Tuesday, February 12, 2008

The Sunday Haul of Books

It was a good haul of books that I had on Sunday at Abids. I found four good books. I might have found more books but for a friend who insisted on tagging along and kept up a constant chatter which was distracting. It was a sunny and warm Sunday and there seemed to be more than the normal crowd at Abids. It was just that sort of a day when one expects something nice to happen. As expected I had a good day netting fourbooks.

My first find was Peggy Noonan’s ‘What I saw at the Revolution: A Political Life in the Reagan Era’, her memoirs as a speech writer for Ronald Reagan. (The only thing I know about Ronald Reagan is that he too was born on 6th February, the same day I was born). The blurb described that ‘Noonan writes like an angel’ and somewhere it said it was funny in parts. Being a sucker for memoirs and autobiographies I picked up this Ivy Books copy to see how angels wrote. I got this 360 pages book in good condition for only twenty rupees.

The next find was Sherwood Anderson’s ‘Winesburg, Ohio’, a book I had read about while researching for my post about writers who were copywriters. I always try to read the introductions to the books I pick up though I don’t read the books soon after I buy them. ‘Winesburg, Ohio’ has an introduction by Malcolm Cowley where he writes that Anderson was a ‘writer’s writer’ and was a sort of mentor to Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner and also to Thomas Wolfe. It was this line that made me feel I was glad I picked up the book- ‘Anderson had the gift for summing up, for pouring a lifetime into a moment.’ I am eager to read the book to see how Anderson managed to do it. Another incentive to read the book soon is the blurb which says that ‘Winesburg, Ohio’ is Anderson’s best work.

The next find was Francis Chichester’s ‘The Lonely Sea and the Sky’, his autobiography. I vaguely remember he was Sir Francis Chichester and was an adventurer. It was quite a bulky book and I picked it up as it was an adventurer’s autobiography and I like to read their tales. Inside, I read that Francis Chichester was the first man to make the world’s first solo long distance seaplane flight in 1931. Chichester was also the first person to win the first solo sailing race across the Atlanctic in 1960. I got this 400-pages book also for twenty rupees.

The last find was a surprise. I found another copy of a book by my favorite writer-Dave Barry. I found a brand new copy of his hilarious book, ‘Dave Barry’s Guide to Guys’ for only twenty rupees. I gave away several copies of this funny book to friends, and I picked up this too to be given away to someone who needs a good laugh. I got all the above four books for only twenty rupees each.

There were scores of hardcover editions of new titles selling for only ten rupees. I feel sad that there are no takers for books even at such ridiculous prices.

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