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Audiobook

Field Notes from a Catastropheby Elizabeth Kolbert, read by Hope Davis. Simon & Schuster Audioworks, $29.95

The scoop

This collection of Kolbert’s essays from The New Yorker addresses the issue of global warming, detailing everything from the Alaskan permafrost to storm-torn New Orleans. Ecotastic!

Running time

4.5 hours

...which makes it  ideal for

Cruising up to the Berkshires to appreciate the spring trees in full bloom. Just avoid the compulsion to drive yourself off a covered bridge; narrator Hope Davis manages to provide an even bleaker reality for the listener than she did in American Splendor.

Audiobook

Fortunate Sonby Walter Mosley, read by Lorraine Toussaint. Time Warner Audiobooks, $32

The scoop

It would be unfair to call this book a male take on the Days of Our Lives Sammy-versus-Carrie saga of siblings of circumstance, so we’ll just say it’s a fully fleshed-out ebony-and-ivory twist on The Parent Trap…gone awry.

Running time

10 hours

...which makes it  ideal for

The trek out to Champaign, Illinois, where Mosley will be giving a reading at Parkland College on May 24 at noon. Let Lorraine Toussaint’s soothing yet stirring voice guide you for most of the drive there. Just think of all the questions you’ll have for Mosley by then!

Audiobook

In the Company of the Courtesan by Sarah Dunant, read by Richard E. Grant. Random House Audio, $30

The scoop

A courtesan tries to reestablish her career in Venice after escaping the sack of Rome with her dwarf pimp? This book wasn’t exactly the bodice ripper or grotesquerie we were expecting (and sort of hoping for), but it’s a fairly rich depiction of Renaissance Venice. With whores and dwarves.

Running time

6 hours

...which makes it  ideal for

Filling the awkward silences while driving with bridesmaids you don’t know to that wedding in Virginia. We’re not saying the book is unintelligent; just make sure the crowd is more V.C. Andrews than T.S. Eliot—or T.C. Boyle, even.

Audiobook

Sweet and Low by Rich Cohen, read by Rich Cohen. Audio Renaissance, $30

The scoop

A tale of a Brooklyn family’s fortune gained and disinherited, Sweet and Low tells the story of how the artificial-sugar packets were invented, and how the resultant wealth and scandal destroyed the writer’s familial bonds.

Running time

7 hours

...which makes it  ideal for

Heading home to Cleveland to introduce your significant other to your family. Rich Cohen narrates his convoluted and conflicted family history with great humor—your relationships will seem perfectly functional by comparison.

Audiobook

Cellby Stephen King, read by Campbell Scott. Simon & Schuster Audioworks, $50

The scoop

King’s latest tale of the apocalypse, this time at the hands of cell phones. A force called the Pulse, delivered through cell phone transmissions, is turning users into bloodthirsty zombies. We’ve always preferred e-mailing.

Running time

13 hours

...which makes it  ideal for

Rolling out to Hartsville, Indiana. We once spent an entire weekend out there (don’t ask) and never once had service. Plus, the drive involves multiple cell tower-deprived stretches of cornfields. You won’t get a call for days!