Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Elmore Leonard Again at Abids

In the previous post I had listed out all the Elmore Leonard books I don’t have. I don’t have about 16 of his books. The day before yesterday, at Abids, I found Elmore Leonard's 52 Pickup- and I got it for only twenty rupees. It was in good condition though the book was published in 1974! I was glad about the find though since I was slowly acquiring all the books written by Elmore Leonard. This month seemed especially lucky for I found three books by him so far- Mr.Paradise, 52 Pickup and second copies of Maximum Bob and Bandits

A little earlier, I had found another book on writing. It was ‘Teaching Your Children to Write’ by Cheri Fuller. I got this 200 + pages book for only fifty rupees. I bought it more to learn from it myself than to teach my son to write though the book might come in handy when he begins to show interest in writing. He reads a lot of books and does a bit of drawing but hasn’t, so far, shown much interest in writing.

One line I read in the introductory chapter said; A Good Writer is a Good Thinker, which says it all.

I saw in the heap of books selling for five and ten rupees several books by Phyllis A Whitney, Russel Baker’s ‘Growing up’ and also Kirk Douglas’ ‘Ragman’s Son’ both which I have. The last book I picked up yesterday was a second copy of Carson McCullers’ ‘Ballad of the Sad Café and other Stories’. I have this book I had found sometime last month. A friend had asked for it and I picked it up to give it away. I got the book for only ten rupees.

Sometimes I feel terribly sad that really good books are selling for so cheap a rate- five rupees and ten rupees! It wouldn't have imaginable a few years earlier that good books would be available for throway prices. Also, the way the sellers heap the books like they are vegetables pains me a little. These guys show little regard for books. That's one grouse I have against the Abids booksellers.

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