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    The Reading List: A Novel
    The Reading List: A Novel
    The Reading List: A Novel
    Audiobook12 hours

    The Reading List: A Novel

    Written by Sara Nisha Adams

    Narrated by Tara Divina, Sagar Arya and Paul Panting

    4/5

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    About this audiobook


    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. 

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateAug 3, 2021
    ISBN9780063025356
    Author

    Sara Nisha Adams

    Sara Nisha Adams is a writer and editor. She lives in London and was born in Hertfordshire to Indian and English parents. Her first novel was The Reading List.

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    Reviews for The Reading List

    4/5

    951 ratings66 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Heartwarming and real. Made me laugh. Brought me to tears. Kept me guessing. I'll miss all the characters. What more can one ask for?

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      This was a recommended read to me. What a warm enjoyable story. An unlikely friendship, heartwarming to the end. I don’t usually read books twice, but I am keeping this on my “reading list”.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      WOW!! This is why I love books. What a read.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Such a lovely read. Encompassing and forgiving! Pick it up for a positive reading experience about reading and the love of the art of reading itself.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      One of the most beautiful books I have read. Love it.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Truly magical. Will make you feel loved and seen. The story has something so warm and intriguing about it. Must read for book lovers.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      It started off kind of slow, but just got better the further you read. The ending put all the pieces together.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Touching and kind book of loss and friendship. And about loving good books! Marked now as one of my all time favorties

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      I loved the characters of this book. It is a story of two lonely souls who forge a friendship through books on the “reading list.” The books allow them to escape their grief and everyday troubles, and eventually help them heal.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      The characters are so relatable. Ending a little disappointing. But this book brings reader and characters together as memories of texts share cascade through the pages.
    • 5/5
      What a great idea for a book, leave a list of books to read anonymously, and find out how many people read the list and why! Lots of characters and a couple different time lines, but thoroughly an enjoyable read.
    • 2/5
      I dropped the book off at the library today, before it was due. I tried for over 100 pages, but the characters never gelled for me. It's not clear whether the author was holding somethings back to reveal about characters later, or whether she's just not skilled at character development. Life is too short to push on with a book that is just not doing it for you.
    • 4/5
      Beautifully written. Wasn’t sure what to expect but so glad I gave it a try.
    • 5/5
      With time many of us put aside reading. For me it happened after starting my studies, a couple of renovations, new studies, setting up at work... I forgot why I loved reading, and this book is a great reminder why. The power of reflection upon your life through lives of novel characters (double layered), the power to drift away from this world if you need an escape, and the power to find courage for facing the challenges of your own life when you are having a dip - that's why.
    • 5/5
      One of the most beautiful books I have read in a long time!! Characters and story woven together in such a thoughtful and well-developed way!
    • 5/5
      What an engaging and beautiful story! It grabs you immediately. So well narrated, and the story is touching. I love the hopeful message - no, everything doesn’t happen for a reason. It’s the meaning we find in what happens. Beautiful book.
    • 5/5
      I want to read all the books I haven't read and reread!
    • 5/5
      The power of books, to transport us to different lives, teach us and help us connect with other people (fictional or real) told through a beautiful story with many voices. Loved it ❤️
    • 4/5
      Very interesting read. A lovely story but a little sad at the same time.
    • 5/5
      Oh my god this has got to be one of my favorite books! I am a voracious reader but I think if you have any appreciation and understanding for books and how much they had to our lives and how much just reading can open our world, you will love this. So beautiful, so touching, so heartwarming.
    • 5/5
      As a lover of books, what a great way to weave the story of each book and connect to the lives of the characters.
    • 3/5
      It lost me at the end. I almost quit reading.
    • 5/5
      I was struck by the way Adams wove her story around a simple reading list that someone had, rather absently it seems in the beginning, stuck in a book in a library. The lives of each character finding the list are profoundly changed in one way or another through their use of the list. Any lover of books will be struck with the way Adams reveals how books reflect thoughts and feelings we may sometimes have trouble expressing in our own words. The stories of characters in books tell us so much about our own stories and help us see our own lives so much more clearly and Adams shows that in each of her characters as the reading list travels.
    • 5/5
      Excellent narration and lovely story about friendship and the power of books.
    • 5/5
      Beautifully written; a tale of readers and why reading is a vital force in their lives. Magnificent narration.
    • 5/5
      Very bitter sweet! Very cuteeeee I love it very much nice hints
    • 5/5
      Full of love and tears. Beautifully written. Really enjoyed this book
    • 3/5
      Very sweet, feel-good. A reminder of how much some "must read" books affect us forever after.
    • 5/5
      Read this as part of a book club and loved it! Characters were touching to me and each other and I loved the way the list was woven in.
    • 4/5
      A lovely story about loss and community. When his wife of 50 years dies, Mr Patel is struggling to find a new way and he finds it at the library. A place his wife loved but he had never been. As he and several others read thru a list of mysterious origins, their lives are intwined and each regains a peace they lost. Rated G, there’s no bad language in every other sentence.