The Reading List

If you are a lover of reading, of libraries, of the smell of old texts, you MUST read this book. Because it is written for you, for all of us!

In THE READING LIST, author Sara Nisha Adams introduces us to a disparate and largely dissatisfied group of individuals -- young and old, lonely and gregarious, suffering and thriving. What ALL have in common, besides the fact that their lives are just like ours, is that they all live near the same local (and little used) library branch, that is in danger of closing. And, they also happen to stumble across the very same reading list, an anonymous list of recommended books.

Aleisha, 17 years old and feeling friendless, winds up working part-time at the library during her final summer before college, partly as a way to escape caretaking responsibilities for her depressed mother. Mukesh, a widower, worries his three grown daughters because he has become so reclusive since his wife's death. Indira, exceedingly talkative, is simply desperate for someone to communicate with. And on and on.

But the novel actually becomes less about the individuals and more a story about reading the books on the list and how that action impacts each character. And about the power books have in general. How they can teach. How they can make people question their actions, choices or outlook. How they can present alternate paths. Ultimately, the book is about how books are able to change people and help them make new connections. 

I won't say more about the plot since that would no doubt spoil the joy of your own discovery. Because this is a very human story, about all of us readers, and all that our books offer us.