Gearing up for 25 hours of flying in the next few weeks. I can’t read on planes due to motion sickness so I’d like a nice audiobook or two to pass the time.
Things that I enjoy:
-sci fi
-history especially social histories about medicine, food, etc
-historical fiction that is about anything other than WWII
-lgbt fiction or nonfiction
Things I’d like to avoid:
-horror or anything very dark cause being on a plane is scary enough lol
-not into YA usually
-WWII anything
Thanks!!
Edit: so many amazing recs, thank you all very much! I will be checking out many of these in the future.
by Ectophylla_alba
33 Comments
Have you listened to 11/22/63? It’s Stephen King, but not typical horror. It’s more time travel history.
Anathen and Seveves by Neal Stephenson
The Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson
Emperor of All Maladies by siddartha Mukherjee
The red rising series by Pierce brown
How do you feel about Fantasy ? Brandon Sanderson has many long (and great) books you could invest time in.
Otherwise:
>sci fi
*Dune* is over 20 hours, as is *Hyperion*.
>historical fiction that is about anything other than WWII
>history especially social histories about medicine, food, etc
Unfortunately it’s not that long (13 or so hours I think) but *Essex Dogs* is the first fictional work by a great historian who typically does non-fiction. He covers a huge chunk of British history, his *Plantagenet* book is over 20 hours in itself.
OMG
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BABEL BY R.F KUANG
babel fits most of these asks and its a perfect audiobook. 11/10, 6 stars, s tier
Seveneves by Neal Stephenson is a chonky standalone at about 31 hours. Don’t know if you listen at 1.0 or not so it might be too long or just right.
I’ve yet to get to it, but people say Lonesome Dove transcends its genre (Western). The audiobook is some 37 hours long, so if you’re like me and listen at increased speed that ought to still last you a decent chunk of the way!
The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese. Historical fiction set in India spanning from 1900 to around 1978 (I think). The author is a doctor, so there’s medical history (leprosy, surgical techniques, a neurological medical mystery initially thought to be a family “curse”). WWII happens during the book, obviously, but it’s not the major focus and told from a non-European perspective so it might not annoy you. I get it, I hate WWII historical fiction too.
Lonesome Dove
Shōgun
Prince of Tides (although there is a small vignette about WWII, it’s a flashback and not very long)
The Brothers K (by David James Duncan, not Dostoyevsky.)
Agreed about the by Neal Stephenson suggestions
Check out James Michener and Edward Rutherford too
I just read Seveneves because a Harvard professor recommended it and it was a wild what if story. Heavy on the science, but very engaging. Highly recommend.
History:
Blood in the Water by Heather Ann Thompson (22 hours), The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee (crossover with medicine) (22 hours), Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation by Dan Fagin (18 hours), Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital by Sherri Fink (17 hours), Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe (18 hours).
Sci Fi: The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler (11 hours), Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr (crossover – historical fiction) (15 hours)
Historical fiction (non WW2): Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry (37 hours), The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese (31 hours), The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles (16 hours), Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner (22 hours), Birds Without Wings by Louis de Bernieres (23 hours), The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert (22 hours), A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles (17 hours).
LGBT: Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (21 hours), The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice & Virtue by Mackenzi Lee (11 hours), Carry On by Rainbow Rowell (technically YA — I’m not usually into YA either but I loved this one — 14 hours), The Gay Revolution by Lillian Faderman (29 hours), Jane Crow: The Life of Pauli Murray by Rosalind Rosenberg (18 hours), The Deviant’s War by Eric Cervini (15 hours).
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Project Hail Mary! This book gets suggested a lot on this sub as it should but the audiobook is special. It has a little something extra that reading the book wouldn’t give you. It’s pretty long, I think 16 hours.
Shantaram. Epic story, I used to sit in the car in the driveway after getting home and couldn’t stop listening.
Have you read Outlander? It’s a mix of time travel, historical fiction (Jacobite rebellion in Scotland), action, and romance. The book itself is pretty long and it’s part of a long series.
How about something cozy if you’re flying is stressful?
I really liked A Long Long Way to a Small Angry Planet. Very cute and about found family. kind of a character study of cultures and found family.
The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow. This is like a 32 hour audio book that might fundamentally change your perspective on history, humanity, and our collective future. This is a pair of imaginative Anarchist Anthropologists, and the book reads like those deep conversations you might want to have late night with close friends.
The Expanse series by James S.A. Corey is awesome
American Gods
Themis Files by Sylvain Neuvel. Between all three books it is 28 hours. It is a particularly good audiobook since it is full cast. Science fiction. Told through interviews and transcripts.
The Lord of the Rings narrated by Andy Serkis.
Either that or I’d recommend any book narrated by Sir Cristopher Lee, his voice is the only thing that makes me hear audiobooks as someone who prefers reading.
*Brideshead Revisited*. Jeremy Irons reads a 12 hour audiobook, and it’s a stunning novel about the interwar period in England, following a young middle class athesit Oxford student’s increasingly intense and complicated relationship with the aristocratic Anglo-Catholic Flyte family due to his close homoerotic friendship with the son (his college best friend) and sexual tension with the daughter.
Listen to Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese was one of my favorites.
Robert Gailbraith’s strike series. The voice actor is brilliant.
Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything is so good. Written like your best friend is telling you a story and super informative
The decline and fall of the Roman Empire is around 120 hours
Edit: though I think it takes a few creative liberties
The Count of Monte Cristo.
The Name of the Wind goes for 28 hours
The Martian!
How about The Expanse series? It is fantastic
Currently listening to A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. 18 hours. Great story about an aristocrat sentenced by the Bolsheviks to live out his life in the hotel where he’s been living.
Are you from the US? If so, you might enjoy Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard, about President Garfield’s fascinating/tragic story along with loads of interesting and frustrating medical tidbits. His main doctor (same one who treated Lincoln) stubbornly disregarded new medical advancements of the time that could have saved Garfield’s life. You also get the background story on the man who assassinated him which is interesting as well. That book stuck with me for awhile.
ETA it’s only a 10 hour book but might be a good choice if you want a couple.
Pillars of the earth (: