays music. He’s rich, and she’s poor. They argue, and they fight, and they fall in love. So they get married, and make a home together. They work hard, they enjoy life, they make plans for the future. Then they learn that they don’t have much time left.

Frances Burnett “The Secret Garden”.
Little Mary Lennox is a bad-tempered, disagreeable child. When her parents die in India, she is sent back to England to live with her uncle in a big, lonely, old house. There is nothing to do all day except walk in the gardens - and watch the robin flying over the high walls of the secret garden. . . which has been locked for ten years. And no one has the key.

Jerome K. Jerome “Three Men in a Boat”.
  With ideas like this, perhaps it is not a good idea to spend a holiday taking a boat trip up the River Thames. But this is what the three friends - and Montmorency the dog - decide to do. It is the sort of holiday that is fun to remember afterwards, but not so much fun to wake up to early on a cold, wet morning.

Emily Bronte “Wuthering Heights”.
  The wind is strong on the Yorkshire moors. There are few trees, and fewer houses, to block its path. There is one house, however, that does not hide from the wind. It stands out from the hill and challenges the wind to do its worst. The house is called Wuthering Heights. When Mr Earnshaw brings a strange, small, dark child back home to Wuthering Heights, it seems he has opened his doors to trouble. He has invited in something that, like the wind, is safer kept out of the house.

The main advantage of an audiobook is the possibility of independent full-fledged study of a foreign language. Audio books for learning English for beginners are a multi-level course that is designed specifically for teaching the language from scratch to fluency in English.

Audio books perfectly combine multimedia tools and the possibility of free distance learning. Thanks to interactivity, translation into Russian, the ability to plan classes on their own.

These books provide quick and effective mastering of teaching material and largely replace the services of a tutor, but not in all. For the production of the ideal pronunciation, it is still better to turn to a professional.

Another plus of a multimedia book is its mobility. Such a book does not take up much space in a bag or backpack. You just write the sound file to a USB flash drive, player, phone or disk and you can start learning when and where you are comfortable. Audio books are intended primarily for developing communication skills.

I have prepared for you a list of the best, in my opinion, audio books for beginners learning English:

Audiobook T. A. Morozova “English audio course for beginners” Audiobook T. A. Morozova “English audio course for beginners” is designed to teach children aged 6−8 years, but adults who are just starting to learn the language can also use this book. This audiobook will help you learn basic vocabulary, phonetics and grammar.

To date, this manual is one of the best self-instruction manuals that fully meets all the requirements of the educational system. And thanks to this unusual format, the training will be not only high-quality, but also very interesting.

English in 1 hour

  English in 1 hour Another popular audio course for beginners, which lasts exactly 60 minutes. You can listen to and repeat a few short lessons in sound format everywhere: On vacation, at home, in the car, in the subway. This book will help you accumulate the necessary practical minimum so that you can feel confident when communicating with native speakers.

This is one of the best-selling Living Language with a parallel Russian translation, which contains over 400 of the most necessary words and phrases. Just listen and repeat after the announcer conversations on various everyday topics, starting with politeness and ending with questions that will help you explain in the restaurant. There are also sections on dating meetings and nightlife.

  English language. Intensive course for beginners

  An audio book that helps you learn a language in a very short time. It covers almost all topics of everyday social and cultural spheres of communication of modern British and Americans. The user is invited to memorize 2,500 words and phrases, the training will take 150 academic hours.

MP3 of Tatyana Latysheva’s book is clearly aimed at the formation of practical skills and knowledge of the student, does not contain unnecessary information on topics of little demand. Only necessary and sufficient minimum.

  English step by step

  Recently, popular PDF tutorials have been voiced. Now this is the initial audio course, which is based on a completely new principle of language learning. Exercises are built on modern speech patterns of colloquial speech of native speakers. The audiobook is intended for all beginners starting to learn foreign from scratch.

Recording books can be used by students of secondary schools and universities, in group courses. And also for learning English on your own. The course is recommended by the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation for students of non-language higher education institutions.

English for holidays abroad

  English for holidays abroad Audiobook for those who are going to travel or vacation abroad soon. English, as you know, is the language of international communication. Therefore, wherever you are going on a tourist trip, this course will be very useful for you to improve your knowledge in this area, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation.

The MP3 file contains many topics that can be useful on vacation - courtesy, arrival, hotel registration, transport, food, service, attractions and museums, money, talking on the phone, shopping, medical care. Be sure to take this book with you on a journey!