For the second time in three days I found myself in yet another second hand bookstore. Yesterday afternoon I was in Best Book Centre at Lakdi-ka-pul searching the racks eagerly for a good book. It is in this place that I’ve found most of the books I have in my collection. This store has a large collection of books spread over two floors. In my opinion it is the best maintained second hand bookstore in Hyderabad.
Here I came upon a title that seemed vaguely familiar. It was Arnold Bennett’s ‘How to Live on 24 Hours a Day’. I hadn’t come across this book earlier and so I picked it up paying sixty rupees for it. Back home in the evening, I checked the reviews on Amazon.com and they were all highly appreciative of it. Then I flipped through the slim volume previously owned by ‘NV Wickramasinghe;’ as inscribed in two places. It was only 126 pages long. Here is what it says on the blurb:
‘This is one of the greatest, most treasured books of all time. The reason? It tells the secret of successful living- how to make the most of every hour of life.’
About the author, Arnold Bennett it seems he wrote 4,00,000 words a year in fiction, plays and articles and also found time to enjoy cycling, yachting, billiards, painting and music. He had written the bestseller- The Old Wive’s Tale. I am embarrassed to admit I haven’t read a single book written by Arnold Bennett. But I plan to make up by looking for his books and reading them.
In the author’s preface someone had underlined these lines- ‘It is always the man who has tasted life who demands more of it. And it is always the man who never gets out of bed who is the most difficult to rouse.’
More about this book after I read it which I plan to do soon.
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