Hello, Reader!
Thank you for subscribing to this newsletter written by
and - two lifelong readers and the co-founders of Project Bibliotherapy.Your benefits as a free subscriber include:
Letters to the Reader, twice a month - featuring updates as we build the Project, curated reading recommendations, tips on building a better reading habit and insights into the world of books and reading.
Monthly Readathons* - we deliver one great read daily at 6:42 AM IST for the first 14 days of each month, straight to your email inbox.
(* certain features are only available for our ‘Readers of 42’.)
Who are the ‘Readers of 42’?
A diverse set of people worldwide with only one thing in common - they want to feed their innate curiosity and build a better reading habit with us through our one-year Global Reading Program.
'The ‘Readers of 42’ have access to our 42 Good Reads of the Internet zines Volumes 1 to 4, along with a host of other exclusive benefits.
Some Zine Trivia
📚✨ The first 42 Good Reads zine (pronounced as zeen, as in 'magazine') was launched in August 2021.
📚✨ Volume 2 was launched in July 2023, and Volumes 3 & 4 were ready earlier this year.
📚✨ Each zine showcases links to curated works by 42 different authors across time, genres and geographies and is prescribed reading material for a quarter.
📚✨ Also included in each zine - 150+ bonus links to podcast episodes, videos, newsletters, blog archives, writing prompts etc to supplement your reading.
📚✨ 50% of all Good Reads for this year are authored by Indian writers.
📚✨ 25% of all authors featured in our four zines have been speakers at Jaipur Literature Festival.
📚✨ 25% of them are past guests on 'The Seen and the Unseen' podcast and / or students of the Clear Writing course taught by Amit Varma.
📚✨ We have had the pleasure of meeting exactly 42% of them in person till date :)
Who we are:
Nitin is an engineering and MBA grad from DCE (now DTU) and FMS Delhi with a former career spanning 7 years in sales for Britannia and Times OOH. He is currently working on a novel, to be titled 'Don't Panic, Don't Try'. His love for books and serendipity led to him founding Project Bibliotherapy in March 2020. He came out with the first 42 Good Reads zine in August 2021.
Nandini joined as co-founder in March 2022. She is an honours grad in English from LSR, Delhi University and a post-grad in Mass Communication. Over the past decade, she specialised in digital marketing, social media and creative communication for brands like Yahoo, ZipDial (acquired by Twitter/X), Chumbak, Livspace, PopSockets and the Good Glamm Group. She is also an award-winning lifestyle blogger at Sartorial Secrets (currently being moved to Substack) since 2015.
We are on a mission to help people get back in touch with their authentic selves and follow their curiosity in a world full of clutter and distraction, through the art and science of reading.
What we do:
foster a culture of reading by baking it into people’s lifestyles
enable people to discover new approaches to reading
re-imagine reading as an experience that brings people together
How we do it:
We do the above in the following ways for our members - the ‘Readers of 42’.
Curate great reads carefully handpicked from the far corners of the internet and recommend books from the vast scope of our reading, across time.
Create reads designed to pique your curiosity, aligned with different, universally loved topics.
Host one-of-a-kind experiences in association with bookstores and brands that align with our mission, in-person and online.
Why we do it:
We think the world could use a LOT more readers :)
Reading builds knowledge, fosters creativity, encourages empathy and is a great source of pleasure and comfort.
At a personal level, reading brought us together in a rather serendipitous way. This is our story :)
How you benefit:
Bake reading into your lifestyle through our handpicked recommendations and habit-building zines so that it becomes second nature to you.
Expand the scope of your reading - from butter toast to rock music, pop culture, tech and history to personal development & everything in between. Articles, essays, web-comics, books, and more to suit your needs, are curated over months and years by us in consumable formats.
Experience the magic of reading and make it unmissable through exciting member events, offline and online. Meet like-minded people and have authentic conversations in the process.
A message from us:
Project Bibliotherapy is our labour of love serving Readers worldwide since March 22, 2020.
Over the past four years, we have been working on our offering to benefit maximum readers worldwide and introducing the project to everyone we meet - fellow readers, authors, publishers, book clubs, bookstores, family, friends and other communities - online and in-person.
As
mentions in this conversation with Manjula Padmanabhan and explains in this Everything is Everything episode with Ajay Shah, we have been increasing our surface area of serendipity (or luck) since day one and continue to do so.
Over the next few weeks, we will be inviting everyone we've met over our brief lives so far to join the 'Readers of 42' and build a better reading habit through our one-year Global Reading Program.
We would love your assistance in spreading the word about us to more people!
How you can support us:
Join the ‘Readers of 42’, if you haven’t already :)
Introduce your loved ones and communities, personal & professional, to us. Anyone can sign up from anywhere on Planet Earth through this single link - pages.razorpay.com/ReadersOf42
Gift people a one-year 'Readers of 42' membership (₹2000 / $25) - suitable for almost any gifting occasion for individuals or groups, worldwide.
Keep sharing and engaging with our posts on Instagram and Twitter. Start with the pinned ones.
Work with us. If you’re a creative writer, designer, photographer, or brand that aligns with what we do, get in touch at project[dot]bibliotherapy[at]gmail[dot]com.
Oh, and why ‘42’?
The answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything, according to our favourite author, Douglas Noel Adams :)
Happy reading :) ~ Nandini & Nitin
