All too often, getting to and from work isn't much fun—rush-hour traffic, crowded transit hubs, delays, and the stress of the workday can all serve to dampen your mood just when you need a pick-me-up most. And if you're transitioning from fully remote work to making more regular trips back to the office, you might be doubly wary about how to make the time investment of commuting fit back into your busy schedule.
This is where audiobooks can save the day. Listening on your commute is a great way to gain motivation or knowledge before work, get swept up in a story, or just unwind at the end of a long day. And whether you have a lot of time or just a little, you might be surprised at how much you can accomplish when you chip away at a great novel—or podcast, biography, history, or self-dev guide—one commute at a time. Whether you're looking for inspirational titles to support your career journey or thrilling adventures to help you escape, this list is organized by length and topic to help you easily find your next great commuting listen.
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The best short audiobooks for quick commutes
Is your commute 30 minutes or less? Sure, you could wing it by idly flipping through your phone on the train or surfing the radio in your car. But consider how many great books you could consume in that time, particularly from this selection of audiobooks under five hours. Depending on how often you commute, you could be adding a book a week (or more!) into your rotation.
Format: Words + Music
Length: 1 hr 32 mins
Yo-Yo Ma's gorgeous, self-narrated memoir can turn even a short commute into an exhilarating meditation on life, art, and human connection, punctuated by the artist's exclusive musical performances.
Format: Audiobook
Length: 3 hrs 26 mins
With an engaging new translation from bestselling author Ken Liu and performance by actor B.D. Wong, this version of the Dao De Jing speaks directly to the sensibilities of a modern audience.
Format: Audiobook
Length: 2 hrs 25 mins
Beautifully read by Jesse L. Martin, James Baldwin's eloquent manifesto of race, equality, compassion, and humanity galvanized the early days of the civil rights movement and remains brilliantly clear today.
Format: Audio play
Length: 1 hr 38 mins
Now a feature film, this ingenious audio play unfolds in international phone calls as a worried mom side-eyes her daughter's new boyfriend. A brilliant full cast leaves you guessing about whom to believe.
Format: Audiobook
Length: 4 hrs
Despite being a work of fiction, The Alchemist is widely embraced as self-development. Rich in inspiration and encouragement, Paolo Coelho's novel stars an iconic performance by Academy Award winner Jeremy Irons.
Format: Audiobook
Length: 4 hrs 44 mins
Impeccably read by beloved narrator Simon Vance, this nonfiction classic details Frankl's harrowing years in Nazi death camps and his conclusion that humanity's primary driving force is the search for meaning.
Format: Audiobook
Length: 3 hrs 21 mins
Hidden gem alert! This short but subversive novella about a Japanese teen who bypasses a high-pressure career for a position at "Smile Mart" is beloved for its quirky heroine and sharp-eyed critique of late-capitalist work culture.
Format: Audiobook
Length: 1 hr 53 mins
This gripping father-and-son memoir unfolds like Greek tragedy. In an unadorned telling that puts their voices center stage, Roger and Zac Stringer describe how a faulty gun caused unspeakable tragedy—and things kept getting stranger.
Format: Audiobook
Length: 4 hr 49 mins
Did you have something better to do on your commute than listen to Jake Gyllenhaal read one of the most beautiful novels ever written? No matter how ceaselessly we're borne back into the past, Gatsby remains a timeless choice.
The best episodic listens for stop-and-go commutes
Gotta catch a train that takes you to a ferry, cross a river, and then hike a few more blocks to work? Been there, done that. Try a podcast or audiobook with an episodic structure or lean chapter lengths to make stopping and starting a breeze.
Format: Podcast
Length: 17 episodes, ~15-30 minutes each
This hilariously low-stakes space comedy, written by The Office's Paul Lieberman, stars Will Forte as a bored starship captain who is forced into action by an intergalactic distress call.
Format: Audiobook
Length: 10 hrs 12 mins, split into 8 chapters
Listening to this fascinating collection of medical mysteries around the world, sensitively investigated by Irish neurologist Suzanne O'Sullivan, is a bit like bingeing the TV show House.
Format: Audiobook
Length: 6 hrs 13 mins, split into 14 chapters
True crime fans' commutes will fly by with the story of the decades-long hunt for the Golden State Killer, as told by the investigators and communities closest to the case.
Format: Podcast
Length: 8 episodes, about 30 mins each
Ride to work with the ultimate copilot. In her Audible Original podcast, former First Lady Michelle Obama holds inspiring conversations with esteemed friends Oprah Winfrey, Tyler Perry, Conan O’Brien, and more.
Format: Audiobook
Length: 2 hrs 38 mins, split into 6 lectures
Apex predators get all the attention, but our worst foes can be the smallest. In six fascinating lectures, medical historian Brandy Schillace introduces a half-dozen of these tiny but deadly forces.
Format: Audiobook
Length: 7 hrs 6 mins, split into 9 stories
With his trademark humor and finely tuned prose, Booker winner George Saunders's prismatic stories encompass joy and despair, oppression and revolution, bizarre fantasy and brutal reality.
Format: Podcasts
Length: 10 episodes, about 45 minutes each
Breakthrough is the world's first truly blind, audio-only singing competition. Join Daveed Diggs, Sara Bareilles, and Kelly Rowland as they meet five talented artists in pursuit of their dreams.
Format: Audiobook
Length: 3 hrs 23 mins, split into 8 chapters
In this riveting true crime doc told in the Iñupiaq oral tradition, Alaskan storyteller James Dommek Jr. unravels the mystery of an actor-turned-fugitive whose story intersects with tribal legend.
Format: Audiobook
Length: 9 hrs 31 mins, split into 18 essays
Fair warning—you may burst into fits of laughter en route. In the outrageously funny Quietly Hostile, Samantha Irby explores everything from anaphylactic shock to her unhinged pandemic pup.
The best audiobooks to support your return to the office
With the easing of pandemic restrictions, you might be in the same boat—er, car—as many of us returning to an office with more regularity. Whatever your commute looks like right now, you can ease back into your new, new normal with listens that support your well-being and a healthy work-life balance.
Format: Meditation
Length: 3 mins
A short meditation can be surprisingly powerful, even if you only have a few minutes to squeeze one in. This targeted meditation by author and healer Yung Pueblo aims to help listeners accept, flow, and thrive through life's inevitable changes.
Format: Audiobook
Length: 5 hrs 35 mins
Though often overlooked, day-to-day habits (like commuting!) have a significant impact on your life. Learn how to create good habits while banishing bad ones, and discover how even tiny shifts can lead to remarkable results.
Format: Audiobook
Length: 4 hrs 21 mins
In the face of ever more complex evolutions in remote work, artificial intelligence, and economic instability, bestselling author and business thinker Seth Godin offers a powerful vision for how we can change the course.
Format: Audiobook
Length: 5 hrs 33 mins
Ever wonder why work has such a hold over American life? It's not inevitable, says journalist Simone Stolzoff, whose insightful reporting and interviews with workers point the way to an alternative approach.
Format: Podcast
Length: ~2 to 3-hour episodes
From sleep and stress to alcohol and supplements, this pod's deep backlist offers science-backed expertise on just about any health topic, including the elusive work-life balance that's top of mind for many commuters.
Format: Audiobook
Length: 4 hrs 59 mins
Women of color still have a disproportionate amount of trouble getting and keeping high-profile jobs. While overcoming such obstacles is never easy, The Memo outlines steps you can take to help even the odds.
The best buzzy listens to spark conversation
Having trouble reintegrating yourself into team get-togethers and water-cooler chats? These buzzy bestsellers, fresh book club selections, of-the-moment adaptations, and provocative takes on current events have everyone talking.
Format: Podcast
Length: ~40 minute weekly episodes
Keep the 24-hour news cycle at bay with this nonpartisan news podcast from national security journalist Peter Bergen, who explores the week's most compelling stories, backed by on-the-ground reporting and insightful interviews.
Format: Audiobook
Length: 8 hrs 39 mins
R.F. Kuang’s acclaimed fantasy Babel was on the tip of our tongues all last year. Now, Kuang returns with the incisive satirical thriller Yellowface, a listen that’s as much a bold, skewering social commentary as it is a delicious story in its own right.
Format: Audiobook
Length: 15 hrs 6 mins
For a buzzy novel to discuss with your bookish peers, look no further than Ann Napolitano's latest. An Oprah’s Book Club selection, Hello Beautiful is a character-driven saga of family, forgiveness, and trauma that pays homage to Little Women.
Format: Audiobook
Length: 26 hrs 30 mins
Before you head out to see Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, hear the Pulitzer Prize-winning work that inspired it, a comprehensive look at the brilliant scientist who changed the course of history with his role in developing nuclear weaponry.
Format: Audiobook
Length: 12 hrs 23 mins
Can’t stop talking about Queen Charlotte? Check out this listen inspired by the Netflix hit, co-written by Bridgertons author Julia Quinn and adaptation creator Shonda Rhimes, which traces Charlotte and George’s romance as it blooms.
Format: Podcast
Length: 8 ~40 minute episodes
Now that the finale of Succession has come and gone, you may be on the hunt for another media empire drama, awash with wealth and scandal, to fill the void. The real life story of the infamous Murdoch family will have you hooked on every word.
The best immersive audiobooks to take you away
If your commute feels like a dreary slog, know that it doesn’t have to be that way. Escape the grind of gridlock with transportive fiction and get swept up in a great story.
Format: Audiobook
Length: 12 hrs 21 mins
When a divorcée loses a pair of pricey shoes to a gym bag mix-up, the woman who finds them gets a jolt of confidence. No commute is too long or too short for Jojo Moyes's poignant, funny storytelling or Daisy Ridley's narration.
Format: Audiobook
Length: 10 hrs 16 mins
In Harlan Coben's latest, David is in prison after his three-year-old son, Matthew, was murdered. Then, in a photograph, David spots a boy who resembles Matthew. As David plans an escape, will he avoid capture or lose Matthew again?
Format: Audiobook
Length: 4 hrs 16 mins
Released in 2019, this thrilling novella rocketed up bestseller lists after a viral 2023 tweet. In the ashes of a dying world, an unlikely correspondence between two rival agents sparks a romance that could change both the past and the future.
Format: Audiobook
Length: 11 hrs 15 mins
The casting of narrator Frazer Douglas for Madeleine Miller's debut novel—a dazzling reimagining of the bond between Greek heroes Patroclus and Achilles—feels like a match made on Mount Olympus.
Format: Audiobook
Length: 12 hrs 10 mins
In this unpauseable thriller, Kit Darling is a maid prone to snooping, a harmless hobby until she sees something she can’t unsee in the home of a client. Jane Oppenheimer gives a knockout performance.
Format: Podcast
Length: 8 episodes
Jessica Chastain stars as a psychiatrist whose patients have all had the same bizarre, unexplained experience in this provocative supernatural podcast starring a full cast and immersive sound effects.
The best epic-length audiobooks for long commutes
Road warriors, we see you. Most of a long-haul commute with these tried-and-true listens beloved for their transfixing storytelling, must-hear performances, and mind-boggling run times.
Format: Audiobook
Length: 30 hrs 40 mins
One of Stephen King's best and longest novels tells the story of a man who may be able to prevent the assassination of John F. Kennedy by traveling back to November 22, 1963 through a portal. Narrator Craig Wasson transports listeners, too.
Format: Audiobook
Length: 31 hrs 16 mins
Set in Kerala, India, this stunning epic from the author of Cutting for Stone follows three generations of a family seeking answers to a strange secret. Abraham Verghese's versatile and nuanced
narration keeps you transfixed for the long haul.
Format: Audiobook
Length: 32 hrs 24 mins
Can a 32-hour listen go by too fast? It can when it’s Donna Tartt’s Pulitzer-winning novel with a legendary performance from David Pittu. This enthralling drama follows 13-year-old Theo Decker on a haunted odyssey through the art underworld.
Format: Audiobook
Length: 46 hrs 45 mins
Murakami's hefiest novel, a magic-realist tale about a male writer and a female assassin, can’t be easily summed up—but the threads come together beautifully in the award-winning narration of Allison Hiroto, Marc Vietor, and Mark Boyett.
Format: Audiobook
Length: 55 hrs 5 mins
Editor Melissa was slow to connect with Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive—till she encountered Kate Reading and Michael Kramer's narration. She sailed through the series with an epiphany—when a story is good, it's never too long.
Format: Audiobook
Length: 68 hrs 9 mins
In this magisterial world history, award-winning historian Simon Sebag Montefiore chronicles the world’s great dynasties across human history through palace intrigues, love affairs, and family lives, with an epic full-cast performance.
