Ponder: The Reading List

The Reading List ©2021 is the debut novel of Sara Nisha Adams. It is most definitely appropriate for bibliophiles who have likely read the majority of the novels scribed on the list. I have read most, and those that I have not red, I am inspired to do so soon. A 17 year old girl Aleisha lives with her 25 year old brother Aiden and their mother Leila. Their father has left the family, reason undisclosed, and lives with his second wife and a second set of children. Aleisha works in a small town library at a job inherited from her brother, and becomes fascinated with a list of books left in a text she is about to reshelve. Mukesh is an elderly widower, lonely and grieving from the loss of his wife of fifty years, who died less than two years ago. He does have three caring grown daughters but strikes up a friendship with Aleisha as she recommends books for him to read and they share their thoughts and impressions.

The plot line is straightforward and not very convoluted. The action is too slow for my taste so I rate this book 3 stars, less than the 4.4 stars of Amazon. I found driving forward through the text was a function of my desire to see what happens to the plethora of characters within and how their relationship with each other morph. Curiosity about plot progress definitely took a back seat since the pace was so slow. The front flap of The Reading List describes it as “A love letter to some of our most cherished novels…”. 

Admittedly, pseudo-love letter that the book is, I am inspired to read or revisit many of the eight novels on the list. I would like to read To Kill A Mockingbird and Rebecca again. I would like to avoid reading Pride and Prejudice again; I watched the movie and found that dull enough. I was not fond of the movie Life of Pi but now I am curious if the book is better – books usually are. I am willing to skip Little Woman but will definitely seek out The Kite Runner, even though The Reading List  repeatedly references how sad it is. Add Beloved and A Suitable Boy and I certainly have my reading future scoped out for me! I have never even heard of those final two but I plan to seek them out.

The author adds a personal reading list of her own after the final pages of her novel. I will research these a bit more before adding them to my to-read list. Since I was only moderately pleased with this Adams' debut novel, I am not going to commit to other books of her taste without a bit of prior exploration. The final entry by Ali Smith did rouse my interest. The title is as stated; there is no noun after the "the".

Because of a lagging plot but strong emotional character involvement with a sprinkling of drama, I rate The Reading List

★★★☆☆ Better than average; not a waste of time