Do you know any nice bedtime stories?
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RayaHope (
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August 1st, 2022
I could use something nice to go to sleep with tonight. Like my mom used to do when I was little. Most bedtime stories are horrible and scary. What would you tell someone you want to have nice dreams?
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Sweet dreams and good luck. Hopefully you at least won’t have goofy dreams like I normally have. Like buying a new boat and having the bastard sink on the first outing. Or a dent of unknown provenance in your new car. Then waking up cussing and pissed off then realizing it was only a dream. Last night I had a rusty hole in my smoker grill. You guessed it, only another stupid dream.
Maybe dream about some handsome prince riding up and swooping you off your feet. And y’all won’t run across me and my broken down swayback nag in some weird cross dream. Stupid frikkin horse.
Well, they’re all going to have dark parts, losses or setbacks or dangers or scary things or just fears. But the happy ones end with the characters overcoming the challenges. Just don’t stop halfway.
My all-time favorites are the colored fairy books gathered by Andrew Lang, especially The Blue Fairy Book, The Red Fairy Book, and The Green Fairy Book. Look for facsimile editions that have those beautiful old drawings, engravings or pen and ink (I don’t know which) that so wonderfully complement the rich and slightly archaic language. Disney tales they ain’t.
@Nomore_Tantrums Have you ever had a dream that was so real that even after you woke up you are still thinking your dream is real life? I feel so disappointed when I wake up and find that it was a dream and not real. I can have some very vivid dreams. But as long as that horse doesn’t start eating beans I’ll be okay. :)
@Jeruba I think I’ll have to check into those fairy books, I love colored illustrations.
This is a bedtime story read by Stephen Fry. In general, I recommend Headspace and their “sleepcasts”. The app is cheap for students, but there’s also a free trial and some of the sleepcasts can be found for free on their website or YouTube.
Struwwelpeter. It is a classic.
@longgone I have it on right now, even though it’s daytime. He had me at France. thank you :)
@ragingloli {OMG} {OMG} what a horrible OMG! that was sick. This was for children?
(wiki) Hoffmann wrote Struwwelpeter in reaction to the lack of good books for children. GOOD BOOKS for children??? what was wrong with him?
Nice bedtime reading – Kipling’s Just So Stories. How the Elephant got his Trunk, How the Leopard got his Spots, and much much more from the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River, all set about with fever-trees.
While you sleep your eyeballs roll out of your nostrils & bounce off to school. They’re very conscientious pupils.
@zenvelo Okay this is a little bit better than what @ragingloli brought. Still a tad disturbing though.
@RayaHope, they’re not colored illustrations. The books simply have colors in the title: violet, brown, lilac, grey, and others. The cover color matches the name.
The illustrations are like this. And the language is old-fashioned, and perfectly suited to the stories, which came from all over.
The Dover books are good reproductions, and available in paperback.
@Jeruba That Beauty and Beast is lovely! thank you
This Q brings back lots of memories.
When I was a very young girl my mom used to read me Curious George, Madeline, and Clifford the Big Red Dog. I also remember the illustrations of Where The Wild Things Are, but I don’t remember the story.
To fall asleep I prefer to listen than read. I have an iPhone, so I can set my phone to turn off what I’m listening to in 30 minutes in case I fall asleep while it’s playing. You could choose almost any book or tv show and just close your eyes and listen.
My girlfriend writes cozy mysteries, I think that could be good. Her stories have some magic. It’s the Widow’s Bay series on this link: https://www.rebeccaregnier.com/books/ She writes other genres too. I’m not big into magic in my stories, but the novels are very light and funny and not very long and are easy to read.
@RayaHope, I would also suggest the fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen. Look for an older translation that doesn’t talk down to the reader (or listener). His stories are different because he didn’t collect old folktales of various cultures and traditions, as Andrew Lang did, but wrote them himself, although of course with those old traditions behind him.
Many of Andersen’s stories have become part of our Western culture; “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” for example, and “The Little Sea Maid.” Again, don’t look to Disney for a faithful interpretation of these stories that are so beautiful in their original form.
@Jeruba Oh yes I am familiar with Hans Christian Anderson, very nice stories :)
@JLeslie I used to think Where The Wild Things Are was kinda scary those big monsters with those big eyes and teeth. lol, I do prefer when my mom read stories to me. I could just imagine it so much better and be asleep in no time.
You can listen to books. The cozy mysteries I mentioned are available on audio and so are so many other books now.
My husband likes to fall asleep to Aerial America or those shows about wild animals. He doesn’t even watch, but the monotone narration lulls him to sleep, and there are no shocking sounds to wake him. Aerial America is so good to watch though, it’s a shame to just listen.
@JLeslie You need to Let the Wild Rumpus start!
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