Whether you’re thinking about taking a road trip for fun this year, hitting the road for work, or prepping for a long drive around the holidays, these are the 12 best audiobooks to help keep you company.
In this guide, you’ll find some of the most popular and well-reviewed audiobooks right now. This list includes options for a wide variety of audiences, including family-friendly audiobooks – and some not-so-family-friendly ones – all of them long enough to get you wherever you’re going and back again.
Let’s take a look.
12 top picks for long audiobooks
Fiction
There are tons of amazing audiobooks out there – from audiobook editions of literature classics to star-studded reads of today’s chart-topping tomes. Here are a few of the most popular fiction titles in audiobooks in a variety of genres, all of which clock in at 10 hours of listening time or more.
Kristin Hannah – The Women
Genre: Historical fiction
Run time: 14 hours 57 minutes
Set in the turbulent 1960s, The Women is a historical fiction novel that follows a young nursing student as she joins the Army Nurse Corps, ships off to Vietnam, experiences the chaos of war, and eventually returns to an America divided. With hundreds of thousands of positive reviews across platforms, The Women is an exquisite coming-of-age novel – and it happens to be Audible’s Audiobook of the Year for 2024.
Ann Patchett – Tom Lake
Genre: Romance, family drama
Run time: 11 hours 22 minutes
Tom Lake is, in many ways, another coming-of-age novel, this one a gentle reflection on family, motherhood, and different kinds of love. The story follows a mother telling her three daughters about a summer where she performed as Emily in a community production of Our Town and ended up having a summer romance with a famous actor.
The story is well-written and warm, but what sets Tom Lake apart is that the audiobook is deftly read by the one and only Meryl Streep.
Liz Moore – The God of the Woods
Genre: Mystery, drama
Run time: 14 hours 35 minutes
Set at a summer camp in 1975, The God of the Woods is about the disappearance of the child of the richest family in a small town. It’s a gripping tale of family secrets, class dynamics, and community, and if you’re looking for a breathless listen that’ll keep you engaged for hours, this is it.
Emily Henry – Book Lovers
Genre: Romance, comedy
Run time: 11 hours 23 minutes
Emily Henry has quickly become the queen of written rom-coms, and Book Lovers is probably her most popular of all. This delightful romp channels Hallmark movies, but adds layers of complexity and wit that a 90 minute made-for-TV movie simply doesn't have time to build. And if Book Lovers floats your boat, Henry’s recent release, Funny Story, has also proved to be a huge hit – and, like Book Lovers, is read by Julia Whelan, a much beloved voice in audiobooks.
Brandon Sanderson – Tress of the Emerald Sea
Genre: Fantasy
Run time: 12 hours 27 minutes
High fantasy fans who haven’t yet delved into the world of Brandon Sanderson will find endless enjoyment in his many lengthy – yet intentional and well-put together – works. Tress of the Emerald Sea is a good introduction to his world-building, as one of the few standalone books. It also happens to be on the shorter side, as his works go, at just 12 and a half hours.
On the flip side, for those looking for a truly long audiobook experience, his Stormlight Archive series is wildly popular and could take you across continents. It starts with The Way of Kings – a 45-hour audiobook and just the first of several books in the series.
Max Brooks – World War Z: The Complete Edition: An Oral History of the Zombie War
Genre: Horror, Sci-Fi
Run time: 12 hours 9 minutes
This movie-tie-in audiobook is a uniquely delightful listening experience, as it tells the story of a zombie war (not family-friendly!) through a series of individual stories, read by some of Hollywood’s brightest stars, including Alan Alda, Simon Pegg, Alfred Molina, Martin Scorsese, and Mark Hamill. It’s a documentary-style apocalyptic fiction which will leave you feeling as if you’ve truly lived through the horrors of a zombie invasion. In a good way.
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Non-Fiction
The world of non-fiction audiobooks is wide and varied – and often veers into longer books on fascinating subjects, perfect for lengthy road trips. While there is, of course, room for non-fiction to become textbook-like and unexciting, these audiobooks are all examples of unique and gripping listens.
Robert Sapolsky – Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst
Genre: Science, neurobiology
Run time: 26 hours 27 minutes
Recommended by listeners across a variety of fields, young and old, critic and layperson alike, this New York Times bestseller is a fascinating look at human behavior. It makes tons of complex science approachable, and the audiobook does a great job reflecting the author’s wit and storytelling capabilities, as well as his expertise. If you’re embarking on a long road trip and want to come out the other side having learned something, Behave is a top pick.
Mark Kurlansky – Salt: A World History
Genre: Geology, history, food
Run time: 13 hours 48 minutes
Another fascinating book, Salt: A World History takes a long view of human history as it was formed and influenced by the discovery, use, and want of salt. Tracking just this one substance, Kurlansky weaves his way through developments in culture, economics, politics, science, religion and the culinary world. It’s a well-put together, engaging book that’ll keep you entertained and teach you a thing or two while you hit the road. It even includes a few recipes! A perfect listen for food fans, history buffs, and science-minded folks.
Alfred Lansing – Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage
Genre: History, adventure, survival
Run time: 10 hours 21 minutes
Thinking about a road trip during the winter months? This highly rated audiobook follows the true story of polar explorer Ernest Shackleton and his crew as they attempted to cross Antarctica. It’s a harrowing tale of survival and heroism, expertly read by Alfred Lansing, and will really make you appreciate even the roughest driving conditions.
Just make sure your vehicle is winter road-ready before you hit the road.
For Young People
While books for younger audiences tend to be shorter than fiction and non-fiction aimed at adults, these books will take up quite a bit of time on the road and engage listeners of all ages!
Katherine Rundell – Impossible Creatures
Genre: Fantasy, adventure
Run time: 8 hours 55 minutes
This delightful fantasy novel – most suitable for ages 10-13, but with some flexibility – is filled with magical beasts and adventure. It follows a young boy who saves a baby griffin and finds a girl on the run and an archipelago of unknown islands filled with fantastical creatures. The two children work together to discover why the magic on the islands seems to be fading and discover that they’ll have to be the ones to save it.
Bonus, this is book one in a two-part series, so if the first book is a hit, there’s plenty more to listen to!
J. R. R. Tolkien – The Hobbit
Genre: Fantasy, adventure, classic literature
Run time: 11 hours 5 minutes
J.R.R. Tolkien’s work is widely known throughout the world and remains a perennial hit among fantasy fans young and old. While The Lord of the Rings is an epic focused on war and more adult themes, The Hobbit is much more family-friendly, and Rob Inglis’ narration in the audiobook brings Tolkien’s rich narration to life.
Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson – Peter and the Starcatchers
Genre: Fantasy, adventure
Run time: 8 hours 50 minutes
Last, but certainly not least, Peter and the Starcatchers is a beautifully put-together prequel to the action of Peter Pan. And, with award-winning narration by Jim Dale, it shines as a top pick for an audiobook for young adult listeners.
And those are the best audiobooks for road trips right now.
An audiobook is a great way to bring excitement and fun to your next road trip. Whatever your taste, you can’t go wrong with these exciting, well-written, and expertly narrated audiobooks from across genres – all of them long enough to keep you entertained from “go” to “arrived.”
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