Listen and read at the same timefor anyone who finds long books hard
Hear the book
while you read it.
Long books are hard to finish when your attention drifts, when reading takes extra effort, or when you take in more by listening. Roman Reads reads the book out loud and lights up each word as it is said, so you never lose your place. It is built for people who read differently, including readers with ADHD or dyslexia.
Who it is for
Listen and read together to keep your place, follow every word, and stay with the story.
A real-sounding voice. Each word lights up as it is read.
R1Our own AI voice
Any book, read out loud in340 voices.
R1 is the AI voice we built. It reads the audiobooks on this site, and any book you add yourself, in 340 voices across 63 languages. The same voice reads the whole book, first page to last.
Plain narration, unhurried, the way a chapter opens.Dialogue, offhand and warm, one character talking across a room.The same reader at full pitch, to hear what the voice does under strain.
Crime and PunishmentFyodor Dostoevsky
On an exceptionally hot evening early in July a young man came out of the garret in which he lodged in S. Place and walked slowly, as though in hesitation, towards K. bridge.
He had successfully avoided meeting his landlady on the staircase. His garret was under the roof of a high, five-storied house and was more like a cupboard than a room. The landlady who provided him with garret, dinners, and attendance, lived on the floor below, and every time he went out he was obliged to pass her kitchen, the door of which invariably stood open.
‘The loaf I’ll fetch you this very minute, but wouldn’t you rather have some cabbage soup instead of sausage? It’s capital soup, yesterday’s. I saved it for you yesterday, but you came in late. It’s fine soup.’
When the soup had been brought, and he had begun upon it, Nastasya sat down beside him on the sofa and began chatting. She was a country peasant-woman and a very talkative one.
‘Praskovya Pavlovna means to complain to the police about you,’ she said.
Taking no further notice of him, she walked towards the outer door to close it and uttered a sudden scream on seeing her husband on his knees in the doorway.
‘Ah!’ she cried out in a frenzy, ‘he has come back! The criminal! the monster! And where is the money? What’s in your pocket, show me! Where are your clothes? Where is the money! Speak!’
And she fell to searching him. Marmeladov submissively and obediently held up both arms to facilitate the search. Not a farthing was there.
NarrationPart One, Chapter IConversationPart One, Chapter IIIA raised voicePart One, Chapter II
0:00−0:12
Narrator
Choose who reads itAdrian is readingSarah is readingSelene is readingAyesha is readingHamza is reading
Featured readers
See all 340 voicesSamples are free. These readers come with the subscription, $14.99 a month.
Translated by Constance Garnett, 1914
Every word is timed. The page lights each word as it is read.
Your place is kept. To the second, chapter to chapter.
Your own voice. Read aloud for twenty seconds, and every book you add can be read back to you in it.
- 340voices
- 63languages
- 2voices free with an account
- $14.99a month for the other 338
R1Voice cloning
A familiar voice.Cloned by R1.
R1 can learn a voice from a short recording, then read aloud in it. Here are two voices from Urdu literature, used under licence. Play the real recording, then R1 reading the same lines.
Zia Mohyeddinضیا محی الدین1931–2023
Reading Faiz. R1 learned his voice from 64 seconds of audio, none of it these two lines.
Jaun Eliaجون ایلیا1931–2002
Reading his own ghazal. R1 learned his voice from 111 seconds of audio.
Mujh se pahlī sī mohabbatHam ne wafā ke nām parFaiz Ahmed FaizJaun Elia
مجھ سے پہلی سی محبت مری محبوب نہ مانگ
mujh se pahlī sī mohabbat mirī mahbūb na māñg
میں نے سمجھا تھا کہ تو ہے تو درخشاں ہے حیات
maiñ ne samjhā thā ki tū hai to darakhshāñ hai hayāt
فیض احمد فیضFaiz Ahmed Faiz, 1911–1984
ہم نے وفا کے نام پر کارِ وفا نہیں کیا
ham ne wafā ke nām par kār-e-wafā nahīñ kiyā
خود کو ہلاک کر لیا، خود کو فدا نہیں کیا
khud ko halāk kar liyā, khud ko fidā nahīñ kiyā
جون ایلیاJaun Elia, 1931–2002
Original recordingAI voice cloneZia MohyeddinJaun Elia
0:00−0:08
Your own voice
Clone yours in about a minute.
1Read a short passage aloud.
About twenty seconds, somewhere quiet, at the pace you would read to somebody.
2Read one sentence to say yes.
It says, in your own voice, that you agree to the copy. Its last few words are new every time.
3Choose it like any narrator.
Your voice joins the readers on the narrator sheet, and reads every book you add.
Demo voices used under licence. Full readings coming soon.
9 volumes · 7 writers
Every book, two ways:
on paper, and read out loud.
Our best sellers first: Russian novels, philosophy and modern classics. Every one is in stock and reaches you in 1 to 2 days. Click a book to see its details.
- Crime and Punishment1866
- Poor Folk1846
- The Stranger1942
- The Trial1925
- The Little Prince1943
- Meditationsc. 180
- The 48 Laws of Power1998
- The House of the Dead1862
- 19841949
Crime and Punishment
Crime and Punishment, 1866
Every writer,
in one place.
Each writer has a page: their life, their ideas, who they read, and every book they wrote. From there you can read the book in the original words or a simpler version, listen to it, and ask the AI to explain any part of it.
Your favourite books,read out loud.
Choose a book, choose a voice, and press play. The words light up on screen as they are read, and it starts again from the exact spot you stopped at. Three are free to play today. The rest need the subscription, $14.99 a month.
The app, coming soon
Read and listen
on your phone.
The Roman Reads app is coming to the App Store and Google Play. It carries every book you own. Read it or listen to it, in the original words or a simpler version, and ask the AI about any line, any chapter, or the whole book. On Android you can install it today.
