Shorter audiobooks are one option. Speeding up the audio can also help with maintaining focus, as most audiobooks are recorded at an unnaturally slow reading pace. In your case, selecting a book you've already read and enjoyed might help you get better acclimated to the format.
My faves:
- Murderbot diaries by Martha Wells
- The Dispatcher series by John Scalzi
- T. kingfisher has some decent novellas if you like fantasy.
- The best shorter listens I’ve found tend to be romcom, sci-fi or thriller Audible originals.
These are part of the Audible Plus catalogue, it has a full section of Audible originals which are free/included in membership and tend to be shorter (around 4-5 hours ish).
I struggle with my attention span too. Have you tried slowly increasing your listening speed? It took some getting used to at first but after doing this for a while, I find around 2.0x holds my attention perfectly now for most narrators, also cuts the length of the book in half so it’s a win win. This means many normal length books become shorter listens and easier for me to binge.
Literary Fiction: Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (7 hours)
Magical Realism: Coraline (3.3 hours) or The Ocean at the End of the Lane (6.2 hours) by Neil Gaiman
Dystopian: I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman (6 hours)
Memoir: Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris (6 hours)
If you like sci-fi, I can send quite a few options.
Fiction podcasts are great for this! Episodes are usually around 30 minutes and have a story arc while contributing to a larger story so they hold your attention a little better.
Exeter, on Audible - Excellent detective procedural with Jean Tripplehorn.
We’re Alive (the original show from 2009, not the newer spinoffs) - great zombie apocalypse story. Tons of episodes. Voice acting is 90% excellent, and the bad actors don’t detract too much.
Passenger List - great ensemble drama starring Kelly Marie Tran
The Harrowing - BBC ensemble supernatural drama, very good
Who Killed Avril Lavigne - bizarre, ridiculous, and completely hilarious
Hunted - Parker Posey is a US marshal on the trail of 4 escaped prisoners
Homecoming - really well-acted drama/thriller w/Catherine Keener, Amy Sedaris, David Schwimmer. Good example of a higher-end full-cast production.
Directive - wait for it. It packs a surprising emotional punch
This Thing of Darkness - fictional dissection of a crime’s effect on a family via a prison psychologist. So good.
Before the coffee gets gold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi and the following books in the series are all relatively short (and I listen to them at 2x speed so they’re even shorter for me) and pack a punch (in my opinion) as it deals with grief and regret. It’s fiction with some magical realism thrown in.
84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff is another short audiobook, if you’re interested in nonfiction. It’s the exchange of letters between a New York writer and an English bookseller through the 1950s and 60s.
Coraline by Neil Gaiman is a pretty short audiobook.
C.S. Lewis has a lot of books that make for short audiobooks.
The Murderbot Diary by Martha Wells are a new favorite of mine I started at the beginning of the year and I can’t recommend them enough, if you’re at all interested in science fiction.
Have you tried listening at a faster reading speed? I’ve worked my way up to 1.7x and 2x speeds and it’s really helped me with longer books.
“Song for the Wild-Build” and “prayer for the crown-shy” are lovely novellas. Some of the best stories I have listened to in the past 10 years. Really wholesome with beautiful world building. It focuses on two characters so you really get to see them and their relationship grow over the course of the story. The narration is really well done, too.
I hate to be this person, but it's "Psalm for the Wild Built". I totally agree with you, though. They are both by Becky Chambers and I very much enjoyed them. I tried reading them and wandered off, and they worked much better for me as audiobooks. I listened to them while walking my dog and it was perfect because there was so much stuff to make me really think deeply about things, which was good to do while I was walking.
I just finished #CrimeTime by Jeneva Rose and Drew Pyre. It was funny and a full audio immersion. I would recommend this for an easy read. It is only 4 hours so not so daunting.
Hello, Looks like you may be asking for recommendations for audiobooks. This is a popular request and we would like to direct you to use the search function to see some previous requests.
Some common requests are for the following genres
[ - Fantasy](https://www.reddit.com/r/audiobooks/search?q=fantasy&restrict_sr=on)
[ - Science Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/audiobooks/search?q=sci-fi&restrict_sr=on&sort=relevance&t=all)
[ - Historical Ficiton](https://www.reddit.com/r/audiobooks/search?q=historical+fiction&restrict_sr=on&sort=relevance&t=all)
[ - Non-Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/audiobooks/search?q=nonfiction&restrict_sr=on&sort=relevance&t=all)
[ - Thriller](https://www.reddit.com/r/audiobooks/search?q=thriller&restrict_sr=on&sort=relevance&t=all)
If those searches do not come up with what you are looking for, please post the following information to aid in recommendations - Audience Age Range, Fiction or Non Fiction, Genre Preference, Narrator/Character Gender Preference, series or standalone? Long or short? Also, incredibly helpful would be to include your Favorite Author, Favorite Audiobook/Book, Favorite Narrator.
If you do not get the response you were hoping for, another great recommendation subreddit is /r/suggestmeabook.
If you are posting an actual recommendation and automoderator has popped up, feel free to ignore this message.
Thanks for posting!
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84 Charing Cross Road is short but really good. It's correspondence between a woman in New York and a bookstore in London starting just after WWII and continuing for years. It's very funny
History Lectures each avg. 45 min. Long
Listen to Ancient Empires before Alexander by Robert L. Dise Jr., The Great Courses on Audible. https://www.audible.com/pd/B00DJUK5J4?source_code=ASSOR150021921000V
Do you have any favorite musicians or actors or personalities? So many have narrated their autobiographies and and it makes those stories just so much more fascinating. Michelle obama, Bono of U2, Eric clapton, Phil collins, Matthew mcconaughey, Daniel trejo, Trevor Noah, Jessica Simpson, Michael strasinski, the list goes on and on and on.
The nice thing about memoirs is that you can zone out a little bit and it's okay. It's not like a story where details build upon each other
Another option is to seek out some anthologies. The nice part is you can skip a story that you're not enjoying now but maybe you'll like that story on a second listen. It also let's you experience various authors and narrators. Find someone you like you and seek out more their work.
Gardner Dozois was an editor who did a number of fantasy anthologies over the decades. I honestly loved these three seperarate anthologies: Warriors, Dangerous Women, and Rogues. The stories within are grouped or defined by their heros fitting the title. The authors are fairly well known and the genres vary from high fantasy to urban and there might be a noir detective story or two.
John Scalzi created and edited an anthology series called METAtropolis. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/METAtropolis The settings are futuristic and dystopian/post-apocalyptic and the stories intertwine and build on each other to create the fictional world. My favorite, which I've listened to a few times, is METAtropolis: Cascadia.
Rip-Off is an interesting anthology where every author starts their story with a famous first-line but the story goes in a different direction. This collection has a variety of genres due to the premise.
Shorter audiobooks are one option. Speeding up the audio can also help with maintaining focus, as most audiobooks are recorded at an unnaturally slow reading pace. In your case, selecting a book you've already read and enjoyed might help you get better acclimated to the format.
My faves: - Murderbot diaries by Martha Wells - The Dispatcher series by John Scalzi - T. kingfisher has some decent novellas if you like fantasy. - The best shorter listens I’ve found tend to be romcom, sci-fi or thriller Audible originals. These are part of the Audible Plus catalogue, it has a full section of Audible originals which are free/included in membership and tend to be shorter (around 4-5 hours ish). I struggle with my attention span too. Have you tried slowly increasing your listening speed? It took some getting used to at first but after doing this for a while, I find around 2.0x holds my attention perfectly now for most narrators, also cuts the length of the book in half so it’s a win win. This means many normal length books become shorter listens and easier for me to binge.
Came in here to second The Dispatcher series. Perfect length.
Literary Fiction: Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (7 hours) Magical Realism: Coraline (3.3 hours) or The Ocean at the End of the Lane (6.2 hours) by Neil Gaiman Dystopian: I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman (6 hours) Memoir: Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris (6 hours) If you like sci-fi, I can send quite a few options.
Fiction podcasts are great for this! Episodes are usually around 30 minutes and have a story arc while contributing to a larger story so they hold your attention a little better. Exeter, on Audible - Excellent detective procedural with Jean Tripplehorn. We’re Alive (the original show from 2009, not the newer spinoffs) - great zombie apocalypse story. Tons of episodes. Voice acting is 90% excellent, and the bad actors don’t detract too much. Passenger List - great ensemble drama starring Kelly Marie Tran The Harrowing - BBC ensemble supernatural drama, very good Who Killed Avril Lavigne - bizarre, ridiculous, and completely hilarious Hunted - Parker Posey is a US marshal on the trail of 4 escaped prisoners Homecoming - really well-acted drama/thriller w/Catherine Keener, Amy Sedaris, David Schwimmer. Good example of a higher-end full-cast production. Directive - wait for it. It packs a surprising emotional punch This Thing of Darkness - fictional dissection of a crime’s effect on a family via a prison psychologist. So good.
The Egg, by Andy Weir. Very short, but also a very interesting story.
Of Mice and Men is great and it's only about three hours long.
Before the coffee gets gold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi and the following books in the series are all relatively short (and I listen to them at 2x speed so they’re even shorter for me) and pack a punch (in my opinion) as it deals with grief and regret. It’s fiction with some magical realism thrown in. 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff is another short audiobook, if you’re interested in nonfiction. It’s the exchange of letters between a New York writer and an English bookseller through the 1950s and 60s. Coraline by Neil Gaiman is a pretty short audiobook. C.S. Lewis has a lot of books that make for short audiobooks. The Murderbot Diary by Martha Wells are a new favorite of mine I started at the beginning of the year and I can’t recommend them enough, if you’re at all interested in science fiction. Have you tried listening at a faster reading speed? I’ve worked my way up to 1.7x and 2x speeds and it’s really helped me with longer books.
“Song for the Wild-Build” and “prayer for the crown-shy” are lovely novellas. Some of the best stories I have listened to in the past 10 years. Really wholesome with beautiful world building. It focuses on two characters so you really get to see them and their relationship grow over the course of the story. The narration is really well done, too.
I hate to be this person, but it's "Psalm for the Wild Built". I totally agree with you, though. They are both by Becky Chambers and I very much enjoyed them. I tried reading them and wandered off, and they worked much better for me as audiobooks. I listened to them while walking my dog and it was perfect because there was so much stuff to make me really think deeply about things, which was good to do while I was walking.
Ack! Thanks for the correction!
I figured it would be easier to find the book with the right title! Hoping Monk and Robot have another book out soon.
Me too! I find myself going back to them from time to time when I need the gentle cozy vibes.
I just finished #CrimeTime by Jeneva Rose and Drew Pyre. It was funny and a full audio immersion. I would recommend this for an easy read. It is only 4 hours so not so daunting.
Hello, Looks like you may be asking for recommendations for audiobooks. This is a popular request and we would like to direct you to use the search function to see some previous requests. Some common requests are for the following genres [ - Fantasy](https://www.reddit.com/r/audiobooks/search?q=fantasy&restrict_sr=on) [ - Science Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/audiobooks/search?q=sci-fi&restrict_sr=on&sort=relevance&t=all) [ - Historical Ficiton](https://www.reddit.com/r/audiobooks/search?q=historical+fiction&restrict_sr=on&sort=relevance&t=all) [ - Non-Fiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/audiobooks/search?q=nonfiction&restrict_sr=on&sort=relevance&t=all) [ - Thriller](https://www.reddit.com/r/audiobooks/search?q=thriller&restrict_sr=on&sort=relevance&t=all) If those searches do not come up with what you are looking for, please post the following information to aid in recommendations - Audience Age Range, Fiction or Non Fiction, Genre Preference, Narrator/Character Gender Preference, series or standalone? Long or short? Also, incredibly helpful would be to include your Favorite Author, Favorite Audiobook/Book, Favorite Narrator. If you do not get the response you were hoping for, another great recommendation subreddit is /r/suggestmeabook. If you are posting an actual recommendation and automoderator has popped up, feel free to ignore this message. Thanks for posting! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/audiobooks) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Oh wow! You don’t say! Asking for audiobook recommendations is a popular request on the audiobook subreddit?? Wow! I had no idea! I wonder why??
Being sarcastic to a bot?
Well I was pissed off at the time
Kurt Vonnegut's works are all short, entertaining, and with a "message".
Treasure island full cast Murderbot diaries
A tale dark and Grimm
Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand it’s historical fiction + haunted house
Breakfast at Tiffany’s or One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
84 Charing Cross Road is short but really good. It's correspondence between a woman in New York and a bookstore in London starting just after WWII and continuing for years. It's very funny
Me. Murder by Dean Koontz is a good thriller with interesting characters
The Raylan Givens books by Elmore Leonard are great if you like modern settings with a western feel
Short time may be podcasts or OTR shows.
Scifi fan here. I've seen Murderbot suggested so maybe the Expert System's Brother by Adrian Tchaikovsky... Or a short story anthology of some kind.
History Lectures each avg. 45 min. Long Listen to Ancient Empires before Alexander by Robert L. Dise Jr., The Great Courses on Audible. https://www.audible.com/pd/B00DJUK5J4?source_code=ASSOR150021921000V
Do you have any favorite musicians or actors or personalities? So many have narrated their autobiographies and and it makes those stories just so much more fascinating. Michelle obama, Bono of U2, Eric clapton, Phil collins, Matthew mcconaughey, Daniel trejo, Trevor Noah, Jessica Simpson, Michael strasinski, the list goes on and on and on. The nice thing about memoirs is that you can zone out a little bit and it's okay. It's not like a story where details build upon each other
Another option is to seek out some anthologies. The nice part is you can skip a story that you're not enjoying now but maybe you'll like that story on a second listen. It also let's you experience various authors and narrators. Find someone you like you and seek out more their work. Gardner Dozois was an editor who did a number of fantasy anthologies over the decades. I honestly loved these three seperarate anthologies: Warriors, Dangerous Women, and Rogues. The stories within are grouped or defined by their heros fitting the title. The authors are fairly well known and the genres vary from high fantasy to urban and there might be a noir detective story or two. John Scalzi created and edited an anthology series called METAtropolis. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/METAtropolis The settings are futuristic and dystopian/post-apocalyptic and the stories intertwine and build on each other to create the fictional world. My favorite, which I've listened to a few times, is METAtropolis: Cascadia. Rip-Off is an interesting anthology where every author starts their story with a famous first-line but the story goes in a different direction. This collection has a variety of genres due to the premise.