The Reading List

I’ve always believed that reading can change the world, or at least my part of it. This book proved this to me as it wove seemingly unconnected lives together. Grief, anger, sadness, and loneliness all fall away when they begin reading and talking about the stories.

This book reminded me of sitting on the floor at the back of my town’s library. It reminded me of what it’s like to travel across time and around the world with just a book spread out on my lap. 

Working at the local, almost defunct library, Aleisha comes across a reading list in one of the returned books. Bored, with little to do, she begins to read the books. When an old man wanders in one day, she shares the list with him. Reading and discussing the books leads them out of their shells and into new understandings of their worlds and to friendship. Reading this made me reflect on books that impacted me and on my friendships over the years with people much younger or much older and I realized that all of them had such value—value that… show more.