In The Hindu’s ‘Literary Review’ supplement of this month, in his column ‘Classics Revisited’ Ravi Vyas had reviewed a book by an author I had not heard about before. The book under review was ‘The Death of Artemio Cruz’, and the author was Carlos Fuentes. The name stuck in my mind because he had mentioned it along with other great Latin American writers like Marquez, Octavio Paz and Pablo Neruda. While going through the review I thought it unlikely I would be coming across any book by Fuentes here. Imagine my shock when on Sunday I spotted a book by none other than by Carlos Fuentes, at Abids. It was ‘The Old Gringo’ and it was mine for only ten bucks. The paperback was by Perennial Fiction Library from Harper & Row Publishers, and was in good condition.
The blurbs had very high praise for the book from Michiko Kakutani of the New York Times: ‘A dazzling novel that possesses the weight and resonance of myth.’ The novel is about the imagined fate of journalist and writer Ambrose Bierce who vanished during the Civil War in Mexico. The first good find of Sunday set the tone for the rest of the hunt which resulted in a good haul.
With same seller I found a brand new copy of Mary Karr’s memoir, ‘The Liars Club, for only ten bucks again. And coincidentally Michiko Kakutani’s high praise for this book of Penguin too was on the cover- ‘Astonishing…one of the most dazzling and moving memoir to come along in years.’ I had seen a copy at a second hand bookstore but it was priced at fifty rupees and the copy too was not in such a good condition. I felt glad I found this book about which I had read somewhere.
Another book I picked up from a heap of books selling for ten rupees was Alice Hoffman’s ‘Black Bird House’ which I hadn’t seen earlier though I saw umpteen copies of her other book- Practical Magic. I also picked up another book ‘Man’s Body’ more for my son than for myself, because he is forever asking me questions about how our body functions. I hope he finds the answers to all his questions in this illustrated book.
I also found a book that might help me improve my writing- ‘Writing Clear Paragraphs’ by Prentice Hall publishers. The book did not seem like an academic textbook at all though it was a textbook for high school students to help them write essays. I got this book for thirty rupees and it was a bargain because of its good condition. The only problem is finding the time to read this book.
Next was a magazine that I found, one of my favorites- Conde Nast Traveller. I got the absolutely latest issue, that of February 2008 and I got it for only twenty rupees. I felt glad for it had fantastic pictures and articles about places like Bhutan, Norway, Namibia, Maldives where I don’t think I would ever travel to unless I get a fantastic advance for my yet to be written book!
But the last book was a surprise again. It was a most unusual book, the sort which I don’t normally buy. It was ‘The Worst Case Survival Handbook’ by Joshua Piven and David Borgenicht, and published by. The book offered advice and handy tips about situations where you need to know how to escape from a bear or wrestle from an alligator. It also gave advice on how to escape from quicksand, how to survive an avalanche and so on. Though it dealt with the sort of situations one doesn’t normally get into in Hyderabad I bought the book for its attractive yellow cover and also because it seemed a steal for just twenty rupees.
Six books and a magazine for only one hundred and twenty books isn’t such a bad haul.
The blurbs had very high praise for the book from Michiko Kakutani of the New York Times: ‘A dazzling novel that possesses the weight and resonance of myth.’ The novel is about the imagined fate of journalist and writer Ambrose Bierce who vanished during the Civil War in Mexico. The first good find of Sunday set the tone for the rest of the hunt which resulted in a good haul.
With same seller I found a brand new copy of Mary Karr’s memoir, ‘The Liars Club, for only ten bucks again. And coincidentally Michiko Kakutani’s high praise for this book of Penguin too was on the cover- ‘Astonishing…one of the most dazzling and moving memoir to come along in years.’ I had seen a copy at a second hand bookstore but it was priced at fifty rupees and the copy too was not in such a good condition. I felt glad I found this book about which I had read somewhere.
Another book I picked up from a heap of books selling for ten rupees was Alice Hoffman’s ‘Black Bird House’ which I hadn’t seen earlier though I saw umpteen copies of her other book- Practical Magic. I also picked up another book ‘Man’s Body’ more for my son than for myself, because he is forever asking me questions about how our body functions. I hope he finds the answers to all his questions in this illustrated book.
I also found a book that might help me improve my writing- ‘Writing Clear Paragraphs’ by Prentice Hall publishers. The book did not seem like an academic textbook at all though it was a textbook for high school students to help them write essays. I got this book for thirty rupees and it was a bargain because of its good condition. The only problem is finding the time to read this book.
Next was a magazine that I found, one of my favorites- Conde Nast Traveller. I got the absolutely latest issue, that of February 2008 and I got it for only twenty rupees. I felt glad for it had fantastic pictures and articles about places like Bhutan, Norway, Namibia, Maldives where I don’t think I would ever travel to unless I get a fantastic advance for my yet to be written book!
But the last book was a surprise again. It was a most unusual book, the sort which I don’t normally buy. It was ‘The Worst Case Survival Handbook’ by Joshua Piven and David Borgenicht, and published by. The book offered advice and handy tips about situations where you need to know how to escape from a bear or wrestle from an alligator. It also gave advice on how to escape from quicksand, how to survive an avalanche and so on. Though it dealt with the sort of situations one doesn’t normally get into in Hyderabad I bought the book for its attractive yellow cover and also because it seemed a steal for just twenty rupees.
Six books and a magazine for only one hundred and twenty books isn’t such a bad haul.
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