make fails with error "cannot convert ‘std::istream {aka std::basic_istream

I'm trying to compile libgtextutils (required by the fastxtoolkit) from source. The './configure' command runs nicely, however subsequent 'make' command produces an error that I cannot resolve.

text_line_reader.cpp: In member function ‘bool TextLineReader::next_line()’:
text_line_reader.cpp:47:9: error: cannot convert ‘std::istream {aka std::basic_istream<char>}’ to ‘bool’ in return
  return input_stream ;
         ^~~~~~~~~~~~
make[3]: *** [text_line_reader.lo] Error 1
make[2]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make[1]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make: *** [all] Error 2

I'm on a Mac, OSX 10.11.6 (Intel)

Any suggestions that might solve this are highly appreciated.