Book at Bedtime on Radio 4, do you listen?

Have never listened before but thought I would tonight as saw that Meera Syal is reading it this and next week. It's Love Marriage by Monica Ali. Sounds promising.

They could still make it easier to find the ones they do still have, though!

Good thought! That’s quite possibly the reason!

I checked the R4 schedules yesterday but have realised it wasn’t under book at bedtime so I thought I was looking at the wrong channel. The last one I listened to was The Mirror and the Light and, prior to that the latest Poldark ( which I turned on the radio the following night to listen to another episode only to find it had ended…was a very strange ending!). I wonder if they can’t have the books on Sounds for copyright reasons?

MayBee that is one of my main complaints! It is so hard to find Book at Bedtime on the BBC website - I think it’s a bit easier on Sounds but still not giving enough information. The book this week is not showing on Sounds (not enjoying this one anyway!). Easiest way to check is to look at the BBC Radio 4 Schedule online.

So what channel is it on and what time? The one I can see on Sounds is from 2010.

Yes... every evening...if we miss for any reason we catch up on BBC sounds.

I’ve used a Roberts Pillow Talk speaker for years. I plug it in to my radio, slip the speaker under my pillow, set the radio to turn off 20 mins later and my husband doesn’t hear it at all. Works a treat for me!

I don't - I always fall asleep and that is so frustrating!

I found a lot of BBC Sounds book at bedtimes and audio books last night under ‘audio books’ and they were still available. It was pure luck, though. Googling Book at Bedtime only turned up 4, none of which I wanted to listen to. I just hope I can find them again!

I find listening to novels on BBC Sounds requires a lot of advance planning as there is no ‘sleep timer’ button. If I don’t start listening when there are only 2 or 3 episodes available, I inevitably fall asleep (I usually listen in bed at night) and the damn thing runs on and I miss most of it. Of course I don’t know at what point I dropped off.
If I turn off the auto play function and only have one episode available, I have to sit up and start the next episode, which is not appreciated by DH who is disturbed by the light and me moving around.

I gleefully looked at the list of books but the first one I clicked on wasn’t available, or the second, or the third….I couldn’t even find the current one ( I assume there is a current one?). So I listened to a Natural Histories about giant squid instead. Which is probably why I had nightmares even though I love cephalopods!

MayBee70 that is exactly what I mean about BBC sounds not being that user friendly. Like you I get sidetracked and find other things. However if I just want to catch up within a few days of something being transmitted it is easier to find.

I agree about the abridging Chardy, but I have often gone on to read a book based on BatB and also decided what Not to read, saving my emotional energy for something that suits me better!

I used to listen, but condensing a book into 75 or 150 minutes means great chunks are lost. I much prefer to listen to an unabridged version.

So the ones I found are ‘no longer available’. I give up.

I just checked out Book at Bedtime and I realised that when I googled it I just found a few old ones so I tried again and found lots more. It’s no wonder I gave up listening to them. Going to give it another go….

I used to listen to book at bedtime but then moved onto various other BBC Sounds podcasts. Throughout the pandemic I’ve found that I have to listen to something as I’m falling asleep and each book at bedtime episode only lasted 15 minutes which wasn’t long enough. I am quite obsessed with BBC Sounds, though. My favourite at the moment is Natural Histories but I keep discovering new ones.

I find BBC Sounds quite straightforward to use. It's my lifeline as an expat!

I loved Sorrow and Bliss which was the book at bedtime recently. When it’s a good book I make sure to go upstairs in time to listen to it.

I agree, the BBC could do much better with both website and Sounds, isn’t communication supposed to be what they do best!

I do sometimes listen to Book at Bedtime but not often at the correct time. I make use of BBC sounds facility for all types of things. It isn’t as user friendly as I would like though. I regularly listen to newscast and ukrainecast via bbc sounds. I hope I’m not alone in finding BBC Sounds not that user friendly.

I used to listen to it but find I fall asleep now; however I frequently catch up with it via BBC sounds.