The Reading List

by Sara Nisha Adams

Black Water Rising by Attica Locke.

Nothing is going to stay the same just to please him, not here, not in his life.

aplenty,

jostled

Naina had died. But this book felt like one little glimpse into her soul, into their love, their life together.

‘The people are endlessly fascinating,’

‘Like, just watching people sit and be quiet, or browse, or whatever, when they don’t realize they’re being watched … It’s like, I don’t know, no one’s trying to be someone they’re not in a library.’

She rolled her eyes, and resolved, this time, not to help him.

She didn’t get paid enough for this.

‘What can I help you with, sir?’ she smiled, sweetly, using her polite ‘look at me I’m a librarian’ voice.

She was trying so hard not to lose her patience.

if dark crime was his escape, what on earth was he escaping from?

His eyes opened wide in horror as he saw it was the girl. She

Everyone needs to ask for help sometimes, Mukesh,

Now here he was alone, still without any clue as to what he should do now she was gone, left in a lifeless, soulless, bookless house that had once been their home.

He was in a reading slump, but every day he’d still dragged himself to the library: a little sanctuary in this lonely city.

Everyone loved Melanie; he loved Melanie. But in the library at least he could breathe, he could escape the onslaught of messages, just be for a little while.

Sometimes, books just take us away for a little while, and return us to our place with a new perspective.

Home. She wondered what that word meant to everyone else.

oppressive

‘Shut up! Aleisha, shut up!’

Aleisha and Aidan looked at each other, their faces blank, their smiles gone. She wasn’t surprised. Last night, the giggling, the yoga … but nothing had changed. Nothing would ever change.

exhausted from never being needed, and always being a trigger. She was tired.

Of course her subconscious would bring her here: the library. The only place where she knew she could just be quiet, alone, for a little while.

If books actually could let her escape, reading was at least cheaper than getting shit-faced.

But being flaky was easier than telling the truth: she didn’t want them to know her mum was mad. They’d never understand.

yea, i think telling someone that didn't understand of ur problem is just useless. for me, i'd like to keeping alone. dibanding dapet respon yg ga enak

She watched her friends continue their lives without her. Message after message. Book after book. She didn’t exist any more.

‘but try to be nice to people. Just a smile or a friendly face can make someone’s day a bit better.

fiddle,

rot

decibels

‘What is it about?’ Mukesh asked, a little nervously – remembering her words from the other day: ‘You don’t get books, Dada … You just don’t care!’

bits

For a moment, he felt like Henry, from The Time Traveler’s Wife, flying through the decades to visit Naina in all those moments of her life.

He just loved seeing the concentration on her face. Sometimes she would smile, just slightly, from the corner of her mouth.

masis,

saris.

mandir

admonishing

saris

kain sari

mandir

hindu temple

imperceptible,

Mukesh was grateful Rohini knew that if she gave him a hug he would burst into tears. He hated to cry in front of his girls.

widower.

fumes;

sweltering.

Aleisha couldn’t say why, but she was interested in him, intrigued.

me if i get interested to cute guy

But sometimes, when she wanted to pretend that her life was something else, that she had some kind of freedom, she just swiped for the sake of swiping.

‘Don’t pull the “I need you” card when everything’s fine.’ She wanted to tell him how much he’d scared her. She wanted to shout at him, to scream.

flailing,