Bedtime books for adults

12 of the best bedtime books to help you sleep soundly

Photo by Andreas Wagner

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Not being able to sleep: we all hate it, right? When it’s way past my usual 10:30pm bedtime and I can feel my heart beating and mind racing, I know something’s off-balance. My best cure is a good book.

Generally I sleep well – and a lot. But not always. And it doesn’t take long for mild insomnia to start stressing me out.

My sleep tactics cover all sorts of bases: including a warm bath with a few drops of neroli oil, a bedtime tea blend, the Calm app, and especially reading or listening to a relaxing book. If you haven’t tried it already, the Audible app has a great sleep timer to turn off after a set amount of time – I give it 40 minutes on a day I’m struggling to wind down.

If you’re not sure what to read before bed, here are some of the most relaxing books to help you sleep if you need a little help drifting off.

(Looking for audiobooks to help you fall asleep? You might like my list of the best bedtime audiobooks to help you drift off to sleep.)

1. How to Read Nature: Awaken Your Senses to the Outdoors You’ve Never Noticed by Tristan Gooley 

Tristan Gooley is one of the best guides to the details and patterns of the natural world. He’s also one of my favourite authors to enjoy via audiobooks, especially How to Read Nature; one of my go-to recommendations of books to help you fall asleep. You’ll drift off dreaming about country fields, mountains, and trickling streams.

2. The Secret History by Donna Tartt

Although Donna Tartt is best known for The Goldfinch, her earlier novel The Secret History is an incredible book about a group of classics students with a cult-like following. It also contains one of my favourite quotes about insomnia (and some motivation to try reading The Great Gatsby to help you sleep, too):

“Nothing is lonelier or more disorienting than insomnia. I spent the nights reading Greek until four in the morning, until my eyes burned and my head swam, until the only light burning in Monmouth House was my own. When I could no longer concentrate on Greek and the alphabet began to transmute itself into incoherent triangles and pitchforks, I read The Great Gatsby. It is one of my favourite books and I had taken it out of the library in hopes that it would cheer me up; of course, it only made me feel worse, since in my own humorless state I failed to see anything except what I construed as certain tragic similarities between Gatsby and myself.”

The Secret History

3. Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman

In a thread about the books to read to fall asleep, Reddit user qiuel writes: “Bit of a weird one, but Norse Mythology. I can’t quite explain it but, as violent as it is at times, there’s something so comfy about Gaiman’s writing.”

This is Neil Gaiman’s retelling of the great Norse myths, breathing new life into the captivating ancient tales of Odin, Thor, and Loki among others.

For other cosy reads (without murder and aggression) to help you fall asleep, head over to my recommendations of the most wholesome comfort reads for a hug from a book.

4. The Bear by Andrew Krivak

I’ve been reading The Bear before bed recently and it’s been the perfect book to help me fall asleep. The book reads like a dream, even though it’s ultimately about loss: it’s a story of the last two humans on earth, a father and daughter living in an Edenic future close to nature. Drift off dreaming of lone mountains, whispering forests, handfuls of foraged herbs, and bears with poignant life lessons if we only stop to listen.

5. The Peace of Wild Things by Wendell Berry

Wendell Berry’s poems are gorgeous love letters to the land that offer the perfect nighttime reading. Before bed, delve into these short, simple, and profoundly wise hymns to the cycles of nature and hope, love, healing, death, friendship, and belonging. If you already love Mary Oliver’s writing, I think you’ll adore Wendell Berry too.

6. His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman

When I decided to reread Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, Northern Lights did a fantastic job at helping me to fall asleep more easily. Read about Lyra’s adventures, mythical beasts, and the beautiful aurora in the North as you wind down from the day and prepare for sleep.

7. Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang

“Deliberate rest,” as Pang calls it, is the true key to productivity, and will give us more energy, sharper ideas, and a better life. Rest offers a roadmap to rediscovering the importance of rest in our lives, and a convincing argument that we need to relax more if we actually want to get more done.

8. The Collected Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

It’s hard to beat a visit to the world of Sherlock Holmes for bedtime reading. Talking about favourite books to read before bed on Reddit, eleganthaunt shares: “Sherlock Holmes is my favorite. I have a volume with all the stories in it, so if I feel like a short story I’ll read that, but if I have more time I’ll start a novel. Takes me back to the wonderfully cozy world of 221b Baker Street every time.”

9. What I Know For Sure by Oprah Winfrey

I read this back in the summer of 2018 after leaving my job and adored it. What I Know For Sure is a compilation of the wisdom shared in Oprah’s widely popular “What I Know For Sure” column, a monthly source of inspiration and revelation.

While it’s inspiring, it won’t make you too motivated and excited to take action like many other self-improvement books. So it’s a great book for relaxing with before bed.

10. Nothing Much Happens: Calming Stories to Soothe Your Mind & Help You Sleep

If you struggle with insomnia, you might have heard of the podcast Nothing Much Happens. It’s one of those excellent creations with a title that lets you know exactly what you’re getting: in this case, stories where nothing much happens.

Creator and host Kathryn Nicolai has created this companion book of calming stories to soothe your mind and help you sleep as a wonderfully relaxing bedtime book for adults.

Accompanied by cosy and relaxing illustrations, the unnamed, gender-neutral narrators recount their days and evoke the distinct comforts offered by each of the four seasons as they gently guide you towards sleep.

11. The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot by Robert Macfarlane

I’ve been recommending Robert Macfarlane quite a lot recently, and The Old Ways is one of the best starting points for one of Britain’s best-loved nature writers.

Before falling asleep, immerse yourself in his journeys on foot following the ancient routes that crisscross the landscape of the British Isles and its waters and territories beyond. The Old Ways was chosen by Slate as one of the 50 best nonfiction books of the past 25 years.

12. Gratitude by Oliver Sacks

I would give everyone a copy of Oliver Sacks’s essays if I could. Gratitude is my favourite book by neurosurgeon and writer Oliver Sacks, available as a lovely hardcover which I’ve given to several friends I wanted to thank.

Written during the last few months of his life, this set of essays was Oliver Sacks’s way of exploring his feelings about completing a life and coming to terms with his own death, offering an overwhelming sense of gratitude for the gift of living.

It’s a lovely book to read in small moments, especially before bed. Sacks’s autobiography, On the Move, is also fantastic.

“My predominant feeling is one of gratitude. I have loved and been loved. I have been given much and I have given something in return. Above all, I have been a sentient being, a thinking animal, on this beautiful planet, and that in itself has been an enormous privilege and adventure.”

Gratitude by Oliver Sacks

Enjoy more from me

• Retreat into my new book, Your Life in Bloom: Finding Your Path and Your Courage, Grounded in the Wisdom of Nature.


• I'm also the author of Mountain Song: A Journey to Finding Quiet in the Swiss Alps, a book about my time living alone by the mountains.


• If you love books, are feeling a little lost right now, and would love some gentle comfort and guidance, join The Sanctuary, my seven-day course to rebalance your life.

20 Books You Should Be Reading In Bed – Nour Luxury

We can envisage the typical adults in bed – iPad out, scrolling through their phones, TV on or headphones in. We’re almost spoilt for choice when it comes to what to do before you go to bed.

How many of us still open a book and drift away through reading?

There are plenty of benefits to reading a good book before you sleep. We’ve compiled a list of 20 books in particular to tickle your fancy and get you drifting off towards a better night’s sleep.

Here's a closer look at the benefits of bedtime reading alongside the top 20 books you should be reading in bed.

Benefits of Reading in Bed

General feelings of stress and anxiety can make getting a good night’s sleep more difficult than it needs to be. The blue light emitting from your computer, phone and TV screen doesn’t help either. 

So if you’re wondering how to relax your mind before bed, disconnecting from technology and diving into a good book may be the answer.

Bedtime reading distracts your mind and reduces stress. It slows down your breathing and helps maintain a sense of calm throughout your body, thus resulting in a far better sleep.

As an added bonus, reading exercises your brain; so it’ll improve your creativity, brain power and even protect against Alzheimer’s. So while you’ll be getting a good night’s sleep, you’ll also be reaping numerous health benefits.

Something to Read Before You Sleep

So now you’re aware of the benefits of reading books in general, you’re going to need some actual bedtime reading material.

Once you're snuggled up in your luxuriously soft sheets, pick up one of these amazing novels:

1.

Starting off the list with a heart-warming story about empathy and compassion, “Wonder” follows the story of August Pullman, a school kid who’s afflicted with a facial deformity.

As you’d expect, school life becomes difficult, and the perspective shifts across various members of the community, forming a larger picture about acceptance and understanding.

2. The Wangs vs The World by Jade Chang

Hilarious and charming, this story follows a once wealthy Chinese family who become bankrupt, and take a road trip to see the eldest daughter (the only one who has any money left).

Of course, not everything goes to plan. The plot is strong but laced with humour and charm, making it a great read before bed.

A gripping novel sure to captivate anyone’s interest, “Luckiest Girl Alive” follows Ani FaNelli, a woman who reinvented herself after enduring public humiliation back in school. On the verge of living the perfect life, she has a secret haunting her at every turn, threatening to unravel everything she’s worked for.

Long enough to keep you invested but short enough that it’s not intimidating to start. Dive into your bed and into Ana’s inner struggle (while leaving your own, if any, behind).

The title says it all. It’s literally about dreaming.

All jokes aside, this is the perfect book to read before you sleep. Lucid dreaming occurs when you effectively “wake up” in your dream – you realise you’re in the dream and, using this guide, can access a limitless number of possibilities.

Read it in bed and retain the information before you fall asleep. You may just wake up inside your next dream!

This one is perfect for a duvet day. “If I Stay” will tug at your heart strings and potentially leave you with a tear or two. It’s the story of a girl who loses everything in the blink of an eye, and is presented with a dilemma.

A powerfully moving story guaranteed to keep you fully absorbed, making it perfect for some night time reading at the end of the day.

A mystery set in San Francisco, Clay Jannon works in a 24-hour bookstore that only has a few customers who don’t seem to buy anything, but check out large items from the corners of the store.

We all know how cosy a funny, witty and well written mystery can be, and this book is all three (hence the addition to our list).

A slight departure from the other entries, this book is a famous set of poems exploring themes revolving around space and science fiction. If you want to know how to wind down after a long day, then this is the perfect book for you.

Labelled one of the greatest books of the 20th Centruy, “The Little Prince” is a timeless and extraordinary journey of a little boy who travels the Universe, embarking on several adventures along the way.

What better way to drift off peacefully into sleep than following him on his adventures through the vast expanse of space and your own imagination.

For all the dog lovers out there, this story follows a unique dog who has educated himself on the ways of human life, recalling it all on the eve of his death.

While sad in its premise, the story is funny and uplifting, leaving you with happy vibes only as you drift off into your dreams.

“Persuasion” follows a woman convinced that her boyfriend was unworthy of her, and who spends the next 8 years of her life swallowed by the regret of losing him. The story revolves around the question of whether they’ll reunite or stay apart.

Both sombre and delicate, this is great material for bedtime reading.

Bill Bryson expresses his love for the small island of Great Britain through a delightfully light hearted and satirical comedy.

Funny, witty, and everything in between, this book is sure to leave you in high spirits before you drift off, which can only ever be a good thing.

This is the story of a young man who loves his wife, but when tragedy strikes and she dies suddenly, he’s afflicted with intense grief.

The story remains to be a love story throughout, and while tragic and sad the story is still inspiring, showcasing the lengths someone will go for someone they love. We would recommend for those looking for a little food for thought before bed.

Who hasn’t heard of Harry Potter?

Technically not one book, but seven, there’s no point in singling out one. You can’t read one without reading the rest!

There’s no better place to get lost in the world of witchcraft and wizardly and relive your childhood (for those who have grown up with the books and movies) than cosied up in your nice warm bed.

A great story about breaking out of one’s sheltered life and questioning what it all really meant. We follow Macy, who is spending the summer without her boyfriend while he’s away at Brain Camp. She’s recently lost her father, studying for her SATs, and working a boring job at the library. 

Her life changes in a few new and unexpected ways, and she begins to question everything after meeting a boy who turns her world upside down.

A beautiful story of a young person emerging from their shell, this story will have you lost in Macy’s newly unravelling world, and even relive your own past experiences.

Inseparable twins, each with their own unique personalities, Jude wears red lipstick and goes cliff diving, while Noah draws constantly and falls in love with the boy next door.

They barely speak years later, and the story is told in two parts. Noah explains the earlier years while Jude explains the latter, but they only each have half the story.

A simultaneous tear jerker and hilarity-filled narrative, this is a beautiful story to lose yourself in before you sleep.

The story follows a boy’s journey through post-war Barcelona in search of an enigmatic author, whose book seems to pose a threat to whoever owns it. A historical mystery with a deep romance woven into the narrative, this is a story to invest your imagination into, and one that’s sure to seep its way into your dreams.

A novel on love and loss, we follow Cy Parks from his childhood up to his apprenticeship as a tattoo-artist. Cy departs for America to the Coney Island Boardwalk, brimming with potential and a thirst for experience.

Starting a business under the name “Electric Michelangelo”, Cy becomes enamoured with an Eastern European immigrant who commissions him to cover her entire body with tattooed eyes.

Another great adventure dealing with love, coming of age, and pursuing a newfound identity, this is a great read before you sleep.

Another heart-warmer for the list, Ove is a grumpy but loveable man who follows strict routines and principles. Behind the grumpiness, however, is a deeper sadness, which unravels when an upbeat family move in next door.

Comical and heart-warming, this story will provide you just the right entertainment value to drift off into a good night’s sleep.

This is an incredible addition to the list.

Following a non-linear format, jumping ahead and then zooming right back to the original starting point, the unorthodox narrative will have you wondering how all the stories and characters connect.

Vast in its imaginative scope, this is one story sure to keep the brain moving at the end of the day.

An amazing journey into the human psyche, “Waiting for Sunrise” is an incredible portrayal of wartime Europe. Full of suspense and plot twists, this literary work will have you looking forward to moving deeper and deeper into Lysander’s (the protagonist) journey each and every night.

With an extensive list of bedtime reading material and the knowledge of why reading is good for you at your fingertips, we’d be surprised if you weren’t.

So disconnect your devices, bring out your book of choice, and wrap yourself in some luxuriously soft cotton sheets, to help you drift away peacefully into the land of dreams.

Can't wait to curl up with a good book? Check out our range of organic cotton bedding for that perfect night’s sleep.

cozy stories for the night • Articles on the website of the publishing house BOMBOR

• Articles
• January 13, 2021

Sleepy tales for adults: three stories to help you fall asleep.

More interesting things below

This story began when Katherine Nicolai, a 17-year yoga teacher from Michigan, noticed that daily bedtime stories helped her cope with her insomnia. Katherine created the Nothing Much Happens podcast with bedtime stories for herself and her friends. And hit the "bull's eye": the podcast became incredibly successful. Listeners from all over the world wrote thanks for the fact that for the first time in many years they slept through the night, without sleeping pills and nightmares.

Katherine's years of experience in yoga and meditation helps her seamlessly blend storytelling with brain training techniques. She knows how to relax the body, how to help the brain build new sleep habits, and how to make being awake as pleasant and serene as sleeping.

We have selected for you 3 cozy stories from Katherine Nikolay's book "Nothing Special Happens" that will help you sleep soundly and, most importantly, get enough sleep.

The instructions are simple: get as comfortable as possible in bed. You will go to the usual friendly place with a cute coffee shop and a small library where the seasons change, and at the local market you can slowly choose spicy herbs and fragrant pears for a birthday cake.

Inhale deeply through your nose and exhale through your mouth. And repeat. Inhale and exhale. Okay, let's start

The first story. Blizzard

The day before we were warned that it would snow all night and all the next day. They said they'd sweep up driveways and lanes, fields and intersections, and that it's best to stay safe at home. We agreed. The whole area and the whole town. Everyone supported this decision. Today we got hit by a snow storm.

I lay in bed in the dead silence of the early morning, thinking of the snow that had covered the ground like a thick blanket, lying on bare tree branches, on the roof above my head, and on everything else you could imagine.

I didn't move after waking up, I just felt my hands relaxed and warm under the covers, and I thought about how good it was to be a snowy day, and how wonderful it was to know that from last night. I slept soundly and woke up not remembering dreams, feeling that today everything would start from scratch. She slipped her feet into the slippers by the bed, pulled on a long thick sweater, and went to the window. She slowly pushed back the curtain and enjoyed a small spark of anticipation in her stomach as she looked at the snow-covered ground.

There used to be a lot of snow too. I have seen this a thousand times, reliving the same moment since childhood, how in the morning after a heavy snowfall I stand in my pajamas, pressing my nose against the cold window pane, but to this day it causes me admiration.

The morning light was faint and cast long shadows on the drifts, catching still-falling flakes in its smooth flight, and showing the crisp, untouched surface of the snow that covered the ground outside my old farmhouse. I lingered there for a moment, just watching the falling snow, shielding myself from the cold outside with my hands. Enjoyed a gift from mother nature.

As a child, snowy days were associated with excitement and running around with cups of chocolate to the warm kitchen and back. For adults, such days bring relief. You are forced to relax, no one expects anything from you.

In a hectic world that sometimes moves too fast, this respite is great medicine. I stocked up on everything I needed the night before: a pound of fresh coffee beans, a long loaf of bread for sandwiches and toast, a bag of muffins and muffins, a bag of winter oranges and grapefruit.

In the fridge was a jug of fresh juice and a huge pile of green vegetables, and in the pantry were neat rows of homemade canned tomatoes and pickles, jars of beans, bags of rice, bags of crackers and pasta. I looked out the kitchen window and told the snow, "Keep falling, I've got enough for a few weeks."

I started making coffee, rummaged through the cupcakes, broke off the corner of one and ate it. “If you are going to do this,” I thought, “then you have to do everything right,” and pulled out a waffle iron from the sideboard. After all, that was part of enjoying the snowy day.

There is finally time to do things that you normally don't, and there's no reason to avoid them. I poured a cup of coffee, took the right ingredients from the shelves and began to mix and beat them, heating the waffle iron. She settled down at the kitchen table with her favorite plate, napkin and fork. I had a flashback of what my aunt did when we were little. She had a special plate in her closet, painted gold in an old fashioned way and didn't match anything else. And, if you did well in an exam, or you had a birthday, or a bad day and you just needed to feel special and cared for, your aunt put her in your place.

When you sat down, you stood a little taller and felt her warm hand on your shoulder. And dinner turned into a delight.

This memory kept me warm as I poured batter into a hot waffle iron. It hissed, filling the kitchen with aroma, and I smiled. With pancakes and waffles, the rule of three always applies. Don't overcook the first, burn the second, and the third will be perfect.

When the plate was full, I sat with a cup of fresh coffee and a warm jug of maple syrup, enjoying my breakfast, watching the snow fall. I peeled the orange and ate the slices slowly between sips, setting the rind aside, thinking I'd add it later to a simmering pot with cinnamon sticks, vanilla and a couple of cloves. Let it simmer all day to fill the house with a sweet aroma and soften the dry air with steam. I rinsed my plate, tidied up the kitchen and began to walk from window to window, looking out into the street.

In the evening I brought firewood and put it in the fireplace: now it was ready to give warmth. She lit a long match and held it up to the paper and kindling, watching it burn. She added a few crumpled newspapers to the fire and squatted by the fire for a couple of minutes until her face and fingers warmed up.

Now the wind was blowing and I watched small swirling spirals of snow appear and disappear in the air. Maybe later I'll pack up and go for a long walk through the fields and woods, and then reward myself with a cup of something hot; but now I was not going to leave my cozy place. I imagined laying out a puzzle on the table and thinking about it while a movie was playing in the background, or reading for hours, or lying in a hot bath until the skin on my fingers wrinkled.

But first, having had my fill after breakfast and warming up by the fireplace, I stretched out on the sofa, covered my legs with a warm blanket, and felt that it would be best to close my eyes, listen to the crackling of logs, and forget myself in a long winter sleep.

Sweet dreams.

Second story. Night outside with a dog

I heard the soft rustle of dog paws when my pet stopped by the bed. My ears were already programmed for it. I heard him sigh at night or toss and turn in bed. And when he got up and quietly stood next to me, I heard it too. He is already an old dog with a gray muzzle, and his movements are slow and careful.

Our walks got a little shorter, but today he saw a squirrel running along the pavement and suddenly found some youthful canine energy in his limbs. He pulled me along, following the path. Fortunately, the squirrel was not caught, but he enjoyed the chase. He barked as she ran up the tree and teased him with the language of little animals who know how fast they are. I stroked his head and told him that he tried his best. Shouldn't we go to the park? I reached out to put my hand on it and lowered my feet to the floor, sleepy but understanding.

As he got older, he sometimes had to leave the house in the middle of the night. I didn't mind at all, wrapped myself in a dressing gown, slipped my feet into my slippers, and we went down the stairs to the backyard. Most of the time, I just let it out and came back a few minutes later, but as I opened the door this time, I felt something in the smell of the air pull me outside. It was pitch dark, deep night, about three o'clock. There came those weeks when the weather tossed between autumn and winter.

The cold air opened my eyes and I lifted them up to see a clear sky lit by stars and a moon that was barely more than half visible. Growing moon, I thought. After the dog returned to me, we stood very still and just listened. Summer nights are filled with the buzzing of beetles, the croaking of frogs, and some unreasonable buzzing that comes from nowhere and is simply present in the air. Maybe it's the fecundity of growing, swaying plants, or just the trace of life left after a day in the sun, but it certainly sounds loud.

There is a special sound that can only be heard in the middle of the night just before winter, a shocking silence. Not a single car passed by, no one was visible except us, and only the faint rustle of a very light wind stirred in the bare branches high above us. The earth was asleep, its creatures curled up in their burrows, preparing for the new season. The bulbs were deep under mulch and dirt, only dreaming now of the vibrant pinks, purples and yellows they would turn into in spring. We stood still for a while, and I let the cold air tingle my fingers and move up my neck, knowing that I would soon be back in a warm bed.

I took a few very deep breaths, and under the spicy scent of dry leaves, something clean and clear appeared in the air. I thought it might be snow. Tomorrow these clear skies may be thick with clouds. And if we get up again in the middle of the night, which we most likely will, we will be standing under the first falling flakes.

I leaned over and slowly kissed my old man on the top of his head, and then we turned and walked back into the house. He stopped to drink water. I drank too and slowly walked up the stairs back to the bedroom. He turned a few times and sat down on the large soft cushion. I covered the dog with a blanket and tucked it in from all sides. In a few seconds he will be asleep. We should all learn this from dogs: they can go from awake to deep sleep instantly and wake up just as easily.

I took off my bathrobe and slippers and pulled back the heavy blanket on the bed, slipped onto the sheets and straightened the covers. I felt the cold gradually leave my body until the tips of my toes were warm again. I thought about the change of season, the gentle breeze outside, and how grateful I was that the dog had taken me along. It's the magic that our friends give us: they take us to places we wouldn't go on our own and show us things we would otherwise miss.

I sighed slowly, rolled over on my side, pulling the blanket over my shoulders, and felt myself sinking into sleep, drawing part of today into my daydreams, falling asleep. The squirrel swept its tail high up in the tree. The leash was taut because the dog suddenly wanted to run. Growing Moon and sleeping Earth. Probability of first snow.

Yes, I'll probably wake up again tomorrow night, and the day after tomorrow, and so on, but it made me happy.

Sweet Dreams.

The third story. Winter day outside the window

From the window I watched what was probably the last big snowfall of this winter.

Snow lay in even layers on the lawns and rooftops of our block. I knew we all wanted spring now, but we could be coaxed into spending another day admiring the quiet charm of falling flakes, squeezing snowballs with gloves and making snowmen, sledding down the hillside in the park.

I didn't know if I wanted to go sledding, but I was ready to watch it from the cozy warmth of the living room, warming my feet with thick socks to the whistle of the kettle boiling in the kitchen. Watch how a small flock of neighboring children, wrapped from head to toe, dragged sleds and ice-boats on thin ropes. Even in boots and insulated thick trousers, they somehow skipped forward and called their friends and younger sisters to speed up their pace. The sledding hill was waiting for them.

As a child, there was one in the neighborhood, and I remembered with what delight we rushed from it, crammed into the sleigh two or three of us, holding on to their worn-out reins and each other, and shouted, picking up speed. We rolled over or crashed into a pile of snow, jumped up, shook snowflakes from our faces and raced back up.

Sometimes it was cold or someone's parents drove us back into the house to keep warm. We took off our wet coats and hats, put them on the radiator so that they would dry faster, and sometimes, without waiting, put them on again and raced up the hill.

I went into the kitchen, poured boiling water from the kettle into a cup, and tossed the tea bag in, shaking it slowly as I watched the reddish-brown color of the rooibos flow like ink into the water. She went to the sideboard and took out a pack of cookies, bought the day before.

Pushing a cart down the aisles of the grocery store, I was lost in the day's worries when I saw a familiar orange pack of cookies I hadn't eaten since I was a kid. It looked like windmills, light brown, with almond flecks scattered across the dough.

In the blink of an eye, I forgot about the confusion of thoughts that did not let me go, and reached for the pack on the shelf. The inscription was exactly the same as it had been when I was a child, thick and slightly smeared, as if it had been printed on an old-fashioned press. The company logo was a greased windmill and a family name, and when I turned the pack over, I saw that the cookies were still being made in a small town up north.

Suddenly, I felt immense gratitude that this delicacy had ended up here, on the shelf of a nearby store. She smoothed out the wrapper and peered through the cellophane at the cookies. It wasn't perfectly shaped, each a little irregular, some darker, thicker, or paler. They immediately migrated to my cart, and since then I have been looking forward to the moment to open them for tea.

I ate these cookies at my grandparents' house. Looking back, I couldn't remember trying them anywhere else. She took out a plate, placed a stack of windmills on it, and carried them back to the chair by the window. Sitting comfortably and tucking her legs under her, she put the blanket on her knees and took one of the cookies. I brought it to my nose and inhaled the sweet aroma.

There was some spice in it - I smelled the smell of cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon and a faint cherry-sweet aroma of almonds. I took a bite, the cookies were a little crumbly and dry, but the taste immediately brought me back to my grandparents' kitchen. Their house was small, with a tiny front porch, and nestled in a cozy spot among tall, old trees. Their shadows lurked in every corner, and the rooms were filled with paintings and toys that had once belonged to my father. But in the daytime the house was bright and full of sun.

Grandmother hid the “windmills” in the back of the cupboard, covering the cookies with a jar of flour so that grandfather would not accidentally stumble upon them. She and I would put a pack of biscuits on the table and each one would dip them into their drink, Grandmother into coffee and I into cocoa, and slowly ate it while watching the squirrels running along the fence.

Maybe I inherited a penchant for quiet contemplation from her. Looking out over the snow-covered yard, I raised my cup to share my memories of our time in the kitchen with her, then washed down the cookies with a slow sip of tea. A few more guys ran to their friends on the hill, and mittens dangled from strings on their wrists. I saw how the snow lay flat on the bare branches of a plane tree in a neighbor's yard and the slanting peach-orange rays of the setting sun spilled across the sky. Yes, I will be happy for spring when it comes, but I was happy to stay at home and watch the snow fall.

Sweet dreams.

More cozy stories, meditations to relieve stress throughout the day, recipes and crafts in Katherine Nicolai's book Nothing Special Happens. Cozy stories for restful sleep. Reclaim your restful sleep and all the joys that come with it.

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Nothing special is happening. Cozy stories for restful sleepCatherine Nikolay

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Interview • November 29, 2019

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We talked with the author of our novelty “Evidence-Based Medicine. Checklist of a healthy person, or What to do while nothing hurts ”by Roxana Mukharyamova on how to always be healthy.

What to Read? - 10 books to read before bed!

 
 1. "The Little Prince" - Antoine de Saint-Exupery 
 The tale told by Antoine de Saint-Exupery is wise and humane, and its author is not only a writer, but also a philosopher. Simply and sincerely he speaks about the most important things. About duty and fidelity. About friendship and love. About intolerance to evil. 
 
 2. "Post Office" - Charles Bukowski 
 15 years Henry Chinaski - and almost the same time the real Charles Bukowski, unpretentiously hiding under the mask of his hero - worked at the Los Angeles post office. For 15 years he eked out a miserable existence of a doomed person and, in fact, a slave, deprived of any rights... For 15 years he went to a hateful, stupefying and exhausting service every day... 15 years - until the day when he found the strength to free himself and leave: "After living in a cage, I dared to climb out of the hole and flew out - like a shot to heaven. Heaven?" 
 
 3. "Asphyxiation" - Chuck Palahniuk 
 Victor Mancini is a swindler who makes a living by acting out choking attacks in public places. Feeling their responsibility for the fate of the one who was saved from death, people willingly part with cash. Victor needs the money to pay for the treatment of his crazy mother, who has devoted her whole crazy life to the fight against public order. On one of his mother's visits, he discovers for himself something that turns his whole life, which has been useless to this day, upside down. 
 
 4. "1984" - George Orwell 
 The protagonist - Winston Smith - lives in London, works in the Ministry of Truth and is a member of the Outer Party. He does not share party slogans and ideology, and deep down he strongly doubts the party, the surrounding reality and, in general, everything that can be doubted. In order to “let off steam” and not make a reckless act, he buys a diary in which he tries to express all his doubts. In public, he tries to pretend to be an adherent of party ideas. However, he fears that the girl Julia, who works in the same ministry, is spying on him and wants to expose him. 
 
 5. "The Brothers Karamazov" - Fyodor Dostoevsky 
 This novel is not only a broad socio-philosophical epic about the past, present and future of Russia, refracted through the prism of "the history of one family", but in it, as in the Greek "Oedipus", the universal the tragedy of the unconscious desire for parricide. Psychoanalysts, such as Z. Freud and I. Neufeld, devoted entertaining essays to this novel. “It is interesting to note, says I. Neifeld, that the writer attributes to Ivan Karamazov before the court such an exclamation: “Which of us did not want to kill his father.” More precisely, it means: “I wanted to kill my father” ... As if the whole life of the writer completely filled with the struggle with this powerful attraction. 
 
 6. "Robinson Crusoe" - Daniel Defoe 
 A popular novel by the English writer Daniel Defoe about the amazing adventures of Robinson Crusoe, who lived for twenty-eight years all alone on a desert island. 
 
 7. "Roadside Picnic" - Strugatsky Brothers 
 "Happiness for everyone, and let no one leave offended!" Iconic words... A masterpiece of the Strugatsky brothers. A tough, endlessly fascinating and at the same time endlessly philosophical book. Time passes... But the story of the mysterious Zone and the best of its stalkers - Red Shewhart - still disturbs and excites the reader. 
 
 8. "Empire of Angels" - Bernard Werber 
 One of the most sensational books of the French writer. The novel begins in a very original way - on the very first page, a Boeing falls on the main character. The hero immediately goes to heaven, where he gets a job as a guardian angel. He is in charge of three diverse human souls: one of them, in the course of life, turns into a black top model, the other into a French writer (self-portrait features are obvious), the third into a Russian orphanage. 
 
 9. "Crimes of love" - ​​Marquis de Sade 
 Madness of passions - this title characterizes the content of the book in the best possible way. Innocence and fall, fidelity and betrayal, deceit and lies - this is what the entire narrative of the Marquis de Sade revolves around and is touched upon in every single story. The natural process of "falling in love" that occurs in everyone is reflected in life in different ways. Someone will be faithful until the end of his days and ready to follow his beloved, someone goes crazy with passion and will not give up anything to satisfy his carnal needs. 
 
 10. "Murder on the Orient Express" - Agatha Christie 
 Winter. The famous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, who is in Istanbul, urgently needs to leave for England. But all the seats on the famous Orient Express are suddenly occupied. However, the director of the company that owns the Express, Monsieur Bouc, himself travels on the same train and finds a place for Poirot. The next morning at breakfast, Poirot notices that in the carriage there are people of various nationalities who, quite by chance, came together on this journey. One of the passengers, an obnoxious suspicious American named Ratchett, offers Poirot to be his bodyguard for a handsome sum, as Ratchett is threatened with death, but Poirot refuses. 
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