April 2021 Book Club - The Midnight Library

Discussion in 'Reading Pad' started by Karen, Mar 16, 2021.

  1. Karen

    Karen Wiggle it, just a little bit!

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    Yippee! Voting is done and we have another batch of great books to read together. I know I said it was for four months, but we had a three way tie so I'm doing the top five vote getters as the winners. This will give us books from April - August! :agree

    The book for April is The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. Feel free to read our book club books in any order that you choose and when you've finished reading, come back here and tell us what you think. Please label spoilers. I even learned a new trick for hiding spoilers. Type whatever you want and then highlight the spoiler portion and click the + button above and select Spoiler.

    Here's my super secret spoiler... I love to read!


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    Just a note, anyone can read these books at any time and join in the discussion at any time too! The more the merrier! :agree
     
    Last edited: Mar 16, 2021
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  2. michelepixels

    michelepixels A pun is not fully matured until it is full groan.

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    I just read this last week! I forgot it was on my To Read list because of the TLP book club though! :lol2

    Here's what I wrote in Goodreads:
    This was a heavier read than I expected. Almost didn’t read it when I realized it is begins with attempted suicide. But I’ve always been intrigued by the idea of how our choices of paths affect so much. Like, what if my great grandparents hadn’t moved from Nebraska to California? And even small choices can have big effects.

    It got a little tedious after a while and I was eager to get to the end and see what Nora finally chooses. In my weariness I began to feel nitpicky and skeptically wonder how she could possibly fit into a life she didn’t know without making obvious mistakes everyone else would notice. But she comes to some good conclusions and I felt good about the the ending.
     
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  3. sm_amber

    sm_amber I learn from the best..

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    Haha - so there are 72 people in front of me at the library, but 34 copies, so hopefully I'll get it before too long.. :giggle
     
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  4. BevS97

    BevS97 New Member

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    I’ve just bought this. I am looking forward to reading it and discussing.
     
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  5. Jamie in Japan

    Jamie in Japan Member

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    I'm finishing the book up now for my local book club. It's rather interesting.
     
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  6. cookingmylife

    cookingmylife Pizza would be my last meal, except ...

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    200+ ahead of me so I suspect it may be in June for me.
     
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  7. sm_amber

    sm_amber I learn from the best..

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    Got the audio book last week and can't "put it down".. It's very similar-ish in concept to The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern, but MUCH better execution (different writing style, as well).. Anywho.. I'm just over half-way finished and am excited to see what happens.. :)
     
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  8. plumdumpling

    plumdumpling CT - Krista Sahlin

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    This was a great read!
    It's a Wonderful Life-esque. I can always get behind a story that promotes letting go of regrets, moving on/through from pain and sadness, and doing/being better in the future. I love the idea that each of us would have our own specific-to-us type of Midnight Library.

    Edited to add: I forgot to add my favorite line! "The prison wasn't the place, but the perspective."
     
    Last edited: Apr 16, 2021
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  9. bellbird

    bellbird Pollywog

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    i read this earlier this year - on GR i wrote a generic no-spoiler comment

    well built multiverse with an engaging plot and main character i was invested in from the beginning & multiple strings that tied together nicely in the end

    what i remember liking a few months later:
    • that the plain Nora kept coming back to was a library and had her school librarian & chess buddy as the 'guide' or whatever - served the purpose well
    • the meeting of a similar multi-verse surfing person in the arctic tundra or wherever she expeditioned to in one of her lives - helped explain how the premise worked for others (ie. non-library peeps)
    • that Nora slipped up and couldn't always keep her story straight in the different timelines (especially with the child, b/cos that would have to be so difficult, added a touch of realism to the kind of far fetched but possible plot)
    • that she got to try being a swimmer & keeping the band together and seeing what she felt like after pleasing all the other people and the ripple effect it had in their lives and how that ultimately helped her make a decision
     
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  10. jenn mccabe

    jenn mccabe She's OUR sunshine!

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  11. G.J.

    G.J. If I Could Turn Back Time

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    Kisses for Bart
     
  12. michelepixels

    michelepixels A pun is not fully matured until it is full groan.

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    What did Bart think of the book? :D
     
  13. jenn mccabe

    jenn mccabe She's OUR sunshine!

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    he confesses he read the Cliff Notes only! he's been too busy darting all the ladies to read much! :)
     
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  14. bcgal00

    bcgal00 Say, "birdseed!"

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    Finally got it in at our library and started reading it yesterday.
     
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  15. cookingmylife

    cookingmylife Pizza would be my last meal, except ...

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    Still at #65. :groan
     
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  16. ArmyGrl

    ArmyGrl Merlot, Cab, Chard, Reisling - all 4 food groups!

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    I greatly enjoyed this book for the same reasons. I'm big on the "making choices" theme. After a hellish year, I needed to hear this book (got the audio version and listened to/from work). I think I'll listen to it again.
     
  17. janedee

    janedee Is a craft project ever really finished?

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    This was such an unusual concept, I loved the story.
     
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  18. FarrahJobling

    FarrahJobling FarrahJobling

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    I finished this today....I'd tried to read it awhile back and just wasn't in the right mindset for the whole "suicide" aspect....so I gave it up very quickly. I gave it another chance and enjoyed it. I didn't love it, nor did I hate it.

    TBH...I feel I have a lot in common with the idea of this book. I've lived many lives within my own life (minus the self destruction)...and I can understand the concept. I'm a Gemini, so I change lives every so often, with the advantage of having my base life that is amazing. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the ending and I LOVE LOVE LOVE the new perspective she has on life.
     
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  19. djp332

    djp332 She sells seashells down by the seashore

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    I finally got the Kindle version last week and just finished reading it. >>>> I like the book, but thought it was just a bit weird. All those "could be lives" didn't even make her happy. Even the one with the daughter. I was about half way through all those lives when I figured out she would end up in her original life instead of all the other choices.<<<<
     
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  20. Karen

    Karen Wiggle it, just a little bit!

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    I finished this a couple of weeks ago and forgot to come back here and reply here. I almost always leave a review on Goodreads, but when I finished this one I didn't know how I felt about it or what to write.

    I loved the idea of the whole story line. I connected with Nora and felt so bad for her at the beginning of the book. I loved the idea of her being able to live through her what-ifs that made her feel so much regret in her root life. The part I had trouble wrapping my head around was that she was in a bad enough place to commit suicide and then almost as soon as she got to the Midnight Library, she didn't want to die. Then her trips through some of her other lives so quickly helped her realize that a lot of the regrets she was carrying in her root life, shouldn't have been regrets. For such a tough subject of suicide, it seemed a little too easy to convince her that she could just let go of her regrets. But, I guess that it's a totally different thing to tell someone they can let go of a regret and another more powerful thing for her to be able to see those what-if scenarios actually play out in person to SEE that the grass isn't always greener on the other side of the fence. It was definitely thought provoking and a good story. I liked that in the end she was able to see value in her root life and that she wanted to go back there.

    One more note... I was so stressed out every time she'd go into a new life and not know who she was in that life and when she didn't know people's names, where she was supposed to be and what she needed to live that life's occupation. :giggle I loved that she learned to immediately grab for the nightstand table and get her phone to try to figure that stuff out. The one towards the end where she was a mom was the most stressful! I loved how she played the pretend game to say what we already know to calm the little girls nightmare and to learn what she needed to know in that life.

    Anyway, it took me awhile for this March selection, but I'm glad I still read it! :agree
     

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