I’m looking for easy-to-listen-to fiction audiobooks. Something I can tune in while doing other stuff without getting distracted.

I find some authors have styles that are a bit more sophisticated than others. The more thought-provoking, the more difficult I find to enjoy an audiobook while doing something else. I catch myself stopping whatever I’m doing to pay attention to the book, which is not what I want.

So for example I’ve found The Witcher books very easy to listen to, it wouldn’t matter if I missed a few seconds and I never found myself stopping to ponder about the text itself. The narrator was great too. Also bonus points as it was a long saga of books.

In contrast I would never want to listen to a Terry Pratchett book while doing something else. He’s probably my favourite English author but I find he’s too much of a genius, and my poor brain wouldn’t be able to digest it all if I’m not giving it my attention 100%.

I hope this makes sense?

How’s your experience with audiobooks?

  • Capt. Wolf@lemmy.world
    8·
    11 months ago

    I set a goal for myself to get through as many of Stephen King’s books as I can before the end of the year. To date, I’ve gone through over half of the Dark Tower series, The Shining, Dr. Sleep, It, Later, Under The Dome, Bag of Bones, Desperation, If It Bleeds, and I’m working on The Stand right now. Most of them are quite long, 15 - 50ish hours.

    If you’re not into horror, I still highly recommend The Dark Tower series. The recordings for the first 5 books are over 100 hours. They unfortunately had to change narrators in the 5th book, as the original sadly passed away. He did an amazing job at bringing the characters to life.

    If It Bleeds is a short story collection, but it contains a sequel to King’s The Outsider, followed by Holly, which just came out last month.

    • PetDinosaurs@lemmy.world
      2·
      11 months ago

      I listened to the extended version of the stand.

      It was 48 hours long and has a diatribe about people complaining about him being verbose.

      Excellent storyteller, but he is long winded.

      • MaxHardwood@lemmy.caEnglish
        2·
        11 months ago

        And it really didn’t make the ending any better… I didn’t feel rewarded after that slog. Personal victory maybe?

        • PetDinosaurs@lemmy.world
          2·
          11 months ago

          Yeah… Me neither.

          I like audio books because they are slower than I read, which is more peaceful. I read words all day. I’m just done with that in my personal time, aside from the fact that I can listen to books when doing other things.

  • Albbi@lemmy.ca
    5·
    11 months ago

    I can recommend “The Realm of the Elderlings” audiobooks. James Langton has a British accent and it’s just wonderful to listen to. He does voices for other characters fairly well too. Great book series too.

  • Pulptastic@midwest.socialEnglish
    4·
    11 months ago

    The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared

    This book did this for me. It was funny and totally casual.

  • ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de
    4·
    11 months ago

    There’s a free series you can listen to on Podcast Addict by Nathan Lowell. The first book is called Quarter Share. (Then Half Share, Full Share, Double Share, Captains Share, and lastly, Owners Share).

    It’s Sci fi set in space about a guy moving up in ranks making money and working on a space ship. It’s nothing too fantastic but it was still a good listen, read by the author who does a good job of it, and I did exactly what you’re wanting while I listened. Loosely paid attention while doing other things and it was great for that.

    Also, you can’t beat free.

  • L1amnees0ns@lemmy.world
    4·
    11 months ago

    The ice wind dale Trilogy by R.A. Salvatore is a great series set in the forgotten realms of dungeons and dragons. There’s even a free podcast audiobook of it on Spotify!

  • Io Sapsai 🌱@lemm.ee
    3·
    11 months ago

    Discworld is my go-to these days. Goes well with cross stitching

    In contrast I would never want to listen to a Terry Pratchett book while doing something else

    Ah well. Sarah J. Maas was also a fun experience. It’s so bad it’s good. I went with A court of thorns and roses but I hear her other series follow a similar vein. It’s hard to miss the important details. Look for the Graphic Audio releases.

    • Mothra@mander.xyzOP
      4·
      11 months ago

      Pratchett has the highest rate of “that whole paragraph was great so I’m going to read it again now” and “that’s such a clever remark I’m now taking 5 minutes to think about it” out of any other authors I’ve ever read.

      And you can do cross stiching whilst listening to it? I’m jealous. Thanks for the other recommendation, I’ll look into it :)

      • southernbrewer@lemmy.world
        1·
        11 months ago

        What other authors have high clever-remark ratings, in your experience? Because I find myself near the end of the Discworld series and want to continue with something similarly engaging. Basically, the opposite of what you requested :)

        • Mothra@mander.xyzOP
          2·
          11 months ago

          Ah, I feel for you, but unfortunately I don’t know of anyone else as engaging in a similar way. He really is an outlier.

          Have you ever read anything by Joe Abercrombie? I’ve enjoyed the Last Argument of Kings trilogy, it’s not humorous, it’s not as thought provoking, but it’s definitely engaging enough I couldn’t divide my attention to work while listening.

  • Hugin@lemmy.world
    3·
    11 months ago

    A Night in the Lonesome October byRoger Zelazny. The version read by the author is better but harder to find these days.

    This is also the perfect month to listen to it. It’s the diary of Jack the Ripper’s dog from October 1-31.

  • krellor@kbin.social
    3·
    11 months ago

    I really enjoyed Stephen Fry’s Greek mythology audiobooks. He wrote three, basically a modern editorial of the mythology cleaned up a little bit and presented as a more linear sequence of events. He did the golden and silver ages, followed by the Trojan war.

    I also really enjoyed Neil Gaiman’s Norse Mythology, narrated by himself. They are all easy to follow, and entertaining. Neil Gaiman’s book isn’t particularly to ribald as far as mythology goes, and my kids loved listening to it in the car.

    Edit: also from the young adult section, Abhorsen and Sabriel are on audible narrated by Tim Curry, who makes them a hoot. Don’t recommend the other two as much. The books weren’t as good and they aren’t narrated by Tim Curry.

  • Phanatik@kbin.social
    2·
    11 months ago

    This one is more niche but it’s among my favourite audiobooks for both great writing and a stellar vocal performance.

    I highly recommend the Eisenhorn trilogy by Dan Abnett and performed by Toby Longsworth. Or if you want to dip your toes then try the first one Xenos.

    It’s set in the Warhammer 40K universe but you don’t need to know much lore to get into it. The trilogy is a pretty good primer into 40K.

    • xfc@lemdro.idEnglish
      1·
      11 months ago

      I just finished the third book last week and really enjoyed them. The narration was superb also.

  • fitz@linkopath.comEnglish
    2·
    11 months ago

    Jonathan Maberry, Joe Ledger series is a really good action, near future sci-fi, popcorn romp, style of fiction. It’s like Saturday morning cartoons (just sit and listen) combined with some good writing.

  • johnthedoe@lemmy.ml
    2·
    11 months ago

    Stephen Fry’s reading of Harry Potter is just the best.

    On a JK Rowling note. Her Cormoran Strike series (starting with Cuckoo’s Calling) under a different pen name is actually pretty great. It’s a modern day detective series with great personable characters. Very easy to listen to. Despite her crappy views, Rowling’s way of writing is very clean and simple so might fit your brief.