The Ocean at the End of the Lane
A groundbreaking work from a master, The Ocean at the End of the Lane is told with a rare understanding of all that makes us human, and shows the power of stories to reveal and shelter us from the darkness inside and out. A stirring, terrifying, and elegiac fable as delicate as a butterfly's wing and as menacing as a knife in the dark.
More info →True Grit
True Grit, first published in 1968 and the basis for the movie by the same name starring John Wayne, tells the story of fourteen-year-old Mattie Ross. A coward going by the name of Tom Chaney shoots her father down in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and robs him of his life, his horse, and $150 in cash money. That's when Mattie fearlessly heads out to avenge her father's blood, convincing one-eyed Rooster Cogburn, the meanest U.S. Marshal there is, to accompany her. But their plans run into an obstacle -- namely, a Texas Ranger who is also investigating the murder, and whose idea of justice is vastly different from Mattie and Rooster's.
More info →Digital Minimalism
Minimalism is the art of knowing how much is just enough. Digital minimalism applies this idea to our personal technology. It's the key to living a focused life in an increasingly noisy world.
More info →And Then There Were None
Ten people, each with something to hide and something to fear, are invited to a isolated mansion on Indian Island by a host who, surprisingly, fails to appear. On the island they are cut off from everything but each other and the inescapable shadows of their own past lives. One by one, the guests share the darkest secrets of their wicked pasts. And one by one, they die…
More info →Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?
In this hilarious instant classic, the creator of The Mindy Project and Never Have I Ever invites readers on a tour of her life and her unscientific observations on romance, friendship, and Hollywood.
More info →The Turn of the Screw
When a governess is hired to care for two children at a British country estate, she begins to sense an otherworldly presence around the grounds. Are they really ghosts she's seeing? Or is something far more sinister at work?
More info →Talking As Fast As I Can
In this collection of personal essays, the beloved star of Gilmore Girls and Parenthood reveals stories about life, love, and working as a woman in Hollywood—along with behind-the-scenes dispatches from the set of the new Gilmore Girls, where she plays the fast-talking Lorelai Gilmore once again.
More info →The War of Art
Since 2002, The War of Art has inspired people around the world to defeat "Resistance"; to recognize and knock down dream-blocking barriers and to silence the naysayers within us. Resistance kicks everyone's butt, and the desire to defeat it is equally as universal. The War of Art identifies the enemy that every one of us must face, outlines a battle plan to conquer this internal foe, then pinpoints just how to achieve the greatest success.Though it was written for writers, it has been embraced by business entrepreneurs, actors, dancers, painters, photographers, filmmakers, military service members and thousands of others around the world.
More info →The End We Start From
As London is submerged below flood waters, a woman gives birth to her first child, Z. Days later, she and her baby are forced to leave their home in search of safety. They head north through a newly dangerous country seeking refuge from place to place, shelter to shelter, to a desolate island and back again. The story traces fear and wonder, as the baby’s small fists grasp at the first colors he sees, as he grows and stretches, thriving and content against all the odds.
More info →The 5AM Miracle
The 5 AM Miracle offers you a plan to focus on what matters most, and get more done. It shows how to reap the incredible benefits of early rising, from demolishing your to-do list to making time for your passion projects.
More info →We Have Always Lived in the Castle
Taking readers deep into a labyrinth of dark neurosis, We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a deliciously unsettling novel about a perverse, isolated, and possibly murderous family and the struggle that ensues when a cousin arrives at their estate.
More info →Bird By Bird
For a quarter century, more than a million readers—scribes and scribblers of all ages and abilities—have been inspired by Anne Lamott’s hilarious, big-hearted, homespun advice.
More info →Unfu*k Yourself
BS-free self-empowerment guide that offers an honest, no-nonsense, tough-love approach to help you move past self-imposed limitations.
More info →The Grown Up
A canny young woman is struggling to survive by perpetrating various levels of mostly harmless fraud. On a rainy April morning, she is reading auras at Spiritual Palms when Susan Burke walks in. A keen observer of human behavior, our unnamed narrator immediately diagnoses beautiful, rich Susan as an unhappy woman eager to give her lovely life a drama injection. However, when the "psychic" visits the eerie Victorian home that has been the source of Susan’s terror and grief, she realizes she may not have to pretend to believe in ghosts anymore. Miles, Susan’s teenage stepson, doesn’t help matters with his disturbing manner and grisly imagination. The three are soon locked in a chilling battle to discover where the evil truly lurks and what, if anything, can be done to escape it.
More info →Sometimes the mood for a 39 hour audiobook saga will take over. But sometimes you just want a short audiobook for a good, quick reading fix.
Reading short audiobooks can help
- Get you out of a reading slump
- Boost your reading challenge to meet your GoodReads goal
- Entertain you on a day trip drive or during an afternoon of cleaning
The books on this list can all be finished in 7 hours or less, with most of them being between 4 and 6 hours. That goes even faster if you kick up the speed (1.25x is our favorite). From comedy, biography, and self development to classic horror, mysteries, and magical realism these short audiobooks offer a little of everything.
Grab your headphones, your phone, and your favorite audiobook app to start listening!
Thanks for Reading
This book recommendation list will continue to grow. Check back for more titles and even submit one you feel should be included in our next update to our editor at bex@outofthebex.com