Comforting reads for the middle of the night

[Ladybird37]

I've had terrible trouble sleeping for the last year or so and I've been slowly rereading through all the jilly coopers, starting with riders and now on Pandora. They've lasted me a year as I only read in the middle of the night on my kindle when I'm feeling anxious. They're such chatty and fun books, I can read them when I can't focus on anythibg else i would read in the day. I'm worried what I can do next, as I think Jc books go a bit wobbly after pandora. I'm looking for something light and positive, but easy to follow at 2am...and 3am... any thoughts? I've not really been a fan of many of the light 'chick lit' type of books that I've pick up, but I know that's a bit sweeping

Kylie Scott’s Stage Dive series are fun. Bad boy rock stars and the women who love them. I enjoyed them because the dialogue is full of great one-liners.

Thanks, I'll try it. Feel better having another book on the list

I sleep badly too,especially when I have a lot on at work. I’ve been rereading all the Adrian Mole diaries at night.

Try Heartbreak Hotel by Deborah Moggach.

I like Milly Johnson's books - quite funny chick lit. Try "The Yorkshire Pudding Club" and "The Magnificent Mrs Mayhew".

Jeeves And Wooster or Uncle Fred books by P G Wodehouse never fail to make me smile. They are like a warm hug. I know what you mean about Jilly Cooper too. Riders and Rivals were my favourites.

Great suggestions thanks :) yes, the warm hug thing is just the thing in the middle of the night

If you can track it down, "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a day" is a feelgood read. It's quite old, but in a similar vein to Jeeves & Wooster.
Diary of a Nobody is also a light read.

I second the Adrian Mole books. Also Pandora was one of my favourite JCs but yes, they did go a little downhill from there!

Georgette Heyer and Agatha Christie are my comfort reads. Gentle stories with wry humour. The world all tidied up by the end ☺️

I like Jeeves and Wooster too
Bill Bryson is also good because he's very funny, but it's a gentle humour not sharp or scathing. I've also learnt a lot from his books because they're not fiction, so that's a bonus.
The novels of Nancy Mitford are also a lovely read- humourous, interesting, but not taxing.
Of course, when I'm ill I revert to Chalet School or Malory Towers.

I might give chalet school a go, I never read them but wonder if they might have some of that Jc feeling. Love Adrian mole too, but only the old ones. Getting sone great ideas! Finding a gentle read a great way to feel calmer

I don't think chalet school will fulfill your desire for more/better JC! I'm afraid I couldn't get further than a third through "Riders"...

Georgette Heyer all the way! Am just reading a biog & there’s a great story of how a former soviet prisoner wrote to Heyer saying what a solace her books had been for her and her former inmates when they were imprisoned. Fridays child was a particular favourite apparently.

I also find sleep evasive after 3:00 am so I use audible books with ear buds in. Bill Bryson has such a lovely soft voice anything by him will lull you back to sleep.

Freya North describes herself as writing updated JC type novels.. might be worth a try? Read Polly by FN and that was quite good.

Am going to read a Bill Bryson myself next , to try to de-stress.

Caro Fraser's Caper Court series - barristers having lots of sex amid legal intrigues - very readable and there are about 8 of them I think, a new one due later this year.

Happy birthday and all that by Rebecca Smith.

Comforting and reassuring.

Milly Johnson, Carole Matthews and Cathy Bramley are all easy, middle of the night comfort reads. Relatively easy to pick up and put down.

I find Alexander McCall Smith quite comforting, Ladies Detective Agency etc

Thanks for reminding me about Riders and Rivals! Going to have to reread those.

Caro Fraser's Caper Court series - barristers having lots of sex amid legal intrigues - very readable and there are about 8 of them I think, a new one due later this year

I'd forgotten about those book - they are great and very readable. Really is there a new one coming???? I love the character Leo he is so great!

Another sleepless one here!

I’ve been rereading the Brother Cadfael Chronicles by Ellis Peters, medieval detective mysteries, not at all gory, and everything works out for the best eventually!
I’ve moved on now to the Marcus Corvinus Roman detective series by David Wishart, again no gore. I like the gentle humour in them, and that the same characters such, as the household slaves, reappear across the years that the books cover.

Don’t forget JC’s earlier novels - the girls’ names series.

I'm currently reading Mudlark by Laura Meiklem which I am finding beautifully comforting