Born in Sheffield in 1975, Matt Haig is a novelist and journalist whose writing has been described by the New York Times as “funny, riveting and heartbreaking”. His nonfiction includes the bestselling 2015 memoir Reasons to Stay Alive, which details his experience of anxiety and depression, and its follow-up Notes on a Nervous Planet. He also writes children’s books, such as A Boy Called Christmas, which is being made into a film starring Maggie Smith and Jim Broadbent. He has published six novels; his latest, The Midnight Library, is out in paperback this week (Canongate).
1. TV
It’s a Sin (Channel 4)
It has been a while since a TV series has absorbed me as much as Russell T Davies’s latest masterpiece. It manages to be tragic and vibrant and accessible and profound and heartbreaking and life-affirming all at once. Superbly scripted and acted, with the most evocative of pop soundtracks. A few years ago I was at Latitude festival with my daughter on my shoulders dancing to Years & Years and saw how Olly Alexander could command a crowd with sheer charisma so it is lovely to see him doing the same in a TV drama, but all the actors are great.
2. Podcast
This is such a great and accessible podcast for anyone even vaguely into philosophy. Stephen West talks you through its history, from the pre-Socratics until now, sometimes focusing on individual philosophers, like Heidegger or Simone de Beauvoir, or sometimes exploring a theme. Some of the best episodes are hinged around a question, such as: “Are you living in a simulation?” Always educational, but never hard work, and Stephen is an amiable guide through the history of thought.
3. App
About 10 years ago, for my main Christmas present, my wife bought me an electric piano. It was a great gift. Maybe the best ever, but the trouble was it ended up just being there, unused in the living room, like the Ghost of Unfulfilled Potential, but then we downloaded this app. It’s a paid-for app, and I’m normally not impressed by them, but this really is good value. It has a massive catalogue of classical and pop tunes to play, and listens to how you play them, telling you when you get notes and timing right and wrong, and landing you into practise mode when you really mess up (which, in my case, is a lot).
4. Film
Breaking Away (Peter Yates)
OK, so this film was made in 1979, so hardly of the zeitgeist, but every Sunday we settle down and try to watch an old movie. There is something comforting during this era about diving into former, pandemic-free decades. We’ve gone through many big classics – from Roman Holiday to The Sound of Music – but this tale of working-class American kids in a middle-class town has been one of my favourites. Kind of like a late-teen Stand By Me, but with cycling and even better character arcs. Should be on everyone’s cinematic radar.
5. Book
How to Be Animal by Melanie Challenger
This is a brilliant book that, like many brilliant books, explores what it means to be human. The difference here is that the author answers this by highlighting one central human dilemma: we are an animal in denial that we are actually an animal. The book looks at our history from the agricultural revolution through to our scientific pursuits regarding AI and the internet, and reveals the common thread – we struggle with the idea of being an animal and want at some deep and usually subconscious level to separate ourselves, with tragic consequences, from our fellow species.
6. Video game
For some strange reason, I have been obsessed with westerns over these past few tumultuous months. I’ve found myself watching old movies like Shane and Rio Bravo and Johnny Guitar on my laptop and, more recently, playing this classic video game. The thing I like about it, apart from the fact that it is a beautifully rendered world John Ford would have been proud of, is that it is essentially an interactive morality tale. Your good or bad actions in this world have consequences within the game. It has the depth and richness of a classic American novel. I love it.
