Audiobooks Like Just Kids

Patti Smith reads her own memoir with a poet's ear for rhythm and silence — there's a particular quality to self-narrated books when the author has a voice trained by decades of performance, and hers carries the 1970s downtown Manhattan atmosphere as something remembered rather than reconstructed. She returns for two other titles in the recommendations, and the list holds to similar runtimes with high ratings throughout, all occupying that territory where the listening experience and the life being described feel like they belong to the same sensibility.

10 audiobooks for fans of Just Kids

  1. 1
    M Train cover

    M Train

    by Patti Smith

    Narrated by Patti Smith

    4.11 ABR Score (53.1K ratings)
    ★ 4.02 Goodreads (51.9K) ★ 4.51 Audible (1.2K)
    6h 32m listening time • Released 2015
  2. 2
    Devotion cover

    Devotion

    Why I Write • Book 1

    by Patti Smith

    Narrated by Patti Smith

    3.92 ABR Score (16.7K ratings)
    ★ 3.85 Goodreads (16.6K) ★ 4.52 Audible (136)
    2h 8m listening time • Released 2018
  3. 3
    Finding Me cover

    Finding Me

    by Viola Davis

    Narrated by Viola Davis

    4.91 ABR Score (228.8K ratings)
    ★ 4.53 Goodreads (184.9K) ★ 4.94 Audible (43.9K)
    9h 15m listening time • Released 2022
  4. 4
    Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage cover

    Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage

    by Alfred Lansing

    Narrated by Simon Prebble

    4.70 ABR Score (196.7K ratings)
    ★ 4.46 Goodreads (169.7K) ★ 4.77 Audible (27.1K)
    10h 21m listening time • Released 2008

    Simon Prebble's measured, unflinching narration transforms this into survival storytelling that feels like you're huddled in the ice with them. The tension never breaks for 10+ hours.

  5. 5
    God's Smuggler cover

    God's Smuggler

    by Unknown Author

    Narrated by Simon Vance

    4.63 ABR Score (50.5K ratings)
    ★ 4.38 Goodreads (47.8K) ★ 4.9 Audible (2.6K)
    8h 48m listening time • Released 2009

    Simon Vance's measured, trustworthy delivery transforms this true account of Bible smuggling into a page-turner that feels both intimate and urgent. A modern classic that still grips because the stakes, and the faith, feel devastatingly real.

  6. 6
    I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings cover

    I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

    Maya Angelou's Autobiography • Book 1

    by Maya Angelou

    Narrated by Maya Angelou

    4.59 ABR Score (596.3K ratings)
    ★ 4.3 Goodreads (586.4K) ★ 4.74 Audible (9.9K)
    10h 11m listening time • Released 2011
  7. 7
    The Glass Castle cover

    The Glass Castle

    by Jeannette Walls

    Narrated by Jeannette Walls

    4.51 ABR Score (1.4M ratings)
    ★ 4.33 Goodreads (1.4M) ★ 4.58 Audible (18.5K)
    10h 25m listening time • Released 2010

    Hearing Walls narrate her own impossible childhood gives the devastation an intimacy no other narrator could achieve—she's not performing the story, she's finally telling it.

  8. 8
    Born a Crime cover

    Born a Crime

    by Trevor Noah

    Narrated by Chumel Torres

    4.46 ABR Score (817.2K ratings)
    ★ 4.49 Goodreads (817.0K) ★ 4.86 Audible (169)
    9h 25m listening time • Released 2021

    Chumel Torres inhabits every voice in Noah's childhood with such precision that you're not just hearing a memoir, you're overhearing a life unfold across South Africa's darkest years, with his mother stealing every scene.

  9. 9
    Stripped Down cover

    Stripped Down

    by Bunnie Xo

    Narrated by Bunnie Xo

    4.71 ABR Score (12.2K ratings)
    ★ 4.59 Goodreads (7.6K) ★ 4.92 Audible (4.6K)
    8h 25m listening time • Released 2026

    Bunnie narrating her own story gives you the unfiltered voice of someone who's genuinely earned the right to talk about survival and redemption—her raw honesty hits different when you hear it straight from her.

  10. 10
    The Elephant Whisperer: Learning About Life, Loyalty and Freedom from a Remarkable Herd of Elephants cover

    The Elephant Whisperer: Learning About Life, Loyalty and Freedom from a Remarkable Herd of Elephants

    Elephant Whisperer • Book 1

    by Lawrence Anthony, Graham Spence

    Narrated by Simon Vance

    4.61 ABR Score (41.2K ratings)
    ★ 4.5 Goodreads (33.3K) ★ 4.76 Audible (7.9K)
    10h 55m listening time • Released 2012

    Simon Vance's narration transforms this true story into an intimate portrait of grief and redemption, letting you hear the quiet breakthroughs between a man and a traumatized herd he refuses to abandon.

How We Rank Audiobooks

Rankings are driven by listener ratings and review counts from Audible and Goodreads. Books with high ratings across a large number of listeners rank higher — a 4.5 with 50,000 ratings says more than a 4.8 with 200.

Unlike most book lists, we weight audiobook-specific factors: narrator performance, production quality, and how well a story translates to audio. A great book with a poor narration isn't a great audiobook.

We don't accept paid placements or prioritize new releases. These rankings reflect what listeners actually enjoy, not what's being promoted.

Rankings update periodically as new ratings come in and new titles are added to the collection.

Read our full ranking methodology →