The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, read by Carey Mulligan

02/09/21 • 6 min

“Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever...”

Ultimately, stories have emotional power over us, and great stories stay with us for a lifetime. Haig’s charming style made this listen impossible to put down. And, although it covers some heavy subject matter, The Midnight Library is an easy listen beautifully narrated by British actress Carey Mulligan, who brings Nora’s character to life in so many different contexts.

Matt Haig is an author for children and adults. His memoir, Reasons to Stay Alive, was a number one bestseller, staying in the British top ten for 46 weeks. His children’s book, A Boy Called Christmas, was a runaway hit and is translated in over 40 languages. It is being made into a film starring Maggie Smith, Sally Hawkins and Jim Broadbent and The Guardian called it an ‘instant classic’. His novels for adults include the award-winning How To Stop Time, The Radleys, The Humans and the number one bestseller The Midnight Library, which also won the 2021 Goodreads Choice Award for Fiction.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54744876-the-midnight-library

Audio production by Graham Stephenson

Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions

“Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever...”

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54744876-the-midnight-library

Audio production by Graham Stephenson

Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions

Previous Episode

Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times written by Katherine May and read by Rebecca Lee

All of us have experienced unforeseen circumstances like an abrupt illness, the death of a loved one, a breakup, or a job loss. These experiences can be deeply lonely and confusing. I’m reviewing this book because I’m thinking of all the people I know living through what may feel like one of the most difficult winters of our lifetimes.

Katherine May is a New York Times bestselling author; she previously published The Electricity of Every Living Thing, her memoir of being autistic. Her fiction includes The Whitstable High Tide Swimming Club and Burning Out. She is also the editor of The Best, Most Awful Job, an anthology of essays about motherhood. Her journalism and essays have appeared in a range of publications including The New York Times, The Observer and Aeon. She lives in Whitstable, UK with her husband, son, three cats and a dog.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56171009-wintering

Audio production by Graham Stephenson

Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions

Next Episode

The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom, written by Jonathan Haidt, read by Ryan Vincent Anderson

The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt is a 2006 psychology book written for a non-academic audience, with insights that remain relevant today. Haidt takes 10 classic great ideas from Eastern and Western philosophy and applies these to modern life, while adding context from contemporary psychology.

Jonathan Haidt is a social psychologist at New York University’s Stern School of Business. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1992, and taught for 16 years in the department of psychology at the University of Virginia.

Haidt’s research examines the intuitive foundations of morality, and how morality varies across cultures––including the cultures of American progressive, conservatives, and libertarians. Haidt is the author of three books: The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom; The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion; and The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas are Setting Up a Generation for Failure (co-authored with Greg Lukianoff). The last two books each became New York Times bestsellers.

At NYU-Stern, he is applying his research on moral psychology to business ethics, asking how companies can structure and run themselves in ways that will be resistant to ethical failures (see EthicalSystems.org). He is also the co-founder of HeterodoxAcademy.org, a collaboration among nearly 2500 professors who are working to increase viewpoint diversity and freedom of inquiry in universities. From https://jonathanhaidt.com/bio/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24853310-the-happiness-hypothesis

Audio production by Graham Stephenson

Episode music: Caprese by Blue Dot Sessions