Showing posts with label Haig - Matt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Haig - Matt. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 26, 2025

The Life Impossible by Matt Haig

 


Title: The Life Impossible

Author:  Matt Haig

Narrated by:  Joanna Lumley and Jordan Stephens

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Length: Approximately 10 hours and 43 minutes

Source: Audiobook Purchased from Audible 

If you could inherit your dream house, where would your dream house be located?  

Grace Winters is surprised to learn that an old acquaintance she was once kind to has left her a house on a Mediterranean Island. Grace is a retired math teacher who deals in the world of facts, on the island though, Grace learns there is so much more to life than hard facts.

My thoughts on this novel:

The Life Impossible by Matt Haig was the January Pick for the Rogue (FLICKS) Book Club.  Only one other person read it, but we both enjoyed it.

I enjoyed this unique novel and the thoughts about living life to its fullest.

I enjoyed that Grace is a math teacher.  One of my favorite quotes is one she talks about a music teacher and says they are prone to eccentricities.  Ha! 

Grace has a great love for Sherlock Holmes and Alexandre Dumas.  I also love when classic literature if referred to in fiction.

Grace has great guilt over her son Daniel’s death.  Having my own son Daniel, this really gave me the feels when reading this novel.

I liked the humor in this novel.

I liked how the book looked at how we view our bodies.  As we get older, we look back at when we were younger and wish we could look like that again.  Grace wishes you could live in the moment knowing about your future self.

This was an enjoyable audiobook with good narrators that held my interest.

I enjoyed how this story went into different realms than expected and was speculative fiction.

Overall, The Life Impossible by Matt Haig was an enjoyable unique novel that made me think about life, loss, and love.


Sunday, February 18, 2024

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

 


What book has your book club read that prompted the most discussion?  The Midnight Library by Matt Haig prompted great discussion in January at our Rogue Book club meeting.

Nora Seed has many regrets in her life.  She tries to commit suicide and finds herself at the Midnight Library.  The library exists between life and death.  Nora’s beloved childhood librarian is there and shows Nora her book of regrets.  Nora can pick a regret and see how her life would be if she took another path.  Nora discovers these life lessons:

-        Some of what you beat yourself up about is not really your fault.

-        Sometimes the one that got away, got away for a good reason.

-        Great success comes at a cost.

Author Matt Haig had tried to commit suicide himself and has struggled through mental health issues including depression in his life.  These experiences are really shown in this novel.  It started off very bleak but had a good ending.

This book reminded me of one of my favorite all time movies, It’s a Wonderful Life.   I have always loved to watch and read “what if” type scenarios probably from watching It’s a Wonderful Life and from watching “The City on the Edge of Forever” classic original Star Trek series episode.    Do you like thinking about these types of scenarios?

Favorite Quote:

“You don't have to understand life. You just have to live it.”

Book Source:  Purchased from Amazon.com.