Midnight Library
Midnight Train
The Humans
How to Stop Time Quickly
By Matt Haig

A Tale for the Time Being
By Ruth Ozeki

About a year ago, I found just that in Matt Haig's Midnight Library, about a woman on the brink of death who visits a library where each book reveals an alternate version of her life. Haig has a gift for drawing out the messy beauty of life and the interconnectedness of people, leaving readers finding comfort in the imperfect and awe in the unbelievable.

Like other fans, I've eagerly anticipated his second novel set in the same universe: Midnight Train. With a new set of characters Midnight Train brings its main character onto a train where each stop is a different story from his life. While waiting for its release this spring, I made my way through Haig's other works. The Humans and How to Stop Time quickly became my favorites, books that explore our place within space and time, respectively.

If you're also waiting for a copy of Midnight Train and have already made your way through Haig's library, please consider another old favorite of mine: A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki. Ruth, a middle-aged woman on a remote island in British Columbia, finds a diary washed ashore, belonging to Nao, a teenage girl in Tokyo. The book moves between their lives, exploring loneliness, connection, time, and the strange ways people reach each other across distance and circumstance. It's philosophical, quietly magical, and the characters will live in your thoughts for years, much like Haig's.

- Melissa De Fino, Cataloging and Metadata Librarian, Rutgers University Libraries