Typically I read a chapter or two of something before falling asleep but lately I've been listening to vintage radio broadcasts. Specifically
https://archive.org/details/OTRR_Philip_Marlowe_Singles
https://archive.org/details/OTRR_Philo_Vance_Singles
https://archive.org/details/OTRR_YoursTrulyJohnnyDollar_Singles
The Philip Marlowe ones are by far the best as it's a radio show based on the Hard boiled detective novels of raymond chandler (one of my favorite hard boiled author's alongside Richard Stark (Donald Westlake). I pop on the headphones and close my eyes.)
On Saturday's I've been setting my alarm to start an episode on a low volume to wake up to and I've been having the craziest lucid dreams to boot. I've been spending my unconscious life as a vigilante lately and it's pretty awesome. Anyways just thought I'd share. It's worth a shot if you're into this sort of thing.
I spent years of my life falling asleep to coast to coast AM. I attribute the lasting state of my subconscious to Art Bell.
I've used audiobooks as an alarm clock in the past with varying results for lucid dreaming. I've concluded that the more animated narrators are the best for this. I've also noticed that narrators who modulate tone and volume tend to pull me out of sleep more abruptly, which helps me better remember those dreams.