From the Bookshelf of SpecFic Buddy Reads…

The Midnight Library

Matt Haig

Start date: January 1, 2021

Finish date: January 31, 2021

Discussion: Group Reads

Discussion leader: Kathy

Why we're reading this: Group Read Fantasy - January 2021
[close] Group Read Fantasy - January 2021

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 11 topics — 187 comments total

Group Reads

The Silmarillion (Sep) - General Discussion
By Linda , Dances with Chickens · 13 posts · 9 views

last updated 18 hours, 44 min ago

The Possession of Alba Díaz (Sep) - Full Discussion
By Linda , Dances with Chickens · 12 posts · 9 views

last updated Sep 15, 2025 02:57PM

showing 10 of 22 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Jan 04, 2021 Nataliya rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: 2021-reads

Edited 5/31/25:

Apparently someone complained to Goodreads that I used “excessive content quoted from the book” without copyright’s holder permission. So I counted — to show my dissatisfaction with the way this book 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 book’s fan 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 the silliest — which I’m pret ...more

8517 likes · Like · see review

Jan 08, 2021 Bradley rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2021-shelf, fantasy

I read this knowing literally nothing about it other than I've read two other books by him and he recently won the 2020 GR Fiction award. Plus, the title. The title was nice and I trust the writer, so I was like, WHY NOT?

I kinda expected some fantasy treatment with a nice librarian. What I got was a fantasy treatment with a nice librarian.

The adventure?

It's all about regrets, baby. So strap yourself in, get your failed life perspective glasses on, and start feeling sorry for yourself, because i ...more

98 likes · Like · see review

Jan 10, 2021 Trish rated it really liked it · review of another edition

My second book by this author. Definitely better than the first one I read and with a very important message.

Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices... Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?

Nora is tired of life. Her cat just died, she's alone, her brother isn't speak My second book by this author. Definitely better than the first one I read and with a very important message.

Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices... Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?

Nora is tired of life. Her cat just died, she's alone, her brother isn't speaking to her and she was fired as well. And this after a pretty shitty childhood and constant struggles with mental health problems. So she decides to kill herself.
But then she ends up in the Midnight Library where she gets to read from The Book of Regrets that lets her experience alternate lives. Will she choose life in the end? Will the library let her choose or what is the lesson here?

A very interesting though not groundbreaking examination of the nature of regret and sorrow and trying to climb out of that dark hole before it's too late.

I guess I loved the image and idea of the library / the librarian most of all. However, I also enjoyed accompanying Nora while she was experiencing all those different versions of her life and how (view spoiler) because the grass isn't always greener on the other side.

There was a personal message for me in here. No, I'm not suicidal, but I think every person - one way or another - has at least one thing that they regret and that eats away at them. Having to face that fact and accept that you can't turn back time, might bring you peace but it's also hard. So in a way, this book had a soothing moment for me.

Nevertheless, the ending was obvious from the start - I had actually expected the author to pull a twist of some kind so I was surprised when that never came. *lol*

The writing style was also very nice with short-ish chapters that made even the darkest themes more bearable (important due to the subject matter). Nothing groundbreaking but definitely very important and enjoyable. ...more

50 likes · Like · see review

Oct 14, 2020 Emma rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: library

2.5 stars rounded up. Overall this was a tolerable read; however it was very full of ‘messages’ and was a bit patronising. It reminded me of the tone of some self help books. I felt the idea of looking through possible lives has been covered before and with more subtlety.

33 likes · Like · see review

Feb 07, 2021 Lata rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sf-f-h, x2021-read

Author Matt Haig evoked some pretty strong emotions in me as I read about character Nora Seed, suffering from depression for years, cut off from her friend and her brother, recently unemployed and living alone in an apartment with a ton of regrets.
The descriptions of Nora’s despair and depression felt so real, and I could well understand her unwillingness to continue on with life, and her surprise and anger once she arrived at the Midnight Library.
Haig handled the mix of fiction, philosophy and ...more

18 likes · Like · see review

Jan 15, 2021 Vavita rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: specficgroupreads2021

A wonderful story of self discovery. At first, I was a bit scared that it would be too depressing but it wasn't at all. Full of reminders of what life really is about and how to find happiness. ...more

16 likes · Like · see review

Jan 12, 2021 Veronique rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read2021, favourites

4.25*

"It is easy to regret, and keep regretting, ad infinitum, until our time runs out. But it is not 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.”

I wasn’t too sure I wanted to read this book since it did sound potentially depressing. However, the reality of it was thankfully rather different. Nora finds herself stuck in a life where she feels she is always fo ...more

13 likes · Like · see review

Jan 31, 2021 Denise rated it liked it · review of another edition

The main character was easy to identify with for me-and I can certainly point out times when I would like to redo a regret.

7 likes · Like · see review

Nov 11, 2020 Cindy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, audiobooks

A lovely novel about the roads not taken and how a depressed woman deals with her regrets to find herself again.

6 likes · Like · see review

Jan 30, 2021 Helen rated it liked it · review of another edition

Exploring choices in life; I do this a lot. What would’ve happened if.... I usually imagine it as a much better alternative too. Probably because it’s something one does when feeling dissatisfied with life in some way. What would my review be like if there wasn’t a high-pitched screaming child outside my house for instance?

If you had the chance to choose to live one of those other lives, would you? What lessons would you learn?

2 likes · Like · see review

Jun 05, 2021 Suzanne rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, magical-realism

4.5 stars rounded up. At times the main character frustrated me, and at times the book did too. But it also made me think about some things, which made it worth the rounding up.

“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.”

1 like · Like · see review