If ‘read more’ has been on your last six New Years’ resolutions, but you’ve never picked up a physical book in all this time, we’d like to make a case for the humble audiobook.
Audiobooks, for the uninitiated, are recordings of books being read aloud—the aural equivalent of e-books. You can get everything from The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying to The Haunting of Hill House and local titles like J.Y Yang’s Tensorate series and Sharlene Teo’s Ponti. Some are even read by the authors themselves, like Rupi Kaur’s Milk and Honey and Michelle Obama’s memoir, Becoming.
Here, we present our recommendations, carefully curated for the type of commuter you are.
You get separation anxiety when you have to spend more than 20 minutes away from your laptop. No matter the hour of the day, you can be spotted with bae on your lap, steadily typing your way into chronic carpal tunnel. Your family group chat is full of warnings from your aunts about keeping your devices near your privates.
Your mornings are spent getting up close and personal with your fellow creatures, who all wear identical expressions of defeat. In this moment, as a waft of B.O invades your nostrils and a drop of sweat runs down your lower back into your underwear, you are one with misery. Misery is one with you.
For you, Tinder Taxi: Sexy Erotica by Lea Lind.
3. Overwhelmed Octopus Mum
For you, Astrophysics For People In A Hurry by Neil DeGrasse Tyson.
Bonus: you’ll be able to answer questions like, “Why is the sky blue?” without bullshitting.
4. Fitness Fanatics
For you, In Praise of Wasting Time by Alan Lightman.
5. Mobile Legends Player
For you, They Walk Among Us by Benjamin and Rosanna Fitton.
6. Seat Vultures
The moment a passenger moves to alight, you strike.
Bam. Straight for the jugular.
For you, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari.
Your primary school report card probably said you were a ‘confident’ and ‘expressive’ child. As such, you now feel no compunctions about TELLING EVERYONE IN A THREE METRE RADIUS HOW YOUR CB COLLEAGUE LEFT THEIR PART OF THE BRIEF FOR YOU TO HANDLE AND SENT YOU AN EMAIL ABOUT IT THE DAY BEFORE THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO GO ON LEAVE. Like the Mobile Legends Player, this places you in near-death situations several times a week.
For you, Silence: The Power of Quiet in A World Full of Noise, by the celebrated Buddhist monk and icon Thich Nhat Hanh.
8. Tourist with Gigantic Bag from Irvin’s Salted Egg
For you, Normal People by Sally Rooney.
People can’t decide if they are more annoyed by you or awed by your ability to not give a damn. You fake-snooze on, impervious to glares, dubious glances, Stand-Up Stacey, and the threat of being publicly shamed on STOMP.
For you, Grit by Angela Duckworth.
You watch most of your films at The Projector, collect Moleskine notebooks, and have a Spotify playlist titled ‘4am’, containing a mix of late-2000s indie pop and Nordic bands with unpronounceable names. You subscribe to the New Yorker, but mainly for the free tote bag, and drink either fancy tea or cold brew at cafes. You are utterly insufferable and you know it.
For you, Lullabies by Lang Leav.
Rice readers get a 30-day free trial, so download their app to get started, and check out over 110,000 titles they have available for streaming or download. We won’t judge if you head straight for the erotica.
This story was sponsored by Storytel.
If you felt personally attacked by this piece, please let us know at community@ricemedia.co. Pan Jie will narrate you an apology.
