Many hospice patients don’t have the energy to do many activities, but still want to keep their mind busy. Audiobooks are the perfect solution, as you can relax and listen to a book about any topic you can imagine.

Free Audiobooks:

• Most public libraries offer their members access to audiobooks online

• Librivox has an amazing collection of public domain books, so it is great if you like the classics or other older books

• YouTube is also a place where you can find many audiobooks. You can also find old radio series, storytimes, true crime podcasts, and more.

Other Options:

• For $11.99 per month, Everand.com has a great selection of more current books. They also have a huge selection of ebooks, sheet music, and magazines, so the whole family can enjoy a membership.

• Also coming in at 11.99 per month, Kindle Unlimited offers a variety of books with audio narration.

A Few Book Recommendations

Everyone has their own taste in books, but here are a few titles that you might enjoy if you need a recommendation:

If you’d like a good mystery, consider The Hercule Poirot mysteries by Agatha Christie. It is a good old-fashioned vintage mystery series with lush detail and fun settings. You could also try The No. 1 Plant Reader books by India Holton if you’d like something a bit different. It follows a plant psychic detective in a world sprinkled with a little bit of magic.

For some classics that aren’t too dull or dry, you can’t go wrong with the Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis, The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, or short stories by O. Henry.

A few nonfiction recommendations would be "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer, which recounts the 1996 Mount Everest disaster, or "The Spy and the Traitor" by Ben Macintyre, which is a real-life espionage thriller that follows the daring exploits of KGB spy Oleg Gordievsky and his MI6 handler during the Cold War.

Finally, a few history recommendations, starting with "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand, the story of Louis Zamperini, an Olympic runner who survived being a prisoner of war during WWII. Next, "The Warmth of Other Suns" by Isabel Wilkerson, and epic story that chronicles the decades-long migration of Black citizens fleeing the Jim Crow South and its profound impact. Finally, "The Professor and the Madman" by Simon Winchester is a fascinating story of how the Oxford English Dictionary was created, centering on one of its key contributors who was a convicted murderer.

Do you have any book recommendations? Share them in the comments below!