Tanmay’s mom is exasperated with her son. He refuses to budge from his couch. Casting aside all his textbooks, his nose is buried in the latest Dan Brown thriller. While Tanmay is held spellbound by Dan Brown’s world of Opus Dei, Illuminati, Noetic Science and Freemasonry; Shweta is enraptured by Edward Cullen and Jacob Black of the highly addictive ‘Twilight’ series.It is not just Dan Brown and Stephenie Meyer who have young Kochiites captivated. The likes of Jeffrey Archer, John Grisham, Agatha Christie and Sidney Sheldon hold youngsters riveted. “Under the genre of fiction, Khaled Hosseini, Ken Follet, and Ian Rankin are some of the fastest selling authors. As far as Indian authors go, Chetan Bhagat and Aravind Adiga are easily the favourites. Amitav Ghosh’s latest, ‘River of Smoke’ is also expected to sell well,” says Chiranjeevi, Manager of the book-section at Reliance Time Out, Oberon Mall. “I don’t really enjoy pulp-fiction, they are pointless. I prefer reading books by Ayn Rand, Orhan Pamuk, William Faulkner and Haruki Murakami,” says Deepak, a literature student. Such lone voices also ring out from the crowd.Although young readers seem to prefer fiction over non-fiction, Lance Armstrong’s autobiographies and ‘Songs of Blood and Sword’ by Fatima Bhutto are quite a hit. “Freakonomics, Superfreakonomics and business books like ‘I Have A Dream’ by Rashmi Bansal are my favourites in the non-fiction genre,” says Aishwarya, an MBA student. Books on current affairs like ‘2G Spectrum Scam’ by Subramaniam Swami and ‘Tinderbox’ by M J Akbar are also now in vogue.Surprisingly, philosophy and self-help books are also topping the best seller charts in Kochi. “When I’m feeling low or depressed, I prefer reading books by Robin Sharma and Paulo Coelho as they help in boosting my morale and combating stress of exams and peer pressure”, says Rohit, a college student.‘The Secret’ by Rhonda Byrne ,You Can Win by Shiv Khera and Dale Carnegie’s books are the most favoured ones. David J Schwartz’s ‘The Magic of Thinking’ Big and Jack Canfield’s Chicken Soup series are not too far behind either. “ Many prefer buying pulp-fiction because they go easy on the pocket. We have also seen that some books shoot to popularity only after they win a literary prize. Emperor of Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee is one recent example,” says Chiranjeevi. Sadly, vernacular literature seems to have been shoved aside by the youth. “Malayalam books are not much in demand. Its readership is limited mostly to the older generation”, says K S Sabu, Manager of Eloor Lending Library, Press Club Road. While a vast section of the youth is busy with the latest bestsellers, unfortunately another section remains alien to the pleasures of reading. Tanmay’s mother should be happy that her son prefers reading over unproductive activities like playing on his Xbox or chatting online. As the saying goes ,”If people are entertained by the two letters TV, imagine the fun they will have with twenty-six.” So go grab a book and read to your heart’s content.
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