Shoeless Joe Audiobook By W. P. Kinsella cover art

Shoeless Joe

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Shoeless Joe

By: W. P. Kinsella
Narrated by: Grover Gardner
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Shoeless Joe, the soul-stirring novel on which the movie Field of Dreams is based, is more than just another baseball story. Kinsella captures the spiritual dimension that baseball represents for its most determined devotees in this tale of love and the power of dreams to make people come alive.

“Shoeless Joe” is the great Joe Jackson, one of the eight members of the 1919 Chicago White Sox who were banned from baseball for throwing the World Series. One day, while out in his corn field, Iowa farmer Ray Kinsella hears the voice of a baseball announcer saying, “If you build it, he will come.” “He,” of course, is Ray's hero, Joe Jackson. “It” is a baseball stadium, which Ray carves out of his corn field.

©1982 W. P. Kinsella (P)1991 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction

Critic reviews

“Wild...romantic...unconventional....A triumph of hope.” ( Boston Globe)

Featured Article: The Best Baseball Audiobooks of All Time


Ask any baseball fan and they'll tell you: some of their favorite sounds can only be heard at the ballpark—the smooth, satisfying pop of a catcher’s glove as a pitch hits its mark; the crack of a bat as it tears into a fastball, explosive and hopeful, drawing the crowd to their feet. Our list, a roundup of outstanding baseball audiobooks, offers a glimmer of that same ballpark magic with just a few of the greatest stories from our national pastime.

Featured Article The Best Baseball Audiobooks of All Time
Nostalgic Baseball Atmosphere • Magical Realism Elements • Engaging Narration • Poetic Writing Style • Perfect Voice Match
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book was good and fills in a lot of holes from the movie. the book just got a little weird.

ok movie better

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I liked the story, very magical and nostalgic. The narration wasn’t great but it got the job done.

Good story, mediocre narration

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This is one of the few times the movie is better. Not a bad book but the ending was very blah.

Field of Dreams is better

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The book is less streamlined than Field of Dreams - there's at least 1.5 times as much story here - and a lot of the stuff that didn't make the script is cut from the same cloth. It's thoroughly American, spiritual and unapologetically sentimental. Kinsella came up with all of the scenes you love if you love the movie. It's all his story. The only things I'd criticize is that it reads like he made it up as he went along, and that's especially apparent when it contradicts itself in one very important element of its mythology (what lies beyond the cornfield). It also wants the reader to respect baseball as a religion while showing an ugly contempt for other people's beliefs.

A thoroughly American novel

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So much good stuff happened in this book. It’s funny, it’s sweet, it’s sad, it’s heroic. This is the best portrayal of the magic and mystery of baseball I’ve come across. It is so well written and so representative of the unquestioned admiration men of that generation had for baseball and the men who played the game. Narrator hits a grand slam.

Real Fantasy Baseball

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It’s not often that you surprisingly bang into a masterpiece .. Like seeing the Mona Lisa in your own basement underneath a pile of old clothes. Shoeless Joe was that for me.

I loved baseball novels as I was growing up. And Kevin Costner’s role in Field of Dreams is still one of my favorite pictures of all time.

I just didn’t even know that this novel existed. It’s one that I guess Amazon is dusting off and to their wonderful credit, is giving away for free, at least for now.

I will give you six stars if I could. Not life altering. But just so much fun.

On an incredibly tangential note, this book probably wins the title for most metaphors and similes per hundred pages if that were, say, An Olympic sport. Quite an honor. If you like this kind of stuff, check out the book Shortcut by John Pollack. While it has nothing at all to do with baseball, Shortcut Is incredibly and wonderfully surprising story and history of the metaphor.

Oh what a Wonderful Surprise

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Shoeless Joe by WP Kinsella 5/5 audio audiobook 6 hours 29 minutes ( @ 1.2 speed) I listened to part of it a few months ago and didn't get a chance to finish. I've seen Field of Dreams many times. So I was quite familiar with the story. It's a quick listen. A great story. The whole premise I love. I would love to be able to have ball players from the past show up and let me watch them. Relationships with parents can be rough so that is great part of story. The only part of movie I liked better was that they played catch.

Shoeless Joe

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This is, of course, the book that the movie FIELD OF DREAMS was based on. And although the book came before the movie, I'm afraid this is one of the rare times when the movie is better. All the elements are here, but there is a lot of things that the movie rightfully cut; such as the carnival barker twin brother, the dreamer elderly farm owner, and the stops at every ballpark in the road trip. Also, another major change is Terence Mann is actually J.D. Salinger, author of The Catcher In The Rye. From what I've researched, the change was made after the REAL Salinger threatened litigation. Overall, however, the book is well worth reading (listening to). The author has a great wit and natural talent.

Very good

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Wow. So many great memories for anyone who is older than fifty or knows of the “good olde days” of baseball. Listen and enjoy.

Great memories for anyone who played baseball

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I came into this novel with false preconceptions based on the movie. But when I think about it, it’s still pretty good

Needs another listen

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