Greenlights / The Midnight Library by Matthew McConaughey

Greenlights / The Midnight Library Reviews

• 
  Debbie

  What I took for a vanity thesis proved to have real legs. I almost gave up on this book due to its unconventional hipster-like vibe. Reading further, I realized that this was an authentic story by a gifted and multi-talented individual. I appreciate McConaughey more than ever. As he delves into his own ethos and developing life, I was moved and encouraged at once to delve into my own. Well done, sir.
• 
  Cathy

  I suspect we are going to see a lot of autobiographies appear since actors had free time this Covid year. Pick up the audiobook for this one as McConaughey's voice and delivery are part of charm of this book. He has an engaging personality (although the bumper stickers and notes to self became annoying). An airplane lite read (whenever we get to fly again).
• 
  Leneah Willis

  By far both amazing good books
• 
  Carol Jones-Campbell

  I am a huge fan of Matthew McConaughey. I have found him to be very well casted in the several
  movies I've seen him in. Thought Greenlights was an unusual title for a book, but the reading is most interesting.
  
  Greenlights is a remarkable first book from an already renowned artist. Kind of a mashup of Anthony Bourdain with Ernest Hemingway, McConaughey tells stories with the aplomb of accomplished raconteur. Part memoir, part life guide and part ethic Greenlights is worth reading for many beyond McConaughey’s fan base; basically anyone who likes a good man’s man adventure story.
  
  Born into the lower middle class in East Texas, McConaughey looks back nostalgically at a childhood few would envy. His parents divorced and remarried each other twice, he was subject to corporal punishment and money was always an issue. Yet he doesn’t complain about disadvantage. In fact he honors his parents despite their shortcomings. He adheres to a philosophy of choosing to recalibrate what seems like the inevitable until it turns into a green light or way forward in life.
  
  After a rite of passage involving brawling with a barroom bouncer, McConaughey pursued acting with the drive and hard work ethic that was instilled into him. Finding early success, he choose to live in a way directly opposite to the Hollywood scene. Traveling the country with his dog, going off on expeditions to the middle of Africa and South America, McConaughey sees livin (drop the g to indicate it’s always a verb) as more than just the material success and creature comforts many of us
  popular success he envisioned. But that is all grist for the mill, experiments in living that are ongoing.
  
  If this is the kind of man you would like to read about, Greenlights will be an enjoyable and inspirational read. It’s rare that a successful actor has such a distinctive off air personality. But if you’re turned off by physical conflict, wild adventures and a man who brags about rarely showering alone than Greenlights is not for you.
  
  Personally, while not finding all parts of McConaughey’s biography admirable, I found enough of him to be so different than what Hollywood typically churns out that the book was worth reading. Recommended to all who feel they’re similarly traveling in unmapped regions and want to gather around the campfire to hear a fellow wanderer’s tales.
  
  I knew from previous interviews I had seen that he was one of those more down to Earth actors - not the usual bleeding heart Liberal do as I say not as I do type.
  
  He is certainly a very deep thinking man, he questions everything about life, about people and about his choices in life that have sent him on his own path. A very religious and spiritual man he brings up interesting advice about self determination and how to slow down and take a look around every now and again. Matt said, "Recently I worked up the courage to sit down with these old diaries. I found stories I experienced. lessons learned and forgot, poems, prayers, prescriptions, beliefs about what mattters with some great photographs.
  
  After reading about his upbringing you can see why he’s like he is. A tough but fair childhood prepared him for the drive he would need to become an actor where it’s a dog eat dog world.
  
  I laughed out loud numerous times as he shared his stories of growing up and highlighting the mistakes and decisions we have all made which increased my respect for the man.
  
  Certainly someone i'd like to have a beverage with and sort the world's problems out.
  
  A great read.
  
  THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY BY MATT HAIG - 2 BOOK COLLECTION
  
  I really loved this book!
  Highly recommended for anyone who might need to learn to appreciate the importance of little things in life and how they are just as important as the big ones - and how we impact the people around us in little ways that make a difference . About learning to love who you are instead of being upset that you are not who others wanted you to be
  I try to teach my students that only "they" know the best how to be "them" - this elaborates on that. I love Matt Haig as a writer anyway
  
  I don't think I can do this book/review enough justice but I'm going to give it my best shot... If there is one book I would urge you and shout at you to buy it would be this on. Go do it. Treat yourself You will not regret it. I promise. This is going straight into my top twenty of the year reads. I've awarded it five stars and I'd award more if I could! How do I start?
  
  I must admit it's not what I expected at all. But I feel it was just what I needed right now honestly. This book is going to be huge. This book for me was amazing, outstanding, life changing, powerful and thought provoking. Honestly have you ever felt so low you wanted to die? Then this book is for you. It will change your whole perspective on life. It has for me. It's taught me A LOT of life lessons and how I see my life. I actually have fallen in love with this book and I don't say that lightly.
  
  I don't want to ruin this for anyone but if you could view every possible outcome of your life would you? Would you ever be happy? Just wow. It's taught me to open my eyes, appreciate what I have not what I want. Life is life. Life is beautiful. I loved it all. I devoured it in a day. Beautifully told. An easy read for me done in a day but one I fell I NEEDED to read right at this moment in my life. Now this is my review others may feel differently about this book and some may hate it. But I cant explain how much I loved, enjoyed and needed this book. One I can always go back too when I'm feeling low. Uplifting.
• 
  Felicia DiSalvo

  GREENLIGHTS Fav quotes Pt 2:
  
  “The arrow doesn’t seek the target, the target draws the arrow.
  We must be aware of what we attract in life because it is no accident or coincidence.
  The spider waits in his web for dinner to come.
  Yes, we must chase what we want, seek it out, cast our lines in the water,
  but sometimes we don’t need to make things happen,
  Our souls are infinitely magnetic.”
  
  “Like that long-distance romance that fell apart when you moved in together.
  Like that summer fling that only lasted through August.
  That friend that becomes a lover that you now miss as a friend.
  Like ourselves when we’re a fraud.
  They’re better from a distance. With less frequency. With less intimacy.
  Sometimes we need more space.
  It’s romance. It’s imagination.
  Distance is the flirt and the wink, it’s frivolous, it’s mysterious, a fantasy. A constant honeymoon because we can’t quite see it, we aren’t quite sure about it, we don’t quite know it.”
  
  “Being surrounded by senior citizens will remind you of your mortality and make you feel younger at the same time. You see their bodies not doing what their minds tell them to do and their minds forgetting what they know to remember, yet they’re anything but sentimental about it. They get a routine and stick to it: going to the gym, stopping by for an evening cocktail, singing in the church choir, and signing up for every activity offered.”
  
  “My life was full. Wild. Dangerous. Essential. Consequential. Lively. I laughed louder, cried harder, loved bigger, loathed deeper, and felt more as the man in my life than in the characters I was playing in the movies. I appreciated the fact that if it had to be imbalanced one way or the other, a vital existence was more important than a vital profession, but I wanted to be in stories that at least challenged the vibrancy of the life I was livin, and play characters that at least challenged the liveliness of the man I was.”
  
  “There was a seditiously sexual undertone in the way they talked to each other, I could tell their carnal activity with each other was recent. But how? I thought. Ron’s got Stage 4 HIV? They couldn’t be…Unless they all had HIV. Of course. How interesting, how wild, how true. I took the tape to Jean-Marc and had him listen.
  ‘Is there any way we can get this into the movie?’ I asked.
  ‘Wow, there is something so sad and beautiful about it,’ he said, ‘but I don’t know how I could touch it without it seeming ugly.’ Jean-Marc and I didn’t speak of it again, but as you’ll read, he never forgot it.”
  
  “When you view the scene, you understand why he did. It’s human, it’s heartbreaking, and it’s funny. While Ron and the woman are shagging in the shower next door, Jean-Marc cuts to the office where we see the secretaries and patrons hearing them, then looking around at each other in mild surprise with mischievous grins of hilarity and compassion. With humor Jean-Marc exposed the humanity. What he did not know how to not make ugly, he made beautiful.”
  
  “You just live together you live for the present.
  You marry you live for the future.
  -Lili Fini Zanuck”
  
  “No longer chasing butterflies, Camila and I planted our garden so they could come to us.”
  
  “The box office failures didn’t dampen my love of acting. If anything, they made me more feverishly committed to my craft. I loved performing. I loved creating. I loved getting lost in a character, then found. I loved going so deep as to see my man from the inside out. I loved the work, the process, the construction, the architecture of building and owning my man.”
  
  “So much so, I began to notice that the characters and films I was doing were feeling more vital than who I was and the story that was my life.”
  
  “Both of these red lights forced us inward, literally quarantined us to search our souls for a better way forward. In doing so, we took inventory of our lives and who we are in them—what we care about, what our priorities are, what matters. We got to know our children, families, and ourselves better. We read, we wrote, we prayed, we cried, we listened, we screamed, we spoke out, we marched, we helped others in need. But how much did we change for good—its sake and forever?”
• 
  Mary

  Matthew is an interesting person from Texas. Big heart and Big ideas and plenty of big drinks weave through this story of growing up and out of Texas, feelings and emotions running deep. He finds that his family , craft of acting and his faith and foundation are what matters most, and he tells some tall tales of growing up into his fiftieth Year. It was fun to listen to matthew narrate his own story. quite unique.
• 
  Beach026

  I absolutely love this book. I had no idea what a good solid person he you truly is or what are you extremely interesting life he's lived. A bohemian type lifestyle coupled with strong moral convictions beginning when he was in high school. I loved this book and look at Matthew McConaughey in a different awe inspiring light.
  
• 
  Amanda King

  This book was perfect timing in my current journey to be a minimalist. He inspires to be one with the earth and how to get the best authenticity out of life. Looking forward to putting my take aways from this book to fruition.
• 
  Maureen

  Listening to MM read his biography was 🙌🏼. He’s an amazing storyteller and I loved it!!
• 
  Heleen

  Loved it ❤️
  Great read. Such an inspiring driven personality.
  Interesting layout with pictures, poems, reflections amongst normal text.
  Especially respected the absence of Hollywood gossip.
• 
  Tracy

  what a great story! love love love
• 
  Sheri Dickson

  Great Insight into taking a look at your lift.
• 
  Dee

  LOVED it!
• 
  Tammie L Toler

  I thoroughly enjoyed this autobiography that was honestly more insightful and deep-thinking than I expected. I have often found myself thinking of "green lights" I never saw in my own life.
• 
  Colleen

  Interesting insights. I'd like to sit down and have a beer with Matthew, comes across in the book as a very decent human.