The Reading List
Ratings69
Average rating4
A BEST OF SUMMER READ ACCORDING TO NEWSWEEK, PARADE MAGAZINE, NBC NEWS, LITHUB, AND POPSUGAR! "The most heartfelt read of the summer...a surprising delight of a novel."--Shondaland 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. Widower Mukesh lives a quiet life in Wembley, in West London after losing his beloved wife. He shops every Wednesday, goes to Temple, and worries about his granddaughter, Priya, who hides in her room reading while he spends his evenings watching nature documentaries. Aleisha is a bright but anxious teenager working at the local library for the summer when she discovers a crumpled-up piece of paper in the back of To Kill a Mockingbird. It’s a list of novels that she’s never heard of before. Intrigued, and a little bored with her slow job at the checkout desk, she impulsively decides to read every book on the list, one after the other. As each story gives up its magic, the books transport Aleisha from the painful realities she’s facing at home. When Mukesh arrives at the library, desperate to forge a connection with his bookworm granddaughter, Aleisha passes along the reading list…hoping that it will be a lifeline for him too. Slowly, the shared books create a connection between two lonely souls, as fiction helps them escape their grief and everyday troubles and find joy again.
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I was expecting a heartwarming story about lonely people connecting through books. Instead, this book ripped my heart out of my chest & stomped on it repeatedly. It's so sad. Lovely, but sad.
In this charming story, formerly non-readers from a suburb of London form meaningful & unexpected relationships as they discover the power of books at a local library; as challenges arise in their lives, they see that books can be a source of refuge, sage advice, and most importantly, a point of connection with others.
Of course, I love the message of this book. Clearly, I'm a big reader, and I love books for all the reasons that this book explores. Books are empathy machines, allowing us to understand people who are vastly different from us. Books are nostalgia. Books are an escape from reality. Books connect us more deeply to our emotions. Books allow us to reflect. Books change our perspective and offer great wisdom. Books are adapted to some of the best movies. And books bring us together.
As much as I love all that, and as much as I like the general plot of the story (young, troubled woman becomes friends with elderly, lonely man – a classic trope), this book lacks character depth and the plot is forced. Some plot points are so undeveloped that they don't make much sense, and the reader is forced to make some big assumptions. The tone is cutesy, but very intense moments feel at odds with that tone. The writing is exceptionally basic, so it's tempting to skim. Overall, just an okay reading experience for me, which is a shame given the whole point of the book.
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3,954 books#3,954 in What are your favorite books of all time?
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