Curated collection

Most downloaded of all time

The highest-ranked individual recordings of twenty distinct works, by lifetime downloads in the Archive.org observation of 2026-10-06. All catalog languages are eligible; counts are not combined across recording versions. These are dated observations, not unique listener counts or ratings.

20 free audiobooks, about 250 hours

Ranking observed on 2026-10-06. This page is not updated continuously.

  1. Listen in MyVoxBox: Art of War

    Art of War

    "The Art of War is a Chinese military treatise written during the 6th century BC by Sun Tzu. Composed of 13 chapters, each of which is devoted to one aspect of warfare, it has long been praised as the definitive work on military strategies and tactics of its time.

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    The Art of War is one of the oldest and most famous studies of strategy and has had a huge influence on both military planning and beyond. The Art of War has also been applied, with much success, to business and managerial strategies." (summary from Wikipedia)

    Summary adapted from Wikipedia, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.

    • 1 h 12 min
    • 7 sections
    • English
    • Published 1910
    • Read by Moira Fogarty

    Recording from LibriVox page for Art of War

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  2. Listen in MyVoxBox: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

    Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

    In this children's classic, a girl named Alice follows falls down a rabbit-hole into a fantasy realm full of talking creatures. She attends a never-ending tea party and plays croquet at the court of the anthropomorphic playing cards. (Summary written by Gesine)

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    "I loved all the voices in this project and probably wouldn’t have put the time into checking into this book without this LibriVox version of it. Great project and well done by all. What people can do really amazes me from time to time. This reminds me of how beautiful the world can be." — skinned mink

    • 2 h 59 min
    • 12 sections
    • English
    • Published 1865
    • Read by Kara Shallenberg (1969-2023), Kristen McQuillin, Chris Goringe and 7 others

    Recording from LibriVox page for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

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  3. Listen in MyVoxBox: Adventures of Tom Sawyer

    Adventures of Tom Sawyer

    The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (published 1876) is a very well-known and popular story concerning American youth. Mark Twain's lively tale of the scrapes and adventures of boyhood is set in St. Petersburg, Missouri, where Tom Sawyer and his friend Huckleberry Finn have the kinds of adventures many boys can imagine: racing bugs during class, impressing girls, especially Becky Thatcher, with fights and stunts in the schoolyard, getting lost in a cave, and playing pirates on the Mississippi River.

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    One of the most famous incidents in the book describes how Tom persuades his friends to do a boring, hateful chore for him: whitewashing (i.e., painting) a fence.

    This was the first novel to be written on a typewriter.

    (Summary from Wikipedia)

    Summary adapted from Wikipedia, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.

    • 6 h 46 min
    • 17 sections
    • English
    • Published 1876
    • Read by John Greenman

    Recording from LibriVox page for Adventures of Tom Sawyer

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  4. Listen in MyVoxBox: Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

    Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

    The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is a collection of twelve stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, featuring his famous detective. They were originally published in the Strand Magazine from July 1891 to June 1892. The title character was named after famous American poet Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (Summary from Wikipedia)

    Summary adapted from Wikipedia, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.

    • 10 h 18 min
    • 12 sections
    • English
    • Published 1892
    • Read by Kara Shallenberg (1969-2023), Gesine, Kirsten Ferreri and 8 others

    Recording from LibriVox page for Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

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  5. Listen in MyVoxBox: Moby Dick, or the Whale

    Moby Dick, or the Whale

    Few things, even in literature, can really be said to be unique — but Moby Dick is truly unlike anything written before or since. The novel is nominally about the obsessive hunt by the crazed Captain Ahab of the book’s eponymous white whale.

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    But interspersed in that story are digressions, paradoxes, philosophical riffs on whaling and life, and a display of techniques so advanced for its time that some have referred to the 1851 Moby Dick as the first “modern” novel. (Summary by Stewart Wills)

    • 24 h 38 min
    • 44 sections
    • English
    • Published 1851
    • Read by Stewart Wills

    Recording from LibriVox page for Moby Dick, or the Whale

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  6. Listen in MyVoxBox: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

    Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

    Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) by Mark Twain is one of the truly great American novels, beloved by children, adults, and literary critics alike. The book tells the story of “Huck” Finn (first introduced as Tom Sawyer’s sidekick in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer), his friend Jim, and their journey down the Mississippi River on a raft.

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    Both are on the run, Huck from his drunk and abusive father, and Jim as a runaway slave.

    As Huck and Jim drift down the river, they meet many colorful characters and have many great adventures. The true heart of the story, however, is the friendship between Huck and Jim. A constant theme throughout the book is Huck’s internal struggle between what he has been taught, that helping a runaway slave is a sin, and what he truly believes, that Jim is a good man and it couldn’t possibly be wrong to help him.

    Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was unique at the time of its publication (1884) because it is narrated by Huck himself and is written in the numerous dialects common in the area and time in which the book is set. Although the book was originally intended as a sequel to the children’s book The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, as Twain wrote Adventures of Huckleberry Finn it progressed into a more serious work. Twain’s views on slavery and other social issues of the time become clear through the words, thoughts, and actions of Huck Finn. The book has always been the subject of great controversy, and according to The American Library Association it was fifth on the list of most frequently challenged books in the 1990s. (Summary by Annie Coleman)

    • 10 h 42 min
    • 47 sections
    • English
    • Published 1884
    • Read by Annie Coleman Rothenberg

    Recording from LibriVox page for Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

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  7. Listen in MyVoxBox: Pride and Prejudice

    Pride and Prejudice

    Pride and Prejudice is the most famous of Jane Austen’s novels, and its opening is one of the most famous lines in English literature - “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”

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    Its manuscript was first written between 1796 and 1797, and was initially called First Impressions, but was never published under that title. Following revisions it was published on 28 January 1813 by the same Mr. Egerton of the Military Library, Whitehall, who had brought out Sense and Sensibility. Like both its predecessor and Northanger Abbey, it was written at Steventon Rectory. (Summary from Wikipedia)

    Summary adapted from Wikipedia, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.

    • 13 h 7 min
    • 37 sections
    • English
    • Published 1813
    • Read by Gord Mackenzie, Kara Shallenberg (1969-2023), Gesine and 10 others

    Recording from LibriVox page for Pride and Prejudice

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  8. Listen in MyVoxBox: Dracula

    Dracula

    The classic vampire story by Bram Stoker revolves around a struggle between good and evil, tradition and modernity, and lust versus chastity. The author didn’t invent vampires, but his novel has so captured the public’s imagination that he is rightly considered their popularizer.

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    Listen and you will meet not only the Count himself, but heroes Jonathan Harker and Abraham Van Helsing, plus an array of madmen, psychiatrists, and fair maidens who cross paths with the fanged menace. (Summary by Paula)

    • 16 h 31 min
    • 27 sections
    • English
    • Published 1897
    • Read by Gord Mackenzie, Kara Shallenberg (1969-2023), Anita Roy Dobbs and 14 others

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  9. Listen in MyVoxBox: Count of Monte Cristo

    Count of Monte Cristo

    The Count of Monte Cristo (French: Le Comte de Monte-Cristo) is an adventure novel by Alexandre Dumas, père. It is often considered, along with The Three Musketeers, as Dumas's most popular work. The writing of the work was completed in 1844. Like many of his novels, it is expanded from the plot outlines suggested by his collaborating ghostwriter Auguste Maquet.

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    The story takes place in France, Italy, islands in the Mediterranean and the Levant during the historical events of 1815–1838 (from just before the Hundred Days through the reign of Louis-Philippe of France). The historical setting is a fundamental element of the book. It is primarily concerned with themes of justice, vengeance, mercy, and forgiveness, and is told in the style of an adventure story. (Summary from Wikipedia)

    This book contains alternate versions of a number of chapters – indicated by an alt after the file number. The Zip files contain both versions of these chapters.

    There are 2 versions of the M4Bs made , one containing the original files for these chapters (4 parts), the other containing the alternate files for the chapters (5 parts).

    Summary adapted from Wikipedia, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.

    • 49 h 43 min
    • 128 sections
    • English
    • Published 1844
    • Read by Kristin LeMoine, Gord Mackenzie, Denny Sayers (d. 2015) and 60 others

    Recording from LibriVox page for Count of Monte Cristo

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  10. Listen in MyVoxBox: Peter Pan

    Peter Pan

    Peter Pan is the well-loved story of three children and their adventures in Neverland with the boy who refuses to grow up. Swashbuckling, fairy dust, and flight; mermaid lagoons, ticking crocodiles, and Princess Tiger Lily; second to the right and then straight on till morning. You know the story... and if you don't, please start listening immediately! (summary by Meredith Hughes)

    • 5 h 4 min
    • 17 sections
    • English
    • Published 1906
    • Read by Catharine Eastman, Claire Goget, Peter Eastman and 13 others

    Recording from LibriVox page for Peter Pan

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  11. Listen in MyVoxBox: Secret Garden

    Secret Garden

    Mary Lennox is a spoiled, middle-class, self-centered child who has been recently orphaned. She is accepted into the quiet and remote country house of an uncle, who has almost completely withdrawn into himself after the death of his wife. Mary gradually becomes drawn into the hidden side of the house: why does she hear the crying of a unseen child?

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    Why is there an overgrown, walled garden, its door long locked? (Summary by Peter)

    • 9 h 8 min
    • 27 sections
    • English
    • Published 1909
    • Read by Kara Shallenberg (1969-2023)

    Recording from LibriVox page for Secret Garden

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  12. Listen in MyVoxBox: Odyssey

    Odyssey

    The Odyssey is one of the two major ancient Greek epic poems (the other being the Iliad), attributed to the poet Homer. The poem is commonly dated to between 800 and 600 BC. The poem is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, and concerns the events that befall the Greek hero Odysseus in his long journey back to his native land Ithaca after the fall of Troy.

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    It takes Odysseus ten years to return to his native land of Ithaca after ten years of war; during his 20-year absence, his son Telemachus and his wife Penelope must deal with a group of unruly suitors who have moved into Odysseus' home to compete for Penelope's hand in marriage, since most have assumed that Odysseus has died.

    The poem is a fundamental text in the Western canon and continues to be read in both Homeric Greek and translations around the world. (Summary from Wikipedia)

    Summary adapted from Wikipedia, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.

    • 11 h 18 min
    • 24 sections
    • English
    • Published 1900
    • Read by Kara Shallenberg (1969-2023), Gesine, Denny Sayers (d. 2015) and 12 others

    Recording from LibriVox page for Odyssey

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  13. Listen in MyVoxBox: Grimms' Fairy Tales

    Grimms' Fairy Tales

    A classic collection of oral German folklore, brought together for posterity by the scholarly brothers Grimm in the 1800s, this epitome of fairy tales includes many of the world’s best known stories.

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    In these dark foreboding woods, you will find: Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretel, Rumpelstiltskin, Lily and the Lion (better known as Beauty and the Beast), and Snow White and Rose Red, among other timeless works. These tales were later heavily revised and sanitised, but here are presented closer to their grim and beloved originals. (Summary by Marlo Dianne)

    • 10 h 33 min
    • 63 sections
    • English
    • Published 1823
    • Read by Kara Shallenberg (1969-2023), Gesine, Denny Sayers (d. 2015) and 29 others

    Recording from LibriVox page for Grimms' Fairy Tales

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  14. Listen in MyVoxBox: Uncle Tom's Cabin

    Uncle Tom's Cabin

    Among the most “banned” books in the United States, Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly is a novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe which treats slavery as a central theme. Stowe was a Connecticut-born teacher at the Hartford Female Academy and an active abolitionist.

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    The novel is believed to have had a profound effect on the North’s view of slavery. In fact, when he met Harriet Beecher Stowe, President Lincoln is said to have commented, “So you’re the little lady whose book started the Civil War.” First published on March 20, 1852, the story focuses on the tale of Uncle Tom, a long-suffering black slave, the central character around whose life the other characters—both fellow slaves and slave owners—revolve. The novel depicts the harsh reality of slavery while also showing that Christian love and faith can overcome even something as evil as enslavement of fellow human beings. (summary by Wikipedia and John Greenman)

    Note From the Reader: The listener is about to enter a world rich with diverse characters. In order to differentiate between the characters, the reader has given each, his/her own voice. As an adult male reader, however, the reader's representation of women and children will, necessarily be less than adequate. He asks for your indulgence.

    Summary adapted from Wikipedia, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.

    • 18 h 7 min
    • 45 sections
    • English
    • Published 1852
    • Read by John Greenman

    Recording from LibriVox page for Uncle Tom's Cabin

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  15. Listen in MyVoxBox: Tale of Two Cities

    Tale of Two Cities

    A Tale of Two Cities (1859) is a historical novel by Charles Dickens; it is moreover a moral novel strongly concerned with themes of guilt, shame, redemption and patriotism.

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    The plot centers on the years leading up to French Revolution and culminates in the Jacobin Reign of Terror. It tells the story of two men, Charles Darnay and Sydney Carton, who look very alike but are entirely different in character.(Summary from Wikipedia)

    Summary adapted from Wikipedia, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.

    • 15 h
    • 45 sections
    • English
    • Published 1859
    • Read by Kristin LeMoine, Kara Shallenberg (1969-2023), Denny Sayers (d. 2015) and 17 others

    Recording from LibriVox page for Tale of Two Cities

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  16. Listen in MyVoxBox: Adventures of Pinocchio

    Adventures of Pinocchio

    The Adventures of Pinocchio is a novel for children by Italian author Carlo Collodi (here transl. by Carol della Chiesa). The first half was published in serial form between 1881 and 1883, and then completed as a book for children in February 1883.

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    It is about the mischievous adventures of Pinocchio, an animated marionette, and his poor father, a woodcarver named Geppetto. It is considered a classic of children’s literature and has spawned many derivative works of art, such as Disney’s classic 1940 animated movie of the same name, and commonplace ideas, such as a liar’s long nose. (Summary from Wikipedia)

    Summary adapted from Wikipedia, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.

    • 4 h 36 min
    • 36 sections
    • English
    • Published 1883
    • Read by Kara Shallenberg (1969-2023), Gesine, Anita Roy Dobbs and 16 others

    Recording from LibriVox page for Adventures of Pinocchio

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  17. Listen in MyVoxBox: Treasure Island (version 2)

    Treasure Island (version 2)

    A mysterious map, pirates, and pieces of eight! When young Jim Hawkins finds a map to pirates’ gold he starts on an adventure that takes him from his English village to a desert island with the murderous Black Dog, half-mad Ben Gunn, and (of course) Long John Silver. Arr Jim lad! R.L.

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    Stevenson (1850-1894) was born in Scotland and travelled extensively in California and the south Pacific. (Summary by Adrian Praetzellis)

    • 7 h 33 min
    • 17 sections
    • English
    • Published 1883
    • Read by Adrian Praetzellis

    Recording from LibriVox page for Treasure Island (version 2)

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  18. Listen in MyVoxBox: Emma

    Emma

    Sherry reads Jane Austen’s sparkling comedy of manners with wit and vivacity, and brings the characters to life. Mr. Woodhouse worries and frets, Miss Bates chatters on, and Emma blithely manipulates and misunderstands her friends and family until she finally learns her lesson! (Summary by Kara)

    • 18 h 3 min
    • 55 sections
    • English
    • Published 1815
    • Read by Sherry Crowther

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  19. Listen in MyVoxBox: Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

    Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

    Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, who first appeared in publication in 1887. He was devised by Scottish author and doctor Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. A brilliant London-based detective, Holmes is famous for his prowess at using logic and astute observation to solve cases.

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    He is perhaps the most famous fictional detective, and indeed one of the best known and most universally recognizable literary characters. Join Dr. Watson and Sherlock Holmes, in Holmes' fourth book. (summary from Wikipedia and TBOL3)

    Summary adapted from Wikipedia, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.

    • 8 h 35 min
    • 11 sections
    • English
    • Published 1894
    • Read by Gesine, Martin Clifton, David Jaquay and 7 others

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