Happy Tuesday Everyone! I hope you are all having a great week so far. I for one, am over the heat because my house is old and the insulation is apparently nonexistent. Here’s hoping it cools down sometime soon! Okay, review time.
Thanks to NetGalley, The Book Club Girl, and William Morrow for this free digital copy in exchange for an honest review. This book is out today! 🙂
“An unforgettable and heartwarming debut about how a chance encounter with a list of library books helps forge an unlikely friendship between two very different people in a London suburb.” -From Goodreads
Oof. This one has so. many. feels. I was weeping by the end of this book. Sara Nisha Adams’s The Reading List definitely deals with heavy topics such as loneliness, death, and mental illness, but there is also this undercurrent of hope and optimism throughout the entire story. It made me feel like even when things are not okay, eventually, they will be. There are multiple POVs weaved into this story which works well since they are all interconnected. The focus is on Mukesh and Aleisha and I just love them both and want to give them hugs. Many of the characters (even some of the minor characters) grew throughout the story in really lovely ways. None of it felt forced or implausible and the hard moments made the sweet ones feel extra sweet. I think most readers will appreciate Adams’s beautiful descriptions on how stories and characters can grip you at a time you need them most. I love books about books and this one did it so well!
This book also inspired me to write my own reading list, which is below. I spent a good deal of time while reading (and after reading) reflecting on what would be on my list, and why. The list is in no particular order.
They were all her favorite books, the books she had grown up with, the books that had found her at the right time, that had given her comfort when she needed it, had given her an escape, an opportunity to live beyond her life, an opportunity to love more powerfully, a chance to open up and let people in.
The Reading List
My Reading List
- Pride and Prejudice
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
- The Phantom Tollbooth
- A Long Petal of the Sea
- Little Women
- Red, White, and Royal Blue
- To Kill a Mockingbird
- Murder on the Orient Express
What would be on your list?
The Bookish Bird 