The Reading List / Sara Nisha Adams - 3.5***

[Book Concierge]

The Reading List – Sara Nisha Adams
Digital audiobook performed by Tara Divina, Sagar Arya, and Paul Panting
3.5***

Aleisha is a teen struggling with family issues and working a summer job in the library. Mukesh is an aging widower who still feels lost without his wife, despite his loving daughters and granddaughter. These two very different souls forge an unlikely alliance based on a reading list found tucked into a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird .

This is a very good debut for Adams. The characters are complex and have a variety of issues. On the surface one wouldn’t expect them to have anything in common or to be able to relate to one another at all. But Adams brings them together, first by happenstance, and slowly by shared experiences and their individuals needs for human connection.

My heart went out to Aleisha, whose mother suffers from clinical depression and who is shouldering more than any teen should have to shoulder. Mukesh has more of a support system in place, but he is missing the connection to his wife that he cannot get over losing. The possibility of sharing a book with his book-loving granddaughter is what first takes him to the library where he and Aleisha cross paths.

There are a number of serious issues involved here, from grief to mental illness to loneliness. But Adams gives us moments of tenderness and love and humor that nurture both her characters and the reader. The supporting cast of characters are equally rich and interesting.

I loved how this varied list of books brought all of them together. One of her characters says it best: “…the books that had found her at the right time, that had given her comfort when she needed it, had given her an escape, an opportunity to live beyond her life, an opportunity to love more powerfully, a chance to open up and let people in.“ And at the end of the book, Adams gives us a bonus list of books that entered her own life “at just the right time” to inspire, motivate and teach.

The audiobook is performed by a talented group of voice artists: Tara Divina, Sagar Arya, and Paul Panting. They really bring these characters to life.

Trigger warning: suicidal ideation


LINK to my review