This may be too quirky, or just driven by our interests, but 14-y.o. dc and I are listening to the audiobook of GUNS, GERMS, and STEEL (Jared Diamond). This is a dense, long book, and the writing, while clear, is not lively. But we are totally absorbed in the narratives, which range worldwide and from prehistory to 1500.

I will say that I think listening to the book is key for us. It gives us a wonderful 30 minutes of intellectual activity that would otherwise be lost in drive time to activities. Dc has been totally involved and pipes in with comments that astonish me.

Anyway, thought I'd share a positive experience. We got the audiobook from the library.