After I came to Spiralogics, I became a member of Hobbyist Haven, a book club. Our company has a book club for all book lovers. In this club, we not only discuss books but also share our favorite TV shows and movies. We meet up once a month to chat about all things book and entertainment related. I started reading lots of books for the club and sharing them with fellow members. In this quest, I stumbled upon a book named “The Midnight Library” by Matt Haig. Among all the books I have read, this book holds a special place in my heart. I will be writing a small synopsis of the book.
The book follows the story of a woman, Nora Seed. Nora is a philosophy graduate who loves making music and playing piano. Every choice Nora had made, made Nora who she is. Nora is a salesperson in a declining record store and is a piano teacher to one. But Nora feels dissatisfied with her life as she is overwhelmed by regrets and attempts at suicide. However, instead of dying, Nora ends up in a library with infinite books called the Midnight Library because the clock stays at 12:00:00 in the library.
The library is managed by Mrs. Elm, who used to be Nora’s high school librarian. When Nora reaches the library and meets Mrs. Elm, she explains that the books in the midnight library are the infinite lives that Nora could have lived if she had made different choices. Each book represents a different life. For example: in one book Nora is a famous singer, in the other she is the owner of a winery, a professor, a glaciologist, and other infinite things.
The library also has a book of regrets. The book of regrets weighs on Nora more than she would like. With each life Nora lives, with each new choice she makes, she understands herself a little better and acknowledges the way of life a little better. In the process of jumping between lives, she meets someone who is like her, who jumps from one life to the other. She gains a lot of perspective during the process. However, in every life she leads, a certain kind of disappointment and dissatisfaction gets to her. Even if she’d led the happiest of lives, Nora does not seem to be satisfied.
In the end, Nora learns a valuable lesson about regrets, choices, and the power of perception. Ultimately, she gains a new outlook and starts to hope.
Some of my favorite lines from the book are:
- “We don’t have to do everything in order to be everything, because we are already infinite.”
- Henry David Thoreau: “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.”
- “You don’t have to understand life, you just have to live it.”
Lastly, “Never underestimate the big importance of small things.”
This book evoked all the emotions in me, which is why this is my favorite book.
