Books, libraries, friendships, family. The Reading List has all of this! The story has many characters, but the main ones are Aleisha, a 17-year-old girl working at the library before she begins university, and Mukesh Patel who lost his wife, whose family calls to check on him, primarily when they need something. One day Mukesh goes to the library where Aleisha is working. He asks for her help, but she is rude to him, and he walks out with a book, without checking it out. When he returns to the library, Aleisha has found The Reading List, which lists 8 books, and begins to give Mukesh suggestions from it. Together they read the books, which help them with the struggles in their life, until one day when tragedy strikes, and they need to find their way back.
This is a sweet story, showing that it is never too late to make friends, that people can make a difference in our lives, and that books can teach us so much.
#WilliamMorrow #HarperCollins #BookClubGirl #NetGalley #TheReadingList

An ode to libraries and books, the author expresses how books can bring people together through a variety of characters. My favorite character is Mukesh, an Indian widower, father and grandfather. After his wife died, he shut himself off in sorrow, until a visit to the library brought him into Aleisha’s orbit. Aleisha had a summer job at the library, unenthusiastic until she finds a mysterious list of books, begins to read them and understand more about life. Heartwarming and lovely, recommended. Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity.

I tend to love books about libraries and books and this one does not disappoint. It tells the story of a lonely widower and a teen girl who works in the local library. They forge an unlikely friendship over a shared list of classic books that they both read and discuss. It is quite a sad book, but I thought it was very heartwarming

I loved this story so much! There is nothing more magical than seeing people fall in love with books. This story was a love letter to libraries and reading.

Reminds me of A Man Called Ove, about an older man who loses his wife to cancer and tries to reconnect with her through a library that she loves. At the same time, a young woman begins working at the library at the insistence of her brother. Never having a love for reading herself, she stumbles upon a reading list and shares it with him. It is a sweet story of community, family and a love of books. It was a slower read for me, but the way the lives intersect is lovely.

Trigger warning - suicide, mental illness

4.5 stars rounded up to 5 stars

The Reading List is a heartwarming story and a paean to the power of books and libraries. The power of community is another strong theme in this book. At the heart of the story are two families in a residential area of London, very different but both dealing with grief of different sorts in different ways. Mukesh is a widower with three grown daughters and three grandchildren. His wife Naina died of cancer not long before the story begins. Aleisha is a 17-year-old working at the local library branch for the summer between school years. She has a hard life, as she and her older brother Aiden have to take turns taking care of their mother, who has had some sort of mental health breakdown. Their father is remarried and they don’t see him very often at all. Since this is a novel, of course Mukesh and Aleisha’s paths converge. Since the title of the book is The Reading List, it’s not a spoiler to say that Aleisha finds a handwritten reading list of eight well-known books and winds up reading them and recommending them to Mukesh, as he is trying to understand his wife’s lifelong love of books. A beautiful friendship blossoms between them, which is especially lovely due to their differences in ethnic backgrounds and ages. The items on the list were mostly quite familiar to me (To Kill A Mockingbird, Little Women, Beloved, The Time Traveler’s Wife, etc.) but the final one, A Suitable Boy was unknown to me and now I want to find it and read it!

While I received the eARC from NetGalley, I wound up mostly listening to the published audiobook by Harper Audio. The narrators did an excellent job with the many voices, bringing all the characters to life: Tara Divina, Sagar Arya, and Paul Panting. I really loved the accent the narrator used for Mukesh, which really gave a great “flavor” to his part of the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the opportunity to read an advance readers copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Aleisha, a teen working at an underfunded and underused library, finds a reading list in a book and, though she never thought of herself as a reader starts working her way through the list. Mukesh, an older man grieving his wife's death, goes into the library and asks for a recommendation, since his wife was an avid reader and he wants to feel connected to her. Their first meeting over the library desk is a bit of a bust, but as they start reading through the list, they form a friendship.

I have read a lot of "books about books", whether fiction or nonfiction, that celebrate the power of reading and how it can bring people together, so I admittedly have high expectations going in. Almost the first scene in the book takes place a very depressed, barely-used library and the 17-year-old listening to music and playing with her phone at the circ desk is called a "librarian", so it started off on the wrong foot for me and never really fully recovered after that. It's a nice story and people do come together over their love of reading, but in the end there are better examples in the genre.

This story was story about books and how much they can influence us in our lives. I really enjoyed how the books connected in the story to the different people. The book To Kill a Mocking Bird, and several other well known books are mentioned in the story. People connect through books and it is amazing how our lives correlate around them and the people we meet.

This is a gentle book of grief and friendship, loneliness and bravery. It's a lovely story of the healing and communion that good books make possible, and an ode to the libraries that nurture generations of readers and their communities.

There are books we read that become part of our memory, their characters occupying a permanent place in our minds and hearts. This book beautifully revisits some of those beloved novels, while also showing their effect on readers coming to them for the first time.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Book Club Girl/Harper Collins for the ARC.

This novel shows how books and libraries can bring people together and open their eyes to the world. The novel is focused on the relationship developed by two lonely people; Aleisha, a teenager with a summer library job and a difficult home life, and Mukesh, a grieving eighty year old widower. Aleish finds a hand written list recommending eight books. She’s not a reader, but boredom leads her to start reading the novels. Mukesh’s wife had been a voracious reader and he had not. He comes to the library seeking reading recommendations. Aleisha shares titles from the list. The books help them both to escape their troubles and grief. Each of the books is incorporated into chapters of the novel, providing them with new perspectives on their own lives and the lives of others.

As a librarian, I found this celebration of the importance of libraries and books particularly moving.

was sad when I finished this book, not because it’s was a sad ending, but because I didn’t want to say goodbye to the wonderful characters. I mean, I want a Mukesh in my life. He’s such a wonderful and caring man. But all the characters in the book were special; each one added something worthwhile to the story.

**Note to author: Your characters are real—they jumped off the page and into my heart, every single one of them.**

This book is about dealing with grief, loneliness, depression, stress, aging, and being a good person. It’s about how books can help you deal with real life, either by offering escape or by sharing wisdom and showing how other deal with problems. It’s about bringing people together, family together, about making a family from people who were once strangers.

You’re never too old, or too young, to make a friend. To create your own family. To help improve the family you already have. As long as you’re breathing, you can create the friends and family you want.

I will say that a glossary would have been a nice addition to the book. It wasn’t a big thing, but I have a long list of Indian foods that were mentioned in the book that I now need to go look up. That’s the only thing that would have improved this book.

For sensitive souls, this book does deal with death, suicide, and depression. These topics are handled more how they affected the characters. They don’t go into detail about how they happened, except to some extent with Leilah and her depression, who I think likely suffers from bipolar depression.

This is a great book that I can’t recommend highly enough. I love, love, loved it. Find a copy and meet the wonderful characters, see how they help each other, fall in love with them. Trust me; go buy a copy of The Reading List. You won’t be disappointed.

I received an advanced reader copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley. I thank all involved for their generosity, but it had no effect on this review. All opinions in this review reflect my true and honest reactions to reading this book.

Sara Nisha Adams - please write more soon!! I LOVED this debut book because it was filled with every emotion possible and all of them felt real and palpable. The characters in the book are young, old, imperfect and in some cases just trying to make it one day at a time. In other words - real life.

To take all of these emotions and use a library and books as the way to tell the story was of course perfect for ones who believe in the healing power of books and libraries. In reality it is the community of the library that supports and sustains the characters.

You will laugh and cry throughout this book and in the end you will find yourself thinking about it for a long time!

I really enjoyed this novel about how a community comes together to help the public library. Someone has left a list of favorite books in various locations around a small village in the UK. Several people pick them up and choose the books from the library. The story weaves through family relationships and unlikely friends, bringing them together to save the library and put life back into the community.

This debut absolutely blew me away and has stayed with me several days after finishing it. I absolutely adored the story and characters, and did not want this book to end even though I read the final chapter through tears. I cannot remember the last time I was so moved by a book. It is likely going to be my favorite read of the year and an all-time favorite for many years to come. This book is a love letter to bibliophiles, libraries and librarians, bookstores and book sellers, and the power of the written word.

The story centers around a magical list of eight classic novels that seems to find its way into the hands of individuals who need it at just the right time. You don't need to have read the classic titles on the list to appreciate this story, though you may be inspired to pick up one or more of the titles yourself at the end or perhaps come up with your own reading list. The novel is divided by book titles and chapters alternating between the perspectives of Aleisha (a 17-year old working at the local library) and Mukesh (an elderly widower) in the present day, and The Reading List in the not-so-distant past. The alternating perspectives allowed me to connect deeply to both Aleisha and Mukesh, as well as their families and friends, and, of course, The Reading List.

The device of the reading list may give the impression that the book is light or fluffy, but it deals with serious topics and each of the characters is portrayed in incredibly realistic ways. I loved every minute that I spent in this world, even when the issues were tough to face, and seeing the list's impact on each character and the unexpected connections throughout.

Despite the fact it was sad in spots (though, maybe not quite as sad as one of the titles on the list, as several characters kept pointing out :)), I found this book incredibly uplifting and hopeful. I cannot recommend this book highly enough and cannot wait to see what comes next from this author!

This review is based on a digital ARC that I received via NetGalley courtesy of William Morrow and the Book Club Girl Early Read program. Many thanks for the opportunity to read this moving and magical novel!

The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams is a must read for anyone who loves books! You will hug this book when you’re finished reading it!

Mukesh has recently lost his wife, Naina. He is at the point of grief where everyone else has moved on and Mukesh is lonely. He has three busy daughters who call routinely early in the morning but don’t really expect a call back.

Aleisha is a teenager who is working at the library over the summer but she doesn’t like books or people. She is living at home with her mother who is in the midst of a breakdown because her father has left and has another family. Aleisha’s brother, Aiden, is busy working to take care of Aleisha and their mom. He is also dealing with issues himself.

Mukesh visits the library where Aleisha works to get more books after reading the 1 book remaining of Naina’s once his daughters have removed her things. He asks Aleisha for a recommendation and is met with teenage rudeness.

As Aleisha mans the front desk, she finds a Reading List in To Kill a Mockingbird and in an effort to make amends with Mukesh tries to present the book to him. Mukesh is not having it, though! He tells her off and leaves the library.

However, he’s contacted by the library manager who persuades Mukesh to return. He does, Aleisha apologizes, and thus begins a glorious friendship in which they discover community, relationships, family, and best of all, the magic of good stories!

I loved this book! I loved Mukesh and his family. I loved Aleisha and her family. I loved how Sara Nisha Adams used 8 particular books to explore and provide depth to this story of Mukesh, Aleisha and the Harrow Road Library. I loved revisiting the books in the list that I e read and loved, and I look forward to reading the ones mentioned that I haven’t read. I will probably revisit this story again, a rare thing for me and a true mark of a great book!

Thank you, thank you, thank you to #netgalley and @williammorrowbooks for the advanced e-copy of #thereadinglist by @saranishaadamsbooks !

If there's anything I love more than a book about libraries, it's a book about books. This book centers on a mysterious reading list discovered by several individuals who at first seem to have nothing in common. As the story unfolds, we see how the threads of the reading list weave the individuals together. It is definitely a library love story. Highly recommended!

“He can feel the story take control of his mind, pulling him away” grabbed me right right away describing exactly how I feel reading a good book. If you love reading you will totally relate to this book. If you lost your love of reading then read this book just to rekindle why you read to begin with. This is the simple story of a few people from different generations all connected by the same reading list.
Young Aleisha and widowed Mukesh met at the library and build a much needed friendship through a mysterious reading list. Along the way, several other people mysteriously find the same list, and we learn how it positively affects their lives as well. As an avid user of my local library I also loved how this shows the importance of libraries. Highly recommend this book about books!

This book was lovely from start to finish. I enjoyed getting to know both Aleisha and Mukesh, two very different individuals experiencing different joys and struggles. Seeing how books help them both connect to each other and their surrounding community was super powerful, and a great reminder of the importance of books. This book was super touching in so many ways.

The Reading List is a very special story! A book about books that changed the lives of two people and touched the lives of several. I've only read two books on this list and look forward to reading the others!

Mukesh was not a reader but his late wife, Naina, was. He found and read a library copy of The Time Traveler's Wife that Naina had checked out before she passed away. He felt very close to her while reading it and decided that it needed to be returned since it was long overdue. Accomplishing this task was a big deal for him because he rarely went out alone but he was determined.

Aleisha was also not a reader but her brother Aidan helped her get a job at the Harrow Road Library. When Mukesh came to return the book, they met but it was a rocky start. They slowly became friends because of the list and soon grew to care about each other.

I love how they would each compare what they were going through with how a character from one of the books would handle a situation. And reading brought Mukesh closer to his granddaughter and Aleisha closer to her mother and brother. I had tears in my eyes when the ending revealed who wrote the list.

Heartwarming and beautifully written, I highly recommend The Reading List! Thank you BookClub Girls and NetGalley for this wonderful story!

If you love books, you must read this book. The characters are rich and well -written. The storyline progresses and ties up beautifully at the end. A book for book lovers. What a delightful plot.