Audiobooks Like This Side of Paradise

10 audiobooks for fans of This Side of Paradise

1. 1

   

   The Essential Rumi

   by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi, Coleman Barks, Reynold Alleyne Nicholson, A.J. Arberry, John Moyne

   Narrated by Robertson Dean

   ★ 4.32 ABR Score (51.4K ratings)

   ★ 4.39 Goodreads (50.8K) ★ 4.58 Audible (517)

   9h 24m listening time • Released 2018

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2. 2

   

   The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Portrait of Youth, Wealth, and Moral Decay

   by F. Scott Fitzgerald

   Narrated by Adam Verner

   ★ 3.76 ABR Score (65.9K ratings)

   ★ 3.73 Goodreads (65.8K) ★ 3.96 Audible (57)

   14h 21m listening time • Released 2018

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3. 3

   

   The Brothers K

   by David James Duncan

   Narrated by Robertson Dean

   ★ 4.17 ABR Score (17.2K ratings)

   ★ 4.39 Goodreads (17.1K) ★ 4.78 Audible (83)

   28h 7m listening time • Released 2024

   Robertson Dean's narration captures the raw comedy and heartbreak of a fractured family across decades—his voice work transforms what could've been a sprawling mess into something you genuinely can't stop listening to.

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4. 4

   

   The Great Gatsby

   by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jesmyn Ward - introduction

   Narrated by Seth Numrich, Eleanor Lanahan, James L. W. West III

   ★ 4.05 ABR Score (6.0M ratings)

   ★ 3.93 Goodreads (6.0M) ★ 4.62 Audible (47)

   5h 59m listening time • Released 2025

   Seth Numrich's narration captures Fitzgerald's prose with understated elegance, making this the definitive audio version of a novel that demands to be heard, not just read.

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5. 5

   

   Empire of Sin

   by Gary Krist

   Narrated by Robertson Dean

   ★ 3.86 ABR Score (4.9K ratings)

   ★ 3.73 Goodreads (4.6K) ★ 4.39 Audible (326)

   10h 49m listening time • Released 2014

   Robertson Dean's narration captures the seductive chaos of early 1900s New Orleans perfectly—you'll hear the jazz, the corruption, and the moral reckoning all at once in his voice.

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6. 6

   

   Black Dahlia, Red Rose: The Crime, Corruption, and Cover-Up of America's Greatest Unsolved Murder

   by Piu Marie Eatwell

   Narrated by Robertson Dean

   ★ 3.82 ABR Score (2.4K ratings)

   ★ 3.74 Goodreads (2.1K) ★ 4.4 Audible (215)

   9h 7m listening time • Released 2017

   Robertson Dean's noir-soaked narration transforms Eatwell's meticulous investigation into a gripping procedural that finally cuts through decades of myth to expose the real corruption behind Hollywood's most infamous murder.

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7. 7

   

   High Plains Tango

   by Robert James Waller

   Narrated by Robertson Dean

   ★ 3.63 ABR Score (915 ratings)

   ★ 3.61 Goodreads (868) ★ 4.04 Audible (47)

   9h 53m listening time • Released 2005

   Robertson Dean's weathered voice transforms Waller's meditation on longing and the American West into something genuinely haunting—you'll feel the high plains wind.

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8. 8

   

   Narcopolis

   by Jeet Thayil

   Narrated by Robertson Dean

   ★ 3.62 ABR Score (8.0K ratings)

   ★ 3.44 Goodreads (8.0K) ★ 4.09 Audible (33)

   8h 53m listening time • Released 2012

   Robertson Dean's narration transforms this hallucinatory Bombay noir into something hypnotic—his voice moves between addled whispers and sharp street vernacular, matching Thayil's dreamlike prose perfectly.

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9. 9

   

   The Color of A Dog Running Away

   by Richard Gwyn

   Narrated by Robertson Dean

   ★ 3.43 ABR Score (362 ratings)

   ★ 3.06 Goodreads (340) ★ 2.77 Audible (22)

   9h 28m listening time • Released 2007

   Robertson Dean's measured, introspective narration transforms this baroque Barcelona mystery into something genuinely unsettling—he finds the creeping dread beneath the surreal plot twists that could easily have collapsed into absurdity.

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10. 10

    

    The Correspondent

    by Virginia Evans

    Narrated by Maggi-Meg Reed, Jane Oppenheimer, Carly Robins, Jeff Ebner, David Pittu, Chris Andrew Ciulla, Mark Bramhall, Petrea Burchard, Robert Petkoff, Kimberly Farr, Cerris Morgan-Moyer, Peter Ganim, Jade Wheeler, Various

    ★ 4.81 ABR Score (383.3K ratings)

    ★ 4.53 Goodreads (364.9K) ★ 4.8 Audible (18.3K)

    8h 36m listening time • Released 2025

    A sprawling ensemble cast brings luminous depth to this meditation on lifelong correspondence—each narrator inhabits their character so fully you'll forget you're listening to a performance, not overhearing actual lives unfolding.

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