If you’re into Science Fiction:
(Note: I listed to these all via the Audible audiobooks, they were all very well narrated and I’d highly recommend listening this way.)
#1: The Children of Time series by Adrian Tchaikovsky.
This is amazingly fascinating from beginning to end, if you like speculative evolution zenofiction space operas, you’re in for a real treat. I feel like these books were written for me. I went the audiobook route and chugged through each (roughly 600 page) book, neglecting focus to almost anything else in my life. I would be playing Tetris on my phone (via the Tappy app) while listening at 1.1x speed, which is the perfect amount of mental stimulation to have massive amounts of time go by without noticing.
#2: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir.
I don’t want to spoil too much, but this is a must-read for engineer-brain nerds like me that yearn to understand complex systems recreationally. Enough said. Mandatory. I read Artemis by Andy Weir afterwards and enjoyed it too, but Hail Mary is my fave.
#3: The Final Architecture series by Adrian Tchaikovsky.
After obsessively finishing the Children of Time series there was a huge hole in my heart, so I started this series. I didn’t really latch on until 15% through the first book, but once I did I was once again obsessively hooked.
#4 (Bonus) I’m now reading Dragon’s Egg by Robert L. Forward and am very excited to report back when I eventually finish. It involves alien life that evolved in the atomic strata of neutron stars (nerd drool).
I’ve now mostly taken a break from reading as it became all-consuming. But it was very worth it overall, best reading year in my life so far.