books

Rahul Mehta

When Rahul Mehta and his partner, Robert Bingham, were living in western New York and teaching at Alfred University, they’d dream of quitting their jobs and moving somewhere new. In their minds, Philadelphia was always the place where they’d land. And sure enough, Bingham matriculated in a Ph.D. program in dance studies at Temple University two years ago, and suddenly here they were, living in Mt. Airy. 

Mehta’s first book, Quarantine, is a collection of short stories, some of which focus on Indian-American immigrant families and “several of them have queer characters,” he says. HarperCollins published it in 2011. His next project, a novel, deals with an Indian immigrant family living in western New York in the ’80s and in India in the ’90s.

“Writing this novel has been a process of self-discovery,” says Mehta, 41. “I said to my partner recently: The thing that I’m most proud of … is not only the book itself, but the person I’m becoming in the process of writing the book.”

Because he was writing at home, it was hard at first to make friends. But frequent visits to Big Blue Marble bookstore in Mt. Airy turned into a job when one of the employees moved away.

“It got me out of my house and out of my head, and meeting people in my neighborhood who love books. And I have great conversations with people about books — what better thing is there to do?”

Not only has it helped Mehta build a community of fellow book lovers, it has also helped him develop a better sense of the challenges that indie bookstores face, as well as who’s buying books and why. 

“I feel like I have such a stronger sense of people’s connections to the world of literature,” he says. 

“Sometimes, as writers, we get stuck in the story and forget the way that books connect with people — it’s really great to see that. I often hear writers talking about the importance of reading like a writer. There’s something lost when you don’t read like a reader.”