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Nonfiction, self-help books in demand as buyers returnWhat is Bengaluru reading after lockdown restrictions were eased? Metrolife finds out
Asra Mavad
Sanjana Megalamane
DHNS
Last Updated IST

Biographies, self-help and cookbooks are selling in huge numbers since the lockdowns were lifted and readers started visiting bookstores again.

The demand for fiction has come down at many physical bookstores. “Lately, people are picking up self-help and non-fiction. We have seen a steep fall in the sale of fiction,” says Mayi Gowda, proprietor of Blossoms Book House.

Non-fiction is doing well even at Goobe’s Book Republic, another bookstore on Church Street. “Readers are showing less interest in other genres,” says Ravi Menezes, proprietor.

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Champaca, on Edward Road parallel to Cunningham Road, has seen a rise in demand for crime and mystery and cookbooks, says Radhika Timbadia, owner.

The rising interest in non-fiction is confirmed by Akruti Books, Rajajinagar, “More and more young people are walking in to buy autobiographies and historical non-fiction books,” says Guru Prasad, owner.

Self-help and management, health, business, current affairs, and children’s books are doing well at Bookworm on Church Street, according to Krishna, co-founder.

Similarly, children’s books, young-adult novels and business investment books have picked up in demand in recent months, says Nijesh, director of Sapna Book House. At Gangaram Book Bureau, Ashok Nagar, Somanna says that children’s books and books related to self-growth are selling the most. “Although our sales have greatly plummeted, the books in high demand right now are fantasy fiction books,” says Venkatesh, proprietor of Nagasri Book House.

Top 3 bestsellers

Blossoms Book House

Fractured Freedom: A Prisoned Memoir by Kobab Ghandy

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig


Gangarams Book Bureau

The Battle of Belonging by Shashi Tharoor

A Promised Land by Barack Obama

Restless as Mercury: My Life As a Young Man by Mohandas Karamchand
Gandhi


Bookworm

The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel

Sapiens A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah
Harari

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

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(Published 08 April 2021, 23:39 IST)