When bibliophiles unite

The Story Told is a platform that connects book lovers across the world, allowing them to talk about their favourite works and share pictures of their enviable bookshelves.

Books can take you on a magical journey, from the classrooms of Hogwarts to the battlefields of a World War. And to discuss the wonders that lie between the pages, many bibliophiles crave the company of others. Like Shreemayee Das who moved to Mumbai and missed the company of her book-loving friends, who would often get together to talk about different tomes.

Being an avid reader and having a special attachment to books, she wanted to get in touch with similar people and that is how The Story Told was born.

She recalls, “When I was in college I had a lot of people to discuss books with. Then when I came to Bombay I didn’t know anybody. I was feeling really lonely and wanted to talk to someone about books. I was also going through a period of depression. That’s when I thought of connecting with people who would also be interested in talking about books and sharing these memories.”

Reaching out to people is not as easy as it seems. So Shreemayee tried to convince her friends to share their book stories. “When I first started the page, it didn’t have any reach. So I would ask my friends to share book memories. A couple of them shared pictures of their bookshelves. I thought this was a great idea,” says Shreemayee. These bookshelf stories later became a separate section named #shelfstory.

Once the page started gaining momentum on Facebook and Instagram, Shreemayee was surprised to see people from different places like New York, Paris and Dubai messaging her. “Social media platforms have the biggest reach right now. Everyone gets a voice and that’s how we all found people to talk to about books,” she adds.

Her followers don’t shy away from sharing anymore.  Aniket De, for example, recently shared his shelf story on the dilemma of rearranging books in the summer. He says, “I pull down all my books and rearrange them. Every time I am more confused about where to put what. Alphabetical? By author? By language? Earlier this dilemma used to frustrate me, but now I know better. The precise place of a book in the shelf actually evolves with your knowledge. The more you learn, the more the books move.”

Narrating her own story about falling in love with books at a young age, Shreemayee says, “I’ve always loved books and stories. Even when I was very young, my parents encouraged me to read as they were both working and didn’t want me to run behind them and ask them for stories,” she says with a laugh.