Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Two Midweek Finds and A No Haul Sunday

It was one of those rare Sundays when I returned from Abids without picking up a single book. One reason could be that I had not gone at my usual time in the morning. I had to visit my niece in hospital in the morning so it got late. Moreover it was very hot so I decided to go in the evening. I got only an hour to browse and though I saw July 2007's 'Conde Nast Traveler' and April 2008's 'New Yorker' magazines I did not buy them. I also saw 'Hungry Ocean' by Linda Greenlaw and 'Kill Shot' by Elmore Leonard. I have both books so I didn't pick them up though I was getting them for only twenty rupees each. Earlier in the week, on Thursday I found two good books by one of my favorite writers- Elmore Leonard.

There have been very few occasions when I have returned from a bookstore without a book in hand. Though the shelves at home are overflowing with books with no space for any more books I decided to buy just these two books. I couldn’t resist buying them because they were written by Elmore Leonard and they were titles I haven’t read before.

The first book was ‘The Hunted’ and according to the blurbs it is a story set in Israel and promises to be a great read if the praise at the back of the book is any thing to go by. The other book was ‘The Moonshine War’ and this book too promises to be a great read as all Elmore Leonard books are. It is about a bootlegger in the thirties and is shorter than the other book. Which makes me wonder which book I should start first. It is a tough decision!

Incidentally, Thursday's supplement in The Hindu, ‘Downtown’ carried an article on one of the biggest second hand bookstores in Hyderabad, the Best Book Centre branch at Abids/Boggulkunta. It has a large collection of books and I found several good books there but the prices are on the higher side. Still, it is a good place to browse for some real finds.

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