Fiction gets popular among girls at fair

PATNA: Like on previous days, members of the fair sex of different age groups thronged the 20th Patna Book Fair venue in large numbers on Friday. The books selling briskly among them included those on civil services exam, on continental recipes, personality development and romantic love stories.
"The best thing about this book fair is that one gets different varieties of books under one roof.I do not have to visit different shops to satisfy my appetite for books,'' said a homemaker, Malti Sharma, 35. She bought three books on South Indian recipes and a religious pictorial handbook for her daughter.
Though the city has an assorted readership base, many publishers said that the readership of fiction books has increased significantly among girls and women compared to non-fiction ones. Detective novels and thrillers are also flying off the shelves, said a salesman at a leading fiction store.
The favourite novelists among the teenaged girls included Chetan Bhagat, Sidney Sheldon and Ruskin Bond. Girls were seen making a beeline for a magazine corner as well.
A small dictionary weighing not more than 20 grams and having 600 pages was the centre of attraction at a dictionary stall that attracted women of all age groups. Girls have named it 'purse dictionary' as they find it very easy to carry in their purse, said the seller. It is priced at Rs 30 each.
Shristi Agrawal, who practises jewellery designing in Jamshedpur, visited the book fair in search of some good books on home designing. She hopes to return with a bag full of books of her choice. Accompanying her were her friends, who were seen carrying a pile of books on sports. Many of them had also picked up the Twilight series of books.
Lata Thakur, 60, had brought her six-year-old grandchild to introduce her to the world of books. She bought for her books of fairy tales and bedtime stories. She said, "I will get for her a range of books and pictorials suiting her age, which would be a delightful experience for her.'' She also rued that nowadays lack of interest in books on parents' part also prevented their children from developing an interest in books.
A group of college girls was seen flipping the pages of books at an Urdu book stall. Shahin Afzal, a first-year graduation student, seemed interested in books on Maulvi Abdul Haq, a noted Urdu littérateur. When asked about her interest in the language, she said, "Urdu is one of my elective subjects and is the only language in which I can best express myself."
The book fair will conclude on November 24.