For almost three years, I've resisted. Friends told me to read this. Goodreads told me to read this. You'll like it, they promised. But I didn't like How to Stop Time and I didn't finish The Humans, I replied. Shh, this one's different.It sounds like one of those books where a depressed person with lots of regrets decides their life has worth because if they'd made different choices, they'd still be unhappy.Oh no, it's not that.Sorry, but it is kinda that. The best thing about this book is that ...

Seriously, Matt?Could it really be that clinical depression stems from bad choices and disappointments? Or is it more likely the other way around? Or perhaps depression is a consequence of environment, maybe a less-than-sane immediate family, or even genetics, an inherited quirk passed down through generations? Is the world an objectively depressing place, or do we make it so with our attitude? The philosopher Schopenhauer considered depression a heroic human condition and promoted it through hi...

"That is just me. I add nothing. I am wallowing in self-pity." No truer words have ever been spoken by Nora, the world's biggest downer. Woe is her, indeed.Nora winds up at *The Midnight Library*, a sort of limbo between life and death, because she's lost the will to live. This library is packed with books, each one representing a life she *could* have lived if she'd made different choices. Now, she gets a shot at undoing all her regrets (and boy, does she have a lot!) and trying out all the ...

Edited 5/31/25:Apparently, someone complained to Goodreads that I used “excessive content quoted from the book” without the copyright holder's permission. So I counted – to show my dissatisfaction with how *The Midnight Library* was written, I used 11 quotes, of which the longest is just a few lines. Out of 300-plus pages.What I think is a fan of *The Midnight Library* took offense with me bashing it and hopes the review gets deleted.Fine, I’ll remove the quotes. All but the link to one which is...

Life has just reached that point where it's overwhelmingly all-consuming, and above all, Nora can't envision a future where things improve. Everyone she's ever known has drifted away, she's lost her job, and her best friend in the world has passed away. All that remains is herself and a cripplingly dark void. She takes a few too many pills and then drifts... finding herself in a library. But not just any library – The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. Guided by someone who may (or may not) be Mrs. ...

“The only way to learn is to live.”Damn, The Midnight Library hit me hard. I finished it a few days ago, and I can't stop thinking about it. It uses one of my absolute favorite tropes: a main character who starts out deeply depressed, maybe even suicidal, and sees no point to life, but slowly, throughout the story, begins to appreciate humanity and existence. Matt Haig's writing is beautiful, and I love how The Midnight Library asks: what's the best way to live?“Between life and death there is a...

By now, most people probably know the premise of Matt Haig's *The Midnight Library* (I mean, this book is *everywhere*): a library with an infinite number of books. The books of regret. You open one, and it transfers you to the life where you didn’t make that particular regret. Was it marrying someone, or traveling, or maybe other little things? While I admit I don’t actively seek out parallel universe-type books, and the main reason I read *The Midnight Library* was to choose the best fiction t...

Okay, picture this: You're about to bite into a cookie. A big, warm cookie. Kinda crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside, yummy and chocolate chip-y and presumably made with brown butter and flaky sea salt, as all the best cookies are.And then you take a big ol' chomp, and...oh no.Not a chocolate chip at all.This cookie is filled with...RAISINS.Have you immersed yourself in that experience? Really felt the high expectations and the all-consuming disappointment?Good.Because that was my experi...

Okay! Seriously, no more words needed! Matt Haig's The Midnight Library is one of the best sci-fi and fantasy mashups of the year, and it throws in a layer of philosophical depth for good measure. I LOVED IT! (And this isn’t just the polite kind of love where you raise your glass and toast the book. No, this is more like standing on the roof and shouting your love to the moon. If you’ve read the song lyrics to “Howl” in The Midnight Library, you’ll probably understand why I’m so enthusiastic and...

It's no secret that Matt Haig has struggled with mental health, battling the darkness of depression that has taken its toll on his life. His keen observations and personal experience with his condition deeply inform this exquisite, inspiring, compassionate, and empathetic novel. He introduces us to the concept of The Midnight Library, a place found in the spaces between life and death, where we explore life and the issues that plague our world through philosophy and more. He endeavors to tease o...