To ask for recommendations for bedtime reading to help me through a dark time

[OlderMummy1]

We have been through a difficult 6 months with serious illness in the family, losing a loved one and coping with a refluxy baby. Mumsnet has helped me so much, answering a lot of questions that I had and giving me support in this difficult time.

I now feel as if we are coming out the other side. Last week I looked at my baby and felt absolute love for him for the very first time. It was a long time coming but completely overwhelming and made me very happy. We are getting a bit more sleep and moving on with life as a family.

However, I am still finding night times hard. When I'm lying quietly in the dark I just start thinking about things and getting upset. I have to read until I am so tired that I nod right off.

Which leads me to my question. Can anyone recommend any books to me. I need something funny, fairly pointless and very easy to read, nothing heavy. I have read all the Karl Pilkington books which I really enjoyed as well as a lot of the 'Confessions of' series. My latest one was In Rude Health which was amusing. But..... I can't find anything else.

Any suggestions gratefully received.

Have you read all the Harry Potters? I know it sounds odd but I read them all while DS was a baby and I was getting zero sleep and just wanted to escape. Light, engrossing, take you away from it all...

Otherwise I love the Jack Reacher books by Lee Child. Page turners and very satisfying.

I can recommend the 'Shopaholic'.. series by ? Kinsella i think (sorry don't know her first name). Featuring 'Becky Bloomwood' who is a real shopping addict, they made me laugh out loud and are definitely nothing serious.

Most of the books i read are a bit too serious but if i think of any more lighthearted reads i will comment.

Holly's inbox... I don't know who she does it..

Bill Bryson.

Also a book by Maureen Lipman called Home Thoughts From A Broad.

I am reading Black Vinyl White Powder by Simon Napier Bell, essentially a history of pop music. Some great stories and behind the scenes knowledge, also I love being reminded of fab songs I'd forgotten about. I had to put Duran Duran, Wham, Alison Moyet and Depeche mode on for a listen this afternoon, great memories!

I am also enjoying Love Nina which is a gentle and funny read, a series of letters from a nanny (to her sister) living in Primrose Hill with an eccentric family and Alan Bennett dropping in regularly.

Where rainbows end (same author as ps I love you). Please read Holly's inbox and the second book in the series. Also the shopaholic series as mentioned above. However if ever I feel low i dig out the Enid Blyton school series...mallory towers and st Clare's.... It depends on your moon and what you like reading. I loved the Harry potter books but do find them stressful as kinda get lost in the story...

Sophie Kinsella was, I think, the Shopaholic woman!

What about Bridget Jones books, or Adrian Mole?

Anything by Tim Moore, especially Spanish steps or French revolutions, subject matter interest is irrelevant, they made me laugh till I had a stomach ache! Also Bill Bryson or Alan Clarks autobiographies are very amusing (maybe skip the last one). Cold comfort farm? Oh, Mapp and Lucia!

Loved cold comfort farm too stairs. I saw something nasty in the woodshed... If you like chick flicks op thus list is pretty good. Did I tell you how good Holly's inbox is... (Only read it 100 times, done by emails in an office). www.chicklitclub.com/ultimate100.html

For fluffy chicklit with a heart I'd recommend Carmen Reid's Personal Shopper series - very pleasant easy reading.

Obv, you need to buy the mumsnet book! What about a short stories book? I would really really recommend alice munroe, you can get carried away with them so easily, they aren't in a particular genre, just snapshots of normal life but brilliantly written

Or just read the classic section of mumsnet op.

another vote for cold comfort farm

Nancy Mitford - pursuit of love and love in a cold climate

I capture the castle

My family and other animals

another vote for Bill Bryson-start with 'Notes from a Small Island'

Read Nora Ephron's collections of essays - seriously funny and acerbic - one called 'I feel bad about my neck', can't remember the name of the others. Also, 'Bossypants' by Tina Fey is in a similar vein and is similarly brilliant.

Terry Pratchett is my escapism - fun and funny and transports you to another world (literally). I don't think I am the stereotype of a fantasy reader (and I don't read anything else) and I was resistant when a friend lent me a book years ago and was surprised how much I enjoy them. I definitely think they meet the need you're describing.

Cold Comfort Farm- wonderful gentle comedy despite its title.

Adrian Mole or anything by Sue Townsend.

Tales of the City - Armistead Maupin (but not if you are homophobic)

Isabelle Allende- House of the Spirits

What about the Roald Dahl books? I recently got a copy of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which I adored when I was a kid, to read to my LG but in truth it's for me to reread :-)

Diary of a Provincial Lady. Was recommended to me by another MNetter and now I'm always recommending it too!

Bugger, just notices CCF is there already- never mind, I cannot recommend it highly enough, it is my book for bad times and I think I must have read it more than 10 times.

Do we need a CCF thread? Is there one? Was there one?

Definitely Adrian Mole.

-notices +noticed

Am I strange I hated all the Roald Dahl books. The movie of the chocolate factory was ok. Preferred the famous five. (Loving this talk on books, thank you op for starting this)

My absolute favourite go-to for rehabilitation of my mind and heart, is The no.1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith, as well as all the rest of the books in the series. They are gentle and heartwarming and have a certain peace about them that I find very comforting. They are seemingly simple books but there is a lot of wisdom in them, and a lot of belief in the genuine good of humanity. I find them funny, but they're not clever or challenging. For me, they're just right for the sort of dark period you describe.

They are easy to pick up on ebay.

Can I suggest not reading, but listening to audio books. It's very good to take your mind off things when you are lying in bed, not being able to sleep, and you can drift off listening to it. And it can be free too. I have an app on my phone, and I download audio books from my local library and it costs absolutely nothing!

Very easy to set a timer on the app and it stops when the time is reached, 5 or. 15 or 30 minutes or whatever you want. It is very relaxing as it is no effort to listen, no book holding, just lying down and and relaxing and the book takes your mind off stuff. Try it! I can tel you the details of the app etc if you are interested. The library has loads of different kinds of books too.