My Ingredients for a Cozy Audiobook (with Recommendations)
In my last article, I described how I set up my Bliss Bubble to prepare for rest. Now, let’s get into audiobooks that calm my thoughts and help me drift into a peaceful sleep.
Imagine yourself in a Bliss Bubble, now relaaaaaax into a world faaaaaaar away from the cares of your day.
At this point in my day, I’ve completed my Evening Rest Rituals, set up my Sleep Bliss Bubble, now I can immerse my mind into a tale of comforting visuals, inspirational ideas, and charming characters.
Ever since I started listening to audiobooks while trying to sleep, I’ve had very few nights when I can’t shut off my mind. It feels like magic. My thoughts are redirected to imagining myself in beautiful settings, but the topic has to be just right.
Let me be clear in saying these books are not boring, they’re just calm and familiar—especially when I listen to them again and again and again.
Did you know you can get audiobooks from your library? Check out the Libby or Hoopla apps.
Here are the ingredients for my idea cozy audiobook:
Atmospheric or …
Stories that are centered around a place, whether it’s a country, a farm, or a city, will recount vivid descriptions of scenery, spaces, and homes that taps the imagination. The more I am imagining a place, the more distracted I am from whatever stress is trying to steal my peace.
This makes expat stories or travel memoirs my absolute favorite cozy genre. Stories about people trading the city to a bucolic existence also satisfies. Real life is always more interesting to me than fiction.
Inspiring
If I’m not following a story about a traveler finding herself in a far away land or an expat settling into a charming countryside village, then programming my mind for personal development is also relaxing. I love books on habits and work productivity, but those aren’t the best for separating my mind from my day.
Some examples of gentle personal development audiobooks include:
The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer
Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
The Path Made Clear by Oprah Winfrey
Wishes Fulfilled by Wayne Dyer
Nothing truly terrible happens.
Every good story has conflict/resolution or the classic Hero’s Journey, but it needs to be situational, light, or funny for my sleepy audiobook. Conflicts should consist of a stubborn animal or quirky local, a culture shock, minor travel snafus, or the woe of renovating a cottage in an idyllic setting.
The Rural Diaries by Hilarie Burton
Only in Naples by Katherine Wilson
A Moveable Feast by Earnest Hemingway
The Year of Living Danishly by Helen Russell (Substack)
Paris Letters by Janice MacLeod (Substack)
My (Part-Time) Paris Life by Lisa Anselmo (Substack) Note, Lisa is grieving her mother in this book, but she transforms her grief into pursuing her dreams. It didn’t feel too heavy for me.
Assurance of no really bad stuff can be hard to find, and I’ve certainly been jolted from my Sleep Bliss Bubble by a car crash or detailed pig slaughter. Sometimes you can skip to the next chapter, but other times, the story descends away from coziness and into real drama–and that’s when I usually move on to a repeatable, favorite story.
Repeatable, favorite stories.
Some of my audiobooks have achieved a Pavlov’s dog honor for serving as a peaceful sleep guarantee. I turn it on, relax into the tale, and my subconscious knows it’s time to rest.
These repeatable favorites are where I turn when another audiobook hasn’t quieted my thoughts. I think to myself, “Time to bring in the big guns,” which, while cringey to admit, is the absolute truth of my dorky inner dialog.
Anything by Frances Mayes (Substack); she’s best known for Under the Tuscan Sun, but she has several calm and relaxing books about Italy and beyond.
Anything by Janine Marsh (Substack); my all-time favorite for her classic British humor and warmth.
I’m running out of happy travel and expat memoirs, and I’ve wondered if I might enjoy the cozy mystery genre; maybe something on a train?
The Calm app also has sleep stories I love; The Arctic Cruise story does the trick every time!
Recommendations for cozy audiobooks are welcome!
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I love listening to memoirs or light self help books on audio! Also romance. Anything else is too much for my brain to follow haha. Highly recommend a Cara Bastone audiobook! The "only on audible" ones are a whole experience with different voices, sounds, and music