Monday, December 10, 2007

The Sunday Haul of Books

It was a beautiful Sunday morning in Hyderabad- warm, bright and sunny. Add to it, there was the full complement of booksellers at Abids and I spent half the day browsing among the never-ending heaps of books. I found three good books this Sunday. It looks like December is going to be another lucky month for me in terms of books. On Friday I had found two good books and this Sunday’s haul adds to my pile of books that is slowly reaching the two hundred mark.

The first book I found in a pile of books selling for ten rupees was William Styron’s ‘Sophie’s Choice’, a 626 page classic that looks like a door stopper. But it was a good copy and I was glad I found this classic though I have to find time to read it. I had found another of Styron's books sometime in May this year, the one he wrote about his depression- Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness. I had found this book before I started this blog but I will write about it in the post I plan to do about the best books I had found this year.

The second book I found with same bookseller was Elmore Leonard’s 'La Brava' and this was a better copy than the one I had found last month. I got the book for twenty rupees and I plan to give the second copy to a friend who asked for a book since I was praising Elmore Leonard highly.

But the find of the day was a short, almost-new book- ‘A Short Guide to a Happy Life’ by Anna Quindlen. It isn’t actually a book length work but a long essay in fifty pages half of which are filled with pictures. But it is a lovely book and I picked up the two copies that were available. I got the books for twenty rupees. The books were in pristine condition and were brand new with absolutely no defacement. What’s more the copies were first editions!

I also picked up two magazines- the April 2007 issue of Conde Nast Traveler and the October 2007 issue of Man’s World. I was content with what I had found this Sunday and returned home a happy man.

No comments: