These three bookstores in Bogota, Istanbul, and Lagos tell their own stories

From the first push of the morning alarm, to the daily pressures sandwiched between meeting deadlines and other unmanageable expectations; there is very little time to comprehend the world around us while having to keep up with it. Set in these times, reading has seemingly acquired another meaning as well. Hardbound editions and paperbacks are competing with audio books, kindle sales, and unfortunately Instagram reels (or #bookstagrams as they are often called) and other forms of media that allow for instant (and more instant) consumption.

Studies from The New York Times, El Pais and other dailies have confirmed that compared to 2011, the average length of a book has been reduced by 51.5 pages in 2021. Much worse, books of more than 400 pages are less likely to gain readership and may fall back in the race to be identified as potential best-sellers. In India, currently with the world’s largest population, iconic bookstores are either shutting down entirely due to financial constraints or attempting to re-open with limited guarantees to sustain.

In these circumstances, reading is heavily influenced by the business of publishing and selling books, with infamous trending peaks and algorithms triumphing over curiosity. This is detrimental to narratives that fall outside the temporal focus on what...

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