The Week’s Haul

At last the day I had been waiting for since a month finally dawned. This Sunday was the day I was looking forward to eagerly for more than one reason. It was the first Sunday of the month and The Hindu would bring with it ‘The Literary Review’ that I read first thing in the morning. It was worth the wait because there was something in it that cheered me up. In his regular column Pradeep Sebastian wrote about Pico Iyer’s new book ‘The Man Within My Head’ which, in his view, was ‘Pico Iyer’s richest, wisest book to date’ which made me want to buy the book at the earliest. Navtej Sarna in his column ‘Second thoughts’ also mentioned Pico Iyer’s new book and also Graham Greene’s ‘The Quiet American.’ However, what I was pleased with was the fact that I have Graham Greene’s ‘The Quiet American’ that Pico Iyer seems to treat as his personal bible. I had picked up the book only last September Some day soon I am going to start reading it and find out for myself the reason for Pico Iyer’s fascination for it..

At Abids later in the morning I hunted, as usual, for books. Uma had brought along his friend Shrikant and there were six pairs of eyes looking for books. I had seen Jake Arnott’s ‘True Crime’ the previous Sunday and had not picked it up because of the price. The seller had asked for seventy rupees for the almost new book with a plastic jacket used in library copies. The copy I found was indeed a library copy. I got it this Sunday for only forty rupees and I hope it turns out to be deserving of the praise on the back cover. There’s crime in it and also humor, a combination I find very difficult to resist. ‘True Crime’ was the only book I found this Sunday.

Later during the week I got a book as a present. My brother gave me Phil Dusenberg’s ‘Then We Set His Hair on Fire’ which was something I wanted to read. It is about advertising and copywriting something which I am still interested in though I no longer write copy. However I am looking for something by Charles Dickens to read during this year since 2012 happens to be his 200th birth anniversary. I had read ‘Great Expectations’ while in high school. I plan to read it again and also at least two other titles by Charles Dickens this year. Another reason for this sudden interest in Dickens is that I have something in common with Charles Dickens- we are Aquarians.

Like it wasn’t enough adding to my anxiety about how to buy Pico Iyer’s ‘The Man Within My Head’ there was news about a new book by another of my favourite writer. I read a review somewhere of Elmore Leonard’s new book ‘Raylan’ that I now want to read right away. But I may have to wait for a long time to buy this book since my finances aren’t exactly in the right shape to spend on two new books.