A book about life. A book about regret. A book about perspective.
I read this while I was on holiday and what a great book with some really important lessons in it.
There are a lot of people who struggle in this world because of what is in their head and I believe this book can help them see a better perspective.
The main character Nora tries to commit suicide and finds herself in a library where the time is always midnight and she gets a unique opportunity. The librarian, Mrs Elm, encourages Nora to choose books from the infinite shelfs which represent different versions of her life. Allowing Nora to see the outcomes of different choices that she did, or didn’t make in her life.
A really powerful and moving story which I loved so much I’ve just bought two more of Matt Haig’s books. I recommend anyone to read.
Favourite quotes from the book:
The universe tended towards chaos and entropy. That was basic thermodynamics. Maybe it was basic existence too. – Page 12
Want… is an interesting word. It means lack. Sometimes if we fill that lack with something else the original want disappears entirely. Maybe you have a lack problem rather than a want problem. Maybe there is a life that you really want to live. – Page 62
Since when did taste have anything to do with happiness? – Page 73
You can choose choices but not outcomes. – Page 83
The only way to learn is to live – Page 84
Never underestimate the big importance of small things. – Page 86
‘If you aim to be something you are not, you will always fail. Aim to be you. Aim to look and act and think like you. Aim to be the truest version of you. Embrace that you-ness. Endorse it. Love it. Work hard at it. And don’t give a second thought when people mock it or ridicule it. Most gossip is envy in disguise. Keep your head down. Keep your stamina. Keep swimming…’ – Page 93
The lonely mind in the busy city yearns for connection because it thinks human-to-human connection is the point of everything. But amid pure nature (or the ‘tonic of wilderness’ as Thoreau called it) solitude took on a different character. It became in itself a kind of connection. A connection between herself and the world. And between her and herself. – Page 126
To be part of nature was to be part of the will to live. – Page 134
All good things are wild and free. – Page 162
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. – Page 188
Every life she has tried so far since entering the library has really been someone else’s dream. – Page 193
Compassion is the basis of morality – Page 198
It was one of life’s rules – Never trust someone who is willingly rude to low paid service staff. – Page 204
If there was a bad experience there wouldn’t be only bad experiences. – Page 215
‘We only know what we perceive. Everything we experience is ultimately just our perception of it. “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.”’ – Page 219
Life sometimes simply gave you a whole new perspective by waiting around long enough for you to see it. – Page 281
You don’t have to understand life. You just have to live it. – Page 283
She no longer felt she was there simply to serve the dreams of other people. She no longer felt like she had to find sole fulfilment as some imaginary perfect daughter or sister or partner or wife or mother or employee or anything other than a human being, orbiting her own purpose, and answerable to herself. – Page 284
‘It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.’ – Page 285
Even when situations and chemistries didn’t change, perspectives could… her perspective was now open to uncertainty. And where there was uncertainty there was possibility, whatever the present looked like. – Page 285
Overall: 93%