Audiobooks to fall asleep to
September 18, 2018 12:56 PM Subscribe
In search of recommendations of audiobooks to listen to in bed as I fall asleep. Characteristics I'm looking for and good examples under the cut.
No podcast recs, please. My podcasting app is stuffed full.
Audiobooks that work well for me to fall asleep to tend to be nonfiction, have narrators with soothing voices, often are structured as a series of essays, or have narratives that meander around in such a way that later events aren't dependent on earlier events to understand.
Travel books with narratives centered around walking or train journeys have been good in the past, as well as books chronicling restoring old houses. Books meditating on nature are good, as long as there's no dwelling on human or animal death and injury or environmental and political problems. I'd like to be soothed to sleep, not jerked awake in sadness or rage.
I'd prefer if they were available on Audible as we have credits stacked up.
Books that have worked for me:
Robert Macfarlane's The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot and Landmarks.
Michael Williams, On the Slow Train Again
James Rebanks, The Shepard's Life: Modern Dispatches from an Ancient Landscape
Simon Armitage, Walking Home: A Poet's Journey
Derek J. Taylor, A Horse in the Bathroom: How an Old Stable Became Our Dream Village Home
Hunter Davies, Behind the Scenes at the Museum of Baked Beans
Judy Corbett, Castles in the Air (although the narrator took long pauses at the end of every. single. sentence. that tended to annoy me every so often.)
Jeremy Wade, River Monsters: True Stories of the Ones that Didn't Get Away
Um, looking at that list I apparently have an inclination to books with British narrators and/or set in pastoral and small-town areas of the UK, so bonus points for either of those, but I'm not requiring them.
No podcast recs, please. My podcasting app is stuffed full.
Audiobooks that work well for me to fall asleep to tend to be nonfiction, have narrators with soothing voices, often are structured as a series of essays, or have narratives that meander around in such a way that later events aren't dependent on earlier events to understand.
Travel books with narratives centered around walking or train journeys have been good in the past, as well as books chronicling restoring old houses. Books meditating on nature are good, as long as there's no dwelling on human or animal death and injury or environmental and political problems. I'd like to be soothed to sleep, not jerked awake in sadness or rage.
I'd prefer if they were available on Audible as we have credits stacked up.
Books that have worked for me:
Robert Macfarlane's The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot and Landmarks.
Michael Williams, On the Slow Train Again
James Rebanks, The Shepard's Life: Modern Dispatches from an Ancient Landscape
Simon Armitage, Walking Home: A Poet's Journey
Derek J. Taylor, A Horse in the Bathroom: How an Old Stable Became Our Dream Village Home
Hunter Davies, Behind the Scenes at the Museum of Baked Beans
Judy Corbett, Castles in the Air (although the narrator took long pauses at the end of every. single. sentence. that tended to annoy me every so often.)
Jeremy Wade, River Monsters: True Stories of the Ones that Didn't Get Away
Um, looking at that list I apparently have an inclination to books with British narrators and/or set in pastoral and small-town areas of the UK, so bonus points for either of those, but I'm not requiring them.
I liked How to Live, Or a Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer and think it meets many of your desired characteristics.
And if you like it, you can get the Complete Essays, which clocks in at a whopping 49 hours and 39 minutes.
posted by Lexica at 1:14 PM on September 18, 2018
And if you like it, you can get the Complete Essays, which clocks in at a whopping 49 hours and 39 minutes.
posted by Lexica at 1:14 PM on September 18, 2018
At one time I read Finnegans Wake aloud to my wife, and it never failed to put her to sleep. It has long sonorous sentences that can sometimes seem completely random, and it goes on forever. There are two recordings on Audible, though at one hour and five hours, they may both be too short to be useful. However, Openculture promises that their 35 hour, free version is unabridged.
posted by ubiquity at 1:15 PM on September 18, 2018
posted by ubiquity at 1:15 PM on September 18, 2018
Oh, and also The Happiness Project narrated by Gretchen Rubin herself. Listening to it right now actually.
posted by M. at 1:17 PM on September 18, 2018
posted by M. at 1:17 PM on September 18, 2018
These may be a bit far afield, but Steven Jay Gould's Natural History essay collections books are worth sampling. There's usually some death and politics, but in general they're pretty light.
Mark Twain's travel books, The Innocents Abroad, A Tramp Abroad, and Roughing it may be too humorous to fall asleep to, but they're worth a try.
posted by eotvos at 1:17 PM on September 18, 2018
Mark Twain's travel books, The Innocents Abroad, A Tramp Abroad, and Roughing it may be too humorous to fall asleep to, but they're worth a try.
posted by eotvos at 1:17 PM on September 18, 2018
Bill Bryson's Notes From a Small Island (most certainly involving a walking and train journeys through a great many small-town areas of the UK) and A Walk in the Woods (his account of hiking the Appalachian Trail), both available on Audible?
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 1:56 PM on September 18, 2018
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 1:56 PM on September 18, 2018
Rebecca Solnit's "Walking" might fit your list. Also my favorite books for falling asleep to are just about anything by Karen Armstrong, who writes theological history. It's interesting, but not too interesting, and she has a lovely British accent, which I find soothing.
posted by suelac at 1:59 PM on September 18, 2018
posted by suelac at 1:59 PM on September 18, 2018
Helen MacDonald's H Is for Hawk might work for you. It's read by the author, she's British. A possible downside is that the recent death of the author's father is an underlying theme, but there's more hope and beauty than there is dwelling.
posted by gin and biscuits at 3:02 PM on September 18, 2018
posted by gin and biscuits at 3:02 PM on September 18, 2018
Okay, this question is right up my alley. For the past 3+ years, I've used audiobooks to fall asleep every night. (This was after trying a variety of methods without success.) Here's what I've found.
Anyhow, feel free to PM me if you want further recommendations. This question is meant for me!
p.s. I should add that True Grit is one of my favorite books in general and that the audiobook is spectacular.
posted by jdroth at 5:02 PM on September 18, 2018 [3 favorites]
- First, the absolute best books for me to sleep to are books I know very well. If I know the story, then I can't really be kept awake listening to see what happens next. I'm able to drift in and out of sleep without issue. In my case, that means books like The Lord of the Rings and True Grit and the Patrick O'Brien Aubrey/Maturin novels.
- After well-loved books, the next best books to choose are those from favorite narrators. Some narrators suck for me to sleep to. (I love you Wil Wheaton, but your narration keeps me awake.) My faves are Patrick Tull, Simon Prebble, and Jenny Sterlin. All three have wonderful tone and never get too crazy with the character voices. I'll download any random book from any of them and be satisfied. I'm sure you have your own personal favorites.
- My third choice -- and one I've been mining recently -- is The Great Courses series. This fits your nonfiction preference. Not all of the Great Courses are great, but many are. In particular, I've found that history courses work well for sleep for whatever reason. I've been listening to a couple of courses about ancient history (including one I really like about daily life in the ancient world) that work like a charm. I can listen to these over and over and over again. They put me to sleep. They keep me to sleep. And if I wake up, they're interesting enough until I fall back asleep.
Anyhow, feel free to PM me if you want further recommendations. This question is meant for me!
p.s. I should add that True Grit is one of my favorite books in general and that the audiobook is spectacular.
posted by jdroth at 5:02 PM on September 18, 2018 [3 favorites]
I love falling asleep to Neil Gaiman's voice, and he reads many of his own works. The Graveyard Book is available online at the publisher's youtube channel if you would like to sample it.
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson and
narrated by Richard Matthews was fascinating and yet also put me to sleep on car trips. Luckily I was not the driver.
posted by evilmomlady at 6:32 PM on September 18, 2018
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson and
narrated by Richard Matthews was fascinating and yet also put me to sleep on car trips. Luckily I was not the driver.
posted by evilmomlady at 6:32 PM on September 18, 2018
I’m a big fan of the audiobooks of the Discworld books, which are fiction, true, but have lovely British accented readers (I think it’s the relative sonorousness and lack of up and down in the pitch of a number of British accents, at least compared to American accents) and generally have positive endings with relatively little trauma along the way. I particularly like the Moist Von Lipwig books, because I know the plots by heart so I don’t stay awake listening to them, but find them funny and engaging so I still want to listen to them. I also love the first chapter of Master and Commander for that reason. It’s Stephen and Jack having their meetcute! And I’m Team Patrick Tull for these because his voice is wonderfully cozy to me.
In nonfiction, I like Mary Bears’a SPQR for sleep purposes. Phyllida Nash has an English accent and voice I find very pleasant, and it’s structured as a series of essays about Roman history. There is some violence and politics, but they happened a long, long time ago, and while there are a couple references to current events in the dozen hours or so, it’s really minimal.
(My issue with the Great Courses is that every single one I’ve listened to has had an American prof.)
posted by joyceanmachine at 7:41 PM on September 18, 2018
In nonfiction, I like Mary Bears’a SPQR for sleep purposes. Phyllida Nash has an English accent and voice I find very pleasant, and it’s structured as a series of essays about Roman history. There is some violence and politics, but they happened a long, long time ago, and while there are a couple references to current events in the dozen hours or so, it’s really minimal.
(My issue with the Great Courses is that every single one I’ve listened to has had an American prof.)
posted by joyceanmachine at 7:41 PM on September 18, 2018
I listened to the James Herriot books in just that way: to go to sleep happily and peacefully. The only complaint I had was that there was music leading into each major part, more or less representing what would have been the start of a new CD from the pre-Audible days (not the start of a new chapter, so it wasn't as frequent as it might have been), and that music sometimes disturbed my path to the Land of Nod. But other than that, wonderful, and very much like what you've listed.
The Great Courses, mentioned above, do not work for me. Many of the lecturers may know their material but they have unpolished voices (sometimes including lisps, pretentious pronunciations and hypercorrections, and the terrible habit of too obviously reading rather than performing or lecturing). The fake audience applause is also grating. And I loathe the theme music.
There is also a version of the "Wind in the Willows" on Audible that is nearly perfect. Ratty and Mole! What could be better? I have listened to it several times through.
posted by Mo Nickels at 7:56 PM on September 18, 2018
The Great Courses, mentioned above, do not work for me. Many of the lecturers may know their material but they have unpolished voices (sometimes including lisps, pretentious pronunciations and hypercorrections, and the terrible habit of too obviously reading rather than performing or lecturing). The fake audience applause is also grating. And I loathe the theme music.
There is also a version of the "Wind in the Willows" on Audible that is nearly perfect. Ratty and Mole! What could be better? I have listened to it several times through.
posted by Mo Nickels at 7:56 PM on September 18, 2018
Stephen Fry's reading of the Harry Potter books is excellent, and anything read by him is likely to be soothing. He has such a mellifluous voice that is very relaxing.
posted by a humble nudibranch at 10:39 PM on September 18, 2018
posted by a humble nudibranch at 10:39 PM on September 18, 2018
I absolutely love Patrick Taylor's Irish Country Doctor series. They are set in rural Ulster from roughly 1940-1960, but do some hopping in time and you can enjoy them even if you missed a chapter or book.
posted by notjustthefish at 11:52 AM on September 19, 2018
posted by notjustthefish at 11:52 AM on September 19, 2018
David Attenborough's Life on Air, Life Stories, and New Life Stories are excellent for this.
posted by animalcule at 8:31 PM on September 19, 2018
posted by animalcule at 8:31 PM on September 19, 2018
The description of what you're looking for sounds very much like what you'd get from the Calm app. It's also on Android. It's a large selection of short-form stories told with soothing voices for falling asleep to.
It's not an audio book per se, but it seems to be a good solution for you.
posted by plasticbugs at 9:51 AM on September 20, 2018
It's not an audio book per se, but it seems to be a good solution for you.
posted by plasticbugs at 9:51 AM on September 20, 2018
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posted by M. at 1:13 PM on September 18, 2018 [1 favorite]