I’ve recently started a job driving a shuttle van across the city for the general public. I’ve got a wide amount of leeway, but the audiobooks I’ve been listening to have been… not hitting right. I started with “The Name of the Wind” which was extremely well reviewed. I liked it a lot for the most part, and for the most part so did my passengers, but at one point it started talking about how much the main character would like to see one of the young woman characters naked and would pay for that privilege. In the context of the story it sort-of made sense, but out of context it was completely gross and I was beyond embarrassed. The next day I tried “Consider Phlebas” (again well reviewed) which was a completely different thing, but almost immediately it started in with a vivid description the mc being drowned in sewage- It did not hit right, despite the interesting developments that I would ordinarily probably enjoy for just myself.
I’m looking for suggestions of completely SFW audiobooks I could listen to (through audible, alas) with random passengers of all walks of life coming and going without context. I cannot stress strongly enough that they should be quite literally safe for work. I don’t mind skirting a bit of controversy or challenging preconceptions or introducing new or unusual perspectives (In fact I kind of relish the idea of being somewhat progressive and/or boundary-pushing, though I’d like to start small after these initial embarrassments), but it cant be crude, or sexual, or violent.
Thanks for your attention, please chime in with your suggestions.
Edit: Oh jeez wow this got more traction than I expected. I appreciate everyone’s suggestions! I’ll be trawling through them in the coming weeks and maybe even post my experience with some of them, “shuttle van reviews” or some such. Thanks!
Not the intent of this post but that’s a great indirect recommendation for Consider Phlebas, I just placed a hold at my library for it.
The Expanse series might be a good fit, it’s pretty PG-13 if memory serves, and the narrator is excellent.
You might want to stick to young adult stuff. It will have less objectionable content, I think. As for a real suggestion try Sabriel by Garth Nix and if you like it there are others in the series.
I imagine humor books would be a great fit for situations where people come and go, but I haven’t read much in that genre. Maybe Pratchett would be possible. Generally, a safe bet are older books that are set in a genre that is naturally SFW. I am thinking of Agatha Christie style detective novels.
If you liked the theme of stories in the Name of the Wind, you might like “the starless sea” by Erin Morgernstern. It is a bit “progressive” in the sense, that it contains a little gay love story but all very much SFW and with a romantic perspective. There is one scene however, I’m not quite sure how it was described that could be considered a sex scene? As far as I remember, sex was rather mentioned and not described or anything. Oh, and a big warning, that the sequel of Name of the wind is NFSW. For more fantasy, I can recommend Narnia or His dark Materials by Philip Pullman, which both are series written to be read by children and adults alike.
If you want to continue with sci-fi, maybe consider “We are Legion”/the Bobiverse by Dennis E. Taylor or the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.
Try Pratchett’s books or Asprin’s MythAdventures. Can’t say for the first one as I’ve listened to them in russian although they are stellar in the printed form and are your best bet, but the second got a good treatment from Audible (I believe) and is a funny fantasy-esque adventure in the first 6-8 books without explicit NSFW anywhere in it’s run.
Also, the Stainless Steel Rat series. Idk about audiobooks on them, but they are cool and safe too.
Maybe Ursula Le Guin? The left hand of darkness is quite thought provoking. People can switch sexes at will in that story. Yes, there is some mention of nudity and adult topics but I can’t recall a single sex scene. If this sounds too risky, try the wizard of Earthsea, which I found incredibly bland and super safe for work. It’s about as riské as Harry Potter 1. And is a short read too.
I think you should be safe with most classics, like the other comment said, Agatha Christie is a good choice… Though maybe not super progressive.
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke would be a good one.
Anything Alan Cross
Hardcore History Dan Carlin
Get in the Van Henry Rollins
He Who Fights with Monsters shirtaloon
Dresden Files Jim Butcher
Project Hail Mary. Great sci-fi story and the narrator really does an outstanding job. No sex that I can recall. Maybe an occasional mild curse word? If so it wasn’t overkill.
James Herriot’s books are pretty clean and SFW (like All Creatures Great and Small), but they are also wholesome. They are auto-biographical stories about being a vet in a rural part of north England. He stretches the truth to make a good story, so I would consider them mostly fictional.
Each chapter is relatively stand-alone, which would work with the context of people coming and going - they might get a little slice of the book, but it won’t matter that they weren’t there for the rest of the plot.
It just seems like a good author for the general public.
You could also play popular science books, like those by Bill Bryson (A Short History of Nearly Everything, At Home, and A Walk in the Woods are all great).
Something educational, uplifting, and/or wholesome seems like a good context for the general public, especially public transportation.
