The raw aptitude and ingenuity of subcontinental authors is undeniable. In various bookshops all over the country, shelves upon shelves are stacked with Mohammad Hanif, Nadeem Aslam, Mohsin Hamid and several other notable, homegrown personalities. As Pakistanis, it is only natural to take great pride in the achievements of our gifted individuals. However, for an avid reader, the limitation on novels is suffocating. The demand on foreign authors appears to be restricted to a single individual: Paulo Coelho. His books are found in abundance along with our own Pakistani authors. Other authors, unfortunately, have a very constrained space on shelves in bookshops and libraries. For someone who is used to finishing a novel a week and is unceasingly prowling online for a read that will potentially be able to surpass the last, this restraint can become extremely frustrating. The kind of thirst that a good book brings to a devoted reader is unquenchable. On countless occasions I have rushed to a bookshop attempting to convince myself that luck is on my side, only to be hit with the familiar sensation of complete and absolute disappointment. There I am, itching with anticipation and, at that point in time, too motivated and dedicated to this one book to accept defeat. I sit back in my car and drive to a few other popular destinations for readers, praying that perhaps this time their stock includes the gem I am trying to hunt down. The same news is delivered to me repeatedly until I finally give up and drag myself home in complete and utter desolation. Eventually, I end up ringing a friend who may be leaving town soon, and beg them to bring back a book for me as I have done countless times before but by now the flair and enthusiasm has died down. The fire that once burned inside of me is now the burning ember of lost hope. Frustrated, discouraged and exasperated, I settle into bed after a long day of dissatisfaction and fall into a dreamless sleep. Anger and discontent fill readers to the brim when this phenomenon occurs. One could associate this feeling to a form of rejection. Time after time you return home traumatised and incredibly upset. For readers, novels are so much more than just time passers or a form of entertainment. Reading is an addiction as powerful as any drug. A bad quality book or lack of interesting material holds the capacity to destroy us readers. However, perhaps the root of this issue is deeper than what first meets the eye. At this point we have established that due to lack of demand, there is a limitation on the variety of books available to us. A majority of the potential book reading public in Pakistan is not exposed enough to request a range of literature. We live in a society where the norm is restricted to a very limited amount of people, a very limited mindset. Because of this, our nation is failing to progress and ultimately leading us all down south. The kind of potential our nation has is being suppressed due to our current political, economic and social state. Pakistan’s literacy rate is at the 50 percent mark. That is half of our population. Yes, let that sink in: half of the populace is not privy to an education. The majority of our people who are educated have been highly influenced by their teachers. They are taught to think a certain way, to feel a certain way. The kind of foreign books Pakistanis read reflects the inability to form an opinion of their own. Various books offer a diverse range of different cultures and social situations that ultimately work to not only our benefit but also society as a whole, which develops further when more people flip pages, discover words, enter new orbits. We all strive to conform to the social standards society has set up for us, not understanding how education, cultural and social diversity, and the ability to independently formulate original opinions are the biggest steps we need to take to begin advancing socially and politically. Perhaps the solution to this issue does not lie in the near future. However, the first step is awareness. The first step is walking into your favourite bookstore no matter how limited the variety of such places here, and going out of your comfort zone to try something new. The first step is understanding that this is not a matter of taste; it is a subconscious issue that has been hammered into the minds of the vast majority of our citizens. The first step is breaking the barrier between social norms and what you as an individual wish to do. The next time you walk into a bookstore and automatically drift towards the latest venture by an author from the subcontinent, stop and think: are you buying this book because you want to buy it or because it is the only thing available? The writer is a high school student with an insatiable appetite for books