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The Listening ShelfStories worth listening to

Stories, mostly heard through earphones

Stories worth listening to, and how each one sounds

Australian novels, memoirs and short stories, bedtime stories for grown-ups, and the books that change how you live. Who reads the audiobook, how long it takes, and whether your library will lend it to you free.

Over-ear headphones resting on a stack of three closed hardback books on a wooden windowsill
Illustration.

Australian stories

Novels, memoirs, short stories and picture books by Australian writers: what each is about, who it suits, and how to hear or borrow it.

This Taste for Silence by Amanda O'CallaghanShort stories about secrets and the unsaidThe Hate Race by Maxine Beneba ClarkeSummary, structure, themes and study questionsThe Old Lie by Claire G. ColemanSpace war, and an older Australian story underneathThe Kindness Revolution by Hugh MackayHugh Mackay's case for a kinder AustraliaThe Emporium of Imagination by Tabitha BirdA magical shop arrives in a small Queensland townThe best dystopian books, with the Australian ones nobody listsThe classics, and the Australian dystopias most lists missAll Australian storiesTen guides, from picture books to historical fiction

Stories for falling asleep

Grown-ups are allowed bedtime stories too. The podcasts, apps and free library audiobooks made for it, and the ten audiobooks where the narrator makes the story.

Books that change how you live

The other half of the shelf: start with what you need right now.

A brass reading lamp glowing on a bedside table beside an open paperback face down and a pair of white earbuds in their open case
If your mind will not stop talkingStart with Eckhart Tolle, then the meditation shelf.
A single cup of tea going cold on a kitchen table at dusk
If you have lost someoneBooks for the first weeks and the long months.
A worn leather-bound pocket book closed on a stone ledge beside a small clay oil lamp
If you want steadier daysThe Stoics, in the order people actually finish them.
A raked gravel garden with one dark stone at dusk
If you want a practice, not a theoryMeditation books that do not read like homework.
A small brass compass and a sealed envelope on a dark wooden desk beside a candle
If you are trying to make something happenManifestation books, with a Yes, but on each.
A public library returns trolley loaded with books beside tall windows at closing time
If you are deciding how to listenAudible, Spotify or the free library apps.

What a listening card tells you

Every book on this site carries one. It answers the questions the bookshop page and the summary apps leave out.

See the whole spiritual shelf, or start with which Eckhart Tolle book to read first.

On our shelf

A few of the audiobooks in the collection this site is built from.

  • Cover of The Power of Now by Eckhart TolleThe Power of Now
  • Cover of The Untethered Soul by Michael A. SingerThe Untethered Soul
  • Cover of The Four Agreements by Don Miguel RuizThe Four Agreements
  • Cover of The Alchemist by Paulo CoelhoThe Alchemist
  • Cover of The Wisdom of Insecurity by Alan WattsThe Wisdom of Insecurity
  • Cover of Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind by Shunryu SuzukiZen Mind, Beginner's Mind
  • Cover of Meditations by Marcus AureliusMeditations
  • Cover of The Daily Stoic by Ryan HolidayThe Daily Stoic
  • Cover of Waking Up by Sam HarrisWaking Up
  • Cover of The Happiest Man on Earth by Eddie JakuThe Happiest Man on Earth
  • Cover of Tao Te Ching by Lao TzuTao Te Ching
  • Cover of Still, Together by Manoj DiasStill, Together