Going to bed has always been one of my favorite times of day. I have always slept deeply and happily, and I really enjoy those few minutes of quiet darkness, before sleep comes, when I can think over pleasant things with no distractions. I really, really like bedtime.
I’m also a hard-core Anglophile. As such, I like to read bedtime stories that involve lots of afternoon teas, clotted cream, scones, wood fires, patchwork quilts, dried flowers, old tweeds–all of that. The Brambly Hedge stories are old standbyes, as are Frances Hodgson Burnett’s novels and, in a pinch, Rumer Godden. I have also been known to read old housekeeping manuals before bed–Roberts Rules For Household Staff, Mrs. Beeson, all of that. I tried reading Agatha Christie, but it was a little too engrossing to promote sleep. Likewise the wordy Victorians like Dickens, Thackeray, Bronte, and even pre-Victorian Austen (I reserve her for air travel–both calming and engrossing, good for fear of flying).
Can anybody recommend some more for me to read? I’m not stumbling across new things quite as often as I used to. When I can’t find something like this to read, I have to read the Harry Potter books and the Little House books again… and gosh, I’m getting rather tired of them.
There are definately some scones in that one. It’s perhaps not quite as old as the ones you seem to be favouring, but it’s interesting. The terribly old-fashioned upper-class British lifestyle is seen through the eyes of a shy and awkward young girl who is totally alien to it.
It’s also got a bit of suspense and a touch of romance if you’re into that. My description doesn’t do it much justice I’m afraid.
For something a bit lighter you could try ‘The darling buds of May’ by H E Bates. There’s actually a whole series of fairly short novels about a large and very close family living on a farm in the English countryside. Lots of blackberry picking and picnics and some very loveable characters. Nice for a light-hearted bedtime read.
And if you want to take your Anglophilia to really extreme levels, it has to be Enid Blyton. Try something from the ‘famous five’ books or perhaps ‘the twins at St Claire’s’. They are children’s books, but there’s some sort of adorable innocence and excitement to them that never goes away (though maybe that’s just because I grew up with them). Very English. Lots of camping and ginger ale and ‘jolly good!’. They can be very sexist in parts because of the age of them but I find it amusing rather than offensive. The typical set up is a group of teenagers accidentally stumbling on a group of smugglers and solving crimes that have stumped the police. While camping. And eating tinned fruit. And saying ‘That’s Super!’
Ah of course how silly of me. You can never solve a real mystery without an intelligent dog and it’s owner of ambiguous gender.
Secret Seven is Enid Blyton again, I think it’s aimed at a marginally younger audience than the Famous Five. But they do have a club house and passwords, which makes up for it.
I Think the Wind in the Willows and Toad of Toad hall are both Kenneth Grahame
If old fashioned stories set in girls’ boarding schools, where the nearest anyone comes to swearing is “Ripping!” appeal to you, may I suggest the following:
The St. Clare’s and Malory Towers series by Enid Blyton may also fit the bill.
If political incorrectness bothers you I would give all of these a wide berth…they have dated somewhat, but if you’re willing to read them as products of a different time, you might enjoy them.
Political correctness issues are not a problem. Dead White Men are my bread & butter.
Thanks for the suggestions! I had been toying with the idea of reading some Enid Blyton. I will now start making an effort to get my hands on the books (dunno if it will be easy, in the States).
I forgot to mention another bedtime staple–the essays of Charles Lamb. They’re pleasant, but gosh, so very soporific. I usually can’t get through even one before I nod off.
Many years ago I read a book called “The Crossbreed”.
It was about the travels of a feral cat, very moving and as a matter of fact when I read it aloud to my wife and son (aged 5) they both cried at the end.
Regrettably I forget the name of the author I’d love to read it again.
Fluff the pillows, pull up the covers, and enjoy The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, by Washington Irving. Famous for introducing Irving’s classic short stories “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” it also contains many non-fiction chapters on English history, places and country life. Especially notable is its cycle of Christmas sketches, portraying an old-fashioned Yuletide celebration at a country manor. (Such is the charm of those stories, for a while my “location” listed here at SDMB was “Bracebridge Hall,” the name of the manor. Irving went on to do an entire book of Bracebridge Hall stories.)
You can read it online, but really, is that any way to enjoy bedtime reading? You’ll get a book, of course.
Try The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy: A Trilogy In Five Parts, and, if you want something a bit more Boy’s Own, you could try the Biggles books- there’s something like 96 of them!
Pretty much anything by L. M. Montgomery, but especiallyAnne of Green Gables (and the rest of that series) or Emily of New Moon (and the rest of that series).
Both take place in the early 1900s on Prince Edward Island, and are wonderful studies of human nature while being very entertaining, with sympathetic protagonists AND antagonists.
Me, I read the collected Variety Obits, but you might be more partial to Douglas Jerrold’s hilarious Mrs. Caudel’s Curtain Lectures, an 1845 novel about . . . Well, each chapter is Mrs. Caudel harrassing her poor husband about something that happened that day, before they go to bed. A chapter a night would be perfect!
Yeah. Neither P.G. Wodehouse, Douglas Adams, nor Fanny Hill are exactly “soothing” bedtime reading, ifyaknowhatimean (though I did have a copy of Fanny Hill by my bed at the time this thread was posted). “Rebecca” is rather soporific, but still a little too murderous and mysterious.
I did order all three Library of America volumes of Washington Irving, which sounded like the most appropriate of all the suggestions (though I am keeping Anne of Green Gables in mind).
Walloon, Irving is WONDERFUL! I just love the Sketchbook. My favorite essays are the kind in which he goes into a musty old library, falls asleep, and has a wacky dream about the books or paintings coming alive–he did like that motif, didn’t he. I am also particularly enjoying the essays about landmarks in London, because I was just there for the first time in July, and remember precisely what he is talking about.
I’d love to read it again.