Books Like The Reading List

Sara Nisha Adams’s The Reading List is the story of two strangers - Aleisha, a teenage library assistant who does not want to be there, and Mukesh, a lonely widower - who are brought together by a mysterious reading list left in a library book, a list of novels that slowly changes both of their lives. It is one of the most beloved bookish novels of its generation, and it works because it is built on the deepest of pleasures: books about books, the communities they build and the lives they change. If you loved it, you already know what you are looking for: more novels about the power of reading, more bookish communities, more books that arrive at exactly the right moment. This guide gathers the best books like The Reading List.

Why The Reading List Works So Well#

The Reading List works because it dramatizes the thing every reader has felt: the book that arrives at the right moment. Aleisha is a girl carrying her family’s grief; Mukesh is a man carrying his wife’s absence; and the list - To Kill a Mockingbird, The Kite Runner, Life of Pi and the rest - is the thread that connects them, one book at a time. The novel’s genius is the way the reading is the plot: each book on the list gives the characters something they need, and the reader watches two lonely people become a community through the books they share. It is a novel that makes the reader want to make a reading list of their own - and to share it.

The books that follow in its footsteps share that quality. They are built on the same engine: books about books, communities built around reading, lives changed by a story. If you loved the way The Reading List made you feel, these are the books that will make you feel it again.

The Themes That Define the Genre#

Books like The Reading List cluster around a few themes, and knowing them helps you choose your next read:

Books about books. The signature theme: the novel that is itself about reading - the lists, the libraries, the bookshops, the love of the page.

The community built around reading. The genre’s heart: the reading group, the library, the correspondence - the community that forms around a shared book.

Grief and healing. The genre’s weight: the characters are often grieving - the lost spouse, the broken family - and the books are part of the healing.

The book that arrives in time. The genre’s magic: the right book at the right moment - the coincidence that is really the point.

The Best Books Like The Reading List#

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig#

The closest cousin: Nora Seed, a woman who has given up on life, finds herself in a library between life and death, where every book offers a different life she could have lived. It has The Reading List’s library and its healing with a more philosophical register: the same conviction that books and stories can save a life, the same warmth. It is clean and beloved, and it is the single best next read for Reading List fans.

The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin#

The most bookshop-driven cousin: A. J. Fikry, a grumpy bookseller on a small island, is grieving and alone - until a mysterious package changes his life. It has The Reading List’s bookish heart and its grief with a more intimate register: the same books at the center, the same healing, the same found family. It is clean and beloved, and it is the perfect next read for Reading List fans.

The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George#

The most romantic cousin: Monsieur Perdu, a bookseller who calls himself a “literary apothecary,” prescribes novels for the ailments of the soul - and when his own heart is broken, he sets out on a journey down the Seine with a bookshop on a barge. It has The Reading List’s conviction that books heal with a more romantic, whimsical register: the same bookish warmth, the same healing journey. It is clean and lovely, and it is the perfect pick for Reading List fans.

The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner#

The most bookish-community cousin: in the small English village of Chawton - where Jane Austen lived - a group of unlikely people gather after the war to save Austen’s legacy. It has The Reading List’s community-built-around-books with a postwar, historical register: the same gathering, the same love of a shared author, the same found family. It is clean and delightful, and it is the perfect pick for Reading List fans.

The Reading List’s London cousin: The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel#

The most historical cousin: a young woman in occupied France uses her talent for forgery to create false documents for Jewish children - and the novel unfolds her secret work and the book of lost names she keeps. It has The Reading List’s books-and-lives engine with a wartime register: the same conviction that names and stories matter, the same warmth. Note: it is a wartime novel with serious themes, but its bookish heart is the same.

The Reading List’s letters cousin: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society#

The most epistolary cousin: a London writer in 1946 corresponds with the islanders of Guernsey and discovers the story of their occupation - and the literary society that was born to hide a pig. It has The Reading List’s bookish community with a letters form: the same love of books, the same found family, the same warmth. It is clean and beloved, and it is the perfect pick for Reading List fans.

The Reading List’s library cousin: The Library Book by Susan Orlean#

The most nonfiction cousin: Susan Orlean’s account of the Los Angeles Public Library - its history, its people and the fire that nearly destroyed it - is a love letter to libraries and the communities they hold. It has The Reading List’s library and its community in nonfiction form: the same conviction that libraries matter, the same warmth. It is clean and fascinating, and it is the perfect pick for Reading List fans who loved the library.

How to Choose Your Next Read#

With so many excellent options, the choice comes down to what you loved most about The Reading List:

If you loved the library, start with The Midnight Library - the closest cousin.

If you loved the bookshop, start with The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry - the bookshop at the center.

If you loved the healing, start with The Little Paris Bookshop - the books that heal.

If you loved the community, start with The Jane Austen Society or The Guernsey Literary Society - the bookish communities.

If you loved the library itself, start with The Library Book - the nonfiction love letter.

The Conversation These Books Start#

Every book on this list is built for discussion, and the questions that worked for The Reading List work for them all: What would be on your reading list - and who would you share it with? What is the book that arrived at the right moment in your own life - and what did it give you? What does the genre say about the community built around reading - and how do books connect the lonely? What would you want someone to read to understand you? These are the questions the genre exists to ask, and they are the reason these books are so often shared, gifted and discussed. For the craft of the conversation itself, our a thoughtful guide to character book club questions provides the questions that turn any of these books into a memorable discussion, and our meaningful values-based reading lists for adults helps readers build a season of reading around the values they dramatize.

The Shelf Beyond the Essentials#

Beyond the essentials, a deeper shelf rewards the reader who wants more of the bookish warmth. For the booksellers: the novels of the bookseller - from The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry to The Little Paris Bookshop - put the book at the center of a life, with the same conviction that reading heals. For the librarians: the novels and memoirs of the librarians - from the library stories to the accounts of the great libraries - honor the keepers of the shelves. For the reading groups: the novels of the book clubs - from the reading-group dramas to the gentle community novels - are the genre’s most social branch, with the same gathering around a shared book. For the books that arrive in time: the memoirs and stories of the life-changing books - from the reader memoirs to the essays of the bookish - are the true stories behind the fiction. Each of these extends the shelf, and each rewards the same bookish reading that the Reading List rewards.

The List as a Way of Loving#

The deepest craft of the genre - and the reason the Reading List works - is the list as a way of loving. Aleisha and Mukesh do not just read the books; they share them, discuss them, argue about them, and the sharing is the love: the two lonely people become a community one book at a time. The books on this list share that craft - the list, the shelf, the recommendation that is really a declaration of care - and the genre’s argument is that to recommend a book is to say: this helped me, and I want it to help you. That is why the genre is so often shared: the reading list is a love letter, and the reader who finishes the book wants to write one of their own. It is the deepest pleasure the genre offers, and it never fades.

Conclusion#

The Reading List is one of those books that makes you want to make a list of your own - and the books like it have the same gift. The Midnight Library, The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry, The Little Paris Bookshop, The Jane Austen Society and the rest each take the same engine - the books about books, the communities built around reading, the lives changed by a story - and turn it into a different novel with the same warmth and the same heart. Whatever you loved most about Aleisha and Mukesh’s list, there is a book on this list that gives it to you again. And when you finish it, you will probably do what Reading List readers always do: close the book, look at your own shelf, and wonder who needs to borrow the book that changed you. For more recommendations and reading tools, explore the Guides section of our site.