The Reading List (spoilers!)
i have just finished reading this book, and i don’t know what to do with myself right now. and yes, i was ugly crying reading those last few chapters.
i thought it was meant to be a feel-good book about a girl and an old man forming an unexpected friendship over their newly discovered love for books, but man, miss sara nisha adams, you’ve broken my heart. i can’t believe i wanted to DNF this book at the start.
see, i have this rule that, if i am feeling that i’m forcing myself to finish a book, i just drop it. and no, i don't pick it up again later or whatever. i just firmly believe there are way too many books that still need discovering, waiting to be read and liked by me, that i do not like the idea of wasting time on one i am not enjoying. still, i am glad that i "forced" myself to read it, the same way aleisha and mukesh did theirs.
omg, i tend to forget sometimes that reading can be so intense. i don’t even remember why i wasn’t enjoying this book at the start—i don’t think i had a particular reason tbh, i just wasn’t feeling it.
“I guess books say different things to different people.”
but now, i think it has made it on my favourite books of 2025 list.
honestly, i think i haven’t cried to a book like this in a looooong time (it probably doesn’t help that i’m on my period, welp!).
it was just such a sweet book, with even sweeter characters. aleisha and mukesh were so endearing, i really felt for them and all the emotions and things they were going through. grief is such an ugly but human feeling.
in fact, every character was interesting, they all had a little something about them that made them so likeable. but i have to admit, my favourite one was hands down aiden... so yeah, what happened to him was heartbreaking, to say the least. he was such a good son and a good brother, so caring and patient and sweet and hard-working and and and. he deserved the world.
icl, when he started acting weird, i was expecting him to lie about his job, maybe to sell drugs as a way to make ends meet. bro, anything but suicide. and in such a gruesome way! my poor baby, i wonder if i skipped through the signs whilst reading the book. but i guess, just like aleisha, i was fooled by him too.
“It’s good to be kind to people, especially the people you love, because you never know what it’s like to walk in their shoes until one day you do. And by then, it’s often too late to make a real difference.”
oh, there are so many nice quotes i'd like to share on this review! i love when an author writes truths about life in a simple manner, i think it makes it even more meaningful and impactful.
because of uni, i gave up on reading for a bit of time and this fact still saddens me to this day. i think i am coming back to it, slowly but surely, mostly as a way not to become stupid (yk brain rot, tiktok, chatgpt... yes, i am a victim of those too). this book reminded me how magical (as cringe as it sounds) books are. i love reading. i used to be embarrassed by it, i probably still am a little bit, because yk, people ask you what are your hobbies, and you're like "oh, i like reading", and it just sounds as basic as saying listening to music or watching movies or whatever, but these are cool hobbies to have! and reading is another very cool and fun hobby to have! and i really fucking love reading and books!
“...sometimes when you really like a book, you need to read it again! To relive what you loved and find out what you missed before. Books always change as the person who reads them changes too.”
little priya said this quote above to mukesh, her grandfather, and she just gets it.
this is what this book is all about: books and people and how these two connect. because that's what reading is all about, it's a way to connect with yourself, with others, with the characters, with the author.
yk, i've always wanted to have someone to share my love for books with and to this day, i have never managed to find anyone. but it's okay, there is still time.
the reading list, however, is just what you need to remind yourself how reading is such an important thing to do, especially in these current political times we're experiencing throughout the world. to me, and i firmly believe that many others share this same opinion, reading is one of those essential revolutionnary silent acts we ought to keep doing as social beings. reading teaches you critical thinking, communication, empathy, emotional intelligence, and so on. it is so important and crucial that we keep reading.
so, if you want to make a simple but efficient insurgent act today, from the comfort of your own home, do yourself a favour and read this book.
“Please try to remember that books aren’t always an escape; sometimes books teach us things. They show us the world; they don’t hide it.”
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2087
