Audiobooks: the insomniac’s dream

I’ve recently been going to bed with Alan Bennett. He’s a very comforting presence as I drift off to sleep, his gentle voice soothing me with tales of what he’s been up to that day, or sometimes anecdotes from his long and successful past. It’s a real treat, the last thing I hear before nodding off being his mellifluous Yorkshire tones relating a Peter Cook one-liner from 1963.

I’m talking audiobooks, of course. There’s a nebulous point somewhere sleeping and wakefulness, a state where insomnia still reigns but you’re too tired actually to turn the light on and read. The solution? An audiobook. You get the hypnotic effect of a book without the hassle of reading it yourself. A literary sleeping tablet, an almost failsafe (in my experience) way of falling asleep that has no chemical side-effects and every chance of improving your mind. On the floor by my bed, ready to spring (or rather amble) into action whenever slumber proves evasive, are 20 or so cassettes.