The concept to British writer Matt Haig’s latest book is straightforward. He has included in its pages the thoughts that have comforted him, his own and those of others, in the hope that they will provide comfort to readers.
It is hard to think of a more appealing publication in the current Covid climate which is so bloody depressing.
Before you go on to Amazon and order your copy, here are a few of my thoughts, for what they’re worth.
Haig pretty much throws everything including the proverbial kitchen sink into the work which fits into the self help, popular psychology genre. It teems with advice, anecdotes, quotations, cooking recipes, lists of favourite movies, music and books, et al.
His advice covers a broad range; the importance of being yourself and just learning to be, learning the lesson of not to strive after too much and to try to be content with what you have, and to tough out the dark times as light will come in.
He recounts the quintessential story of the tiny caterpillar which turns into a slobbery mess and then transforms into a beautiful butterfly.
Haig speaks personally about the darkness. He has battled depression, came very close to suicide, and wrote the bestseller memoir ‘Reasons To Stay Alive’. As well as writing very successful fictional works, he has written, at length, about his battle with depression.
In the book he recounts how people have asked him, isn’t it depressing to write about the subject. On the contrary he writes, “Word are seeds. Language is a way back to life. And it is sometimes the most vital comfort we have.. Writing things down brought the inner darkness into external light..Writing is a way of seeing. A way to shine a light on doubts and dreams, and what they are actually about.”
My pick of his anecdotes is the one about the old Queen of Pop, Madonna. The story goes that Madonna took.a taxi for her first trip to New York. She told the taxi driver, ‘take me to the centre of the action’.
Yes, that would most certainly be the style of the ultimate Uptown Girl.
There is no surprise that this is not Matt Haig’s style, He writes, “Of course, I love the pleasurable distractions of modern life. I like that our world is one with podcasts and movies and video calls. But when I am in that state of deep fragility, where I am stripped of my shell, I find the shortest path back seems to be the timeless one. The natural one. The one to do with reconnection to our natural world and our natural selves.”
I know who I would rather have over for dinner!
Close to the end of the book there’s a page with the simple title Acceptance. It reads, “there comes a beautiful point where you have to stop trying to escape yourself or improve yourself and just allow yourself.”
There is plenty of comfort and gentle wisdom to be found in this lovingly put together collection.
Matt Haig’s THE COMFORT BOOK, published by Canongate Trade, is available now.
ISBN 9780143136668 (hardcover)