Books Like The Midnight Library: 6 Uplifting Reads to Try Next
Matt Haig’s The Midnight Libraryasks a question that won’t leave you alone: what if you could try the lives you didn’t choose? It pairs that big idea with a warm, hopeful heart — the rare book that’s both a comfort and a conversation. If that’s the feeling you’re after, here are six we keep recommending.
1. Remarkably Bright Creatures — Shelby Van Pelt
A grieving widow, a small-town aquarium, and a remarkably perceptive giant Pacific octopus. Tender, gently funny, and quietly profound about second acts — a book-club favorite for good reason.
2. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue — V. E. Schwab
A young woman bargains for immortality and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets. It shares The Midnight Library’s philosophical pulse — what makes a life matter? — with a more romantic, time-spanning sweep.
3. A Man Called Ove — Fredrik Backman
A curmudgeon’s carefully planned solitude keeps getting interrupted by neighbors who refuse to leave him alone. Funny, big-hearted, and ultimately a story about choosing to stay in the world.
4. Before the Coffee Gets Cold — Toshikazu Kawaguchi
In a Tokyo café, a particular seat lets you travel in time — but only briefly, and nothing you do will change the present. Quiet, melancholy, and hopeful, with the same meditation on regret and acceptance.
5. Life After Life — Kate Atkinson
Ursula Todd dies and is reborn again and again, living her twentieth century in countless variations. The literary heavyweight of this list and the closest cousin to Haig’s “roads not taken” premise.
6. The House in the Cerulean Sea — TJ Klune
A by-the-book caseworker is sent to an orphanage of magical children and finds the life he never let himself want. Pure warmth — the literary equivalent of a weighted blanket.
Reading these with your club
Every one of these starts a good conversation, which makes them easy picks for a group. Browse what’s in stock at our Milwaukie shop, dig into our best book-club books for more, or describe a favorite to the Next Read Matchmaker. If you’d rather browse in person, come see us — free parking and plenty of shelves to wander.