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Discworld is my go-to these days. Goes well with cross stitching
In contrast I would never want to listen to a Terry Pratchett book while doing something else
Ah well. Sarah J. Maas was also a fun experience. It's so bad it's good. I went with A court of thorns and roses but I hear her other series follow a similar vein. It's hard to miss the important details. Look for the Graphic Audio releases.
Pratchett has the highest rate of "that whole paragraph was great so I'm going to read it again now" and "that's such a clever remark I'm now taking 5 minutes to think about it" out of any other authors I've ever read.
And you can do cross stiching whilst listening to it? I'm jealous. Thanks for the other recommendation, I'll look into it :)
The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared
This book did this for me. It was funny and totally casual.
I can recommend "The Realm of the Elderlings" audiobooks. James Langton has a British accent and it's just wonderful to listen to. He does voices for other characters fairly well too. Great book series too.
This one is more niche but it's among my favourite audiobooks for both great writing and a stellar vocal performance.
I highly recommend the Eisenhorn trilogy by Dan Abnett and performed by Toby Longsworth. Or if you want to dip your toes then try the first one Xenos.
It's set in the Warhammer 40K universe but you don't need to know much lore to get into it. The trilogy is a pretty good primer into 40K.
I just finished the third book last week and really enjoyed them. The narration was superb also.
I really enjoyed Stephen Fry's Greek mythology audiobooks. He wrote three, basically a modern editorial of the mythology cleaned up a little bit and presented as a more linear sequence of events. He did the golden and silver ages, followed by the Trojan war.
I also really enjoyed Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology, narrated by himself. They are all easy to follow, and entertaining. Neil Gaiman's book isn't particularly to ribald as far as mythology goes, and my kids loved listening to it in the car.
Edit: also from the young adult section, Abhorsen and Sabriel are on audible narrated by Tim Curry, who makes them a hoot. Don't recommend the other two as much. The books weren't as good and they aren't narrated by Tim Curry.
Jonathan Maberry, Joe Ledger series is a really good action, near future sci-fi, popcorn romp, style of fiction. It's like Saturday morning cartoons (just sit and listen) combined with some good writing.
I recently listened to Daisy Jones and the Six and the audiobook was incredible. The book was written as a series of interviews, which worked great as an audiobook. There were definitely times I got a bit distracted but it didn't impede my understanding too much. It does take a bit to absorb all the characters, so you'd probably want to listen uninterrupted for the first ~hour.
Killers of a Certain Age is another good one. Written about mature women assassins. It's a fun thriller and an easy listen.
Final rec is any of Ken Follett's Kingsbridge series as read by John Lee. They're long as hell, but straightforwardly told. There's something I just love about how John read them, too.
Expeditionary Force is a fun sci-fi saga with great narration and lots of funny bits. If you're not paying attention and miss half a chapter it doesn't really matter too much. Book 7.5 is a full cast epic production with a few well known sci-fi actors.
If you're looking for something that'd you'd get at the pharmacy for $10 then Jack Reacher is pretty fun for the first 10 or so books. I find the most interesting bit being that they're contemporary and basically released annually with the first being released in 1997. You can see the technology change and the world around Jack change. I tapped out after book 20 or so but it was an enjoyable enough experience.
There's a free series you can listen to on Podcast Addict by Nathan Lowell. The first book is called Quarter Share. (Then Half Share, Full Share, Double Share, Captains Share, and lastly, Owners Share).
It's Sci fi set in space about a guy moving up in ranks making money and working on a space ship. It's nothing too fantastic but it was still a good listen, read by the author who does a good job of it, and I did exactly what you're wanting while I listened. Loosely paid attention while doing other things and it was great for that.
Also, you can't beat free.
Stephen Fry’s reading of Harry Potter is just the best.
On a JK Rowling note. Her Cormoran Strike series (starting with Cuckoo’s Calling) under a different pen name is actually pretty great. It’s a modern day detective series with great personable characters. Very easy to listen to. Despite her crappy views, Rowling’s way of writing is very clean and simple so might fit your brief.
I always recommend Diskworld
IT by Stephen King was read incredibly by Steven Weber.
Stephen King got me into Audiobooks after being a bit hit-and-miss with them but I've been using them when I'm out walking and then read the book when I'm home and have time. It's been a great way to zoom through his back catalogue.
All narrated by Tim Gerard Reynolds, and he's AWESOME.
THEN also
Also narrated by Tim Gerard Reynolds, but there are also more voiced character in these, so there's more variety, and it's great.
I really like Red Rising.