The Audiobooks That Made Weeding the Lawn So Much Better

What an adventure my gardening life has been this year. I have loved so many moments but weeding is a chore I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to. And it’s not just your average weeds either. We’re talking blackberry vines and deep rooted dandelions, which I recently discovered aren’t actually weeds at all. They’re a wonderful herb with loads of uses.

We also have loads of lapsana communis growing, which can actually be eaten as a salad green. In the meantime I’ve been cutting them and bringing them inside as wildflower bouquets, which I love.

Anyway, none of that is the point of this post! The point is that weeding has consumed a lot of my time this year and what has gotten me through is audiobooks. It’s honestly been a tough year for reading. One of my lowest book counts in the past decade. But weeding hours have helped a lot. Here’s what has kept me company in the garden and what I’m hoping to get through before autumn arrives.

Table of Contents

Ann Cleeves Vera Stanhope Series

I’ve mentioned this series before but it deserves another mention. Not only do I love the BBC adaptation of Vera, I love the books just as much. Each one is hours of audiobook time and I have yet to figure out the killer. That is exceptionally rare for me. I’m usually really good at cozy mysteries but these feel a little less cozy and more cerebral, which I think is why they keep me guessing. I’m currently on the seventh book and have gotten through:

I highly recommened!

The Last Garden In England

I didn’t finish this one because it got returned to the library before I could. It’s not that I lost interest entirely but it’s just been a tough year for finding books I can’t put down. The premise is genuinely lovely though: a woman takes on a gardening project at a historic manor, following three women across three different timelines. Cozy, full of little secrets, and very much up my alley. I found it genuinely easy to listen to while pulling weeds so I may give it another go.

Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries

I know, I know. I’ve been saying I want to read this for years. The problem is every time I sit down with the physical copy my mind wanders and I have to start over. It’s incredibly frustrating because I’m convinced if I were 90 pages in I’d be completely hooked. So I’m switching to the audiobook instead. Unfortunately there’s a six week wait at the library so fingers crossed I get to it before summer ends!

The Housewife by Natalie Barelli

This one is newly out. I spotted it at Half Price Books and added it to my Libby queue immediately. It’s only 8 hours of listening time which feels very manageable. A woman has a whirlwind romance with a psychologist, marries him, and moves into his perfect Beverly Hills mansion. She’s always dreamed of being a housewife but the presence of his late wife lingers everywhere, in the house, his friends, and their neighbors. And as time goes on, the husband isn’t quite as wonderful as he seemed.

I’m hoping this is the one that gets me through clearing the side of the house before it becomes a spider den from the blackberry bushes. We love blackberries but they will take over an entire yard in one season and the thorns are absolutely not for me.

That’s my list, friends! Do you have any good recommendations? I’ve been off romance for a while now and I’m wondering if it’ll ever come back. I think I need one truly amazing book to bring me back to the genre. Please share what you’ve loved this year. I genuinely need the help. 😄

xoxo