Thursday, January 6, 2022

Book Review: The Reading List - Highly Recommend

What a delightful debut novel! Sara Nisha Adams offers a flavor of London and a taste for books. In The Reading List, books prove a passageway to friendship, a door to understanding, and a magic carpet to another world. Adams navigates the troubled waters of grief and abandonment. She fosters a love of reading with her list of books to seek. At only 26, she captures so much truth about life and the power of reading. In this author interview, she shares that her grandfather (the story impetus) passed away before she wrote the book.

Mukesh misses his book-loving wife and longs to nurture a relationship with his quiet granddaughter, Priya. His three well-meaning daughters have attempted to take charge of his life and offer constant advice. When he finds a library book that he failed to return after his wife's death, he strikes out to her old stomping grounds and meets a surly teen librarian, Aleisha, who hasn't a clue what books to recommend. She finds a slip of paper in a returned item and begins reading the books on the list and recommending them to Mukesh.

Aleisha opens up to Mukesh about her troubled world. She and her brother must care for her mother, who has been mentally unstable ever since her father left them for a new family. Their friendship deepens. Mukesh connects with Aleisha and with Priya through the books on the list. Each well-loved book holds a story that they can relate to the issues in their lives. Although every individual responds to a book in different ways, these books soothe their troubled souls and allow them to escape the difficulties of life's daily drudge.

Any book lover will delight in this story. I loved the accents communicated by the narration on this audio book. Plus, you are in for a real treat if you haven't read the books on this reading list. (I was familiar with all but two.) The mystery of the list-maker hovers in the air, drawing you along in the characters' dilemmas. With enough sadness to be touching and enough humor to be enjoyable, the story transports the reader to other places and lives. 

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