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Nothing Much Happens: Calming stories to soothe your mind and help you sleep by Kathryn Nicolai
theediblewoman's review against another edition
5.0
Kathryn Nicolai's calming voice soothes me to sleep through her podcast whenever I wake up restless in the middle of the night or need some extra help getting there in the first place. Whenever I read a story from this perfect little book, I hear each word in her voice. It's not surprising in the least that she is also a yoga teacher. She doesn't just have a calm voice - she radiates calm from the inside. As the title of the book states, nothing happens in the stories, which is perfect for someone whose brain and thoughts race most at nighttime. I like the cute map at the front of the book showing the layout of the town in which these stories take place. Everything that exists and happens here is pleasant. Isn't that nice to think about? A perfect book to keep on the nightstand and dip into whenever you feel like relaxing.
florriba's review against another edition
Son muy lindas las historias pero dejé de pagar la app de audiobooks, asi que en otro momento lo terminaré.
emilythejoyfulnomad's review against another edition
relaxing
slow-paced
4.5
A speciality book designed for those that need a good night's sleep. I have the audio version of this, and use it nightly to help me fall asleep.
readingwithkt's review against another edition
3.0
When you first think about reading a book where nothing really happens, you might think it’s a bit of a strange way to spend your time. However, this book was a great meditative tool. I read it slowly, mostly before bed, and it’s slow and calming pace really settled me into sleep. It took me roughly 3-5 of the short stories to fall asleep, and I did find that when I fell asleep after reading this book, I slept better and woke feeling more rested. I could also feel in my body, at the time of reading, how much the book was relaxing me and letting me forget about the worries of the day. My favourite of all the stories was ‘In the Library’.
Around the 70% mark, I would say there were aspects of the stories that started to aggravate me. Firstly, I became aware of how upper middle class this book is, with such passages as “I went through the fridge again and came away with a package of cremini mushrooms and some fresh parsley. In the pantry I found broth and arborio rice and a bottle of wine” completely alienating me.
The reference to the bottle of wine also sat uneasily with me. In a book of stories designed to help you relax, I find it irresponsible the number of references which are made to alcohol, a well known depressant. Indeed, in one story entitled ‘Instructions for Feeling Better After a Bad Day’, the author suggests “you can make a cup of tea, milky and sweet with a good pour of whiskey in it. You can say to yourself while you’re adding the whiskey ‘practically medicinal.’ But you don’t need to. You can have it just because you want it.” This is beyond irresponsible and I’m baffled when I think about how this made it through the editorial process. However, it’s not the only reference to alcohol and, indeed, one note that I made on my kindle says “this is the third story in a row featuring alcohol.” The references were totally redundant every time and could easily have been removed with no impact on the story. One specific recipe was given for an alcoholic beverage.
Essentially, this is a lovely book to help you sleep, especially if you are an upper middle class American woman who has no history with alcohol dependency.
Around the 70% mark, I would say there were aspects of the stories that started to aggravate me. Firstly, I became aware of how upper middle class this book is, with such passages as “I went through the fridge again and came away with a package of cremini mushrooms and some fresh parsley. In the pantry I found broth and arborio rice and a bottle of wine” completely alienating me.
The reference to the bottle of wine also sat uneasily with me. In a book of stories designed to help you relax, I find it irresponsible the number of references which are made to alcohol, a well known depressant. Indeed, in one story entitled ‘Instructions for Feeling Better After a Bad Day’, the author suggests “you can make a cup of tea, milky and sweet with a good pour of whiskey in it. You can say to yourself while you’re adding the whiskey ‘practically medicinal.’ But you don’t need to. You can have it just because you want it.” This is beyond irresponsible and I’m baffled when I think about how this made it through the editorial process. However, it’s not the only reference to alcohol and, indeed, one note that I made on my kindle says “this is the third story in a row featuring alcohol.” The references were totally redundant every time and could easily have been removed with no impact on the story. One specific recipe was given for an alcoholic beverage.
Essentially, this is a lovely book to help you sleep, especially if you are an upper middle class American woman who has no history with alcohol dependency.
spinesinaline's review against another edition
3.0
Thanks to Penguin Random House Canada and NetGalley for ARC to review! Find my full review at https://spinesinaline.wordpress.com
This group of sweet, simple stories can help calm you down in whatever kind of anxious situation you may be in. I didn’t find great success with these for sleep (I think personally the podcast format would work better for me as reading is sometimes too difficult to focus on at night), but in other stressful times it felt helpful to turn to this book, slow my breathing, and try to walk through the little town Nicolai has created.
The small dream town she’s created adds to the calm atmosphere of the stories and the friendly interactions at each place. My personal favourite was the visit to the spice shop, but there are also many bookish stops and stories for all you readers.
The unanticipated bonus that I joked about above is that it also serves as a really great tool in current times, both for the added stress we’re all facing and because these simple stories about going to the farmer’s market or a cafe or the movies with friends allow us to engage in these activities that for many have been put on hold in a very safe and calming way.
The stories follow a year from January to December so we work our way through the seasons and holidays. I much preferred the fall and winter stories — visiting pumpkin patches, Thanksgiving dinner, picking out a Christmas tree — perhaps because they’re activities I’m looking forward to right now. I definitely see the benefit in visiting particular stories at certain times of year if you like seasonal reads but you can also breeze through the whole year in one go like I did.
While there were enjoyable stories, there were a few things that irked me and stopped me from getting totally immersed in the stories. I appreciated that the author says she’s removed gender markers for most characters so that you can imagine yourself and your relationships in their place. However, one story is very much about being a mom, which felt an odd thing to focus on when the reader is meant to fit themselves into the shoes of the narrator and this is obviously not going to be a reality for many people.
It’s also clear that the author likes to cook but some things felt overboard in terms of too much description and often using unusual ingredients. These moments stood out as a sore thumb in my reading rather than helping me transport to this dream state. As someone who’s not vegan, it also became immediately obvious that the author is and I was initially confused by the lack of burgers at a BBQ, the chickpea-avocado-sprout sandwiches at a picnic, and a bakery snack of caper artichoke toast (this one really got me because I’ve never been at a bakery offering sweets and treats that offered those toppings she just happened to have in the fridge). The lack of meat was not the biggest issue for me but these more unusual snacks and meals disrupted the pace in a story I’m meant to be immersed in.
Many of my complaints with these stories wouldn’t be ones that would carry over to other books I read, but with the nature of this particular book being one where I’m meant to imagine myself in the narrator’s place, there were too many odd moments for me to fully connect.
This group of sweet, simple stories can help calm you down in whatever kind of anxious situation you may be in. I didn’t find great success with these for sleep (I think personally the podcast format would work better for me as reading is sometimes too difficult to focus on at night), but in other stressful times it felt helpful to turn to this book, slow my breathing, and try to walk through the little town Nicolai has created.
The small dream town she’s created adds to the calm atmosphere of the stories and the friendly interactions at each place. My personal favourite was the visit to the spice shop, but there are also many bookish stops and stories for all you readers.
The unanticipated bonus that I joked about above is that it also serves as a really great tool in current times, both for the added stress we’re all facing and because these simple stories about going to the farmer’s market or a cafe or the movies with friends allow us to engage in these activities that for many have been put on hold in a very safe and calming way.
The stories follow a year from January to December so we work our way through the seasons and holidays. I much preferred the fall and winter stories — visiting pumpkin patches, Thanksgiving dinner, picking out a Christmas tree — perhaps because they’re activities I’m looking forward to right now. I definitely see the benefit in visiting particular stories at certain times of year if you like seasonal reads but you can also breeze through the whole year in one go like I did.
While there were enjoyable stories, there were a few things that irked me and stopped me from getting totally immersed in the stories. I appreciated that the author says she’s removed gender markers for most characters so that you can imagine yourself and your relationships in their place. However, one story is very much about being a mom, which felt an odd thing to focus on when the reader is meant to fit themselves into the shoes of the narrator and this is obviously not going to be a reality for many people.
It’s also clear that the author likes to cook but some things felt overboard in terms of too much description and often using unusual ingredients. These moments stood out as a sore thumb in my reading rather than helping me transport to this dream state. As someone who’s not vegan, it also became immediately obvious that the author is and I was initially confused by the lack of burgers at a BBQ, the chickpea-avocado-sprout sandwiches at a picnic, and a bakery snack of caper artichoke toast (this one really got me because I’ve never been at a bakery offering sweets and treats that offered those toppings she just happened to have in the fridge). The lack of meat was not the biggest issue for me but these more unusual snacks and meals disrupted the pace in a story I’m meant to be immersed in.
Many of my complaints with these stories wouldn’t be ones that would carry over to other books I read, but with the nature of this particular book being one where I’m meant to imagine myself in the narrator’s place, there were too many odd moments for me to fully connect.
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