6 Audiobooks to Enjoy While Traveling

Whether driving on a road trip or taking a long flight, audiobooks are increasingly becoming the long-haul traveler’s choice of entertainment.

Audiobooks have come a long way in recent years. Instead of a dry, uninspired recitation, they have become full-scale productions! Depending on the title, there can be music, sound effects, a full cast of voice actors, or your favorite celebrity reading your favorite story. And let’s face it: sometimes you just don’t feel like listening to another podcast or playlist, and since everyone is trying to travel light nowadays, a book or a tablet isn’t convenient to carry around. The advantage of audiobooks is you can download them right to your phone, which you know you’ll never leave home without. All you need to do is score yourself a good set of headphones, and you’re on your way! The following is a handful of queer-themed audiobooks we think you might enjoy!

The Risk It Takes to Bloom by Raquel Willis

Author and activist Raquel Willis narrates her own story about growing up transgender in Georgia. In her debut memoir, Willis covers everything from her Georgia upbringing to becoming a journalist. You might know Willis for famously taking a poke at Caitlin Jenner on Twitter for publicly and enthusiastically endorsing Donald Trump. Here, you’ll find yourself welcomed into Willis’ own life and her experience of going up Black and trans and coming out in the South. A powerful and reflective read, especially for the Holidays.

Yours Cruelly, Elvira: Memoirs of the Mistress of the Dark by Cassandra Peterson

Due to a complicated relationship with her mother, Cassandra Peterson left home at 14, and by age 17 she was performing at the famed Dunes Hotel in Las Vegas. Run-ins with the likes of Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., and Tom Jones helped her grow up fast. Then a chance encounter with her idol Elvis Presley changed the course of her life forever and led her to Europe, where she worked in film and traveled to Italy as the lead singer of an Italian pop band. She eventually made her way to Los Angeles, where she joined the famed comedy improv troupe The Groundlings and worked alongside Phil Hartman and Paul “Pee-wee” Reubens, honing her comedic skills.

Nearing age 30, a struggling actress considered past her prime, she auditioned at local LA channel KHJ as a hostess for late-night vintage horror movies. Cassandra improvised, made the role her own, and got the job on the spot. Yours Cruelly, Elvira is an unforgettably wild memoir. Cassandra doesn’t shy away from revealing exactly who she is and how she overcame seemingly insurmountable odds. Always original and sometimes outrageous, her story is loaded with twists, travails, revelry, and downright shocking experiences. It is the candid, often funny, and sometimes heartbreaking tale of a Midwest farm girl’s long, strange trip to becoming the world’s sexiest, sassiest Halloween icon. 

Read by the Mistress of the Dark herself, Yours Cruelly is the vehicle by which Cassandra Peterson came out about her 19-year relationship with T Wierson.

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

This book, which became a movie on Amazon Prime Video, ponders the question: What would happen if America’s First Son fell in love with the Prince of Wales?

When his mother became president, Alex Claremont-Diaz was promptly cast as the American equivalent of a young royal. Handsome, charismatic, genius—his image is pure millennial-marketing gold for the White House. There’s only one problem: Alex has a beef with the actual prince, Henry, across the pond. And when the tabloids get hold of a photo involving an Alex-Henry altercation, US/British relations take a turn for the worse.

Heads of family, state, and other handlers devise a plan for damage control: staging a truce between the two rivals. What at first begins as a fake, Instragramable friendship grows deeper and more dangerous than either Alex or Henry could have imagined. Soon, Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret romance with a surprisingly unstuffy Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations and begs the question: Can love save the world after all? Where do we find the courage, and the power, to be the people we are meant to be? And how can we learn to let our true colors shine through? Casey McQuiston’s Red, White & Royal Blue proves: True love isn’t always diplomatic.

Unprotected: A Memoir by Billy Porter

It’s easy to be yourself when who and what you are is in vogue. But growing up Black and gay in America has never been easy. Before Billy Porter was slaying red carpets and giving an iconic performance in the celebrated TV show Pose; before he was the Tony Award-winning star of Broadway’s Kinky Boots; and before he was an acclaimed recording artist, actor, playwright, and all-around diva, Porter was a young boy who didn’t fit in. At five years old he was sent to therapy to fix his effeminacy. He was endlessly bullied at school, sexually abused by his stepfather, and came of age in a world where simply being himself was a constant struggle. 

Unprotected is the story of a singular artist in his own words. It is the story of a boy whose talent, courage, and desperate determination led him through countless hard times to where he is now; an icon whose refusal to back down in the face of adversity has made him an inspiration to millions. Porter is a multitalented, multifaceted treasure at the top of his game. A soaring, resonant story, full of new revelations, and shot through with his stunning wit, Unprotected will entertain and inspire.

Read by Billy Porter himself, Unprotected is not to be missed.

Sorted: Growing Up, Coming Out, and Finding My Place by Jackson Bird

Assigned female at birth and raised as a girl, Jackson Bird often wondered if he should have been born a boy. Jackson didn’t share this thought with anyone because he didn’t think he could share it with anyone. Growing up in Texas in the 1990s, he had no transgender role models. He barely remembers meeting anyone who was openly gay, let alone being taught that transgender people existed outside of punchlines.

Throughout the book, Jackson chronicles the ups and downs of growing up gender-confused. Illuminated by journal entries spanning from childhood to adolescence to today, he candidly recalls the challenges and loneliness he endured as he came to terms with both his gender and his bisexual identity.

With warmth and wit, Jackson also recounts how he navigated the many obstacles and quirks of his transition – like figuring out how to have a chest binder delivered to his NYU dorm room and having an emotional breakdown at a Harry Potter fan convention. From his first shot of testosterone to his eventual top surgery, Jackson lets you in on every part of his journey in Sorted  – taking the time to explain trans terminology and little-known facts about gender and identity along the way.

Satisfaction Guaranteed by Karelia Stetz-Waters

When it comes to her career, Cade Elgin has it all figured out. Only “professional talk” has become her default mode, relationships are nonexistent, and don’t even mention the word “orgasm”. All work and no play make Cade a dull human. But when she inherits a sex toy store, Cade is caught between business and a store filled with every imaginable kind of pleasure – including her infuriatingly irresponsible and deliciously sexy new co-owner.

Selena Mathis learned the hard way that she can have too much of a good thing. This is precisely why she’s taken an oath of celibacy and is focusing on how to make Satisfaction Guaranteed a success. She won’t mess this up. Not this time. But once again, Selena’s emotions are getting in the way and tempting her with a serious attraction to buttoned-up Cade.

But the shop isn’t exactly vibe-ing, and Cade and Selena are on the verge of losing both their income and the possibility of love. Can they find a way to work together…before Satisfaction Guaranteed runs out of batteries?