Bedtime Reading Suggestions for Couples
October 26, 2023 1:52 PM Subscribe
My partner and I love reading out loud to each other before bed. The only problem is, she has a much broader education and a deeper library than I do, and so often when she suggests that I pick something to read, my suggestion ends up being a bit of a clunker.
Our favorites so far have been romantic and historical, and short enough to read in a single sitting, like Nathaniel Hawthorne stories. Longer-form stuff can work too, especially if it’s beautifully written and has a philosophical dimension, like Camus. And children’s stories can be good as well; especially unique and heartfelt work, like the Moomins, or the Velveteen Rabbit.
So; short, sweet, thoughtful, heartfelt, brilliant pieces which you might read aloud to a woman of the same description. Extra convenient if they can be read online but I’m also always open to buying more books. Thanks!
Our favorites so far have been romantic and historical, and short enough to read in a single sitting, like Nathaniel Hawthorne stories. Longer-form stuff can work too, especially if it’s beautifully written and has a philosophical dimension, like Camus. And children’s stories can be good as well; especially unique and heartfelt work, like the Moomins, or the Velveteen Rabbit.
So; short, sweet, thoughtful, heartfelt, brilliant pieces which you might read aloud to a woman of the same description. Extra convenient if they can be read online but I’m also always open to buying more books. Thanks!
Well since you like Hawthorne, have you read his Twenty Days with Julien and Little Bunny? It's an excerpt from his journal, documenting a month he spent alone with his kid while his wife + other kids were out of town. It's really delightful and timeless, and easily broken into smaller bits because of the daily entries aspect. (Not sure about it being available online but at that link there are used editions in the $2 range.)
posted by BlahLaLa at 2:04 PM on October 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by BlahLaLa at 2:04 PM on October 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
The short stories of William Trevor are beautifully written, heartfelt, and often historical. Some are online.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 2:16 PM on October 26, 2023
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 2:16 PM on October 26, 2023
Julian and Little Bunny is availaPDF
For another short, delightful adult-meets-child try Tove Jansson's Sommarboken The Summer Book. It is structured as a series of interlinked vignettes about a granny and her 6 year old grand-daughter Sophia who spend summers together on an island off the coast of Finland. The child’s mother is dead and her father is part of the background: silent, writing, fishing or asleep. Granny and Sophia have a series of inconsequential adventures, which will become evocative memories because they are filtered through the exaggerated sensibilities of the child’s imagination.
posted by BobTheScientist at 3:09 PM on October 26, 2023 [5 favorites]
For another short, delightful adult-meets-child try Tove Jansson's Sommarboken The Summer Book. It is structured as a series of interlinked vignettes about a granny and her 6 year old grand-daughter Sophia who spend summers together on an island off the coast of Finland. The child’s mother is dead and her father is part of the background: silent, writing, fishing or asleep. Granny and Sophia have a series of inconsequential adventures, which will become evocative memories because they are filtered through the exaggerated sensibilities of the child’s imagination.
posted by BobTheScientist at 3:09 PM on October 26, 2023 [5 favorites]
Short stories by someone like Ray Bradbury would also be a good match - most are only a few pages, maximum 15 or 20, and always have some poetry or wistfulness to them. The Illustrated Man and The Martian Chronicles are all-timers for sure.
A big old collection of fables or folk tales from a region could also be a good option. They're never very long and often if you get a good collection they will be familiar but full of fascinating details or be different from how you remember. Pantheon has a series of regional folk tales books that are good. Bulfinch's mythology covers a lot too.
You mention Hawthorne so I imagine you have heard of his Wonder Book and Tanglewood Tales; if not, they are excellent retellings of classical myths and folk tales.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 3:20 PM on October 26, 2023
A big old collection of fables or folk tales from a region could also be a good option. They're never very long and often if you get a good collection they will be familiar but full of fascinating details or be different from how you remember. Pantheon has a series of regional folk tales books that are good. Bulfinch's mythology covers a lot too.
You mention Hawthorne so I imagine you have heard of his Wonder Book and Tanglewood Tales; if not, they are excellent retellings of classical myths and folk tales.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 3:20 PM on October 26, 2023
The Mabinogion is something that we've sometimes read aloud selections from, often set into shorter segments.
posted by ovvl at 3:34 PM on October 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by ovvl at 3:34 PM on October 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
Seconding Ray Bradbury, though I would suggest Dandelion Wine (which is basically a book of linked stories.)
posted by gudrun at 3:47 PM on October 26, 2023
posted by gudrun at 3:47 PM on October 26, 2023
Winnie the Pooh! It's such a wonderful read aloud. It has the kind of emotional depth and poignancy that it sounds like you're seeking, in addition to being funny and just totally charming in every way.
posted by peperomia at 3:52 PM on October 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by peperomia at 3:52 PM on October 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
If fantasy might work, and you have somewhat generous definitions of "sweet" and "romantic" (as her humor runs dry and sometimes dark), I think many of T. Kingfisher's short stories fit your descriptors ("Sun, Moon, Dust" and "The Rose MacGregor Drinking and Admiration Society" jump to mind).
posted by EvaDestruction at 4:01 PM on October 26, 2023
posted by EvaDestruction at 4:01 PM on October 26, 2023
I read a lot of kids books these days, so I can give some stories that hit that emotional poignancy with lovely writing. I really like "The Wild Robot" trilogy, especially the first, for this. It is too long to read in sitting.
I would second Winnie the Pooh and also add the some obvious classics: The Little Prince. Charlotte's Web.
The Toys Go Out trilogy has some great emotional depth. I wouldn't read the whole trilogy or even any whole book to an adult, but consider reading just about Lumphy's existential crisis in the prequel book "Toys Come Home." The conclusion of that chokes me up every time.
Read selections from The Neverending Story, the parts that never made it into the movie (after he names the Empress and sets about rebuilding Fantasia -- the movie ends with the naming). At one point Bastion works in a dream mine, mining dreams and has to stay there until he finds his own dream. That's pretty good.
There's a great short story called "The Dragon Tamers" short enough to read in one sitting. Lovely writing. Great little twist at the end. We listen to it on the Calm app and it's wonderful. It's by Edith Nesbitt. I'm sure its out of copyright so you can probably get it online.
Sunshine Sketches of a Small Town and Arcadian Adventures of the Idle Rich are short story collections be Stephen Leacock that are light and funny and insightful. Not for nothing he has a humour medal named after him.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 4:42 PM on October 26, 2023
I would second Winnie the Pooh and also add the some obvious classics: The Little Prince. Charlotte's Web.
The Toys Go Out trilogy has some great emotional depth. I wouldn't read the whole trilogy or even any whole book to an adult, but consider reading just about Lumphy's existential crisis in the prequel book "Toys Come Home." The conclusion of that chokes me up every time.
Read selections from The Neverending Story, the parts that never made it into the movie (after he names the Empress and sets about rebuilding Fantasia -- the movie ends with the naming). At one point Bastion works in a dream mine, mining dreams and has to stay there until he finds his own dream. That's pretty good.
There's a great short story called "The Dragon Tamers" short enough to read in one sitting. Lovely writing. Great little twist at the end. We listen to it on the Calm app and it's wonderful. It's by Edith Nesbitt. I'm sure its out of copyright so you can probably get it online.
Sunshine Sketches of a Small Town and Arcadian Adventures of the Idle Rich are short story collections be Stephen Leacock that are light and funny and insightful. Not for nothing he has a humour medal named after him.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 4:42 PM on October 26, 2023
Poetry! Poetry is meant to be read aloud!
posted by citygirl at 5:04 PM on October 26, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by citygirl at 5:04 PM on October 26, 2023 [5 favorites]
the Wizard of Oz series... you could read a chapter or two at a time... there's 14 books by L Frank Baum alone and they're collected in a nice 5vol edition
they're quite fun to read aloud and just get weirder and weirder (or to use the term the author invoked so often... queerer)
posted by kokaku at 5:11 PM on October 26, 2023
they're quite fun to read aloud and just get weirder and weirder (or to use the term the author invoked so often... queerer)
posted by kokaku at 5:11 PM on October 26, 2023
How do you feel about charmingly odd? Kelly Link's entire body of work is worth exploring. She's brilliant. Get in Trouble and White Cat, Black Dog are both mesmerizing and gorgeously written.
On a more normcore front, there's Nobel Prize-winner Alice Munro, whose short stories also might be a good fit for you. Here, I'd recommend Open Secrets or Hateship, Friendship... as well as her collected stories from the mid-80s.
posted by yellowcandy at 6:17 PM on October 26, 2023 [3 favorites]
On a more normcore front, there's Nobel Prize-winner Alice Munro, whose short stories also might be a good fit for you. Here, I'd recommend Open Secrets or Hateship, Friendship... as well as her collected stories from the mid-80s.
posted by yellowcandy at 6:17 PM on October 26, 2023 [3 favorites]
what about something classic and funny? PG Wodehouse stories are delightful, and can all be found on project Gutenberg
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 6:22 PM on October 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 6:22 PM on October 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
Seconding folktale collections.
James Heriott's collected writings.
Jim Harrison's short stories and non-fiction vignettes.
Neil Gaiman. (Chiefly the short stories, though I've read Stardust out loud a few times, over a few nights.)
Roland Barthes' A Lovers Discourse.
posted by snuffleupagus at 7:41 PM on October 26, 2023
James Heriott's collected writings.
Jim Harrison's short stories and non-fiction vignettes.
Neil Gaiman. (Chiefly the short stories, though I've read Stardust out loud a few times, over a few nights.)
Roland Barthes' A Lovers Discourse.
posted by snuffleupagus at 7:41 PM on October 26, 2023
You gotta read her some Sappho
posted by Snarl Furillo at 7:46 PM on October 26, 2023
posted by Snarl Furillo at 7:46 PM on October 26, 2023
My son captured a girl's heart during the pandemic reading Jane Yolen's Neptune Rising stories aloud. Most of her huge bibliography should scratch your itch, tbh.
posted by shadygrove at 8:58 PM on October 26, 2023
posted by shadygrove at 8:58 PM on October 26, 2023
TRUE GRIT TRUE GRIT
posted by capnsue at 9:10 PM on October 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by capnsue at 9:10 PM on October 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
If you are open to speculative fiction- short stories: seconding Kelly Link. Also Ted Chiang?
posted by Coaticass at 10:47 PM on October 26, 2023
posted by Coaticass at 10:47 PM on October 26, 2023
T. Kingfisher does children's stories under real name, Ursula Vernon, that might fit your bill.
posted by Awfki at 6:00 AM on October 27, 2023
posted by Awfki at 6:00 AM on October 27, 2023
It is NOT short, but I think Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall would be stunning read aloud. It has a particular style unlike many others that I truly think would lend itself to this.
posted by some chick at 8:22 AM on October 27, 2023
posted by some chick at 8:22 AM on October 27, 2023
The "Singing Hills Cycle" novellas by Nghi Vo are set in an alternate/fantasy world that's based on the history of Vietnam. The main character is a cleric from an order that collects stories. There are multiple layers of storytelling in each novella.
posted by expialidocious at 11:55 AM on October 27, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by expialidocious at 11:55 AM on October 27, 2023 [1 favorite]
Randall Jarrell's The Bat-Poet. It reads aloud very well (written by a poet...) and sounds like it might be up your alley.
(After the read-aloud, come back to see the Sendak illustrations.)
posted by away for regrooving at 3:06 PM on October 27, 2023
(After the read-aloud, come back to see the Sendak illustrations.)
posted by away for regrooving at 3:06 PM on October 27, 2023
The Little Prince if you haven't yet!
Ursula Le Guin's short stories are lovely aloud.
Non-fiction I've read aloud that might have the vibe:
W. G. Sebald, The Rings of Saturn
Abram, The Spell of the Sensuous, first chapter
posted by away for regrooving at 3:14 PM on October 27, 2023 [2 favorites]
Ursula Le Guin's short stories are lovely aloud.
Non-fiction I've read aloud that might have the vibe:
W. G. Sebald, The Rings of Saturn
Abram, The Spell of the Sensuous, first chapter
posted by away for regrooving at 3:14 PM on October 27, 2023 [2 favorites]
Vonnegut! A lot of his short fiction is heartfelt and romantic, and the rest has the philosophical element you like. His short story collection is called Welcome to the Monkey House.
posted by capricorn at 4:35 PM on October 27, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by capricorn at 4:35 PM on October 27, 2023 [2 favorites]
We're using Gerald Durrell's My Family and Other Animals for this purpose. We do a few pages at a time, but they are usually one event or so. The language is gorgeous.
posted by knile at 5:33 PM on October 27, 2023
posted by knile at 5:33 PM on October 27, 2023
Amy Hempel (e.g., Sing To It). Her short stories are almost short enough to be poems.
On the other end of the length spectrum: I can't stop recommending Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (audiobook: 14h; I envy you the partner reading to you, but Jennifer Kim and Julian Cihi were pretty excellent).
posted by pjenks at 5:52 PM on October 27, 2023
On the other end of the length spectrum: I can't stop recommending Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (audiobook: 14h; I envy you the partner reading to you, but Jennifer Kim and Julian Cihi were pretty excellent).
posted by pjenks at 5:52 PM on October 27, 2023
Okay, hear me out: Moby Dick. Yes, it's very long, but the individual chapters are short and there's not all that much of a plot. Beautiful, philosophical, funny, free to read online. Tove Jannson also wrote The Summer Book which is poignant little vignettes about a Finnish island, although maybe a little dark. My library has an ebook.
posted by umwelt at 9:59 AM on October 28, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by umwelt at 9:59 AM on October 28, 2023 [1 favorite]
churl: "Our favorites so far have been romantic and historical, and short enough to read in a single sitting, like Nathaniel Hawthorne stories. Longer-form stuff can work too, especially if it’s beautifully written and has a philosophical dimension, like Camus."
Calvino's Invisible Cities is perfect for this. It's a plotless series of dialogues between the explorer Marco Polo and the emperor Kublai Khan, in which Polo describes the various fantastical cities he has discovered in his travels. Each city is representative of some fascinating poetic or philosophical idea, like the one where relationships between people are signified by a web of colored strings that remain long after the city is abandoned, or where the architecture is designed to trap a beautiful fugitive seen in a collective dream. Each section is bite-sized, just a page or two, and the prose is some of the most gorgeous and elegant I've ever seen in fiction. Perfect to dip into for bedtime reading.
posted by Rhaomi at 12:34 PM on October 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
Calvino's Invisible Cities is perfect for this. It's a plotless series of dialogues between the explorer Marco Polo and the emperor Kublai Khan, in which Polo describes the various fantastical cities he has discovered in his travels. Each city is representative of some fascinating poetic or philosophical idea, like the one where relationships between people are signified by a web of colored strings that remain long after the city is abandoned, or where the architecture is designed to trap a beautiful fugitive seen in a collective dream. Each section is bite-sized, just a page or two, and the prose is some of the most gorgeous and elegant I've ever seen in fiction. Perfect to dip into for bedtime reading.
posted by Rhaomi at 12:34 PM on October 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
Mod note: [btw, this post has been added to the sidebar and the Best Of blog]
posted by taz (staff) at 3:01 AM on October 30, 2023
posted by taz (staff) at 3:01 AM on October 30, 2023
The sword in the stone/dickens is actually great especially if you do the voices/pg Wodehouse as mentioned above (though there is much not yet in public domain)
posted by aesop at 5:30 AM on October 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by aesop at 5:30 AM on October 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
My spouse read me Watership Down--amazing. We also did all of the original Frog and Toad books (which are for kids but hit very meaningfully as an adult) and the loving parody book/unauthorized sequel, Frog and Toad are Doing Their Best by Jennie Egerdie.
posted by Tesseractive at 11:09 AM on October 31, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by Tesseractive at 11:09 AM on October 31, 2023 [3 favorites]
Joan Aiken's short stories are so amazing! Although a bit more on the creepy side than the romantic side. But still, her writing is so lovely.
posted by exceptinsects at 3:10 PM on October 31, 2023
posted by exceptinsects at 3:10 PM on October 31, 2023
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