Tuesday, October 07, 2008

The Sunday Haul- Two Books


I don’t think I’ll ever get to visit London in this lifetime, unless of course, they decide to give me the Booker Prize! By no stretch of imagination can I hope to win that coveted prize but if I ever go to London I know how to find my way out in that city and also visit some good second hand bookstores. That’s because on Sunday I found ‘TimeOut London Walks: 30 Walks by London Writers'.

A couple of years before the second hand book market in Delhi’s Darya Ganj disappeared altogether, I happened to be there on a book hunt. I was in Delhi on a short visit and had decided to check out the books there. I found a book by one of my favorite authors- Len Deighton, one that wasn’t the type of book that he has become famous for. It was a non-fiction title on London- ‘London Dossier.’

‘London Dossier’ is about all there is to see, experience and eat in London. The book was written several years ago but is well written with the eye of a writer who misses no detail. I got the book for thirty or forty bucks back then. Along with Sunday’s find of ‘London Walks’ I’m pretty much update with London. Now only going there remains.

As it was still festival shopping time, all the regular shops were open leaving only a few booksellers to display their stuff. I had met a friend who found an original edition of Orhan Pamuk’s ‘My Name is Red’, for ninety rupees. It was a good find and I hope to read it after he finishes reading it.

Later I stopped at the booksellers at Chikkadpally and my eyes caught a name- Michael Ridpath, which appeared familiar. I had not come across that name earlier but somehow I felt I should pick up the book which was ‘Trading Reality’. On the back page, Daily Telegraph describes the book as ‘Gripping.’ I got the book for twenty five rupees only which was quite cheap considering the book was in a good condition with more than four hundred and fifty pages.

That was the Sunday haul of two books. Soon I’ll post about ‘London Walks’ which appears quite interesting.

2 comments:

phaedra said...

London is one of my favourite places and id like to borrow this book if thats ok. Will be glad to barter :)

Vinod Ekbote said...

Agreed :-)