Two havens for book lovers in Visakhapatnam

Keeping the spirit of reading and the joys of escaping into the realms of fantasy and lore alive, Pages and Book Magic are two bookstores in Visakhapatnam that have always kept the young and old bibliophiles, happy and satiated.

The Bookworm’s Burrows

A book lover’s haven since 2006, Pages is one of the popular bookstores in Visakhapatnam that doesn’t sell books as much as it encourages the reading habit amongst the young and old alike. Sunil Nevatia who conceptualised and set up the store shares more.

“Books mean a lot to us. And in order to inculcate the reading habit, we provide a free place for people to come, sit, read and enjoy. We invite them to indulge in their preferred author or discover a new favourite. We don’t mind people coming over and reading chapter by chapter; they can read the entire book sitting in the store if they wish. Without paying for any membership or monthly subscription, people at the store can read a variety of books, in the comfort of air-conditioning. We also provide our readers with unlimited glasses of water, tea and coffee. With space and provision for at least 70-80 people to sit and read , this is a one-of-its-kind store in Visakhapatnam city. We often invite new authors for interactions to our store, especially Indian authors from all over the country. In my opinion, over the years, book reading has definitely improved book lover’s and now children are conscious towards reading books.”

Book magic

A library that doubles as an edutainment zone for kids, Book Magic in Lawson’s Bay area is one of Visakhapatnam’s favourite bookstores. It entices kids and young teens back to the magical world of books. According to Hari Madala, the entrepreneur behind Book Magic, the concept is to encourage children to get back to reading again and spend more time with books instead of with gadgets.

“We felt that simply stocking up books for renting wouldn’t be a great idea for the current generation. Hence, we started out with keeping books and simultaneously conducting activities around them. If I just go and tell them that a book is good, it wouldn’t have the same impact or generate the same interest as when they participate in a story-telling or book reading session. Children come to the activities and then eventually look at the book and realise that books are actually a good alternative source for entertainment, instead of TV and gadgets. We also conduct such sessions in schools so that children eventually become readers when they grow up. We elaborate upon the benefits of reading in the long term, and try to promote a general reading habit among children. We also conduct summer camps, winter camps, communication skills programmes, and more at our premises.”