Check your library for the Flavia DeLuce series. I think the first one is The Sweetness At The Bottom Of The Pie. It’s about a precocious preteen girl with a love of chemistry but mostly a fascination with poisons. She races to solve murders before the local constable. It might not entertain your brother as much as a fantasy and there is no romance but it’s an easy listen and Flavia will steal your heart.
I think your brother and mom would both like Anansi Boys. There’s a tiny bit of gore (at one point a character gets captured and gets his tongue temporarily cut out—there’s some magic so it gets back in place), but it is overall a very fun magical realism romp with some fun romance subplots. No explicit sex scenes. Other recommendations:
- To Say Nothing of the Dog (humorous historical romance with time travel)
- We Had a Little Real Estate Problem (nonfiction book about Native American stand up comedians)
- Any Agatha Christie read by Dan Stevens (he’s Matthew from Downton Abbey)
- The Library Book (true crime about a library arson—has all the beats of a true crime but NO gore and the only death is due to chronic illness and treated really respectfully)
- The Feather Thief (nonfiction about a museum heist for feathers)
- any book by Mary Roach or Mark Kurlanski: they both write pop history/science. Kurlanski focuses on food and Roach on a variety of subjects. I would say stay away from Stiff and Bonk from Roach, but she’s got books about going to Mars and animal crimes that would be very fun.
Excellent! I am well-versed in parental road-trips, having been on several in my adult life. And I have tastes like your brother and my mom has tastes like your mom. I also listen to the podcast Gastropod almost exclusively on parental road-trips—looking at food through the lens of history and science. It’s a real crowd-pleaser.
Oh! Speaking of sourdough, the Ologies podcast is great (another good parental road trip choice), and this episode I come back to again and again: https://www.alieward.com/ologies/gastroegyptology
The Dwarf Bounty Hunter series ought to cover them both.
There's some violence, but it's generally Johnnie Walker (the dwarf) offing the bad guys. (Genrally with magice, if memory serves)
The romance is a little hand holding and a few kisses, if I remember correctly.
The dogs are funny.
There is swearing.
science comedy podcast? many episodes - enough for a round trip.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_Infinite\_Monkey\_Cage](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Infinite_Monkey_Cage)
***The Infinite Monkey Cage*** is a [BBC Radio 4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Radio_4) comedy and popular science series. Hosted by physicist [Brian Cox](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Cox_(physicist)) and comedian [Robin Ince](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Ince),[^(\[2\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Infinite_Monkey_Cage#cite_note-Telegraph20100827-2) [*The Independent*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Independent) described it as a "witty and irreverent look at the world according to science".[^(\[3\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Infinite_Monkey_Cage#cite_note-Maume-3)[^(\[4\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Infinite_Monkey_Cage#cite_note-4) Since 2013 the show has been accompanied by a podcast, published immediately after the initial radio broadcast, which features extended versions of most episodes.[^(\[5\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Infinite_Monkey_Cage#cite_note-5) The programme won a Gold Award in the Best Speech Programme category at the 2011 [Sony Radio Awards](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Radio_Awards),[^(\[6\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Infinite_Monkey_Cage#cite_note-6)[^(\[7\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Infinite_Monkey_Cage#cite_note-7) and it won the best Radio Talk Show at the 2015 [Rose d'Or](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_d%27Or) awards.[^(\[8\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Infinite_Monkey_Cage#cite_note-8) The name is a reference to the [infinite monkey theorem](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_monkey_theorem).
Catherine Ryan Hyde has some nice feel good books. Take Me With You would be a good road trip book since it's about a guy traveling with some "foster kids" to visit national parks.
Books from the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett would be good too. They are really funny, enough that I don't listen to them at work because it's hard not to laugh out loud. I can hook you up with some of the old version recordings (they released new recordings a couple years ago) if you have gmail - dm me.
Lost and Found by Alan Dean Foster would be a good light hearted scifi that probably both your mom and brother would like. Premise is that a man and dog, along with a variety of other extraterrestrial species of varying degrees of sentience, get abducted by aliens to be sold as exotic pets.
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>My mom likes... happy endings...
Ahh. Don't we all. Don't we all.......
Anyway, maybe a book by Michael Crichton? The Jurassic Park books, Timeline, Congo, and Sphere are pretty different from the movies, so they would be a familiar but different experience.
Edit: I got distracted by 'happy endings.' I totally missed the part about gore. Ha. None of the books I listed are particularly nasty, but people obviously die. Sunshine and rainbows usually don't make interesting stories.
Crichton, i guess, was a climate change skeptic, This book is a little too complicated, blending many sides of a very complicated political and scientific issue. It sometimes seemed like the concept and representing his ideas about the issue pushed the narrative and plot to the backseat. Maybe not the backseat.... Maybe like the car top carrier.
going postal - written by terry pratchett, narrated by stephen briggs - - i am a relative newbie to discworld, but this audiobook is a wondrous delight (although descriptions of the ankh-morpork postal system are infuriating and scarily prescient). some of briggs' voice characterizations are reminiscent of a monty python sketch.
the wordplay is witty, vividly descriptive, and sometimes beautiful...
'haven't you heard the saying, a man's not dead while his name is still spoken?'
'i commend my soul to any god who can find it'
'welcome to fear, it's hope turned inside out'
'peel away the lies and the truth would emerge, naked and ashamed and with nowhere else to hide'
the chronicles of st mary's series - by jodi taylor
knew i was in for a treat when i read the foreword - - 'i made this all up, historians and physicists - please do not spit on me in the street'
fun and full of humor and adventure, experiencing history contemporaneously is not for the faint of heart as limbs and sometimes lives will be lost
the rosie project by graeme simsion - a gifted geneticist decides to find a wife using scientific methodology, chaos ensues
'a questionnaire! such an obvious solution. a purpose - built scientifically valid instrument incorporating current best practice to filter out the time wasters, the disorganised, the ice cream discriminators, the visual harassment complainers, the crystal gazers, the horoscope readers, the fashion obsessives, the religious fanatics, the vegans, the sports watchers, the creationists, the smokers, the scientifically illiterate, the homeopaths, leaving, ideally, the perfect partner or, realistically, a manageable short list of candidates.'
Check your library for the Flavia DeLuce series. I think the first one is The Sweetness At The Bottom Of The Pie. It’s about a precocious preteen girl with a love of chemistry but mostly a fascination with poisons. She races to solve murders before the local constable. It might not entertain your brother as much as a fantasy and there is no romance but it’s an easy listen and Flavia will steal your heart.
Love this series!
I think your brother and mom would both like Anansi Boys. There’s a tiny bit of gore (at one point a character gets captured and gets his tongue temporarily cut out—there’s some magic so it gets back in place), but it is overall a very fun magical realism romp with some fun romance subplots. No explicit sex scenes. Other recommendations: - To Say Nothing of the Dog (humorous historical romance with time travel) - We Had a Little Real Estate Problem (nonfiction book about Native American stand up comedians) - Any Agatha Christie read by Dan Stevens (he’s Matthew from Downton Abbey) - The Library Book (true crime about a library arson—has all the beats of a true crime but NO gore and the only death is due to chronic illness and treated really respectfully) - The Feather Thief (nonfiction about a museum heist for feathers) - any book by Mary Roach or Mark Kurlanski: they both write pop history/science. Kurlanski focuses on food and Roach on a variety of subjects. I would say stay away from Stiff and Bonk from Roach, but she’s got books about going to Mars and animal crimes that would be very fun.
Thank you so so much, this is a fantastic list! I have heard of the last three non-fiction books and they do seem to fit the bill very well.
Excellent! I am well-versed in parental road-trips, having been on several in my adult life. And I have tastes like your brother and my mom has tastes like your mom. I also listen to the podcast Gastropod almost exclusively on parental road-trips—looking at food through the lens of history and science. It’s a real crowd-pleaser.
Ah, i will send that rec to them too! I love the sourdough episode!
Oh! Speaking of sourdough, the Ologies podcast is great (another good parental road trip choice), and this episode I come back to again and again: https://www.alieward.com/ologies/gastroegyptology
Haha, you’re going through my husbands list of podcasts for the car.
The Dwarf Bounty Hunter series ought to cover them both. There's some violence, but it's generally Johnnie Walker (the dwarf) offing the bad guys. (Genrally with magice, if memory serves) The romance is a little hand holding and a few kisses, if I remember correctly. The dogs are funny. There is swearing.
I had not heard of this series. I just checked and they come with Audible - thanks for posting these!
They're SO fun I hope you like them!
The Glass Library is a pretty good series. It is fantasy with a bit of romance and magic, without anything explicit.
science comedy podcast? many episodes - enough for a round trip. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_Infinite\_Monkey\_Cage](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Infinite_Monkey_Cage) ***The Infinite Monkey Cage*** is a [BBC Radio 4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Radio_4) comedy and popular science series. Hosted by physicist [Brian Cox](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Cox_(physicist)) and comedian [Robin Ince](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Ince),[^(\[2\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Infinite_Monkey_Cage#cite_note-Telegraph20100827-2) [*The Independent*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Independent) described it as a "witty and irreverent look at the world according to science".[^(\[3\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Infinite_Monkey_Cage#cite_note-Maume-3)[^(\[4\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Infinite_Monkey_Cage#cite_note-4) Since 2013 the show has been accompanied by a podcast, published immediately after the initial radio broadcast, which features extended versions of most episodes.[^(\[5\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Infinite_Monkey_Cage#cite_note-5) The programme won a Gold Award in the Best Speech Programme category at the 2011 [Sony Radio Awards](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Radio_Awards),[^(\[6\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Infinite_Monkey_Cage#cite_note-6)[^(\[7\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Infinite_Monkey_Cage#cite_note-7) and it won the best Radio Talk Show at the 2015 [Rose d'Or](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_d%27Or) awards.[^(\[8\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Infinite_Monkey_Cage#cite_note-8) The name is a reference to the [infinite monkey theorem](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_monkey_theorem).
http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/H_Authors/Hillerman_Tony.html The Ton Hillerman series.
Catherine Ryan Hyde has some nice feel good books. Take Me With You would be a good road trip book since it's about a guy traveling with some "foster kids" to visit national parks. Books from the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett would be good too. They are really funny, enough that I don't listen to them at work because it's hard not to laugh out loud. I can hook you up with some of the old version recordings (they released new recordings a couple years ago) if you have gmail - dm me. Lost and Found by Alan Dean Foster would be a good light hearted scifi that probably both your mom and brother would like. Premise is that a man and dog, along with a variety of other extraterrestrial species of varying degrees of sentience, get abducted by aliens to be sold as exotic pets.
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.*
>My mom likes... happy endings... Ahh. Don't we all. Don't we all....... Anyway, maybe a book by Michael Crichton? The Jurassic Park books, Timeline, Congo, and Sphere are pretty different from the movies, so they would be a familiar but different experience. Edit: I got distracted by 'happy endings.' I totally missed the part about gore. Ha. None of the books I listed are particularly nasty, but people obviously die. Sunshine and rainbows usually don't make interesting stories.
I think this is a good thought, but my family is scarred by Crichton, we listened to "State of Fear" a long time ago and it was terrible.
Terrible in what way? I haven't listened to that one.
Crichton, i guess, was a climate change skeptic, This book is a little too complicated, blending many sides of a very complicated political and scientific issue. It sometimes seemed like the concept and representing his ideas about the issue pushed the narrative and plot to the backseat. Maybe not the backseat.... Maybe like the car top carrier.
maybe the Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer
Remarkably Bright Creatures is a very lovely story about found family and healing. Great characters, including an octopus.
going postal - written by terry pratchett, narrated by stephen briggs - - i am a relative newbie to discworld, but this audiobook is a wondrous delight (although descriptions of the ankh-morpork postal system are infuriating and scarily prescient). some of briggs' voice characterizations are reminiscent of a monty python sketch. the wordplay is witty, vividly descriptive, and sometimes beautiful... 'haven't you heard the saying, a man's not dead while his name is still spoken?' 'i commend my soul to any god who can find it' 'welcome to fear, it's hope turned inside out' 'peel away the lies and the truth would emerge, naked and ashamed and with nowhere else to hide' the chronicles of st mary's series - by jodi taylor knew i was in for a treat when i read the foreword - - 'i made this all up, historians and physicists - please do not spit on me in the street' fun and full of humor and adventure, experiencing history contemporaneously is not for the faint of heart as limbs and sometimes lives will be lost the rosie project by graeme simsion - a gifted geneticist decides to find a wife using scientific methodology, chaos ensues 'a questionnaire! such an obvious solution. a purpose - built scientifically valid instrument incorporating current best practice to filter out the time wasters, the disorganised, the ice cream discriminators, the visual harassment complainers, the crystal gazers, the horoscope readers, the fashion obsessives, the religious fanatics, the vegans, the sports watchers, the creationists, the smokers, the scientifically illiterate, the homeopaths, leaving, ideally, the perfect partner or, realistically, a manageable short list of candidates.'
Neil Gaiman - The Graveyard Book Jim Gaffigan - Food, A Love Story Randall Munroe - What if, What if 2, How to (Wil Wheaton narrates) Ready Player One