Finding the motivation to work out doesn’t come easily for most of us, so we hand-picked pacey audiobooks that are so good you’ll want to go the extra mile just to keep listening. Whether you’re working on building strength after an injury, hitting your reps, beating a personal best, or stretching your way to greater flexibility, queue up one of these listens to keep your motivation high and your reading game strong. Turns out you can treat yourself and break a sweat at the same time.
Warm Up with Stimulating Non-Fiction
An instant New York Times bestseller. No matter what you eat, how much you exercise, how skinny or young or wise you are, none of it matters if you’re not breathing properly. Modern research is showing us that making even slight adjustments to the way we inhale and exhale can jump-start athletic performance; rejuvenate internal organs; halt snoring, asthma, and autoimmune disease; and even straighten scoliotic spines. None of this should be possible, and yet it is. Breath is the perfect listen for anyone concerned not only with health, but with basic human well-being.
An Oprah’s Book Club Pick. The Pulitzer Prize–winning, bestselling author of The Warmth of Other Suns examines the unspoken caste system that has shaped America and shows how our lives today are still defined by a hierarchy of human divisions.
“An instant American classic.”—Dwight Garner, The New York Times
A preventative medicine physician and staff writer for The Atlantic explains the surprising and unintended effects of our hygiene practices in this informative and entertaining introduction to the new science of skin microbes and probiotics. Accessible and deeply researched, Clean explores the ongoing, radical change in the way we think about our skin, introducing readers to the emerging science that will be at the forefront of health and wellness conversations in coming years.
Set Your Pace with Pulse-Pounding Thrillers
A madman is holding Vitoria hostage, killing its citizens in brutal ways and staging the bodies. The city’s only hope is a brilliant detective struggling to battle his own demons. This fast-paced, unrelenting thriller weaves in and out of the mythology and legends of the Basque country as it hurtles to its shocking conclusion.
An ID Book Club Selection. Deputy Coroner Clay Edison discovers that buried secrets can be deadly in this riveting thriller from a father-son team of bestselling authors who write “brilliant, page-turning fiction” (Stephen King).
Named one of the hottest books of the summer by Entertainment Weekly and Buzzfeed. Tracing the fifteen-year fallout of a toxic high school rumor, a riveting, astonishingly original debut novel about the power of stories—and who gets to tell them. Ingeniously constructed and full of twists and turns that will keep you guessing until the final pages, it marks the debut of a singular and daring new voice in fiction.
Stretch, Cooldown, and Work Your Funny Bone with Comedic Memoirs
A New York Times bestseller. A rip-roaring new essay collection on audio from the smart, hilarious, and bestselling Samantha Irby.
“The wit is accompanied by wisdom throughout; and, in a plague year, there’s added resonance to Samantha’s themes of making peace with the body and how not to feel alone.”—LA Review of Books
A New York Times bestseller. In these hilarious essays, the Saturday Night Live head writer and Weekend Update co-anchor learns how to take a beating. From growing up in a family of firefighters on Staten Island to commuting three hours a day to high school and attending Harvard while Facebook was created, Jost shares how he has navigated the world like a slightly smarter Forrest Gump.
Looking for more summer audiobook recommendations to match your favorite genres and activities? Check out our complete Ways to Listen Series.