Book reading habits among students are on the decline and even books in which students are interested are more based on spying activities, local medical trips, short cuts for success and scandals than literature and history, Pakistan Today learnt while analysing the recently-concluded Punjab University (PU) Book Fair.
Although students showed great interest in the the three-day book fair, most students preferred to buy non-fiction books. Experts say that history and literature books should be preferred over other subjects and parents should be blamed for not developing reading habits in their children. Analyst Orya Maqbool Jan had said, “Parents prefer to buy a pizza worth hundreds of rupees instead of buying a book”.
Students were witnessed in those book stalls which were selling books about intelligence agencies, the decline of the American super power, famous scandals, cooking recipes and a successful marital life. Students claim that historic and literature books are not easy to digest and not much literature is being written nowadays. They claimed that students only prefer to read books according to their interests and authors should write historic, knowledge and research-based books.
Most of the recently published books in the country were translations of books by western authors, they added. Books like “Blackwater”, “Jewish Agenda”, Mossad”, “Karaey Ki Biwi (rent a wife) were among the popular books at the book fair. According to publishers, books by Ashfaq Ahmed and Umaira Ahmed are still popular, as no such material was later written by authors.
Although poetry was also somehow revived by Wasi Shah, publishers claim that students still opt for Ghalib and Iqbal in order to read classic poetry, which they claim is still relevant. Publishers claimed that books which have catchy titles are more popular among the youth and they have placed these books on their front stalls. Expensive books also restricted students to window shopping. Students said that book prices have risen so sharply that even the discounts at the book fair were not meaningful.
O Levels Student Ali Baig claimed that he could not take out time from studies and even if he was able to do that, he preferred books on light material and as history was already his subject, there was no need to buy history and literature books. A teacher of a public-sector varsity said that students should focus on literature, as some publishers use catchy titles to sell books but one did not find substantial material in them.
He said that it was a dilemma that quality authors are not being produced, which is the major reason behind the decline in book reading habits and lesser interest of citizens, who prefer to get information from the Internet and TV. Although non-literary books also deliver healthy information, they are based on translations and lack research and only cater to the general public, he added. The teacher said that times have gone when youngsters used to read Ashfaq Ahmed, Saadat Hassan Manto and Faiz.
A window shopper said that the aim of visiting the book fair was to observe new trends of authors, as their pocket money did not allow them to buy expensive books. Another visitor at the book fair said that most of the recently-published books did not get enough appreciation, except for Qatil Kon by Sohail Warraich. Harry Potter was amongst the best-selling books, which proves that literature has not died yet, he added.
Students said that these types of book fairs could bring back the book reading culture and the the varsity’s effort should be lauded. They stressed that students must develop their linguistic skills in order to make full use of literature.
Students losing interest in books
