A Mid-Week Haul

It feels wonderful to have one’s wishes (however minor) granted not very long after you’ve made them. Sometime last month I had resolved to buy Joan Didion’s ‘The Year of Magical Thinking’ after failing to find a second-hand copy anywhere. I wanted to begin the New Year by reading something good. I had seen the book at Odyssey a couple of months ago and had also read a few pages right there in the store. Reading it made me want to buy it urgently but the price was too high and unaffordable. For the same amount I could get nearly a dozen books at Abids. I put off the decision to buy a new copy of Didion’s book and wished I could find a second hand copy of ‘The Year of Magical Thinking’ soon.

Last Friday I happened to drop in at Frankfurt Book Store at Begumpet for a quick look at the books on sale. The title ‘The Year of Magical Thinking’ leaped up from one of the spines of the books stacked side by side on a table. I pulled out the book and found it was a hardcover copy and a first edition to boot. But I guess the icing on the cake was the price- only one hundred rupees, far, far less than the original price. But, even if I wanted to buy a new copy I doubt if I would have found a hardcover copy not to mention a first edition copy anywhere.

I have Joan Didion’s novel ‘Run River’ and maybe ‘The White Album’ that I am waiting for a quiet time to read. But the book I am looking for is the one that made her famous- ‘Slouching Towards Bethlehem’ that I hope I will find soon. If I can find her latest book that I wrote about in a previous post that would be terrific.

After I picked up the book I read in the papers about the sale of ‘pre-owned’ books by Best Books at YMCA, Secunderabad that began on the 7th of January. The next day I landed there and was quite astonished to find a paperback copy of ‘The Year of Magical Thinking’ on sale. It was almost brand new and the price was Rs 125. The hardcover, first edition of the same title that I had I picked up at Frankfurt was cheaper and I am glad I bought the hardcover. I was tempted to buy the paperback too but I did not. Apart from this book there was Dave Barry’s ‘Dave Barry is Not Taking This Sitting Down’ which I already have. I was also tempted to buy this book too but, mercifully, the feeling passed. I wanted someone else to discover Dave Barry. The sale of books is until 23rd January which means I can make a couple more visits.