Summer Reading: What Makes the Perfect Road Trip Audiobook?
I am fascinated by the idea of “summer reading”, mostly because I don’t quite know why it is such a big deal. It feels like this time of year, more than any other, is the time when adults (and children) are inundated with book lists and reading challenges. Is it a holdover from our years in school, when summer was our time to take a break?
I find that as an adult, summer is often when I am at my busiest and have LESS time for reading.
Personally, I am the most interested in books are in the fall and winter, with a cozy fire, blanket and tea. My favorite reading window of the year is the week between Christmas and New Years, when everything is celebratory, and you can postpone most things by just saying “let’s deal with this next year”. I am also completely uninterested in reading on the beach. I can thing of no reading experience less desirable than trying to prop myself up into a reading position from a towel all while trying to keep my book water, sand and sunscreen free and squinting against the white pages of a book in the sun.
That being said, I do wonder if “summer books” are simply a shorthand for vacation books, books that fall outside your normal reading choices, or books that you save for the times when you have extended hours interrupted by work or life. I am going to have a bit of a series over this summer exploring different kinds of summer and/or vacation reading, and today I would like to start with my personal favorite quest, which is finding the perfect road trip audiobooks!
Road Trip Audiobooks
I have yet to meet anyone who does not have a strong opinion on what they like to listen to while driving long distances. Some people need music, some people like their podcasts, some folks even bring headphones so they can listen to different things, some people inexplicably seem to like driving in silence, and then there are the folks like me who listen to audiobooks.
When I know I have a long drive coming up, I love looking for audiobooks that fit into the right time frame and fit my mood. The only thing more aggravating than arriving somewhere with an hour left in a 10 hour audiobook is finishing a 10 hour audiobook an hour before you arrive and having to fool around on your phone while driving (I would never do that…) to find something different because it’s too late to start a new book. I will even listen to clips to make sure I like the narrator, and try to have a number of options, from mysteries, to old favorites to new and engaging non-fiction.
These books make even the most monotonous drives memorable. I can vividly recall approaching Ellensburg with an hour left in Born A Crime by Trevor Noah (I think I finished it at the hotel!), climbing up the Beartooth Highway in Montana while listening to Tokyo Ueno Station by Yu Miri (and then back DOWN when I realized the pass was closed – at least the extra time meant I could finish it). I also remember tearing up so much I couldn’t see at the end of Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid while driving into Spokane and having to pause it so I could drive safely.
I don’t have specific recommendations for these books, as so much of a good audiobook is down to what you like, what voices you enjoy listening to, and what subjects you are interested in. However, there are some universal things that can indicate a book might be a good choice for a long trip:
– Length of Book – I have found that the perfect length of a book is one that is about an hour to 30 minutes less than the length of the trip (or multiple short books combined to make the same time). I will often switch to music if I am tired, or pause it when navigating in tricky areas, so having a book that is a bit shorter helps ensure I finish it. (I have learned the hard way to have a couple podcasts lined up if I finish early too!). When most of my driving was between Washington and Montana, my perfect book length was between 10 and 11 hours.
– Narrator – Narration quality is even more important when driving because you not only need a good narrator, but you need to find someone whose voice is engaging enough it won’t sooth you to sleep. This can be tough, which is why I always use the preview option when deciding which books to check out. Once you know what works for you, you can search for books narrated by specific people in many audiobook catalogues, which has been a fun way for me to discover books I would never have seen!
– Plot/Genre – This is specific to the person, but I do find that there is a middle ground of tension that works best for road trip books. When a book is too slow, I zone out and lose focus, and have to go back and replay sections. When it is too intense, I will lose focus on the road around me. Memoirs and light murder mysteries have been a good middle ground that has worked for me. I also like books set in other countries when they are narrated by native voices as I find the accents can add a layer to the story I would have missed on the page.
– Audience – I almost always prefer audiobooks when I am driving alone, unless it is a book both of us are equally fascinated by. Even then, I find the need to pause it to have a conversation to be distracting. Podcasts work better for me when I am driving with someone else, and I tend to save audiobooks for my solo trips. I haven’t yet become a “headphones in the car” person, but it is always an option!
– Kind of Driving – I also find that the weather and kind of driving can make a big difference! City driving calls for a different kind of book than driving across wide stretches of open country. Driving in rain or with the AC on high changes the audio experience and can mean certain books or narrators can be harder to hear or understand. Then you also have to think about pacing and tension. The amount of tension I need to stay focused in downtown Seattle is significantly less than the amount of tension I need when trying not to zone out in Eastern Washington.
As an illustration, let’s take two related memoirs – those written by Barack and Michelle Obama. While the would seem to be similar, both in subject material and type of book, they actually make for significantly different audiobook experiences.
A Promised Land, written and narrated by Barack Obama, is not a book I would choose for a road trip. It comes in at 30 hours long (!!), which means it would take a LONG road trip to finish, and they kept his speaking style, which means it is too slow to stay focused on while driving. Conversely, Michelle Obama’s book, Becoming, was a lovely audiobook for a roadtrip. While it was also long, at 19 hours, I was able to split it between two 11 hour drives, and her narration was much faster paced and kept me interested.
What kinds of audiobooks do you enjoy while driving (or walking, flying, on the train)?
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