Bestsellers, Flashy Bookstores and the Rare Intellectuals of today

The “Bestsellers”, “Must-read” and “Catch-of-the-week” sections of bookstores appear to be so very predictable these days. “Critic’s choice” sections seem to have disappeared or have metamorphosed into clones of the “Bestseller” section. The so-called bestsellers are the ones that are often very superficial, create that dejavu feeling when the reader can relate some aspect of the book to his life and have a sense of cynical humour. My main grouse with these bestsellers is that they are rarely enlightening, they neither add much to the reader’s knowledge nor provide any food for thought. They all seem geared towards satisfying the ego of the reader that he knows rather a lot about something. High in rhetoric and low in substance is how I can sum up these so-called bestsellers.

Talking about Bestseller sections, it isn’t as if the other sections are great either. Sometimes I venture into a store and I am shocked to see the entire Books section is about 300 sq ft. I say “Books” section in particular because accessories, home décor and gift items take up space in thousands of square feet. Given the limited space, the titles hold no surprises, they are the same over and over again. See a new title? Now, don’t get too excited, take a closer look, it is probably a new title by a “best-selling” author cashing on the success of his previous (or last but fifth) book which made it to the best-seller lists. Oh, on another note, I am forgetting the fancy lighting in these bookstores that makes it a pain to read even a few paragraphs. Well, who wants you to read the book, just pick it up and bill it! (Don’t believe me? Check out the Odyssey bookstore in Bangalore and if you can read two pages before your eyes start to burn, you have such extraordinary eyes that you could possibly walk in the Antartic in summer without goggles and not suffer from snow-blindness.)

Reading these days is focused on these so-called bestsellers and people rarely develop an interest in any subject or theme in particular. This again creates more of these superficial bestsellers and the vicious circle continues creating a whirlpool, which is fast sucking into it any leftover knowledge in print and creating a vacuum of bestsellers.

OK, I am being too harsh, it is not that no good books get published these days. I know a good many volumes of scholarly writing do get published, but who reads them? A very select handful with an interest in the subject. The bestseller lists of yesteryears always showcased a wide variety of themes. Our grandfathers, dads and uncles were extremely well read and could discuss at length on contemporary thoughts and issues. The arguments were not based on any rule of thumb and blind emotions, they were informed discussions that captured the topic in all facets. Knowing the issue as completely as they did, they did not feel a compulsive inclination to take sides and argue senselessly. They could capture succinctly in a few words the dilemmas, delicate balances and tangled issues that presented no easy solutions. And they were just not jack of all traders, each had a special interest, and read and researched on it in detail. How many of us can boast of that? Intellectual activity today appears, at best, limited to discussing on the Vidu Vinod Chopra vs Chetan Bhagat.

To compound the problem, the fancy bookstore chains seem to have done away with knowledgeable bookstore-wallahs as well – exception being perhaps the Sapna bookstore in Bangalore, where the attendants seem to know the titles in their section, or atleast, have the common sense to refer to the computerized catalogue to say if a volume is in stock or not. This helps the knowledgeable reader who wants to read a book in particular but it cannot help a fledgling reader to develop an interest in any subject.

Next come the pseudo-scholarly books which over-simplify the subject and the reader ends up thinking he has a rounded knowledge of the subject when he has just skimmed the subject with a dash of the author’s opinion to garnish it.

Sometimes I think, the days are not far off, when one has to write to a publisher to get a scholarly book. And you might even get a reply expressing regret on the book being out of print (the one that was published last year?!?! Yes sir, we printed only about a hundred and fifty) and suggesting you could get a printout of the book in spiral binding for a fee. God Forbid!

I am not a fan of doomsday prophecies, but this page seems to be full of them, doesn’t it? :) Sorry, but the picture looks so dismal that I just couldn’t help it.