The Reading List

I read The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams for the book club I go to with my mom and her friends. The book description says, "Widower Mukesh lives a quiet life in Wembley, in West London after losing his beloved wife. He shops every Wednesday, goes to Temple, and worries about his granddaughter, Priya, who hides in her room reading while he spends his evenings watching nature documentaries. Aleisha is a bright but anxious teenager working at the local library for the summer when she discovers a crumpled-up piece of paper in the back of To Kill a Mockingbird. It’s a list of novels that she’s never heard of before. Intrigued, and a little bored with her slow job at the checkout desk, she impulsively decides to read every book on the list, one after the other. As each story gives up its magic, the books transport Aleisha from the painful realities she’s facing at home. When Mukesh arrives at the library, desperate to forge a connection with his bookworm granddaughter, Aleisha passes along the reading list…hoping that it will be a lifeline for him too. Slowly, the shared books create a connection between two lonely souls, as fiction helps them escape their grief and everyday troubles and find joy again."

This book was SO GOOD. I've been needing a book I just loved, and this was it. I was engaged in the story from the beginning and just loved Mukesh as a character. He was just so endearing and likable, and I was rooting for him throughout the story. I loved his relationship with his late wife and with each person he interacted with in the book. I was enjoying the story all along, but then when something tragic happened, I was worried it'd ruin the rest of the book for me--but luckily it didn't. The ending came together beautifully and had me crying as I finished up. I loved the messages in the book about helping each other and about how books can help and teach us. This was easily my favorite read of 2024 so far. It was a great read that I got through in just a few days even though I expected it to take me much longer. As a disclaimer, this book does have some bad language in it.

Rating: * * * (3/3 = Loved it)