Booked for this challenge?

Champaca in Bengaluru

Bibliophiles will agree that a book a day keeps the blues away. But often, we end up reading similar kinds of titles or keep going back to the same comfort reads. To help you kick off the year with some diversity in your reading list, Bengaluru-based bookstore Champaca has come up with an interesting reading challenge.

Radhika Timbadia

In its first edition, the Champaca Reading Challenge: 2022 has put together 25 prompts for the whole year. From ‘translated from the language of the state you're living in' to ‘that's an Indian graphic novel' and ‘about a fisherman' to ‘about a caste', the prompts are just the nudge you need to explore newer authors and topics. With prompts such as ‘shortlisted for the Women's Prize', ‘by a Nigerian author', ‘about plants and trees', and ‘by a trans author', the challenge cuts across subjects including gender, regional literature and climate change. Some favourites that got us thinkinghard are ‘with a red cover', ‘of nonsense poetry' and ‘that you loved as a child'.

Founder Radhika Timbadia hopes they can turn the challenge into an annual tradition. "What we try to do at the store and online is to promote the idea of reading more diversely - about subjects that you wouldn't necessarily pick up or authors who aren't promoted, or titles that are unusual," she says. They've also created a list of recommendations for each prompt. "There are 25 prompts, but it shouldn't be an anxiety-inducing activity. Pick up as many books as you want; the idea is to help you explore," she adds.

Log on to: champaca.in