'Cosy' audio books

[Zaphodsotherhead]

Inspired by another thread on 'good' audio books...

I listen to Audible books to help me sleep and I've noticed that I have a particular liking for - and it's difficult to describe - books that have a certain 'feel'. I'm finding it mostly in children's books to be honest! The bit in Harry Potter - Prisoner of Azkhaban, where he is on the Knight bus, any descriptions of being indoors with the wind and rain lashing at the windows; being snug and safe in the house or tent...

Can anyone recommend any books that give the same 'feel'? I've tried 'cosy', but that just gives me loads of cosy crime, and 'snug' only gets me How-To-Hygge books. I want the hygge feel from the whole book!

What a great question. I'll be interested in the replies.

I'm not sure if they have the explicit descriptions of being cosy like you describe but I really like the Bryant and May detective series. The main characters themselves give me that kind of feeling. I also find I'm never disappointed after listening to any of the Philip Pullman books. Maybe children's books are just better at conjuring that comforting fantasy land free of all the complexities that come with adulthood.

@myshedisfull

I think you're right about children's books. Also they tend not to have that 'high drama' that isn't soothing listening at night. For that reason I'm not keen on the final two Harry Potter books - too much tension.

I love books like The Little White Horse (by Elizabeth Goudge), but because I listen to the books to keep me asleep, they are too short! I keep poking Audible to get a 'loop' or 'playlist' function but they are resisting me at present.

Btw, the 'camping' scenes in the Swallows and Amazons books give something of a similar feel.

Anything PG Wodehouse
Martin Jarvis reading Just William
There's a 5-part Katherine Jakeway's romcom-ish play on BBC Sounds called 'Where this service will ...' about a couple who meet on a train to Penzance which is just lovely

The Lady Hardcastle series by T E Kinsey.
They're brilliant light reading, twisty and whodunnitesque without being serious.

Sorry forgot to say, has a very good narrator as well. First book is "A Quiet Life in the Country"

Sandi Toskvig's book 'between the stops' is a lovely soothing listen. It's loosely based on her regular bus journeys but meanders all over the place with stories from her childhood, London history, women's rights and the launch of Apollo 11! It's one of those books I don't want to finish.

Oh yes 100% recommend Sandi Toksvig's book. I think the audio version is better because she reads it. Very soothing!

Oh I love Sandi! I'll try that one with this month's credit.

Any ideas about content? Books that give that 'cosy' feeling because they are about being snug at home in storms...that kind of thing. It seems like all the snowbound books tend to be romances. I write romance novels for a living, so I don't really want to read them too. But books about being stuck on an island in bad weather, or snowed in at home... that kind of thing. Inclement weather whilst safe and cosy?

I know it's another children's book, but the first thing that comes to mind is the Wind in the Willows.

Like the scene in wind in the willows when they get lost in the Wild Wood and get taken in by Badger?

Yes. Different characters keep turning up and another slice of ham goes in the pan!

I find Lucy Dillion books to be like comfort food. Not quite the sitting in the tent with the rain lashing, but more like a big hug.

You could try Trisha Ashley? A winter's tale is good for scenes of being semi snowed in. Not sure what the audio is like...
Not sure if you can get it as an audio book, but Cherry Cake and Ginger Beer is a wonderful collection of recipes based on children's books. Very comforting. Then you can make scones!
The beginning of the Hobbit too.
You have got my brain whirring. Partly because I am currently rather an underemployment library assistant and partly because it's right up my alley. Why aren't there more books of soothing descriptions of domesticity and food?

I quite enjoy Susan Colman books. She has a lovely reading voice and the content is soothing

Anything by Alexander McCall Smith

Sorry I can't stop thinking about this now 😂

I haven't listened to it for ages but I remember Bill Bryson's A walk in the woods was soothing in a way maybe you would like. Lots of descriptions of them being outside walking the Appalachian Trail, various weather, camping etc. In fact I might download it again...

May I also recommend Mary Oliver's poetry. There are a couple of her collections on audible I think, although probably reading it from a physical book is better.

You might like "The Starless Sea" by Erin Morgenstern. Much of it takes place in a massive underground library/labyrinth.

I've just listened to 6 Mallory Towers audio books on You Tube . Love them

That feeling you describe is how I feel with the Mary Russell/ Sherlock Holmes series of books OP.
After hours or days in hot pursuit through deserts, a rainy London or misty moors, Russell and Holmes will then get back to their lodgings where hot baths, a delicious supper and a soft cosy bed with the room softly lit by firelight and gas lamps await 🤗.
I'm tempted to dig mine out now.
I can't link for some reason, but the books are available on Amazon and in audible. The first one is called "The Beekeeper's Apprentice" and they're written by Laurie R King 🙂

How do you listen to audio books?

I like the Ken Follett books. Not quite the cosy feel you are after but a slow pace and generally not much happens - or rather what happens is slow and steady with little tension or excitement. They also last for hours and hours so ideal for overnight.

I listen to audible through Alexa in bed and tell her to turn off after 10 minutes - I can then restart whenever I wake up and tell her to stop in 10 minutes again.

His books are around 23 hours long but I also ask Alexa to 'slow down' which sounds odd for a few seconds but quickly becomes normal.

Thank you all for your suggestions!

I'd been looking at Wind in the Willows but have never read it (! I know, I know..) so that sounds perfect.

Might give Ken Follett a try too - I run the books on Audible continually overnight through my phone (it's all right, I live and sleep alone), and if the book stops I wake up, so I need loooooong books, which is why most children's books (which are perfect for evoking that 'comfortable, safe' sensation) are too short.

Myshed - I can't listen to any Bill Bryson book not read by him. The others (including A Walk in the Woods) are read by William Roberts, who I find to have a nasal, whiny voice which irritates me. Bill reading his own books is fine (and his At Home is very good).

Lucy Dillon and Trisha Ashley books tend to have too much 'story' for me to easily listen to. I tend more nowadays to non-fiction or books where nothing much happens.

It's such a difficult feeling to explain! It's not just 'books where nothing happens', it's a feeling of safe cosiness - and yes, all of Lord of the Rings where they aren't fighting or running away evokes a similar response!

@MrBennsshop

The insight timer app has done free children's stories (including bits of Wind in the willows) that are soothing.

I'm trying the Little House on the Prairie ones.

Came on to say Little House on the Prairie stories. Start with the Little House in the Big Woods.

Oh, and I've also listened to Vanity Fair, and some Trollope recently: both very long and not stressful.