The Sunday Haul and Other Stuff About Books

When compared to one of the previous years last year’s total haul at 103 books was a small one. In 2007 perhaps the number of books I had bought touched almost 200. I hope in 2012 I am not tempted to buy more than thirty or forty books. However, I missed writing about the last book of 2011 that I had picked up on Christmas Day. I found only one book and that was journalist Sarah Turnbull’s ‘Almost French.’ It is a memoir of her life in Paris after falling in love and marrying a Frenchman. I picked up this book when I saw I could get it for only twenty bucks though I was unwilling to add any more books to my 100 + list.

On the books front 2012 began on a good note. Last Sunday which turned out to the first day of 2012 I arrived at Abids repeatedly telling myself that I wouldn’t pick up any books and merely look around. But I found it impossible to prevent myself and ended up buying two books. The first book I picked up was a medical memoir that I find difficult to resist reading for some reason I cannot fathom. It was Jonathan Kaplan’s ‘Dressing Station’ that I got for only twenty rupees. I hope to read it sometime soon and not let it sit on the shelf for years together which is what sometimes happens to a few of the books I buy.

The second book was by an author I like to read because of the style and also the content. Sometime back I had found a novel by Joan Didion- ‘Run River’ (haven’t read it yet) and this Sunday I found another of her novel- ‘Play As It Lays’ that I got for the ridiculous price of ten rupees. I still have to read other books by Joan Didion that I had picked up earlier, especially ‘Slouching Towards Bethlehem’ and ‘The Year of Magical Thinking’ that I have two copies of- one a hardcover and the other a paperback. I’m hoping I can find her ‘Blue Nights’ that has been written about quite a lot in several places. Sometime in this month itself I plan to begin reading ‘slouching Towards Bethlehem.’

On my way to Abids in the morning I check out the booksellers on the left side of the road at Chikkadpally. On my way back home I check out the books with the sellers on the other side. Later in the afternoon while returning home I happened to check out one such seller at Chikkadpally who sometimes turns up with a good book. I found a nice Penguin edition copy of Somerset Maugham’s ‘Summing Up.’ When the guy said he’d give it for thirty rupees I grabbed it though I have about two copies of the same book at home. It is not easy to get the book at that price.

Then while buying a Telugu newspaper at a newspaper stand I noticed a new, glossy magazine called ‘Fountain Ink.’ It was the size of a small notebook and the quality of the paper was very good. It was priced at Rs 20 but that wasn’t the reason I bought it. There was an article on Shrilal Shukla’s ‘Raag Darbari’ which is one book I want to reread this year, in Hindi, if I find a copy somewhere.

WHAT THE MEMBERS OF THE SECUNDERABAD CLUB READ AND THE LITERARY REVIEW ETC

I had thought that since the first Sunday of the month also happens to be the first day of 2012 the Literary Review in The Hindu would be something special. But I was disappointed to find nothing of that sort. However, it was as good as it always is and I spent an enjoyable hour reading some of the articles in it.

A couple of days ago I happened to be in the room of one of my bosses who happens to be a member of Secunderabad Club. On his table was some sort of a flyer from the Club and I opened it out of curiosity. Inside was a list of all the books the Secunderabad Club had bought in the month of November for its library. It was quite a lengthy list but I do not remember all the books there. I read that the Club had purchased Murakami’s ‘IQ84’, Hari Kunru’s ‘Gods Without Men’, Michael Ondaatje’s ‘The Cat’s Table’ and James Patterson’s ‘Don’t Blink’ and other books. I am glad some members of Secunderabad Club actually read since I was always under the impression that they spend their time playing golf, cards, and drinking. But, are they lucky.

In today’s (Thursday) Metro Plus supplement of The Hindu I read Aparna Karthikeyan’s column which had a list of all the travel classics. There was Robert Byron’s ‘Oxiana’, Paul Theroux’s ‘The Pillars of Hercules’, John Steinbeck’s ‘Travels With Charley’, Bruce Chatwin’s ‘In Patagonia’, Peter Mayle’s ‘A Year in Provence’ in the list along with books by other writerss I haven’t heard about. Except ‘Oxiana’ that I do not have I have the other three books in my collection. I haven’t really heard about Robert Berendt and AA Gill but now I am going to look for their books. Oddly enough but there was no mention of some great travel writers like Pico Iyer, Wilfred Thesiger, Ryszard Kapuscinski or Jan Morris either. Paul Theroux’s ‘Pillars of Hercules’ is one book I am desperately looking for in addition to his ‘Fresh Air Fiend’ that I found and missed sometime ago.

All this in just the first week of the new year!