Last week, I covered some recommended audiobooks for short car rides.

My local library (JMRL) requires 500 minutes to earn one book and 500 minutes to earn a second book.

Maybe 500 minutes feels totally out of reach to you. That’s a little over eight hours of reading or listening. If you think of it in terms of days left until the challenge’s end (August 12th), that’s 10 minutes a day. I don’t know about you, but I spend more than 10 minutes a day in the car with my kids.

Let’s take a look at the run time for my previously suggested listens.

Junie B. Jones

The audiobooks come in collections. Each collection (Books 1-4, 5-8, 9-12, 13-16, and 17-20), clocks in at 3 hours. This means that by the time you finish book 12, you and your crew will have earned the 500 minutes of reading. Each person will earn a free book from JRML. 

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Each Diary of a Wimpy Kid book has a run time of about 2 hours. Four books in gets you 500 min/a free book. There are over 20 Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. Each book will work as a stand-alone, so you don’t need to worry about listening to them in order.

Slacker

Gordon Korman’s funny book would get you 6 of the necessary 8 hours. If you prefer to check out a series by Korman, his Ungifted series is a modern classic. Listening to each book will take six hours.

The Strange Case of Oragami Yoda

Although this listen is only two hours, it’s the first book in a series. If you and your riders/readers like this one, you’d have your minutes by the end of book 3.

Track series 

Each book in the Track series is about a three-hour listen. Halfway through the series would get you to your minutes! 

In general, audiobook series are a great way to quickly get a lot of reading done. While I recommend keeping the speed to 1.0 when listening with kids, it’s common for adults to speed up the play rate to get even more listening in. 

Series I recommend for adults

Spoiler Alert (Romance). This series kicks off with a fanfic author winning a contest to go out to dinner with the star of a Game of Thrones-like show. One thing I love about Olivia Dade’s romance novels is that the third act (where lovers fall apart) never feels contrived. Lovers split for real reasons, making their happy ending all the sweeter. There are three books in the series so far. Each book is just under a 13-hour listen.

Rivers of London (Fantasy & Mystery). Peter Grant is just trying to be an ordinary detective in the series opener. Too bad for him, he can speak to the dead. Grant is launched into solving mysteries that take him deep into a world of magic, hiding just beneath the surface of modern-day London. There are six books in the series. Each book is about a 10-hour listen.

Stranger Times (Fantasy & Mystery). Remember the tabloid newspapers about aliens and Elvis that used to populate grocery checkout? What would it be like to work for one…especially if the stories were true? Assistant editor Hannah and the staff of the Stranger Times are just trying to put out a paper once a week. It would be easier if they weren’t constantly getting caught up in the mysterious and magical machinations of The Founders and other villains in and around Manchester. Humor and beloved characters are front and center in this series. There are 6 books in the series, each with a runtime between 10 – 14 hours.

Murderbot Diaries (SciFi & Mystery). The popular Apple TV show is based on this series. I am not telling you that you must watch the series before listening to the books, but I certainly enjoyed putting faces to the characters. In the media of the future, rogue Sec Units are featured as killing machines rampaging through society. Sec Unit has gone rogue, but he mostly watches soapy dramas in his free time. He doesn’t want to blow his cover and have his clients realize he doesn’t have to obey their every command. However, his plans to remain incognito go awry when his clients appear to be patsies embroiled in a corporate espionage scheme…and when they catch on to his status as a free agent. Wryly funny, entertaining, and mysterious.

Witches’ Discworld Subseries (fantasy). Made up of Equal Rites, Wyrd Sisters, Witches Abroad, Lords and Ladies, Maskerade, Carpe Jugulum, the Witches Collection of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series is full of sly wisdom, double entendres, and satirical plots. As with all Discworld books, you don’t have to get all the in-jokes and connections to enjoy plain good writing. Granny Weatherwax is the woman I want to be when I grow up. These audiobooks are between 7 to 10 hours.

The Brown Sisters (romance). Each of these three audiobooks features one of the Brown sisters breaking out of the narrow box they’ve been shoved into to defy expectations and find love. Sweet happily ever after books, with some steamy scenes. The collected set will take about 31 hours to listen to.

A Sister Holiday Mystery (mystery) . I expect there to be more books in this page-turning series, which is currently made up of two books. Holiday is running from her past and runs straight to a…nunnery? It’s not a gimmick. Sister Holiday is a true believer who channels her faith into serving the best way she knows how: teaching guitar, standing up for those who cannot stand up for themselves, and living a simple life. Too bad crime keeps encroaching on her turf. Whatever you’re thinking when you think “Detective Nun,” think again. These books were a constant surprise. The two audiobooks are about seven and nine hours long.

Bonus, standalone recommendations

Any Grady Hendrix book, but notably The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires. Start for the vampire gore, stay for the claustrophobic atmosphere of the 90s suburbs. Almost 14 hours of listening time.

I’m Glad My Mom Died. What’s a way to describe a page-turner for your ears? And how did McCurdy accomplish that while not flinching away from many stomach-churning moments? Her voice carries the day, and her (justifiably) poison pen drips with magic. About 6 hours.

Murder Your Employer. In a different era, the pulp cover of this book would include the line “The final exam is…MURDER!” But no, seriously, it is. Delightfully narrated by Neil Patrick Harris. 14 hours.

Becoming Duchess Goldblatt. It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. It was July 2020, and Twitter was just beginning to curdle. Before, in its heyday, it produced some real main characters. But aside from a few notable exceptions, it did not produce authors I wanted to read IRL. Duchess Goldblatt, who maintains her anonymity, is the exception. Funny and surprisingly moving. About 5 hours.