The Reading List
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4.2 • 22 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
*Discover the magic of The Twilight Garden, the brand new novel from Sara Nisha Adams – available to buy now*
*A finalist in the Goodreads Choice Awards for Fiction, discover this year’s most uplifting and heart-warming debut*
‘Absolutely gorgeous’ RUTH WARE
‘A joyful, uplifting read!’ GOOD HOUSEKEEPING
‘A captivating debut’ HEIDI SWAIN
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A faded list.
Nine favourite stories.
For two strangers, friendship is only a page away …
When Mukesh Patel pops to the local library, forgoing his routine of grocery shopping and David Attenborough documentaries, he has no idea his life’s about to change.
He meets Aleisha, a reluctant librarian and the keeper of a curious reading list – just a scrappy piece of paper with the names of 9 stories. It doesn’t seem anything special. Yet something tells her to keep it close …
Story by story, Mukesh and Aleisha work their way through the list – their worries slipping away with every encounter, with every world discovered in their unlikely book club of two.
A fresh chance at life, at friendship, wasn’t on the cards for these lonely souls – but every story starts somewhere …
Everyone’s getting swept away with The Reading List:
‘Oh this book – what a glorious, emotional, powerful and uplifting read’ Netgalley reviewer
‘A lovely story about the power of books and libraries’ Libby Page
‘A gorgeous debut novel about the power reading has to bring people together’ Red
‘If you love books, read this. If you love crying with sadness, crying with happiness, and feeling like you have been wrapped in the blanket of someone else's life, read this’ Debbie Johnson
‘Joyous, uplifting and reminds us what it feels like to find a book we connect with’ Netgalley reviewer
‘It’s a perfect escape for anyone who wants to be reminded of the power of stories’ Stephanie Butland
‘A beautiful book about the joys of reading and connecting with people’ Netgalley reviewer
‘A stunning debut that broke my heart and put it back together again’ Radiya Hafiza
About the author
Sara Nisha Adams is a writer and editor. She lives in London and was born in Hertfordshire to Indian and English parents. Her debut novel The Reading List is partly inspired by her grandfather, who lived in Wembley and immediately found a connection with his granddaughter through books.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Adams's winsome debut follows a widower who takes up reading in order to honor the memory of his wife. After Londoner Mukesh's wife, Naina, dies, he picks up the book she was reading before she died, The Time-Traveler's Wife, hoping "to turn the black letters and yellowed pages into a letter from Naina to him." When he later returns the book to the library, he meets the restless and prickly 17-year-old library worker Aleisha, who reluctantly took the job after encouragement from her troubled older brother, also a bookworm. As time passes, Mukesh and Aleisha become good friends, with Mukesh and his granddaughter, Priya, joining in on a reading list Aleisha found tucked in a returned book, which includes such classics as To Kill a Mockingbird, Little Women, and Beloved. When the creator of the list is revealed, there isn't much in the way of surprise, but it gains emotional resonance after Adams links the list to a late-breaking tragic event. Adams is a brisk and solid plotter, and has an easy hand with creating characters who are easy to root for. Readers will be charmed and touched.
Customer Reviews
Wonderful
This is a lovely read. The characters felt real and I was transported to Wembley. Just what I needed this week!
I heartily recommend every book on the list
Author
British. Parents Indian and English. Debut novel.
Precis
Set in NW London (Ealing-Wembley area). Mukesh, an elderly Indian widower is trying to get on with his life after death of his beloved wife. He has three attentive, possibly over-attentive, daughters. A cherished grand daughter loves reading (auto fiction, anyone?). Our boy finds one of his wife’s library books that was never returned. Reads it. Enjoys it. Takes it back to library and looks for other reading material. Aleisha is a 17-year-old Anglo school leaver, who has a holiday job in the library (her older brother once worked there too), and a difficult home situation. Finds reading list. Starts reading, and making recommendations to punters. Enjoyment and self discovery follow.
Writing
No frills style with strong emotional overtones. Books about books and people who like reading them are not exactly thin on the ground. This brings nothing new to the (library) table apart from Indian cuisine, but will likely please dedicated readers. (Warning: The blurb uses the word “heart-warming,” which always makes me cringe.)
Bottom line
I heartily recommend every book on the list.
The List
The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
The Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Beloved by Toni Morison
A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
The author includes another list of her own in the afterword if you’re interested.