This novel by Matt Haig was a very pleasant surprise. There is a great storyline on the surface and if you read it just for that it's a fun and engaging book. But the novel goes further than that and goes into some philosophical discussion. The basic premise being the existence of parallel universes. There is some discussion of the topic from an astrophysicist perspective but not anything the average reader cannot follow. I never felt as though it was going in deep and I wasn't following, unlike some of the descriptions in South Pole Station (see review here) . It all seemed to make sense and be consistent with the flow of the story.
Please don't let the apparent heaviness of the topic scare you off from reading the book though. Know that I do not consider myself to be a super deep thinker, I never took a philosophy course in college either. I am definitely a logical math/science brain with an engineering degree. I found myself thinking about the premises of the book as I was reading and when I put the book down. It made me realize life is about perspective and how we chose to frame it.
This was a perfect book to be reading in January when everyone seems to be looking at the year ahead and trying to make some goals/ organize life. It also was a great pairing for the Non Fiction book I am concurrently reading, Girl, Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis. They both combine to give new perspective on life and how to tackle it, perfect reading for this chaotic time in history.
I can highly recommend this book if you are looking for a pleasurable read or if you are looking for one with deeper meaning. This tome satisfies both and I bet it leaves you thinking and talking about it afterwards.
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Great read for new year
This is not a genre I generally select it I am so glad I did. This book does a wonderful job at telling an engaging story with less than perfect characters. On top of the entertaining story line there are some wonderful introspective points made and it’s a perfect book to read when you want a reminder that perspective is important and the grass isn’t always greener. So happy I read this book if you are looking for a book that gets you to think about your world from more than just your normal perspective then be sure to read this one
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Challenge Prompts
The Challenge Prompts I will use this for are:
- Library Love #LibraryLoveChallenge Book #4
- Alphabet Soup Author Edition #AlphabetSoupAuthorChallenge "H"
- Beat the Backlist #BTB2021 #21 Standalone
- 2021TBR #2021ReadingChallenge #12 fantasy
- Virtual Mount TBR #VirtualMountTBR2021 Book #4
- Back List Reader #Backlistreader Book #6
- PopSugar #popsugarreadingchallenge #27 A book about do-overs or fresh starts
- Around the Year in 52 Books #52 A book related to "the end"
- 52 Book Club #the52bookclub2021 #13 Includes An Exotic Animal
- The Unofficial Magnus Archives Challenge #TMARC21 #16 with a found footage element
- BooklistQueen #3 Goodreads Winner in 2020
- A Pretty Mess Challenge #16 Goodreads 2020 winner
- NJM Book Challenge #NJMBookChallenge2021 #22 spec fic book
- While I was Reading #5. A book of magical realism
- Nerd Daily #NERDREADING2021 # 2. 2020 GOODREADS CHOICE NOMINEE
- Bookworm #34 Read a book with a time of day in the title
- Magic in the Books Book 1 #2 Where a character discovers an identity/ability
- Spells and Spaceships Non human Badge: one of MC is not human being
- Bloggers Bookshelf #bloggersbookshelf #24 2020 Goodreads winner or nominee
- Monthly Motif #MonthlyMotifGXO Fantasy
- Monthly Keyword #MonthlyKeyWordGXO "MIDNIGHT"
- 52 books in 52 weeks #11 alternate reality
- Unruly Reader Bingo # 15 The Explorer
- Pick your Poison #15 Reflections #3 A fiction book about reminiscing
I read this book a few months ago and loved it. Thanks for the review.
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