The Sunday Haul

What’s the best thing that could happen to an Elmore Leonard fan? Finding a new title by the master craftsman he hasn’t read earlier. That was what happened to me this Sunday at Abids. I found Elmore Leonard’s ‘Touch’ which I hadn’t come across anywhere until then. The surprising thing was that I found it in the unlikeliest place and also got it at an unlikeliest price- ten rupees. I felt very happy on this lucky find. The New York Times blurb at the back said ‘Abounds with many of the touches that make Mr. Leonard a national resource.’ I now have two of his books to be read- this and ‘Moonshine Wars.’ I have to begin reading one of these two soon.

Another book I couldn’t resist buying was by an unknown author. I picked it up because the copy was too good to ignore and also the price was just ten rupees. It was ‘Return to Paris’ by Colette Rossant. It is a memoir with recipes it said on the cover. Colette Rossant is the author of Apricots on the Nile which I seem to have seen somewhere. I bought the book to see if I have picked up a good book. I wanted to test my judgment.

I was done with the usual Abids sellers by noon so this Sunday I decided to try out newer sellers and so went to the GPO side. There was an entire stretch of books laid out. In the neatly arranged books I managed to find the March 2008 issue of ‘Men’s Health’ magazine. I got it for only twenty rupees. Apart from the usual stuff on fitness, health tips, style guide and such things guys look for I found consolation in this magazine for something that was bothering me.

For quite a long time I had been wondering if I was doing the right thing buying second hand books. The magazine had a column called ‘7 Tips From Readers and the fourth tip in it was: ‘Buy used books’- roughly two million trees are felled each year to print new books. That appeared a good enough reason to buy second hand books.

For some reason I decided to go to Koti to check out the books there. It had been quite a long time since I’ve been to Koti. It turned out to be a good decision because I spotted Hari Kunzru’s ‘The Impressionist’. It was a brand new copy and I didn’t have the heart to leave it for someone to pick it up so I bought it for myself. I paid only hundred rupees for this Penguin imprint. Though I normally do not buy new books of contemporary Indian writers this time I made an exception. An honorable exception, I guess.