The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

I read The Midnight Library primarily because I needed an upper and Matt Haig's books are pretty much guaranteed to be uplifting in some way. Bingo. Definitely a book that gives you hope. 

The heroine in The Midnight Library has problems that she can't see her way out of. Nora Seed's lost her parents, her brother seldom speaks to her, her cat has died, and she's just lost her job. She can't find any reason to go on and decides to end it all but instead finds herself in a library, where she's told that she's between life and death by the woman who actually used to be her school librarian and helped her get through another rough time in her life. In this library, Nora can choose to relive her life if she'd made different decisions, large or small. All of them exist parallel to each other (so, it's a metaverse book). If she finds a life she prefers, she can stay. But, even the smallest thing that doesn't feel right will send her right back to the library.

At first, Nora relives changes to the most obvious regrets in her life. But, eventually Nora finds out that she can try things that are a bit outlandish. However, she doesn't have forever because it's possible that back in her known world, the body she tried to kill may die. If the clock in the library hits midnight, it's all over. Will she be able to find her perfect life and keep living it? 

Highly recommended - The Midnight Library gets some pretty polarized reviews and I can see both sides but the bottom line, for me, was that I couldn't put it down and it makes a nice point about life being imperfect but worth living. It's schmaltzy, but I loved it. I gave it 5 stars. Having said that, the ending wasn't what I'd hoped for and I think Haig got the same theme across better in The Humans. But, his writing is clever and compelling and I can actually visualize myself rereading The Midnight Library in the future, when I need an upper again. 

©2022 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Everything I Didn't Review in 2018, Part 2

This is the second installment, which gets me to all but the final book of the year. There's only one book, of these three, that I didn't read in December, and one book that I'm leaving out for separate review.

The Truth Pixie by Matt Haig is just what it sounds like: the story of a pixie who is unable to tell a lie. Unfortunately, this gets the pixie into all sorts of trouble, as you might imagine. Eventually, she's kicked out of her home. There are all sorts of fantastical creatures that she encounters and some bits of wisdom about when it's good to be truthful and when it's not.

I am a big fan of Matt Haig's writing. It's so unencumbered by expectation. You just never know what you're going to find in a Matt Haig book and I adore that. However, the two Christmas titles I've read by him have left me flat. As I was reading The Truth Pixie, I would find myself thinking of ways the pixie could have rephrased her words to make them less hurtful. It was maybe a failure of imagination on my part that I couldn't just allow myself to be swept up in the story.

I don't recall the ending but I do remember I liked how the book ended. Unfortunately, I read The Truth Pixie in November and it just didn't stick with me. It's gotten sparkling reviews so it's a book that I plan to give a second chance, probably during the next Christmas season. If it still doesn't enchant me the second time, I'll pass it on.

Their Finest Hour and a Half by Lissa Evans is the story of a Welsh woman, Catrin Cole, who is hired to write the women's dialogue in a WWII propaganda film designed to keep hopes high during the war by focusing on the story of twins who joined in the Dunkirk rescue operation after borrowing their drunken father's boat.

The true story, which Catrin finds out when she interviews the Starling sisters, is rather disappointing. But, when she pitches the idea to her fellow writers, they immediately take up the story, romantically fictionalize it, and turn it into something inspiring.

As they're writing the script, improving it, and finally putting it on film, you also get to know the actor who plays the twins' drunken uncle, a washed-up older actor who has difficulty tolerating small roles. The majority of the story is set during the London Blitz and I confess that much as I loved the unfolding story of how a film went from idea to theater, I most loved the visceral sensation of the bombings. But, honestly, I love everything about Lissa Evans' writing. She has become a new favorite author in recent years and I've yet to read anything less than stellar by Evans. Wonderful characterization, obviously well-researched settings, smart writing, and plenty of humor make her writing a stand-out.

I've mentioned Their Finest Hour and a Half, already, because we watched the movie before I read the book. The movie is also excellent, with wonderful actors, lots of funny moments, and that sense that you were there that you get from the book.

Down in Mississippi by Johnette Downing and Katherine Zecca is a children's book that Kiddo bought for our eldest grandchild for Christmas. Naturally, I can't pack up a children's book to mail away without reading it first, so I read it -- and it hasn't made it out the door, yet (but it will, I promise).

Down in Mississippi is apparently based on a song and also is a counting book. The first page confused me because I didn't realize that.

Down in Mississippi in the surf and the sun lived a mother dolphin and her dolphin one. "Splash," said the mother. "We splash," said the one, and they splashed all day in the surf and the sun. 

I don't know how long I looked at "dolphin one" thinking, "What? What does that mean?" before I decided to move on and realized it was a counting rhyme. Duh. At any rate, I liked the book after that. After the counting rhyme, there is a section on various flora and fauna that are officially designated (state bird, state flower, etc.) in the state of Mississippi. I loved that part. And, then the book ends with the music to "Down in Mississippi" (treble part), the song.

While the illustrations are understated (or, maybe you could go so far as to call them "dull" of color), I liked the rhyme, the information about state flora and fauna, and the fact that in the end you can learn the tune if you're able to read music, so I gave the book four stars. I really do dislike the subtlety of the illustrations, though. In a children's book, I'm a fan of bold color.

Next up will be a review of The Huntress by Kate Quinn (probably tomorrow) and then I'll be able to post my full list of 2018 reads with links to every review.

©2019 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

How to Stop Time by Matt Haig

Before I get into a description of How to Stop Time, I need to warn the Americans that it has not yet been released in the U.S. and it looks like you've got a good, long wait. But, the cover above is so much better than the American cover (if Amazon's image is correct) that you might want to do what I did if you appreciate the cover above. I ordered from Book Depository because I absolutely could not wait for the American release. Had I known about the ugly American cover, that would have just solidified my decision. Why are British covers always so much better looking?

Tom Hazard was born in France in the year 1581 and he's still alive, thanks to a condition known as "anageria", which hits at puberty. Those who have anageria age slowly. So, while Tom has been around for over 450 years - long enough to have hung out with Shakespeare - he appears to be closer to his late thirties. Tom discovered early on that he had to avoid settling down for any length of time and try not to develop any meaningful relationships because his slow aging has always been a danger to him and those around him. He's often depressed and anxious, but he made a promise to stay alive and he has kept his promise.

At the end of the 19th century, a man named Hendrich changed his life. Hendrich is several centuries older than Tom and has created an organization for the protection of their kind: "albatrosses", he calls them. "Mayflies" are people who age normally and they can be dangerous to albatrosses. In the early days, it was superstition and fear that caused the danger. In modern life, it's concern that they'll be kidnapped and become victims of experimentation. Since Tom joined Hendrich's society, he has been obligated to move every 8 years, occasionally bringing new people into the society and killing those who know too much. 

Now, Tom has decided to return to London, where he spent his younger years. He finds a job teaching history and naturally he's able to bring history to life in a unique way. But, no matter how hard he tries, Tom can't avoid the pull of the gentle French teacher who has extended the hand of friendship and he must wrestle with the life-long question that he's had to suppress: Is life even worth living without love? 

First things first: I love this book so much that if I could, I'd reread it right now. I want to go back to the beginning and travel through time with Tom, knowing what's going to happen to him in the end.

As you follow Tom, you leap back and forth in time, slowly learning about the experiences that shaped Tom. I think what amazed me the most was the way the author portrayed Tom's life so naturally - even the occasional friendship or run-in with a famous historical character. I've read many books in which historical characters played a role and most of them didn't quite work in some way or other. They just felt off. None of Matt Haig's portrayals gave me that sensation. And, Tom . . . you can't help but root for him. He's so very, very human. Nobody writes about what it means to be human, to live with anxiety and depression and grief and love and everything else that makes us what we are, quite like Matt Haig.

My absolute favorite sentence is a very short one: Grief tilts you. 

How to Stop Time is a beautiful story. The beginning is a bit on the melancholy side. Tom was recruited by Hendrich in 1891 and he's tired of moving every 8 years, tired of being lonely, sometimes to the point of wishing that he'd never agreed to keep on living (a promise he made early in his life). He's experienced heartbreak and love, discovered that things really don't change all that much because people forget the lessons of the past, and he longs to find the missing daughter who inherited his condition. But, the ending is uplifting in just the way I hoped it would be.

Highly recommended - How to Stop Time is a new favorite that has earned a place of honor on the good shelves. An absolutely perfect gem of a book with a protagonist whose emotions will tug at your heart, prose that will give you much to ponder, and absolutely flawless pacing.

Side note: The movie rights to How to Stop Time were sold months before the release date and Benedict Cumberbatch has been cast as Tom Hazard. It's going to be every bit as painful waiting for the movie as it was waiting for the book.

©2017 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Three Christmas Books: A Boy Called Christmas by Matt Haig, Blue Christmas by Andrews, A Child's Chrismas in Wales by Thomas

Getting closer to being caught up on reviews! The following books were all purchases. I didn't receive any Christmas books for review, this year.

The tower -- the prison -- was a scary place. Yet, although it was horrid, it also had very nice comforting things written on the stone walls of the staircase, from its time as the Welcome Tower. Things like 'Welcome' and 'Strangers are just friends with weird faces' and 'Hug a human'.  [p. 128]

'An impossibility is just a possibility that you don't understand.' [p. 140]

Father Topo's words came back to Nikolas. You just close your eyes and wish for something to happen. Perhaps a wish was just a hope with better aim. [p. 152]


When Matt Haig said his new Christmas book, A Boy Called Christmas, was available for pre-order, I dashed off to look it up and discovered that it's not available in the U.S. But, of course there's a way around that: Book Depository. My copy arrived within days of its release.

A Boy Called Christmas by Matt Haig tells the story of Father Christmas. Nikolas is a poor boy in Finland (nicknamed "Christmas" because he was born on Christmas day) who owns only two toys: a wooden sleigh and a doll made of a carved turnip. When his father has to go away for two months, an abusive aunt arrives to care for him. And, when his father, Joel, doesn't return, Nikolas goes off to search for him with only his mouse friend Miika as a companion.

And, here, I must confess that I only remember bits and pieces of A Boy Called Christmas, which I liked but didn't fall madly in love with. I have a feeling I'll like it better upon the second reading because I didn't expect it to be quite so dark, but now that I've read it I want to read it, again. What I loved about the book was the way Haig took elements of the story of Father Christmas (or Saint Nicholas, Santa, etc.) that I've never seen explained elsewhere in a satisfactory way and did a marvelous job of spinning a magical, adventurous tale that explained those elements. There's also, of course, Matt Haig's trademark pithy wisdom, as you can see in the quotes above.

Recommended - While it wasn't a 5-star book for me, A Boy Called Christmas definitely has the feel of a new Christmas classic worth revisiting.

I bought my copy of Blue Christmas for a dollar when I ran into the local dollar store to grab my 2016 calendar. Naturally, I had to wander down the book aisle. I'm not a fan of Mary Kay Andrews, in general, but I figured at that price it was worth a chance.

Blue Christmas tells the story of Weezie Foley, a Savannah antiques dealer who is determined to win the local decorating contest. But, her first attempt is a disaster and then things start to go missing from her second display.

There's a bit of animosity between Weezie and her competition, a crazy Southern family dinner, a chef boyfriend who is constantly letting her down, the missing items, and a mysterious homeless woman who exchanges gifts with Weezie in what turns out to be a warm, sweet, funny holiday book.

Recommended - Maybe I'm better off reading Mary Kay Andrews in small doses. At 196 pages (including a couple recipes that sound just awful to me), Blue Christmas was just the right length and delightfully heart-tugging.

A Child's Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas was the selection for our December F2F book group meeting and a reread for me.

A tiny book that other members said was a poem, it does have a lovely rhythm but I still want to call it a short story. We chose A Child's Christmas in Wales primarily because it's short and several of us had already read and loved it. In December, we gather around a roaring fire (fortunately, it was just cool enough that a fire didn't sound appalling, although I sat too close and kept sinking farther and farther into the leather chair, threatening to fall asleep), sip eggnog or wine or both, discuss a short story or two, and then just talk. It was raining and the 30-mile drive was, at times, terrifying, but I couldn't bear to miss out and I absolutely love the book.

We mostly spent time reading our favorite passages of this autobiographical story about Christmas in Wales from a child's-eye view, talking about Dylan Thomas and how short but accomplished his life was, and comparing copies of the book. Everyone had a different copy. I like mine (shown at left). It's small and the illustrations are just like the one shown on the cover, black and white They look fitting to the time period. But, some of the other copies were more heavily illustrated, one with fabulous watercolor paintings portraying the wit and humor of the artist and the story.

My favorite passage is a quotation by a little boy:

"It snowed last year, too. I made a snowman and my brother knocked it down and I knocked my brother down and then we had tea." [p. 22]

So very British.

Highly recommended - An enchanting, beautifully crafted tale of childhood that is often wickedly funny and one of my Christmas favorites.

I briefly reviewed A Child's Christmas in Wales in October of 2012.

©2015 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Humans by Matt Haig

The Humans by Matt Haig
Copyright 2013
My edition: Canongate Books
Source: Purchase

Then she raised her eyebrows at me. It meant something, clearly, but I had no idea what. It was frustrating. You see, the Language of Words was only one of the human languages. There were many others, as I have pointed out. The Language of Sighs, the Language of Silent Moments and, most significantly, the Language of Frowns.

~p. 113

Life, especially human life, was an act of defiance.

~p. 172

On Earth, social networking generally involved sitting down at a non-sentient computer and typing words about needing a coffee and reading about other people needing a coffee, while forgetting to actually make a coffee.

~p. 184

Love is scary because it pulls you in with an intense force, a supermassive black hole which looks like nothing from the outside but from the inside challenges every reasonable thing you know. You lose yourself, like I lost myself, in the warmest of annihilations.

~p. 196

I'm going to write the description from the back of the book and then my own.

First the cover description:

After an 'incident' one wet Friday night where he is found walking naked through the streets of Cambridge, Professor Andrew Martin is not feeling quite himself. Food sickens him. Clothes confuse him. Even his loving wife and teenage son are repulsive to him. He feels lost amongst a crazy alien species and hates everyone on the planet.  Everyone, that is, except Newton, and he's a dog. 

Who is he really? And what could make someone change their mind about the human race . . . ?

Synopsis in my words:

Andrew Martin has just recently made a mathematical breakthrough that could change the world when suddenly someone else takes his place. Stuck in a body identical to that of the human he has replaced, an alien must find out who else knows about the professor's brilliant work and kill them all. Then, he can return to his home planet. But, after spending time on Earth, the alien comes to a few brilliant realizations of his own. Humans, in fact, are not all that bad, life is worth living, even if it doesn't last long, and love is a wonderful thing.

My thoughts:

I ordered a copy of The Humans from The Book Depository because I wanted a copy with the British cover shown above.  I like it a lot better than the American cover because it's colorful and eye-catching. And, I also wanted to read the book, of course.  I was prompted to read it just a little bit sooner when Stephen Fry tweeted that the book is "fantasically funny and brilliant".  On the day Fry tweeted, I was packing for my trip to attend Simon Van Booy's fiction writing workshop in New York. The book was on my shelf already and I'd been eyeing it but I had not gotten around to reading it because of all the ARCs demanding my time. The tweet convinced me. I needed to read it now.

Thank you Stephen Fry and Matt Haig. As it turned out, The Humans was the perfect book for that particular set of flights. Because it has a little bit of an other-worldly aspect with an alien figuring out how to be human and I've been in a mood for other-worldly books (time travel, dystopian and sci-fi books are the ones that have been calling to me the loudest, lately), the storyline sucked me right in, thank goodness. I'd have hated to be without a really terrific read on a day when there were storms at both ends of a flight and I spent a solid 8 hours hanging out with other humans at a single gate (terrific humans, I must add -- the kind who were cheerful and chatty when sharing information about their delayed flight but who also didn't bother you when your nose was tucked into your reading material).

The most brilliant part of the book is near the end, when the alien who has become Andrew writes a list entitled "Advice for a human" for his earthly son. I would happily quote the entire list but instead I'll just tell you that you need to read The Humans because it's such a lovely, creative, uplifting story. The Humans is also light enough for vacation reading but deep as the ocean you'll be lying next to while you read . . . or the canyon. Whatever. It's a great read; that's all you need to know.

Highly recommended - A new favorite, a book to read and reread, about what it means to be human and how love makes life worth living.  Light reading, deeply meaningful. Don't let the word "alien" frighten you away  The Humans is not science fiction and not about aliens; the alien taking on human form is simply the author's way of looking at humanity and it works. It works beautifully.

It's notable that one of the characters is suicidal and Matt Haig is known for his advocacy for mental health, having been through a suicidal phase of his own. I love following him on Twitter (he tweets as @matthaig1) because his tweets are wise, witty, smart and deeply felt; and, I adore where he takes the part of The Humans that deals with suicide.

Today is Matt Haig's birthday. I recommend buying a copy of The Humans as a birthday gift to him.  He deserves the gift of a purchase and you, of course, deserve the entertaining and meaningful read.

©2014 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Echo Boy by Matt Haig

Echo Boy by Matt Haig
Copyright 2014
The Bodley Head - YA/Sci-Fi - Dystopian
Source: Purchase

Note on the purchase:  I've read two books by Matt Haig. One was a children's book, To Be a Cat, the other, The Radleys, for adults. I thought To Be a Cat was exceptionally creative, entertaining writing and The Radleys had surprising depth for a book that at its surface appeared to be yet another inventive spin on the vampire story.

I've also come to admire Matt Haig as a human during the couple years that he's been one of my tweeps on Twitter. Ever notice how when you really start to like an author as a human you feel like it's worth going that extra mile to acquire their work? That has become the case with Matt Haig. I only had a minor understanding of what Echo Boy was about and it hasn't yet been released in the U.S. but I figured, "Hey, I really like what I know of this author and I'm pretty besotted with his writing."  I really wanted to read his latest in a timely manner. So, I ordered it from Book Depository and, while I was at it, also ordered a copy of The Humans, both because I've heard so much about it and because I prefer the British cover.  Two birds, one stone.

Brief synopsis:

Audrey has never liked Echos, created humanoids who are devoid of emotions, designed to work for their human masters but not to feel. But, she tolerates her family's Echo, Alissa. Even though Alissa's a little creepy, they've really needed help since her father's accident. Then, one day Alissa becomes a killer. Audrey escapes the murderous Echo only to find herself surrounded by Echoes, living in her wealthy uncle's mansion. Daniel is an Echo who works in uncle Alex Castle's home. But, there is something unusual about Daniel. He is a prototype, one of a kind, and he has a message for Audrey. Is Audrey's fear of Echoes unfounded? Can Daniel be trusted? And, what about her uncle? Audrey's family had an Echo created by Sempura, but Alex Castle is the head of Castle Industries, the leading creator of Echoes. Is Audrey safe with Uncle Alex or is she in danger?

My thoughts:

I'm not sure of the exact time period but since the characters occasionally say, "That's so 2090," Echo Boy is clearly set over 150 years in the future. There were moments that I found myself fighting acceptance of this future world but at the same time there were things I loved about it; for example, the flooding and other alterations on Earth due to climate change and some of the newer technology (as fast as it's changed in my own lifetime, much of it seemed plausible). But, it did take some time to immerse myself in this futuristic world and believe in it before I began to really love the story.

Once I'd accepted the author's world building, I became so enraptured by Echo Boy's' storyline that when I closed the book I didn't want to leave that new world and it sent me into a horrendous reading slump. Personally, I think that's high praise.  I also liked Audrey and Daniel enough that I would be perfectly happy if Matt Haig wrote a sequel.

Highly recommended - While I found the futuristic Earth initially difficult to buy into, once I did the story grabbed me hard and I absolutely loved the experience of living in the pages of Echo Boy's dystopian, climate-change-screwed world so much that I had trouble letting it go.  Perfect for YA lovers, dystopian fans, sci-fi fans and other escapists. Great storytelling, a unique world, terrific characterization -- an all-around fun, adventurous read.

©2014 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Radleys by Matt Haig

I read To Be a Cat, a children's book by Matt Haig purchased in England, earlier this year, and wanted to give one of his grown-up books a try.  So, when I was perusing the shelves of my local library, I went in search of books by Haig and found The Radleys.

The Radleys appear outwardly common.  A family of four -- two parents and two teenagers -- they live in an average house with an unnoticeable car on quiet village street.  They're a family of abstaining vampires who are boring and normal and, unfortunately for the kids, just a little bit weird. But, problems develop when the daughter of the family decides to go with her conscience and become a vegan. She becomes quite ill until she is threatened and bites someone to protect herself.  When her new-found "blood lust" gets out of hand, Mr. Radley calls his brother out of desperation. And, brother Will Radley is extremely bad news -- irresponsible, careless, driven by his own unquenchable thirst for blood.  When Will begins to influence his niece and remind Mrs. Radley of a time she'd rather forget, what will happen?

"Well, actually, before you go all Gandhi on me, I should tell you there's no such thing as a true vegan.  I mean, do you know how many living things exist on a single potato? Millions. A vegetable is like a microbe metropolis, so you're wiping a whole city out every time you boil a potato.  Think about it.  Each bowl of soup is like a man-made apocalypse."

~p. 21

As a vampire book, The Radleys is unusual, a pleasant departure from the angst-driven teen vampire novel and, in fact, not merely a vampire story but also an allegory about a family trying to conform outwardly while inwardly suppressing their unsavory urges.  The so-called "blood lust" that Will has given in to and the rest of the family tries to avoid probably serves as a parallel to alcoholism (drug addiction, any other addiction would also probably fit).  Like an alcoholic who doesn't even try to control his overwhelming urge to drink, Will is so casual about murdering innocents and so unwilling to think of killing as bad that he leaves a trail of victims, wherever he goes.  Will is staunchly opposed to self-control and bored by normality.

As he drives into the place, Will absorbs the sights the main street has to offer.  A purple-painted children's shoe shop called Tinkerbell's. A tired-looking pub and a polite little deli.  A sex shop?  No. A fancy-dress place for self-hating unbloods who think a night in an afro wig and glittered flares will alleviate the pain of their existence. And a drugstore, as a plan B. Even with a token hoodie walking his cowering psychodog, everything has a suffocating coziness about it, an air of life lived at the lowest possible volume.  

~p. 106

Matt Haig's writing is intelligent, clever, sometimes quite funny.  Toward the end of the book, I'd grown a bit weary of the story and was just ready for it to end, but I enjoyed The Radleys and still want to read everything Matt Haig has written.  That may take me a while.

Recommended - You don't have to be a fan of vampires to appreciate The Radleys.  Solid storytelling, witty writing, great characterization, believable emotion and surprisingly depth make The Radleys a very good book, overall.  It probably could have stood just a touch more editing down to size.  I did become weary of Will and just wanted the Radley family to find their new normal and get that rotten character out of their lives, toward the end, but while not a perfect book The Radleys is a very good one.

©2013 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

To Be a Cat by Matt Haig

To Be a Cat by Matt Haig

Copyright 2012

Corgi (a division of Random House) - Children's Fantasy/Middle Reader

312 pp.

From the cover:

What if I told you that tomorrow you'd wake up as a cat?  That's right.  You heard me. A cat.  Whiskers, fur, four paws, a tail -- the real deal.  You might not believe me.  But really, you should be thanking me.  Most people don't have any kind of warning, you see.  It comes as a complete shock to them.  It came as a shock to Barney Willow.

My little synopsis:

Barney Willow isn't very confident.  The kids pick on him at school and the head teacher seems to have a vendetta against him, though he can't say why.  His parents are divorced and his father has disappeared.  The only real light in his life is his best friend, Rissa. 

What Barney doesn't realize is that cats are magic.  And, when you wish to be a cat, you can trade places with one.  After Barney becomes a cat, he discovers something much more sinister is going on than just a simple magic bit of switcheroo.  Can Barney stay alive long enough to become human, again?  

Best opening, ever:

Here is a secret I shouldn't really tell you, but I will because I just can't help it.  It's too big.  Too good. OK, sit down, get ready, brace yourself, have some emergency chocolate handy.  Squeeze a big cushion.  Here it is: 

Cats are magic. 

~p. 1

The first chapter had me laughing out loud and it stays funny but it's equal parts humorous and creepy. As books for young readers go, To Be a Cat is awfully entertaining.  I read it in two big gulps.  Matt Haig has a delicious sense of humor and the story is unique enough to keep surprising even an adult.  

Highly recommended - A delightful story with a likable young hero, a quirky sidekick, a nicely sinister arch enemy and a clever storyline.  I learned about Matt Haig via Twitter (where he is one of my tweeps) and decided to start with a children's book about a cat for obvious reasons (Crazy Cat Lady alert).  

Good choice and now I'm anxious to read The Humans, Haig's latest adult novel.  In fact, I regret not picking up a copy in London.  It has a beautiful British cover but the American cover is hideous.  I can't imagine why they went with that image.  Wait, I'll show you:

American cover at left.

British cover at right.

Colorful vs. . . . what?  Were they going for "striking"?  A gorgeous, colorful cover is much more likely to grab my attention.  I came perilously close to buying it but restrained myself because it was a hardback and I try to shoot for buying only paperbacks when I travel. But, now I really want a copy.  I'm just going to have to go back to London. That's all there is to it.

I purchased my copy of To Be a Cat at Foyle's (the flagship store on Charing Cross Road -- go there if you're ever in London; you'll love it).  

Also, if you have experienced depression or know someone who is suffering, you must read Matt Haig's "Reasons to Stay Alive", which is very inspiring.  

©2013 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.