Canongate Books Archives

Book review: The Midnight Train by Matt Haig

May 22, 20264 min read

The Midnight Train by Matt Haig is the second in a series peeking into life and death. In The Midnight Library we spend time with a woman teetering BETWEEN life and death. Here we meet a man, recently-dead, who’s offered a chance to drop in on his past selves at pivotal moments in his life. He’s not meant to intervene or be seen, but here octogenarian Wilbur asks… what if there’s a chance to rectify a mistake that will haunt you for years. One you might not even realise the extent to which you regret it until you’re dying. Or (ahem… you know) dead.

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Book review: The Life Impossible by Matt Haig

November 10, 20243 min read

The Life Impossible by Matt Haig was always going to be a gamble for me. I loved The Midnight Library but generally dislike fantasy and avoid books featuring paranormal and mystical stuff. I adore Haig’s writing but unfollowed him on Twitter years ago because I couldn’t stand the preachy positivity*. Although I suspect that’s an indication that I’m Haig’s ideal target audience. I marked line after line. Paragraph after paragraph here. There was so much I could relate to. I hate the ‘woo woo’ stuff* but much of this is fucking profound. Haig is so frickin’ insightful in his writing I wonder if he’s found himself a ‘La Presencia’. Or perhaps just psychedelic-induced enlightenment that allows him to be so connected with his surroundings and himself?

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Book review: The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

October 10, 20204 min read

I’d certainly heard of Matt Haig’s non-fiction books but hadn’t realised he already written adult fiction novels before I read his latest, The Midnight Library.

I was a tad worried as though I liked the sound of it from the blurb, it was classified as ‘fantasy’, a genre with which I struggle to read (but not watch… which is weird I realise). But I needn’t have worried as the plot of this was way within my comfort zone – as someone who’s far too often pondered the concept of ‘what if’. Or indeed, the do-over.

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Book review: Bloody January by Alan Parks

January 19, 20183 min read

It’s only in recent years I’ve discovered books set during the years of my childhood… years in which I was pretty ignorant of the events taking place on the other side of the world. As a result then, I’ve been very much enjoying books like Adrian McKinty’s Sean Duffy series, set in 1980s Belfast during the thick of the ‘Troubles’.

Bloody January by Alan Parks takes readers back to 1973 Glasgow, where bribery and corruption is practically expected and morality and ethics only just entering the culture of the police force.

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