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!

  • Mothra
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    1 month ago

    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.