We are all as different as readers as we are in life. Not one of us is a clone. Like us, books too differ by way of authors, genres, writing styles, covers, titles, typography, plots, themes, beginnings, endings, middles, characters, incidents, and some of these differences may be there even in books by the same author. I haven’t even included the author’s own preferences of twists of phrases, expressions, primary motivations, history, travel history, reading habits, relationships… the list can go on for pages. Therefore, why must my choice of book be like your choice? We may, of course, have a few books that we both liked, but the likeness ends there. More important is that even though we may have liked the same book, the way I think about it or the kind of impact it has had on me will be vastly different. There is no probability here. I agree with Pablo Picasso when he writes: Some painters transform the sun into a yellow spot, others transform a yellow spot into the sun. It is the same with books – they can be ordinary or extraordinary based on the reader’s perspective.’
It is funny how so many of us, both in the online and offline worlds, keep asking each other: Which book do you recommend that I read?
They aren’t wrong. They do have a right to ask, but they will make their final choice. They cannot and must not turn around some day in the future and say: ‘Hey, you made me buy a pretty rotten book. It was such a waste of time and money.’ Many of us never evolve into competent and confident decision-makers and these uncertainties are not limited to book-buying.
Buying books is, in the final perspective, a personal choice and could be based on genre that one loves reading, though I’d say it is healthier to go nibbling through the entire landscape of genres. People have favourite authors and one comes across people who read only books written by Agatha Christie or Wodehouse or Sydney Sheldon or Jeffrey Archer or Colleen Hoover… or loves only the ‘famous five’ series or the ‘Perry mason’ series or the Hercule Poirot series or the Holmes series, to quote a few. Well, no harm, I’d say, but step out and you’ll know that the book universe has Sebastian Faulks, Sophie Hannah, Hanya Yanagihara, Dan Brown, Clare Macintosh, Orhan Pamuk, Mohsin Hamid, Paul Beaty, Jeet Thayil, and a million others. Go ahead and dive into books by new authors, unknown names, those that have stories based on countries in Africa or even the far east. Browse through lists of literary winners. Read reviews in newspapers and blogs… and remember, I said ‘read’ and not just watch a 30-second reel by some godforsaken Instagrammer who calls herself or himself a booklover. Walk into bookstores and browse through blurbs, fall in love with covers, the colours all around… let your intuition decide. But read. As Barack Obama wrote: ‘Reading is important. If you know how to read, then the whole world opens up to you.’ The truth is that even if you do not know how to read you can yet be a book lover like my 30-month old grandson Indra. We have just dispatched an order for a book that he has asked for more than once now. Some book a fish called Tiddler and written by Julia Donaldson. Oprah once shared a story about how she discovered Toni Morrison’s ‘Beloved.’ She was initially drawn to the book by its evocative cover and intriguing blurb but it was the profound narrative and powerful themes that resonated with her so deeply that she not only recommended the book to her vast audience but also adapted it into a film. This incident underscores the transformative power a book can have when it aligns with one’s interests and passions.
So yes, books transform us. Just as friends do. Or our surroundings do. Don’t they all say that if you surround yourself by alcoholics, you are priming your destiny to turn you into one. Surround yourself with books… because, as Hemingway said: ‘There is no friend as loyal as a book.’ Choose wisely, and you will have a companion for life.
Book buying isn’t generic. Different people have different strategies. Jeet Thayil too has devised his own system for choosing what he reads. His book choices resemble what an artist does when drawn to a blank canvas. The artist sees a visual of what he wants and Thayil too walks into the visual allure that may be a striking cover, an evocative title, or the design or simply out-of-the-world typography on the pages. Such interplays help him shortlist books. He has admitted that he oscillates between the rhythm of poetry and the narrative flow of prose as he is both a poet and a novelist – a book needs to tell not just a story but must do that with lyrical elegance. Significantly, he does not limit his choices to authors and themes from a particular region.
I have read a lot of books written by Shashi Tharoor, author, politician, and a former diplomat – known for his eloquence, erudition, and passion for literature. He chooses from a wide array of genres. His reading habits go from historical fiction to sophisticated non-fiction, admires Salman Rushdie and Vikram Seth and relies on recommendations and reviews. He believes in the discernment of fellow intellectuals and esteemed literary critics who offer valuable perspectives on the merits of books. literary awards serve as a benchmark. Like many of us, even he is initially attracted by the allure of a cover but trusts his intuition and believes there is an intrinsic connection between a book and its reader.
Sudha Murty is another writer I have read and believe she makes reasonable choices in life. According to her, she discovered ‘Malgudi Days’ by R K Narayan while browsing through a bookstore in Bangalore. She was captivated by the simplicity of the cover and the intriguing tales it promised and trusted her instincts rather than pay attention to a fawning store owner’s recommendations.
I am not surprised to read that Stephen King called books ‘a uniquely portable magic.’ They come with the magic to transform us and exercising a choice must not mean we limit the range of our reading experience. If books were leaves, flowers, stones, boulders, rivers, streams, air, snow, birds, animals, stars, space and that is there, must be keep ourselves limited to just a few dips in a cool rivulet? Read everything is my simple mantra… but remember, my choice may not always be your choice.
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Arvind Passey
Written on 14 February 2025
