{"id":4626,"date":"2008-08-13T14:32:01","date_gmt":"2008-08-13T09:02:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indiauncut.com\/?p=2917"},"modified":"2008-08-13T14:32:01","modified_gmt":"2008-08-13T09:02:01","slug":"why-dont-we-read-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indiauncut.com\/why-dont-we-read-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Don\u2019t We Read More?"},"content":{"rendered":"
Soumya Bhattacharya wonders<\/a> why Indians don’t buy more books. He does some math for us:<\/p>\n It costs Rs 200 to watch a movie on a weekend evening at a multiplex. (And that’s without the popcorn and the soft drinks.) Now my edition of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road — for my money the finest novel of 2007 and a New York Times bestseller, which means that a lot of people, including those who make their reading choices based on what Oprah recommends in her book club, have bought it — costs Rs 195. A Penguin Modern Classic — the storehouse of the finest literature in the history of literature — usually costs Rs 250.<\/p>\n It costs Rs 900-1,200 for a meal for two at a restaurant in Mumbai. You could get the new Ghosh and the new book of stories by Jhumpa Lahiri (award-winning, finely calibrated, exquisite tales of belonging and loss) for Rs 1,049. It costs Rs 125-150 for a coffee and a sandwich at one of the coffee chains. A Penguin Popular Classic — the cheaper version of the Penguin Modern Classic — is available for Rs 95. Oh, and my Orwell Centenary Edition of Shooting an Elephant and Other Essays costs Rs 367. That’s less than what I would spend for a few drinks at a Mumbai bar. So it’s not the money. And it’s certainly not that we don’t have the time. (If I could lay my hands on a study that totted up the amount of time we spend sending text messages or watching puerile rubbish on TV or travelling, vacant-minded, and not reading…)<\/p>\n It’s just that we’d rather not buy books. Most of us choose not to.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Bravo! I wish it would somehow become cool for people to read books. (Books in general, not just Chetan Bhagat.) And then, once they bought books to be cool, they got addicted.<\/p>\n Given my choice of what I want to do with my life, of course, that’s just self-interest speaking.<\/p>\n (Link via Nilanjana<\/a>.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\n