A Passion for Reading

Xeneb, fara am all 4 it. Let start n modify along the way.
Awaiting 4 xeneb`s return.
Fara in the meantime we can compare notes.

Naeem

ofcourse i think starting an online book club is a fantastic idea....gimme a week or two and ill try and come up with something and send everyone a link....
thank you for enjoying my article so much thats exactly what i was looking for...for people to feel stirred up enough to want to do something!

Zainab, I liked your article.

I think, one way to set this right is to inculcate reading habits in children - children are our generation next. Once imbibed, it will just catch on:-) We give children`s books as presents to our neices and nephews along with toys and dresses!

I agree with you, temporal, i love buying books from the roadside vendors. To me it is a book someone had already invested in - like an inheritance to be treasured. I prefer these old and rare books to the ones` i get in a proper shop. In Bangalore, we have this second-hand, rare and collectible books` shop - Select Bookshop. In fact, the last weekend, I got myself from Select - The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck and Lorna Doones by Blackmore. From a disciplinary front, it is not good to hoard - because i still have so much to catch up on, but believe me some day i am gonna read all of these!

And yes, we should start discussions on books we read and share our thoughts.

I agree with #12, Cipram`s quite right about Pakistan`s condition. But, I believ that book clubs must be established in schools atleast! To encourage reading and learning. The regular pakistani doesn`t like reading, they`d rather go out to McDonald`s with friends and gossip..Its a terrible thing Pakistanis have to go through..prerhaps only the young generation can do something about it. But are they? By the looks of it, most dont` even like reading.

fara/xeneb/ikonoclast

(for link to work you have to sign in on chowk first)

Huma Mir opened this thread:

I was just reading a vey well written front page article by Zainab Mahmood about the lack of reading habits and facilities in Pakistan.

It got me thinking that not just in Pakistan, but right here in US, the well educated Pakistanis rarely indulge in book reading. Favorite past time is typically movie watching and inviting or getting invited to feasts.

So, to practice what we preach, I was wondering if there are any chowkies here who would be interested in forming a ``Book Club`` sort of thing. Someone can suggest a book, on a topic of wide comprehension, and then a month later we can start a thread here and discuss it. I think one month is plenty time to read a book.

…perhaps one of you can open a thread on books, movies, music and take things from there?

rgds,

t

zainab, ikonoclast:

am hoping it will not be too difficult to find people interested in such a concept. planning is needed to initiate such a concept, true. but really, nothing very thorough initially. the idea, initially is to have a group that meets regularly for discussion, introduction, analysis, etc. of books. eventually, when and if we have enough books on the list, discussion of modalities on how to go on from there will follow.

honestly im simply talking off hand here...but i think the first step would be to float the idea around us and get a few people interested. i think we all have a few ideas, which we can jot down and write to each other about it.

galleries that i speak of are certainly not gulgees, i refer to the several art galleries opened anywhere and everyhwre in clifton defence area in karachi and liberty and fortress in lahore.
there are a few on zamzama, general art galleries and theres one in karachi near the nimco area which i quite liked.
even art galleries are playgrounds for rich people as i see it, no one can really afford to buy them but atleast theres places where you can go and see art exhibitions just for the sake of art appreciation and education.
that was my point.

this is a reply to iconklast fara and cipram.

ive had the idea of starting a book club several times but i wanted to discuss the feasibility with like-minded individuals which wanted to start sucha group for the sake of getting togetehr and enjying books and reading and discussing such things...
i just fear that it will turn into something else, but then suppose you cant tightly control everything you start. we can initiate this, in local restaraunts and cafes and hope for the best , even thru schools/universities or bookshops like li9berty and paramount.
let me return to pakistan ina month maybe ill have a pretty viable proposal by then.

#xeneb
I totally agree with you that we must provide libraries to our young generation. This is an indicator of the state of a society. In lahore, we only no publib library, which is so sad. There is a good library named Quaid-eAzam libaray, but i am not sure if we can call it a public library. One cannot enter without a library card, and one has to be a professional student to get the card. Trust me, it is not easy to make a card of that library. Is not it an irony that purpose of library is to provide an access of books to public, and it does the exact opposite.
Once, i went to check out some books from my department library at punjab university. The librarian told me that you will get these new books when you will get to Msc Program. On the top of that, books were locked in the cabinet. He usually do a little investigation before he allow you to get a book. Your article remindem me these sad old events.
I almost got into fight with the front desk guy at Quaid-e-Azam Library, becuase he did not allow me to get inside the library.
I am sorry if i sound too negative. Certainly, there were times i was too angry upon all these treatments, and stupidity behind it. I believe that simply complaining does not help the situation. We must take steps that will such situation to the best of our abilities. A small practical step can change the whole world, but my millions complain would not change the world a bit.
In short, i totally share the pain that we dont have enough public libraries for our pople.

Best wishes & regards.

Fara
Am all for it, if you read my views/ comments on Zainab`s article, you will find that our views are identical. We must gather like-minded people. You can contact me at my email address, if you or others are interested to pursue this idea further.

zainab:

you have very rightly pointed out an important issue. how about if a reading / book club of sorts could be started up. nothing very elaborate initially. a pool of investors could be collected for the initial start up. there would be membeship fee of the club. it would be more of a society. the project could be taken up at a small scale in one particular city, say lahore.

we could have weekly / periodic meetings, have book reviews and discussions. anyone interested in circulating their own write-ups are most welcome to do so. and once there are enough people interested. we could start contributing in terms of books and have a small scale library...

sugestions anyone?

xeneb # 6 - you write ``you have to admit povert, civic amenities, basic education, human rights, health are priorities before anything else. ``

I hate Oprah Winfrey.

Now that I have gotten that out of the way, she needs to be commended for taking on the cause of creating `reading awareness` among the black americans. Aside from poor reading habits, blacks also happen to have the highest incarceration rate, the highest crime rate, the highest poverty rate, and the highest high school drop-out rate of any other ethnicity in US.

Your question suggests that perhaps Oprah should first concentrate on tackling other more urgent social issues of blacks, before launching them into the ``luxurious`` persuit of intellectual curiosity through reading books. But I beg to differ. Reading creates depth in ideas. It helps you see the issues of daily life from a wider perspective. Our thoughts are formulated by the words we chose to think those thoughts. Whereas a well read person may draw on inspiration from the heroes of past, a `reading illiterate` person will have a very narrow perspective. Human rights, respect for civil order, health etc are not disconnected issues.

Aside from that, Oprah also has her ``Oprah Book Club``. Market analysis indicates that a book`s sales increase by 25% if it comes on her list. A few years back, she did something very interesting. She proposed that ALL of the Chicago city read a particular book in one month (i forgot the name of that book). These are the kinds of things that promote interests in books.

Also, Pakistanis are not too poor to eat paratha and paaye for breakfast. Or to pay for high electricity bills as a result of watching a 5 day cricket test match. They can certainly afford a book. But then, it all boils downs to awareness and priorities.

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Sorry to say this Zainab, you assumptions on all accounts are, well, assumptions. What gallaries are you talking about and more for whom are they really for? Don`t you dare say, Gulgee, puleez!

(warning: long post)

Zainab

…thnks…

books in pakistan are sold cheaper than food. hundreds of times i have bought fantastically rare books, amazing reads and autobiographies, memoirs, travel books, superb fiction, exceptional books which are hard enough to find in the west or even thru amazon..

…true even of Karachi where book fairs are held regularly and one can spot a good buy from roadside thelays and tented book markets and fairs…but this only gives pleasure to a select few…the die hard collector or reader……the main thrust that people do not read or books are not easily available continues to haunt us…

…libraries and parks will come when there is a demand for it…when the public wakes up and demands them…and if and when we wake up…

…more response in the interact below…

Malik99

One measure of the passion for books is the quantity of the first edition of a new book. In US, a typical first edition of a book has 500,000 copies. In Pakistan, a typical first edition of a book has 5000 copies.

…try 500-1000 for measure!

…in a july 20 ilog I wrote about a chance meeting with dr. enver sajjad

..and on sept 13 I reproduced tobateksingh’s response on the subject

…this subject is amazingly full of ironies…

…and the irony, yes! the irony is that we profess to be the people of the book!...many of us continue to read passages from the book several times a day…without understanding the words…or at best a vague notion of what those words might mean… (heheh forget about that saying of the prophet (saw) imploring a visit to china for seeking wisdom)

…it is tough…real hard to rationalize the drop in nationwide readership…chicken and egg you say?

…what is it?...is it the fatalism thrust upon the individual psyche by vested pseudo aalims?( am choosing my words carefully – am not blaming the genuine aalims)…a fatalism that makes us a believer out of inaction…or a believer by default…drowned in a sea of don’ts rather than swim in a sea of dos?....(remember am discussing the majority of us Pakistanis)..

…zainab talks of books and readership…even here in the diaspora…I know so many homes where our people don’t read or own books…(save the few holy ones in a foreign language)

…the books in Pakistan are expensive, I admit…ironically I have bought many urdu Indian reprints of Pakistani author’s books in Pakistan cheaper than the original…but I do not buy the cost argument…that urge to read, to learn is missing…fortified by fatalism and by exposing to rattafication …(rote) since early school years…that kills the pleasure of learning, intuition and inquisitiveness…

…and I do not mean to rub this in…but my impression from travels over India is that even in regional languages the first print exceeds 5-10 thousands…

…wish there was an easy way out of this morass…right now I can only think of the long haul…not easy…but if we as individuals continue to inculcate the reading habit in those around us…and then hope the momentum builds up…will take years…but a drop in the bucket…

rgds,

t

books in pakistan are sold cheaper than food. hundreds of times i have bought fantastically rare books, amazing reads and autobiographies, memoirs, travel books, superb fiction, exceptional books which are hard enough to find in the west or even thru amazon..
the best is those pathan tents that come up, every now and then, there was one near my house for a few months, thsoe pathans sold the books accroding to weight they had no interest and no idea about the REAL value of the books....i picked up dozens and dozens of great books from there. original classics, books of letters, poetry compilations. i would almost cry when i saw that tent thinking my god i must be in heaven.
honestly this is what i love about my country, the hidden tucked away bookshops in saddar, in cliftom, in liberty market and fortress lahore and randon shops in pindi, selling vintage books. truly vintage.
you gotta love it.