The Midnight Library - Matt Haig

 I think this might be my favorite read so far this year!  A 30 something woman welcomes death as a way out of what she perceives as a miserable life.  She finds herself in the midnight library - a purgatory where infinite rows of books representing all her possible lives allows her to chose the ones she regrets having missed.  As she re-lives her life with various different choices she gets to experience the "what-ifs" that plague the results of our actions.  

Quotes:

"There are more possible ways to play a game of chess than the amount of atoms in the observable universe.  So it gets very messy.  And there is no right way to play; there are many ways. In chess, as in life, possibility is the basis of everything.  Every hope, every dream, every regret, every moment of living."

"That, she supposed, was the basis of depression as well as the difference between fear and despair.  Fear was when you wandered into a cellar and worried that the door would close shut.  Despair was when the door closed and locked behind you."

"She realized that you could be as honest as possible in life but people only see the truth if it is close enough to their reality.  As Thoreau wrote 'It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see'."

Highly recommended unique way of exploring the "could have been" of life.

Published: 2020  Read: August 2021  Genre: Fiction, Philosophy

The Boy, the mole, the fox and the Horse - Charles Mackesy

 I needed some thoughtful reflection and my sister recommended this book.  It's a gentle story of friendship and life, told through pen and ink drawings and the comments of the four characters written in cursive.  Every line could be pondered.  Good for the soul.

Published: 2019  Read: May 2021 Genre: Philosophy

Veronika Decides to Die - Paulo Coelho

Strange title caught my eye, and I'd read The Alchemist back in 1996 by this author.  In this story, a young woman plans her suicide and fails and ends up in an institution.  She and other there learn over time that they are just as sane as those on the outside.  Not particularly interesting, would not recommend.

Published:  1999 Read: August 2018  Genre: Fiction