Matt Haig

THE NUMBER ONE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A BBC TWO BETWEEN THE COVERS BOOK CLUB PICK Between life and death there is a library. When Nora Seed finds herself in the Midnight Library, she has a chance to make things right. Up until now, her life has been full of misery and regret. She feels she has let everyone down, including herself. But things are about to change. The books in the Midnight Library enable Nora to live as if she had done things differently. With the help of an old friend, she can now undo every one of her regrets as she tries to work out her perfect life. But things aren’t always what she imagined they’d be, and soon her choices place the library and herself in extreme danger. Before time runs out, she must answer the ultimate question: what is the best way to live?

The Midnight Library

Lia ♡

It was interesting, she mused to herself, how life sometimes simply gave you a whole new perspective by waiting around long enough for you to see it.

Yesterday I knew I had no future, and that it was impossible for me to accept my life as it is now. And yet today, that same messy life seems full of hope. Potential.

The impossible, I suppose, happens via living.

We don’t have to do everything in order to be everything, because we are already infinite. While we are alive we always contain a future of multifarious possibility.

We just have to close our eyes and savour the taste of the drink in front of us and listen to the song as it plays. We are as completely and utterly alive as we are in any other life and have access to the same emotional spectrum.

Of course, we can’t visit every place or meet every person or do every job, yet most of what we’d feel in any life is still available. We don’t have to play every game to know what winning feels like. We don’t have to hear every piece of music in the world to understand music. We don’t have to have tried every variety of grape from every vineyard to know the pleasure of wine. Love and laughter and fear and pain are universal currencies.

We can’t tell if any of those other versions would have been better or worse. Those lives are happening, it is true, but you are happening as well, and that is the happening we have to focus on.

It is easy to regret, and keep regretting, ad infinitum, until our time runs out.

But it is not the lives we regret not living that are the real problem. It is the regret itself. It’s the regret that makes us shrivel and wither and feel like our own and other people’s worst enemy.

A truth that was the beginning and seed of everything possible. A former curse and a present blessing.

‘It all makes sense. You came back here this time not because you wanted to die, but because you want to live. This library isn’t falling down because it wants to kill you. It’s falling down because it is giving you a chance to return. Something decisive has finally happened. You have decided you want to be alive. Now go on, live, while you still have the chance.’

Every life contains many millions of decisions. Some big, some small. But every time one decision is taken over another, the outcomes differ. An irreversible variation occurs, which in turn leads to further variations . . .

Never underestimate the big importance of small things, Mrs Elm had said. You must always remember that.

She doubted he believed it, but Nora had to accept that – as she now knew only too well – some truths were just impossible to see.

She realised that you could be as honest as possible in life, but people only see the truth if it is close enough to their reality. As Thoreau wrote, ‘It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.’ And Ash only saw the Nora he had fallen in love with and married, and so, in a way, that was the Nora she was becoming.

‘I am saying that the thing that looks the most ordinary might end up being the thing that leads you to victory. You have to keep going.

‘You need to realise something if you are ever to succeed at chess,’ she said, as if Nora had nothing bigger to think about. ‘And the thing you need to realise is this: the game is never over until it is over. It isn’t over if there is a single pawn still on the board. If one side is down to a pawn and a king, and the other side has every player, there is still a game. And even if you were a pawn – maybe we all are – then you should remember that a pawn is the most magical piece of all. It might look small and ordinary but it isn’t. Because a pawn is never just a pawn. A pawn is a queen-in-waiting. All you need to do is find a way to keep moving forward. One square after another. And you can get to the other side and unlock all kinds of power.’

‘I think it is easy to imagine there are easier paths,’ she said, realising something for the first time. ‘But maybe there are no easy paths. There are just paths. In one life, I might be married. In another, I might be working in a shop. I might have said yes to this cute guy who asked me out for a coffee. In another I might be researching glaciers in the Arctic Circle. In another, I might be an Olympic swimming champion. Who knows? Every second of every day we are entering a new universe. And we spend so much time wishing our lives were different, comparing ourselves to other people and to other versions of ourselves, when really most lives contain degrees of good and degrees of bad.’

See, this is what I was talking about when I said that in the end, it is still up to us on how we make life more meaningful and how we define our own happiness.

She wondered if the fire was to warm her or destroy her.

‘You see, doing one thing differently is very often the same as doing everything differently. Actions can’t be reversed within a lifetime, however much we try . . .’

‘Life is strange,’ she said. ‘How we live it all at once. In a straight line. But really that’s not the whole picture. Because life isn’t simply made of the things we do, but the things we don’t do too. And every moment of our life is a . . . kind of turning.’

‘The rook is my favourite piece,’ she said. ‘It’s the one that you think you don’t have to watch out for. It is straightforward. You keep your eye on the queen, and the knights, and the bishop, because they are the sneaky ones. But it’s the rook that often gets you. The straightforward is never quite what it seems.’

From that moment in that car park she had felt she was really just an extension of the pain in his left knee. A walking wound.

But maybe he had known what would happen. Maybe he could foresee the way one regret would lead to another, until suddenly that was all she was. A whole book of regrets.

Regrets don’t leave. They weren’t mosquito bites. They itch for ever.

‘Well, that you can choose choices but not outcomes.

‘Because, Nora, sometimes the only way to learn is to live.’

"It is quite a revelation to discover that the place you wanted to escape to is the exact same place you escaped from. That the prison wasn’t the place, but the perspective."

I am a huge sucker for anything related with alternate universe stuff so when I found out that this involved the protagonist getting to live/visit a part of her alternate self, I just had to read it! (I actually discovered this book due to BTS reading it and I fully trust their taste in books.) 

Thankfully, it didn't disappoint. It was beyond just making me feel good after reading a story, it made me change the way I think about life. 

I have more often than not thought of my what if's. What if I had chosen a different school or university? What if I had pursued a different dream? What if I voiced out what I really felt? What if I just kept my mouth shut? So many what if's but no possible solutions to shoo these out of my head and stop me from overhtinking, until it eventually led to regrets. 

This book became my eye-opener on a lot of things. Mostly with the fact that I could not do anything about my WHAT IF's and COULD'VE BEEN's anymore, and that I should focus my energy on my what IS. There must've been a reason for everything that I am experiencing right now, no matter how hard it is to accept it and live through it. In the end, it is up to me on how to make my life more meaningful and how I define my own happiness. This helped me not to dwell so much on thinking if my alternate self is happier or not.  And this is because in one way or another, just like the protagonist, once we get to live the life of our alternate self, there will always be something that will disappoint us or that we will miss having back in our original life. 

"It is quite a revelation to discover that the place you wanted to escape to is the exact same place you escaped from. That the prison wasn’t the place, but the perspective."

I am a huge sucker for anything related with alternate universe stuff so when I found out that this involved the protagonist getting to live/visit a part of her alternate self, I just had to read it! (I actually discovered this book due to BTS reading it and I fully trust their taste in books.) 

Thankfully, it didn't disappoint. It was beyond just making me feel good after reading a story, it made me change the way I think about life. 

I have more often than not thought of my what if's. What if I had chosen a different school or university? What if I had pursued a different dream? What if I voiced out what I really felt? What if I just kept my mouth shut? So many what if's but no possible solutions to shoo these out of my head and stop me from overhtinking, until it eventually led to regrets. 

This book became my eye-opener on a lot of things. Mostly with the fact that I could not do anything about my WHAT IF's and COULD'VE BEEN's anymore, and that I should focus my energy on my what IS. There must've been a reason for everything that I am experiencing right now, no matter how hard it is to accept it and live through it. In the end, it is up to me on how to make my life more meaningful and how I define my own happiness. This helped me not to dwell so much on thinking if my alternate self is happier or not.  And this is because in one way or another, just like the protagonist, once we get to live the life of our alternate self, there will always be something that will disappoint us or that we will miss having back in our original life. 

finished in an hour! super n cute super fun, makes u think as well! got me out of my reading slump because it’s a rly light read (again)

Aura

I gave it 4 stars because it resonated with a specific phase of my life, so it's a little bit personal. Also, despite its repetitive plot, which establishes a predictable pattern, the pacing kept me engaged and able to finish this pretty quickly

Irina Nicula

Wow. Just wow. What a beautiful and heartfelt book. Really well written, I could not stop reading. It is a book made of hope and life, an ode to imagination❤️

Rohit Khanduri

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig is a captivating novel that takes you on a journey of self-discovery and the power of choices. Haig's writing style is engaging, and the plot is well-crafted, making the book hard to put down.

The story follows the life of Nora Seed, a woman who feels like she has failed at everything in life, and decides to end it all. However, instead of dying, she finds herself in the Midnight Library, a place where she has the chance to live out the infinite number of lives she could have led if she had made different choices.

Throughout the book, Nora explores different lives, each with their unique set of challenges and opportunities. From becoming an Olympic swimmer to a rock star, each life is filled with adventure and excitement. However, as Nora navigates through these different lives, she realizes that the grass is not always greener on the other side, and no life is perfect.

The Midnight Library is a beautifully written novel that explores the concept of regret and the power of choice. Haig's writing is vivid, and he creates a world that is both magical and relatable. The characters are well-drawn, and Nora's journey is one that will resonate with many readers.

Overall, I would give The Midnight Library 4 out of 5 stars. It's a fantastic read for anyone who loves fantasy and wants to imagine a world where anything is possible. It is a story that will make you appreciate the choices you've made and inspire you to make the most of the life you have.

Amna A.

This one definitely goes on my favourites shelf. Found myself unable to put the book down while simultaneously trying to postpone finishing the book and try to make the experience of reading this one last longer.

Rebeca Keren Nuñez

"La biblioteca de la medianoche" de Matt Haig es una obra mágica que te transporta a un mundo lleno de misterios y maravillas. Publicada en 2020, esta novela es una oda al poder de los libros y la imaginación, y una celebración de la amistad y la esperanza en tiempos oscuros.

La historia sigue a Nora Seed, una joven que se siente atrapada en una vida de desilusión y arrepentimiento. Después de una serie de eventos desafortunados, Nora se encuentra en la Biblioteca de la Medianoche, un lugar entre el mundo de los vivos y los muertos, donde tiene la oportunidad de explorar infinitas realidades alternativas de su vida.

En su viaje a través de las diferentes versiones de su vida, Nora se encuentra con una variedad de personajes fascinantes y descubre lecciones valiosas sobre el amor, la pérdida y la importancia de seguir adelante. A medida que explora las posibilidades infinitas de su existencia, Nora comienza a comprender el verdadero significado de la felicidad y encuentra la fuerza para enfrentar sus temores y arrepentimientos.

Lo que hace que "La biblioteca de la medianoche" sea tan cautivadora es su premisa única y su ejecución magistral. Matt Haig crea un mundo extraordinario lleno de magia y misterio, donde los libros son portales a otras realidades y los límites entre la realidad y la ficción se difuminan. Su prosa poética y evocadora te sumerge en la historia desde la primera página y te transporta a lugares emocionantes y emocionantes.

Además de su intrigante premisa, la novela está llena de personajes entrañables y conmovedores que te robarán el corazón. La relación entre Nora y los habitantes de la Biblioteca de la Medianoche es especialmente conmovedora, y su viaje juntos es emocionante y conmovedor.

En resumen, "La biblioteca de la medianoche" es una joya literaria que cautivará a lectores de todas las edades. Con su mezcla de fantasía, aventura y sabiduría atemporal, esta novela es un recordatorio poderoso del poder transformador de los libros y la importancia de nunca perder la esperanza. Una lectura verdaderamente inolvidable que te dejará reflexionando mucho después de haberla terminado.

John Manoogian III

** spoiler alert **
           Great read. Very emotional final 10%. Inspiring ending. 

Side note: the string of disappointing male characters seemed a little contrived. The parade of disappointing dudes with banal flaws didn’t spoil the story, it’s just a bit distracting. I read it as the protagonist being so alienated from herself and her community that she mostly experienced her root life through the disappointments it brought, mired in regret and missing much of the joy

If I didn’t know the author was a heterosexual guy, I would have guessed that the author was a “dump him” feminist… i guess that’s a compliment to the author’s ability to get into the head of an opposite gender protagonist.

Luke Harkness

Utterly wonderful

I was recommended this book by a friend and, after having also seen a lot of it in the top sellers lists, I bought the eBook and audiobook and gave it a go. And boy am I glad I did.

This is a book full of learning, full of hope, full of realisations and full of "regrets". It's a story that will keep you absolutely gripped as Matt Haig grabs you by the gonads with his prose and keeps you there with his insightful look at life and how one should live it. Read. This. Book.

Sarah Sammis

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig is a variation on themes explored in The Night Bookmobile by Audrey Niffenegger (2010). The difference is that Haig's is ultimately a hopeful take on depression and Niffenegger's isn't. Trigger warning: both books contain themes of depression and suicide.

outlier: FFCCCC - orphan uhoria maze

http://pussreboots.com/blog/2020/comm...

maitha mana

This book was recommended to me by a good friend of mine, and was exactly what I needed as I have found myself in a slump for the longest of times.

I often wonder if my life would have been better or if I would have been happy if things were different, "if" I had chosen a different career, "if" I could go back in time to undo some trauma, if if if. This book is an eye opener that we could have all of our "ifs" come true, and still feel lacking on the inside.

It's a feeling that we need to chase, not a place or a person or an occupation. It is the simplest things in life that weigh the most. This book is the ultimate eye-opener to all of that. Specifically, what would happen if you could live through all the lives you could have had.

Nora's life has been going from bad to worse. Then at the stroke of midnight on her last day on earth she finds herself transported to a library. There she is given the chance to undo her regrets and try out each of the other lives she might have lived. Which raises the ultimate question: with infinite choices, what is the best way to live?

Maria

“But maybe there are no easy paths. There are just paths. […] Every second of every day we are entering a new universe. And we spend so much time wishing our lives were different, comparing ourselves to other people and to other versions of ourselves, when really most lives contain degrees of good and degrees of bad” 

listen, conceptually this book isn’t that original, i mean i feel like this is a pretty universal question of if you are so deeply unsatisfied with your life and could change anything in your past, would you? but still, i cried with this book and i smiled and felt sorrow and happiness. like with most books i’ve read recently i think it just really fit what i needed to read right now. it’s a fast, easy read, and it was engaging enough to keep me pinned to my seat and keep reading all day. also, i think there is some great comfort in a story that is predictable. did i know exactly where this would go? no, but i had a vague idea, and i was right, and it still made me cry. 

just a warning though that this book does deal a lot with depression and suicide attempts. 

also, i’ve read a couple reviews here complaining about nora being a somewhat boring and nondescript narrator, and yes this is true to some extent, but i also think that’s the point. the point isn’t that she has to stand out it’s that she could be  anyone . she could be a friend who is struggling, or a colleague, or a sister, or a complete stranger, or maybe just you. i don’t think you’re meant to necessarily come out of this story being attached to the characters, you’re supposed to learn along with them. 

that being said, i did get very tired of all the mentions of henry david thoreau. i mean, i get it! i also wish she’d dwelled more in some lives, i felt like there could have been more room for development in some parts. 

also, if you’re not a big enjoyer of philosophy i think a good chunk of this book might become tedious for you, so to be kept in mind! 

but, overall, a solid 4 ⭐️ for me.

** spoiler alert **
           it’s an okay book i would say. very easy to read despite me finishing it longer than i finished the secret history (what was that about?) 

likes: short and easy to understand, very fast paced.

dislikes: there was a point where i just became so frustrated with the mc because of how disappointed she gets whenever she doesn’t get her way and her expectations of a perfect life. IDK i got some mixed feelings about this

and i don’t like how disconnected she is to some of the people in her different lives. girl atleast try to create a bond with them and see how that goes before going back to the library. 

she’s always finding a hole in each life and it pissed me off at some point. 

the ending was kinda anti-climactic. it’s okay.

i’m not a critic in any way, i just base my reviews off of the vibes i get when reading a book and this book is kind of a let down cuz i was honestly expecting it to be a good one after reading the synopsis. but i didn’t really liked it lol. 

the mc complains too much and subtly blames it on her mental health. i keep giving her the benefit of the doubt only to be disappointed in every page. i will however admit that even if i wasn’t satisfied with the ending, it was still nice.

i thought this book would make me cry. spoiler: it didn’t. pretty sure i didn’t feel anything for this book.

has a lot of potentials that the writer was unable to explore. i have always been fascinated with the interpretation of life after death and how it varies between individual, and this book caught my eye for its promising premise. it was unfortunate that the protagonist is so intense and overwhelming, even exhausting as a character. to put it simply, she is a character that i won’t root for. mental health, despite being the most prominent aspect here, was not exactly well-depicted. i would say that the narratives were full with toxic positivity and harmful point of view in understanding mental issues. this book might just not for me.

Absolutely love, wish I could reread it again for the first time 

Lizeth fonseca

This was a pretty quick read, which is deceptive… because this is also one of the most thoughtful and beautiful books I’ve read in a long time. I LOVE this book. It’s philosophical without being pretentious or unapproachable. Literally ponders the meaning of life, but makes it playful and realistic. Ugh I just love it so much!!!

Harlee K

Nabila Azahra

God knows how hard I tried to connect with the character, I even tried restarting this book 2 times. But I liked the overall message that Matt Haig tried to imply.

Hannah Yoon

'if you aim to be something you are not, you will always fail. aim to be you... the truest version of you.'

This book was a beautiful and easy ready. It was captivating and I had to read it all day. I couldn't stop thinking about it after the first few chapters. The only issue I had with is that some of the messages written out too clearly for me and I'd rather 'read in between the lines' to learn something, but either way, I loved it. At times, it hit too close for comfort and reminded me of my younger self and the constant regret I'd have in my life.

I think every human can relate to what Nora was experiencing on some level. We're all looking for purpose and meaning in our lives, and sometimes we get lost trying to fulfill other people's expectations and dreams for us.

trezaa

very underwhelming when it had so much potential

Salsa

OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG THIS IS SO NICE T - T (ok i initially started reading it online on jan 16 and then i didnt continue, i started again on april 26)

i knew it would be Ash. also... damn i might be an idol group member somewhere right now.

This book was perfect. The story is fast paced but manages to show a deeper meaning about life and how we all just have to be greatful for living. I have never read something like this book; it was very refreshing. In a way I didn't want the book to end and would have continued to read it with great enjoyment.

Ksenija 

super into the whole idea of it, as i think of all the possible what ifs

every minute of my life. however, it gets more and more frustrating towards the end—how many possibilities are there and 

will she finally settle? when??? and to which life? and i think this frustration progressively decreased my attachment to nora.

i became more focused on reaching the conclusion. so i kept reading, anticipating the lesson/s it has to offer, only to find out that the key to a (more) satisfying life is to just keep going and as you go on, you'll figure out what you like and dislike along the way a.k.a i'm already very aware of this/nothing new/not very helpful for me, personally.

but hey, it's more of a Me problem. i may not think that it's a groundbreaking book but thankfully i read it at a time where i could use a bit of a nudge.

shamira

super into the whole idea of it, as i think of all the possible what ifs every minute of my life. however, it gets more and more frustrating towards the end—how many possibilities are there and when will she finally settle? when??? and to which life? and i think this frustration progressively decreased my attachment to nora.

i became more focused on reaching the conclusion. so i kept reading, anticipating the lesson/s it has to offer, only to find out that the key to a (more) satisfying life is to just keep going and as you go on, you'll figure out what you like and dislike along the way a.k.a i'm already very aware of this/nothing new/not very helpful for me, personally.

but hey, it's more of a Me problem. i may not think that it's a groundbreaking book but thankfully i read it at a time where i could use a bit of a nudge.

Didn't love it but also didn't hate it. It's my first time reading one of these types of self improvement novels, but I also knew what I was getting into so I expected there would be a lot of quote worthy lines in it. I think for someone who needs to hear the book's message it'll feel life shattering. There were moments when it seemed to drag but I also think it's because the protagonist wasn't always likeable, but there's nothing wrong with that either. I just have a harder time embracing the story when I can't connect with the main protagonist.

Bella Koch

This book was a fun and easy read but I didn't relate much to the main character in basically any of her lives :/ 

All of Nora's lives seemed to be somewhat extreme versions of success or where variations of horrible tragedies had occurred. This made it less relatable as changing the "regrets" I've had in my life wouldn't lead to such dramatic outcomes.

Also, I *just* read another book about the same concept of parallel universes (Dark Matter). Since Dark Matter was a sci-fi book it made sense to me to explain the physics behind this concept, but I didn't feel like it was necessary in this book. It's a novel and fiction and we don't have to explain everything... and I was bored reading about Schrodinger's cat again. 

I liked the overall moral of this book and thought it was entertaining, but I just didn't love it.

The Midnight Library

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