The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams

 384 pages / 12 hrs, 48 mins

"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."  --from the publisher

Loved, loved, loved it. It's heartwarming and sad and joyful and touching. It is hard to believe this is a debut novel. Wow! Read it and tell me what you think. I give it 4.5 stars out of 5.

A Night in Terror Tower (Goosebumps #27) by R.L. Stine

A Night in Terror Tower (Goosebumps #27) by R.L. Stine-129 pages

In "A Night in Terror Tower," Sue and Eddie are on a sight-seeing tour in London, England while their parents are at a meeting at the Barclay Hotel. They convince their tour guide, Mr. Starkes, to take their tour to Terror Tower, where hundreds (if not more) of people have been tortured in the past. However, after making it to the very top of the tower and being told a story about the Prince and Princess of York being brought to the top to be executed by the King (their uncle), Sue and Eddie lose their tour group. Soon, they are chased by a tall, burly man in a black cape and black wide-brimmed hat. Who is this man and why is he chasing them?

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

The Girl on the Train
by Paula Hawkins
323 pages









Commuter Rachel Watson catches daily glimpses of a seemingly perfect couple, Scott and Megan, from the window of her train. One day, Rachel witnesses something shocking unfold in the backyard of the strangers' home. Rachel tells the authorities what she thinks she saw after learning that Megan is now missing and feared dead. Unable to trust her own memory, the troubled woman begins her own investigation, while police suspect that Rachel may have crossed a dangerous line.