Shankar displays his books in Connaught Place’s inner circle in just the right order. His books — laid out spine to spine on the ground — are flanked by twin high rise stacks of Chetan Bhagat’s “Half Girlfriend”. I already know, armed by the data from Nielsen Bookscan and inputs from publishers, that he’s got his display just right. There are copies of Natwar Singh’s book in the front row, covered by a plastic sheath I can only take out once I’ve forked out the cash. On the right of this tome lies Bejan Daruwalla’s predictions for 2015, and on its right is, quite obviously, “Gone Girl” in its brand new cover. Shankar doesn’t need painstakingly crunch data to tell him what’s selling; he’s got his customers.
It’s a city of book launches and author readings and literary festivals, but Delhi seems to be spending its book-buying money quite predictably. Every year, a few factors — movie adaptations, political upheavals, a bestselling author’s return, a favourite author’s demise, come together to direct both the market and the reader’s tastes. In turn, these dictate the displays in bookstores and online shopping websites.
This year has been no different, and once again, the list of 2014’s English language bestsellers is crowded with the names of usual suspects — Chetan Bhagat, Durjoy Dutta, Ravi Subramaniam, Ashwin Sanghi, Paulo Coelho, Ravinder Singh. Even without the available figures, these names would have been easy guesses.
Of course, a quick, casual glance at the list of bestsellers is enough to tell you that we especially like to read about a few specific things, written about in a particular style. We’ve got a special penchant for Indian, urban romance, and will readily pay the easy-on-the-wallet price for our dose of Ravinder Singh, whose new book “Your Dreams are Mine Now”, is a current favourite. Penguin India, Flipkart and bookshops like Crossword and Midland; each names Singh’s latest as one of their top sellers.
And then, this year, Chetan Bhagat published his new book. Apart from headlines, it also made its way to the top of the bestseller chart. It’s interesting how almost every traffic light will send at least one street vendor with portable phone chargers, bright orange dusting cloths and copies of “Half Girlfriend” your way. You might try and exclude him from literary forums and talks, but it seems like you can’t escape Bhagat while driving to them. “Half Girlfriend” is everywhere, and it’s got full control of the bestseller’s list. This has been a particularly good year for love stories otherwise too, and apart from Singh and Bhagat, both Durjoy Dutta’s “When Only Love Remains” and Sudeep Nagarkar’s “Sorry You’re Not My Type” both made the list of top sellers.
While largely our reading tastes do not seem to be dictated by literary awards, some literary fiction does find space on the list. Neel Mukherjee’s “The Lives of Others” is one such book, its sales picking up after it was nominated for this year’s Man Booker Prize. Radhika Dhariwal’s anthropomorphic, quirky offering, “The Petpost Secret” has also sold over 15,000 copies.
Another hugely popular genre indicates that we like our books the way we like our movies — exciting potboilers with endless twists and turns. This year, Ravi Subramaniam’s “God is a Gamer” has culled special favour from the reading public, as has “Private India” by James Patterson and Ashwin Sanghi. Both list high on the bestseller’s chart — online, and offline.
Perhaps it is this weakness for exciting, page-turners that leads us towards another kind of favourite shelf, those which stock the latest insider talk from the political bigwigs. A large chunk of space on the non-fiction bestseller list is occupied by the political tomes — autobiographies and biographies and analyses by the bigwigs who both play the game and write about it. Of course, fact has been immensely more eventful than fiction this year, and it was bound to make writers out of some. Whether it’s Rajdeep Sardesai’s account of “The Election That Changed India”, or Sanjaya Baru’s take on “The Accidental Prime Minister”, both books have become this year’s runway hits. Of course, sharing this space is Natwar Singh’s autobiography “One Life is Not Enough”, and Andy Marino’s exhaustive biography on Narendra Modi, which has sold over 25,000 copies till date. We do seem to like our biographies, and Rakita Nanda’s book on her father, Prem Naam Hai Mera, features on Rupa’s list of top sellers.
S. Hussain Zaidi’s second book on Mumbai’s underworld and its dons, “Byculla to Bangkok”, also finds space on the non-fiction list, as does a very different kind of book, A. P. J. Abdul Kalam’s “Manifesto for Change”, which contains the former President of India’s dreams and vision for the country.
Among the new releases sit a few tried and tested favourites, which continue to hold their place steady despite the barrage of new books every year. Among them are names like John Green, Jeffery Archer, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Paulo Coelho and Jhumpa Lahiri. Caroline Forbes of Penguin India also adds that “Bipin Chandra’s two books ‘India’s Struggle for Independence’ and ‘India Since Independence’ have sold strongly following his sad demise.”
Quite clearly, even with the usual names, this is a heartening varied list, and among other things, displays quite a loyal reading public, with a very clear idea of who their favourites are.
