Cicero famously said, “Anyone who has a library and a garden wants for nothing.” Hyderabadis seem to believe in this quote which is why Landmark, Crossword and Walden are happy being in this business in the city. The book reading culture appears as strong as ever in the twin cities, be it fiction or non-fiction.
But interestingly, it’s not fiction but management books which are floating the most. But an exception to this rule is Hitler’s 'Mein Kampf' and Mahatma Gandhi’s 'My Experiments with Truth'. They are among the “evergreen” books that are on demand always.
Nazim, book section in-charge of Landmark at Somajiguda, says “The youth usually go for fiction. They have been preferring Indian authors ever since Chetan Bhagat’s first book was published.” When it comes to the children’s section, Tintin and Asterix are still the favourites and equally loved is our dear Amar Chitra Katha.
The most surprising fact of all, though, comes from the biographies and autobiographies section. Omar, sales assistant at Crossword, says “People buy biography/autobiography of the person who is recently famous.” Phani, who works at Walden, agrees. “Out of the 300 copies of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson put on shelf a month ago, only 50 are left.”
When it comes to magazines, weeklies on current affairs are more in demand than fashion/trend magazines. While discussing books, one cannot ignore the stalls that sell second-hand books. There are so many such stalls in the twin cities that they are giving the fashionable stores a run for their money.
“People who come here are real bibliophiles and voracious readers. Besides, they can get books here for half of their original cost,” says Iqbal who works at one such shop in Lakdi-ka-pool.
Rahul, a student and a regular at the store, says, “Such second-hand book shops have books which you might not find in big retail stores. These shops have really old editions of many books and that too hard bound ones.”
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