So, you’re hitting the open road. Good call. These days, a good long road trip can feel like the safest way to travel, and it’s such a huge relief to be able to leave your house with your pod and just simply see something new. Still, long car trips can be hard for some people who want constant entertainment.
And if you want entertainment, you’re in luck! Even if it’s not how you spend 100% of your time in the car, probably the best way to kill a few hours of the drive is with a great audiobook. Here are some of our favorites to pass the time as you hit the open road.
On the Road 
A natural choice for when you yourself are on the road, Jack Kerouac’s classic American novel follows the story of a man in the 1950s hitchhiking his way across the country and the grand and extraordinary cast of characters he meets along the way. At just under 12 hours, the audiobook is a completely manageable length. On a weeklong trip with just a couple hours of listening every day, it’s a great choice for life on the highway.
Less 
Andrew Sean Greer’s satirical novel won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2018, which is reason enough to read it. Less is the story of a writer traveling all over the world, dealing with aging, writing, fatigue, success, and lost love.
But What If We’re Wrong? 
If your speed is more nonfiction, Chuck Klosterman’s books are a great place to start, and my personal favorite would be But What If We’re Wrong? Klosterman doesn’t just seek to examine why certain things rise to popularity, but he tries to identify what aspects of our current popular culture will stick in hundreds of years.
What If? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions
What If? is almost made for long car rides. In his book, Randall Munroe takes you step by step through intense and often silly problem-solving. The kinds of questions where you have to skip over the immediate response of “that doesn’t make sense.” For example, when asked “What if you hit a baseball that was pitched at 90% of the speed of light?” Munroe, through some “back of the envelope” calculation, concludes that you would probably cause a large explosion (and the umpire would call that a hit by pitch — take your base).
The Martian 
Meanwhile, if you enjoy the intense step-by-step problem-solving, Andy Weir’s novel The Martian gives you that and more. While Matt Damon’s movie was an extremely fun watch, the book is even better because it gives you every single thought — good or bad, triumphant or failing — the lost astronaut has on his journey to survive and escape the red planet.
Carsick 
If you liked On The Road, here’s an even more nonfictional version from one of America’s strangest and most beloved artists. John Waters is fully and famously John Waters in the early 2010s when he sets off to travel the U.S. by hitchhiking only. From Baltimore to San Francisco, Waters makes his way across America with all that he needs, namely his cardboard sign that reads “I’M NOT CRAZY.”
My Brilliant Friend 
On your next road trip, you should take in the first novel in the most notable contemporary epic series. Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Novels follow Lenu and Lila over the course of nearly their whole lives. Ferrante’s books are deeply compelling and tender, and My Brilliant Friend is only the beginning.
To the Lighthouse 
Another classic novel for you to revisit or take in for the first time, Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse is completely entrancing from start to finish. In elegant, sprawling prose, Woolf’s novel of winding descriptions may not make for the most uplifting road trip fare, but it’s certainly one you won’t soon forget.
The White Boy Shuffle 
If you’re looking for something that’s a little lighter and funnier but still sharp and cutting, you need to start looking into Paul Beatty’s work. A great place to start would be The White Boy Shuffle, Beatty’s debut novel about a young Black outcast turned basketball star turned savior of the downtrodden. Beatty’s work is often thought-provoking and always hilarious.
Where the Crawdads Sing 
Another recent bestseller stunner was Delia Owens’ Where the Crawdads Sing. Owens’ novel bends a few different genres together. It’s all the drama of a doomed romance and all the drama of a thrilling mystery, and everywhere in between is tremendous and deeply felt prose. If you haven’t gotten to this one yet, get on it now for your next road trip.
My Sister, the Serial Killer 
In Lagos, Nigeria, Ayoola keeps stabbing her boyfriends to death. For the third time in a row, Ayoola has had to kill her boyfriend “in self-defense.” Her sister, Korede, is certainly suspicious though. Oyinkan Braithwaite’s 2018 debut is dark, funny, and well worth your time. It’s a great story to make your road trip fly by.
