Over the last few years, listening to stories audibly has become increasingly popular as a hands-off approach to reading.
Many of us can struggle to find the time to sit down and really get engaged in a book for a good few hours so listening to stories can often be the easier option.
Story podcasts serve this purpose very well with a huge amount of variety. Some focus on much shorter stories that can be taken in easily like fairy tales while others can be hour long episodes detailing the story of a Greek or Roman God.
With so many fascinating and engaging story podcasts to choose from, here are some of the very best that will fulfill that itch for reading we all have from time to time.
#1 Welcome To Night Vale
It’s hard to find not just a story podcast, but any podcast in general that has a more unique setup and that has become a cult classic quite like Welcome to Night Vale.
This podcast takes the form of a fictional local radio channel hosted by Cecil Gershwin Palmer where each episode narrates a story occurring in a dark and peculiar city in the southern states where fantastical and mythical beings roam the streets and nothing is quite as it seems.
This podcast is an incredibly engaging listen and contains some of the most fascinating and creative stories you can find in a podcast.
#2 Stories Podcast: A Bedtime Show For Kids Of All Ages
A mystical and peaceful bedtime story is one of the best and easiest ways to send kids off to sleep and this technique has never been made easier than with the effortlessly charismatic Amanda Welden jumping right into a new fun story every week in this podcast.
The amount of stories Amanda covers is staggering ranging from well known tales of Snow White and Peter Rabbit to completely original works by some amazing child authors such as Maurice Poplar and Molly Murphy, so you can be sure you won’t have to be repeating the same stories when bedtime rolls around.
With each episode being from 15 minutes up to an hour, you will easily be able to find an episode that lasts just the right amount of time for you or your kids to fall asleep to.
#3 Odyssey: The Podcast
Some of the best stories ever told that fascinate us like nothing else are mythical stories of the Ancient Greeks with the hero Odysseus and his eventful journey returning home from the Trojan War being one of the most engaging and interesting.
Odysseus’ journey is full of hidden knowledge, mythical wonders and creatures and one of the most exciting adventures ever that you can experience with Jeff Wright who travels through the story through hour long episodes, each packed with a new chapter and an exciting part of the adventure.
With 23 hours of content overall, this is for the lovers of big stories which can be listened to in bite size pieces over a period, or in large chunks for when you really want to dive into an engaging fantastical journey.
#4 LeVar Burton Reads
Each week, the charismatic and smooth talking LeVar Burton takes a deep dive into some of the most well respected and engaging stories of fiction including stories by prolific authors like Stephen King as well as smaller authors with their own fascinating original works.
LeVar Burton discusses these books in a short story format with each episode being around 50 minutes long so rather than having to dedicate a few hours to reading the book, you can instead listen to some incredible stories ranging from a whole range of historical periods that are a real treat to experience on the go or while relaxing at home.
#5 SERIAL
SERIAL is one of the most fascinating podcasts out there because it is the closest a podcast has come to replicating a tv series. In this seasonal episodic podcast, Sarah Koenig unfolds a crime based story filled with each episode containing so many unexpected twists and turns that will make you wonder how the hour passed by so fast.
The story actually closely follows a 1999 murder case and is filled with thrilling intrigue and mystery if you are a big fan of crime stories where the answers are never as clear as they seem.
Summary
We all love a good story, they can send us into a blissful sleep or just occupy our afternoons, mornings and evenings when we want to lose ourselves in a magical story or a grounded thriller which we can be immersed in.
These podcasts offer some of the best storytelling you will be able to find with hundreds of hours of great story quality to choose from, so don’t hesitate to experiment and see which you think would suit your preferences the most.
