Sara Nisha Adams

Fiction 2021 | 373 pages

The Reading List is a magical and beautifully written novel.  Another first-book success, IMHO!  The story revolves around a reading list of eight books, which finds its way into many hands and cultures in diverse modern West London.  It is a story about reading, and discovery, and taking risks, and imagination.  The list impacts many different people, whose paths cross as the book list is somehow shared.  The list often appears magically.  We don’t know how it arrives in the back of a shoe cartel in the temple or blowing in the wind on a London street.  But we see it weave its way to just the right people at just the right time.

The main characters are Mukesh and Aleisha.  Mukesh is recently widowed with three grown daughters and three grandchildren.  He has never read a novel; spends most of his time watching nature documentaries.  Aleisha is a 17-year-old young woman who has taken a summer job at the local small library in their town of Wembley, outside London.  These two become each other’s greatest support.  Can you imagine?

The Reading List Is poignant, and very engaging.  I read it in less than a weekend.  It is organized by the books in the order the books are read.  Many authors I have recently commented on could learn something about character development from this new writer, Sara Nisha Adams.  I feel as though I know Mukesh, his granddaughter Priya, and Aleisha personally.

No question in my mind … get your eyes on this book as soon as possible!

Here is the reading list:

To Kill a Mockingbird

Rebecca

The Kite Runner 

Life of Pi

Pride and Prejudice 

Little Women

Beloved

A Suitable Boy

October 2021