While watching Grace Booktok, she recommended a book she had read where a group of people followed a list of classics.
More from pride, I knew I had to read it. I wanted to see if I had read the list. Maybe I could pick up some I had missed.
Synopsis
It is 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 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 connect with his bookworm granddaughter, Aleisha passes along the reading list, hoping it will also be a lifeline for him.
Slowly, the shared books connect two lonely souls, as fiction helps them escape their grief and everyday troubles and find joy again.
Impressions
This book made me fall in love with the characters and the books on the list simultaneously. At the heart of it is the story of love, the love of books, as well as of each other.
There were times when I questioned my mortality and thought about what I would be leaving my family. I realised how vital the marginalia is in the books that I read. I am leaving a tiny part of myself for my girls to find.
This book is so heartbreaking in places and so beautifully written I found myself reaching for the tissues on more than one occasion.
If you read the book, a tip for you is to reread the prologue; you will need the tissues all over again. The story of community, friendship and love will improve you.
Just the other day, I walked out of the house and said good morning to the older man who stands outside our house every Sunday. He has done that for many years, and I have never spoken to him. This book made me do this.
Two Sentence Summary
A beautiful, heartwarming book that will keep you turning the pages. If you love books about books, then this is a must-read.
It was strange, the idea that this book wasn't just for him, it was for everyone. All these people who had taken it out before him, people who would take it out after him. They might have read it on a beach, on the train, on the bus, in the park, in their living room. On the toilet? He hoped not! Every reader, unknowingly connected in some small way.