An audiobook lending charity for those that find their illness, mental health, physical or learning disability affects their ability to read the printed word or hold a book.

Top selling authors in fiction and non fiction for adults and children, including best selling titles, classics, and niche genres. New books added every month including educational titles unavailable elsewhere in the audio format.

Book of the Month

The Guest List

Author: Lucy Foley

“

The companionship and delight of a voice telling stories is incomparable. Listening Books distributes pure, undiluted pleasure and friendship. Not many schemes can make such a claim.

Stephen Fry, Patron

Listening Books

Registered charity no. 264221

Become a Member

Listening Books provides a postal and internet based audiobook service to over 100,000 UK residents who have a disability or illness that impacts their ability to read the printed word.

Our service is quick and easy to use and opens up the wonderful world of books for people with an illness or condition that affects their reading ability. This could be a specific learning difficulty such as dyslexia, a mental health condition like anxiety, a visual impairment, or a physical condition that makes it more difficult to hold a book, such as arthritis.

We have a huge range of fiction and non-fiction titles for both adults and children, and we support school age children from age 7 upwards. Listening to audiobooks allows children and young people to listen to the same books their friends are reading, helping to instil a greater understanding and enjoyment of literature. For our adult members, listening to audiobooks can not only provide hours of entertainment, but they can also be a welcome distraction from loneliness or a health condition. We firmly believe having a print disability shouldn't affect your access and enjoyment of books!

As a charity that enjoys the support of trusts, companies and individual donors, we are able to offer a significant subsidy on the cost of membership, meaning that the fee our members pay is less than 30% of true costs. And for those people who would find the membership fee a barrier to joining, we are able to offer free membership in many cases.

Our membership team always strive to provide a personal service to our members, and we are happy to support users via telephone, email or post to ensure they are getting the very best from their membership.

This is my third year as a member of Listening Books. The range of books offered has encouraged me to listen to work by authors new to me, as well as those I already like. Listening Books staff responded immediately when I needed help to use my account while in hospital. They also helped on two occasions when I had difficulty with downloads on my MP3 player. This friendly service makes Listening Books feel like an extended family. Molly, West Yorkshire

3 Great Reasons to Join Listening Books

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For individuals, membership costs between £20-£45 per year. We can also offer a limited number of free memberships for those who would find the fee a barrier to joining the service.

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We have over 9,000 titles from a wide variety of genres in both fiction and non-fiction. Members are very welcome to suggest books or authors they would like to see in our catalogue!

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Listening to an audiobook is not only a great source of entertainment, they can also help you unwind, de-stress and we have a selection of books that support education and the National Curriculum.

Join Us