The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Adams, Sara Nisha. The Reading List. HarperCollins Publishers, 2021.

Sara Nisha Adams's novel The Reading List is written from the third person point of view and in both the present and past tenses. The novel employs an unconventional narrative structure, which takes its inspiration from one of the primary characters Mukesh's late wife Naina's reading list. The following summary relies upon the present tense and a linear mode of explanation.

Two years after his wife Naina's death, Mukesh is still struggling to regain his balance. He relied upon Naina for comfort, order, and regularity. Her absence leaves him feeling alone and ungrounded. Although he has three daughters, Rohini, Vritti, and Deepali, and a young granddaughter, Priya, they are not often around. Their busy schedules keep them from spending time with Mukesh. When they are visiting, Mukesh feels incapable of communicating with them. He longs for a way to connect with his family and to find his way back to happiness.

When Mukesh finds his wife's old library book, The Time Traveler's Wife, in her belongings, he decides to turn to reading. The book surprises him, granting him clarity on his life and new perspective on his grief. Eager to discover more fictional worlds, he visits his local Harrow Road Library, located in the town, Wembley, where he lives. While there, he meets a young library employee named Aleisha and starts an unexpected friendship.

Aleisha is unenthused about working at the library over her summer break from school. However, because of her mother Leilah's tenuous mental health, she must keep the job to help her brother Aidan support the family. One day she discovers a mysterious reading list in the back of To Kill a Mockingbird, and decides to work her way down the list of books. She shares these same titles with Mukesh, a new library regular.

Mukesh and Aleisha begin discussing the books that they are reading. They read To Kill a Mockingbird, Rebecca, The Kite Runner, Life of Pi, Pride and Prejudice, Little Women, Beloved, and A Suitable Boy. These novels not only give them something to talk about and share, but teach them new things about themselves and each other. Aleisha discovers that reading is also a way to connect with her distant mother. When she reads her novels aloud to Leilah, she has something to talk about with her. The books also distract them from their personal troubles.

The more Mukesh reads, the more the characters from his books blur with his personal reality. He worries that reading is invading his home and family life. With time, however, he realizes that fiction can both be an escape and a safe place. Fiction also offers truth and clarity. When Aleisha's brother commits suicide, Mukesh discovers the ways in which fiction can offer the individual comfort. He encourages Aleisha to return to books in order to heal. He also urges her to help him organize a drop-in community event at the library. The event not only saves the library from shutting down, but brings together an eclectic group of Wembley locals. Together, the characters find companionship and renewal through their relationships with the library, with reading, and with one another.