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Just need something undemanding to read in the middle of the night!

90 replies

NeedingEasyReading · 19/01/2025 18:43

Have NC for this as going through a tough time. I'm not sleeping very well and reaching for my Kindle in the middle of the night before I nod off again.

My usual crime and psychological thrillers aren't doing it for me at the moment sadly. Amazon is full of 'you read this so here's more of the same'.

Does anyone have any recommendations for really easy reading that doesn't require much brainpower at 3am? I'd be happy with cheesy 'girl inherits a café in Cornwall and gets it together with the local author' or 'divorced woman holidays in Italy and decides to buy a bookshop' type things as long as they aren't really badly written. My guilty pleasure is Danielle Steel (if only all problems could be solved with a cashmere sweater and pair of slacks!) but I've run out of those.

Any suggestions of books/authors would be appreciated.

OP posts:
Snowmanscarf · 19/01/2025 21:29

I read a couple of books by Beth Moran recently . They may fit the bill. Romances but with more substance.

Rhys Bowen is another favourite author.

SirChenjins · 19/01/2025 21:26

If you’re struggling to get to sleep I can highly recommend the Nothing Much Happens bedtime stories podcast and website - gentle stories read for grown ups by a woman with the most comforting, soothing voice imaginable.

I did read The People on Platform 5 a while back - not my usual reading material but it was just the sort of easy, kind read I needed at a difficult time.

powershowerforanhour · 19/01/2025 21:25

Maeve Binchy- oldie but goodie and there are loads of them.

TinyMouseTheatre · 19/01/2025 21:23

Agree with those who said Jilly Cooper

I'd never read any Jilly Cooper until someone recommended Prudence on here. I loved it Wink

honeyfox · 19/01/2025 21:23

Milly Johnson, Julia Quinn and my favourite Mary Balogh, she has a couple of different series and I love them.

Mahoosivesalad · 19/01/2025 21:21

Milly Johnson's books

FinallyHere · 19/01/2025 21:16

Does it have to be reading? How do you get on with audible or audiobooks on YouTube ?

I love to settle down with a 'story' as if someone is reading me. And curiously the more I want to listen, so long as I'm not trying to sleep, the faster I drift off

PortiasBiscuit · 19/01/2025 21:15

Diary of a Provincial Lady series and Mapp and Lucia series do it for me.
Both written in 1930s . Nothing much happens, but in an amusing and engaging way.

therewasafishinthepercolator · 19/01/2025 21:12

Agree with those who said Jilly Cooper.

Not sure if Virginia Andrews or Marian Keyes would be your thing?

I like most Mike Gayle and David Nicholls for nice, easy reads. Enjoyed Us and You Are Here.

A couple of Lianne Moriarty are good. Here One Moment and What Alice Forgot.

And I listened to an enjoyable and not taxing Audible a while ago : The Girl on the 88 Bus.

TinyMouseTheatre · 19/01/2025 21:10

Have you come across the Quick Reads books?

They were written to by well known authors to be engaging and easy to read.

The one I'd really recommend for is A Day at the Beach Hut by Veronica Henry. It wax the first book that I'd read if hers and now I'm a massive fan. I've recommended her Booja to lots of people and they've all seemed to like them too.

LonelyMom123 · 19/01/2025 21:07

Jill Mansell books fit the bill

PandoraSox · 19/01/2025 20:55

Very old, but the Poldark books are my comfort read.

BrakesOn · 19/01/2025 20:53

I have a similar comfort style of reading to you and need absorbing books that aren't thrillers that I can read without having to concentrate too hard. I've read every books by these authors:

Mhairi McFarlane
Jojo Moyes
Taylor Jenkins Reid
Amanda Prowse (she is prolific - not read all of these yet!)
Kristin Hannah
Graeme Simsion

Have you tried listening to audiobooks to send you back to sleep? I love the snoozeband for comfortable Bluetooth speakers that sends me to sleep, and there are loads of podcasts of 'Sleepytime' type with novels read calmly without big noises or laughing or whatever to wake you up. An episode of Anne of Green Gables or Pride & Prejudice sends me off to sleep straight away and I am someone who used to have to read or do an hour's work every night at 3am because of insomnia.

Jfw82 · 19/01/2025 20:50

Or try the cazalet chronicles (family saga)

redgingerbread · 19/01/2025 20:50

Emily Henry for romance

Agree with the suggestion of Nancy Mitford

Revisiting favourites is also a great idea - very soothing and comforting if you’re going through a tough time. I hope things look up for you OP.

PeachPumpkin · 19/01/2025 20:50

Definitely Sophie Kinsella for very easy reading, fun and engrossing novels. I love the Shopaholic series.

notthatoldchestnut · 19/01/2025 20:47

If you like "sagas" then give Penny Vincenzi a try. She's brilliant

JaninaDuszejko · 19/01/2025 20:38

I know they are old now but the number one ladies detective agency books are cosy and comfortable. Or you could go even older and read Jeeves and Wooster which are unsurpassed, stylistically brilliant but great fun easy reading as well. Leaning into the 1930s I also love Nancy Mitford and Stella Gibbons.

whydoihavetowork · 19/01/2025 20:26

Elin Hildebrand or Mike Gayle

Jfw82 · 19/01/2025 19:52

Agreeing with georgette heyer for predictable regency romance but also Elizabeth peters and her Amelia Peabody books for not too taxing Egyptian themed murders mystery

Also a big Nora Roberts fan

CockerMum · 19/01/2025 19:24

Polwenna Bay series by Ruth Saberton 100% fits the bill! Easy to read set in Cornwall

NerrSnerr · 19/01/2025 19:18

I have recently read the Rebecca Shaw village books. They get more ridiculous as the series go on but they're basically about a village, a handsome vicar and all the villagers.

TheOliveFinch · 19/01/2025 19:16

Faith Hogan or Imogen Clarke might fit your brief

Slippersandrum · 19/01/2025 19:11

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DaveWatts · 19/01/2025 19:08

Also for really mindless try Nora Roberts - the Inn at Boonsboro Trilogy is good if you are interested in interior design as well as romance 😂