The Reading List Audiobook By Sara Nisha Adams cover art

The Reading List

A Novel

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The Reading List

By: Sara Nisha Adams
Narrated by: Tara Divina, Sagar Arya, Paul Panting
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About this listen

An unforgettable and heartwarming debut about how a chance encounter and a list of library books helps forge an unlikely friendship between two very different people—a lonely London widower and a troubled teenager.

Widower Mukesh lives a quiet life in the London Borough of Ealing 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.

©2021 Sara Nisha Adams (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers
Family Life Fiction Friendship Genre Fiction United States World Literature Feel-Good City Heartfelt Inspiring Funny

What listeners say about The Reading List

Highly rated for:

Heartwarming Story Unlikely Friendships Excellent Narration Power Of Books Interconnected Storylines
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A story with heart

I found it an easy story to get caught up in. A story that pulls your emotional strings from the prospective of a variety of people.

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7 people found this helpful

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Perfect feel good book

If you like stories like Love Actually where there are multiple story lines that are all in some way connected, you will LOVE The Reading List. you learn about Alecia, a young 17 year old girl who is spending her summer working at the library. Alecia has a difficult home life and is forced to grow up way too soon. She meets the next character, Mookish Patel, when he comes in the library to return a book. Their story doesn't start off on the best foot, but the two become friends after Alecia did overs a reading list tucked in the pages of a book. This is a beautiful story about loss, love and friendship and how books can transform our lives.

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Fabulous!!

I was pulled into the character’s lives as soon the book started. I highly suggest you read it 🙂

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  • Overall
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A wonderful story & a brilliant narrator.

This is a moving story. The reader really brings it alive. I really liked it.

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Loved it!

This was a heartwarming story with excellent narrations.. I enjoyed the characters and the relationship between them. I loved the books on the list and this made it more enjoyable for me.

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Exquisite Gem Of a Story

The characters are brilliantly and sympathetically rendered. The format, in which classic novels form a perfect backdrop for the narrative to unfurl, is genius. This is a heartening novel, never cloying. Adams' novel will stay with me.

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A must read for book lovers

I always give 5 star reviews for the books I love, but this is the first time I’ve written a full review! Please stay with it even though it’s a little confusing to begin with!!

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A delightful book with sad moments.

This is such a lovely ‘quiet’ story (compared to, say murder, thriller or dystopian fiction) that acknowledges deep pain without the story organizing around the pain or the grief, but focusing on the very small conversations and actions that change lives and create or change relationships. I loved it!

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Couldn't stop thinking of this

I rarely take the time to write a review of a book since I'm not so easily moved. this book, without a doubt was worth my caring. The narrators were impeccable.Theypainted their voices with such compassion, vulnerability and courage. I loved this book!

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A D**n Fine Book

I enjoyed this book immensely. In the case of some of the books on the reading list, as referred to in the title, I liked this book better than those classics. the characters really spoke to me across the generations. The book progressed appropriately, such that I was never bored (and that is saying a lot.) I highly recommend this book to lovers of books.

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