A lot to thumb through

A book festival under way at the E.K. Nayanar Park is drawing large crowds. Organised by the development committee of the District Library Council, the fete has thousands of books by prominent and not-so-prominent publishers in the State.

Books in genres ranging from literature, arts, health, science, politics, social, children’s books, self-help books, reference are available here. While fiction continues to rule the roost, the number of takers for books on politics, science and self-help is significant. At a stall, the most takers were for P.J. Antony’s collected works and those by C. Radhakrishnan. Classics are always in demand, particularly translations of works by Russian authors such as Fyodor Dostoevsky, and Boris Pasternak’s Dr. Zhivago .

At another stall, children’s books, in Malayalam and translated, are among the fastest moving. Other popular books included translation of Maxim Gorky’s

Mother , K. Damodaran’s collected works, and Vattavila Vijayakumar’s

Chumadu Thangi . Knut Hamson, Gibran, ONV all have takers.

Discounts

Discounts of 35 per cent are available for libraries and in the range of 20-25 per cent for individuals. The exhibition will conclude on Saturday.