What Is Pakistan Reading?

The following titles are in the display window at London Books, a store in The Point, Karachi’s trendiest shopping mall:

“War of the Ring” by J.R.R. Tolkien
“The Trial of Henry Kissinger” by Christopher Hitchens
“Buddha” by Karen Armstrong
“The Summons” by John Grisham
“Dreamcatcher” by Stephen King
“Mao” by Jonathan Spence
“Jack” by Jack Welch
“The Infinite Plan” by Isabel Allende
“Self Matters” by Phillip C. McGraw
“Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” by J.K. Rowling (Urdu version)

I purchased “A Wet Afternoon” by Saadat Hasan Manto, one of the greatest Urdu writers. It’s an English translation of his best short stories.