6 audiobooks · For book clubs
A book club kit for classics
Six books that start arguments, with questions ready to go.
Long classics are where clubs lose people. Members can listen on a commute and still follow the full text, with each sentence highlighted, and everyone can try the first chapter free before you pick.
A simple way to run it
- Share the book links and let everyone play chapter one before you vote.
- Split long books into two or three meetings.
- Agree on a chapter to stop at, so no one gets spoiled.
Discussion questions
These give away plot, so save them until you've finished.
Frankenstein
- Who is more responsible for what goes wrong, Victor or the creature?
- Why do you think Shelley tells the story through letters and nested narrators?
- Does the creature's education make him more sympathetic, or more dangerous?
- What does the book say about ambition that still feels current?
Pride and Prejudice
- Which first impression in the book turns out to be the most wrong?
- How much of the plot comes down to money?
- Is Charlotte Lucas's choice sensible, or a warning?
- What does Elizabeth actually change her mind about?
The Great Gatsby
- Can you trust Nick as a narrator?
- What does Gatsby really want: Daisy, or something else?
- Which character do you find hardest to forgive?
- Is this a book about the American dream, or about class?
Jane Eyre
- How does Jane's childhood shape the choices she makes later?
- Does the ending feel like a reward or a compromise?
- How do you read Bertha now?
- What does independence mean to Jane?
Crime and Punishment
- What is Raskolnikov's real motive?
- Why does Porfiry play the game the way he does?
- What role does Sonya play in his change, if he changes?
- Is the epilogue earned?
The Picture of Dorian Gray
- How much of Dorian's fall is Lord Henry's doing?
- Is the novel defending the philosophy it describes, or attacking it?
- Why is the portrait the thing he can't bear others to see?
- Does the ending feel like justice?
The six picks
Good to know
Does everyone need to pay?
No one has to pay to try the first chapter. To finish a book, a member needs Premium. Premium is $4.99 a month or $44.99 a year in the US, with a 7-day trial for new subscribers.
Can I listen for free?
The first chapter of every book plays free with no account. A free account adds the opening chapters of every book, plus one whole book of your choice from a shelf of five classics.
