bedtime stories for grown-ups

Bedtime Stories For Grown-Ups

The very moment I saw the book jacket for Bedtime Stories For Grown-Ups by Ben Holden, I was intrigued. At first, I thought it contained some new adult fairy tales, but it’s actually a well thought out collection of poems, tales, and anecdotes from all over the world, and throughout history. The theme, of course, is sleep and dreams.

This is the ideal book gift for those who might have trouble dropping off to sleep, and who struggle finishing a 500-page novel. It’s designed to be dipped in and out of, where the reader chooses what they are drawn to. You can read some of the tales of The Arabian Nights, or a brilliant short story by BJ Novak called The Rematch, about the time the tortoise and the hare had another crack at the race. The Happy Prince, Diamonds and Pearls, and The Moth and The Star amongst other short stories, lulled me gently to sleep with their eloquent tones and evoked memories of other stories I adored as a child.

Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups is a real treasure of a book, and one I know I will return to again and again. It will remain permanently on the bedside table. The perfect Christmas stocking filler.

4 stars out of 5, for such a special collection.

The Book Jacket

There are few more precious routines than that of the bedtime story. So why do we discard this invaluable ritual as grown-ups to the detriment of our well-being and good health?

In this groundbreaking anthology, Ben Holden, editor of the bestselling Poems That Make Grown Men Cry, challenges how we think about life, a third of which is spent asleep. He deftly explores not only the science of sleep but also why we endlessly tell stories – even to ourselves, as we dream.

Holden combines his own illuminating storytelling with a treasure trove of timeless classics and contemporary gems. Poems and short stories, fairy tales and fables, reveries and nocturnes – from William Shakespeare to Haruki Murakami, Charles Dickens to Roald Dahl, Rabindranath Tagore to Nora Ephron, Vladimir Nabokov to Neil Gaiman – are all woven together to replicate the journey of a single night’s sleep.

Some of today’s greatest storytellers reveal their choice of the ideal grown-up bedtime story: writers such as Margaret Drabble, Ken Follett, Tessa Hadley, Joanne Harris; Robert Macfarlane, Patrick Ness, Tony Robinson and Warsan Shire.

Fold away your laptop and shut down your mobile phone. Curl up and crash out with the ultimate bedside book, one you’ll return to again and again. Full of laughter and tears, moonlight and magic,Bedtime Stories for Grown-ups joyfully provides the dream way to end the day – and begin the night . .