Goals

Reading culture isn’t dying, says Manik Jaiswal, who runs one of India’s most active reading initiatives. It’s just taken a new shape, one that keeps up with screentime, scrolling, wishlists and travel goals. When people say they’re trying every trick in the book to get others to read, they’re not kidding. Take a look.

The book buffet

Some people believe reading is about quality, not quantity. Others head to Bookchor’s Lock The Box sales with glee. This is where customers pay a set price for an empty box, and then carry away as many pre-owned books as the box fits. For those who haven’t figured out their tastes yet, and can’t afford new books in every genre, this is a bonanza. For those who know what they like and want more of it, cheaply, it’s a bonanza too. “Our Lock The Box events turned books into a treasure hunt,” says founder Meenal Sharma.

The event travels nationwide. They’ve just wrapped up Indore and are on their way to Shimla. At every stop, readers find a surprise – a pre-owned title that’s been out of stock in their city, or a promising one they’d never heard about. And of course, Lock The Box also buys old books in each city, so the pickings are never the same.

On Insta

Nashik resident Neelanjali uses only her first name and operates @BooksMakeMeWhole, a six-year-old account devoted to books she hopes more people would read. She knows she can’t force anyone into it, so her grid is laid out as a series of mini listicles: Books that live in my head rent free, Indian authors that are too good to miss, and so on. “Not everyone reads long reviews, but those who do are more likely to pick up the book that resonates with them.” And, like any other influencer, she drops tips on her reading routine and for getting out of a slump.

The account has 61K followers and, from the comments, they all seem to know each other and welcome new voices. “The best way to convince someone to pick up a book is by being honest and open about how it made me feel, how I connected with the story, or how it impacted me personally,” she says. She’ll also share a favourite quote or excerpt to get her followers hooked on to a story.

More like this: @SpoonfulOfPages, @Reader_Viddh, @BagFullOfBooks.

On the web

Online book clubs are starting to connect book lovers who don’t really want to leave their comfy couch. Divya Jain and Snigdha Gautam set up The Indian Book Club in the pandemic, and have continued with it long after the lockdowns were lifted. There are separate sections for young and grown up readers on their website, and more than 13K followers on Insta (@IndiaReadWithUs).

The club takes it slow – one book a month, and they set up read-alongs, virtual discussions and author Q&As. It’s not unusual to see GenZ and grandparents all bonding (or calmly disagreeing) over the same book. “A 19-year-old and a 60-year-old discussing Pachinko or Ikigai in the same meeting? That’s the magic,” Jain says. “It still blows our minds, sometimes.”

In the mountains

Manik Jaiswal and Narendra Singh started The Bookoholics on Facebook in 2011. They were barely 19 and 20 years old at the time. Now, almost a decade-and-a-half in, it might just be India’s busiest reading community. Their Insta alone (@TheBookoholics) has close to one million followers.

Jaiswal recalls how they started out, with “quotes from Khaled Hosseini, Haruki Murakami, messy book summaries, candid reviews, unfiltered bookish rants”. It was more heartfelt than curated. “Slowly, people started engaging with us.”

They do more than reviews, meetups and donation drives. The Bookoholics runs a Book Exchange, in which swappers include personal notes for recipients, often sparking friendships and new connections between strangers. From 100 books in Season 1 to more than 2,000 in Season 4, the exchange remains free.

Since 2017, they’ve also hosted four-day reading trips in the mountains for members. This is where participants get through a tome in a silent-reading session, join a book circle and discuss novels under the stars. Sign up early – they sell out fast.

In the park

Group reading clubs have been a hit almost everywhere they’ve been initiated in India. Mohammed Nusrath and Biswarupa Barik set up Hyderabad Reads as a way to get citizens to use public spaces as peaceful reading zones. “We began in Jubilee Hills and Banjara Hills because these hubs attract people from different states,” says Nusrath.

They’ve spread to other locations in the city, and each spot brings a mix of homegrown readers and those who’ve moved to Hyderabad to work but were seeking bookish company. “We don’t do anything extraordinary to push people to read; we simply show up,” Nusrath says. “When someone sees a group coming together every weekend to read, it acts as a reminder of that ‘one thing’ they’ve been meaning to do but keep postponing. People see it and think, ‘Why not join them?’” There’s probably one in your city already.

The book café

Where many cafes now have a shelf of books, Fictionary in Mumbai has walls and walls of them. The part-library, part-coffee-shop, part-cosy-hangout, part-bookfest-venue is dedicated to fiction. Founder Anup Nair chose it because he discovered its restorative power after years of picking up only non-fiction titles as a corporate worker. “Fiction became an escape from the routine, the stresses of life, and from the constant need to self-improve while reading,” he says.

Fictionary is a year old and has a mix of buzzing and quiet nooks. It hosts reading mixers and book-club events. There’s a WhatsApp group, where members exchange recommendations. And their Insta (@FictionaryBooks) keeps their 76K followers updated about what’s happening at the store and which collabs are in the works. “Being surrounded by other readers has motivated a lot of people to go back to reading,” Nair says.

From HT Brunch, August 30, 2025

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