One of the few things I find impossible to resist is buying good copies of books I already have. When I enjoy reading a good book I think of people I know who will also enjoy reading the same book. Since I can’t give my copy I try to pick up copies for them whenever I find copies. Last Sunday I picked up two such books that I already have and coincidentally both were copies of books by one of my favorite writers- Len Deighton.
At Chikkadpally I found a paperback copy of Deighton’s ‘To Catch A Falling Spy’ and got it for only ten rupees. The book is also available with a different title ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Spy’ which I have with me. The other Len Deighton title I found at Abids was ‘Yesterday’s Spy’ which I had reread only last year. The copy I found was a beautiful hard bound copy complete with dust jacket that I picked up from a heap of books selling for only thirty rupees. It turned out to a book withdrawn from South Hadley Library, Massachussets and had ‘1975’ stamped on it.
In the same heap I found another hardcover book- ‘Sydney’ by Jan Morris- which will be a welcome addition to my shelf of travel books. At Chikkadpally I had also picked up George Orwell’s ‘Nineteen Eighty Four’ that I got for only ten rupees. Then at Abids at another seller I picked up William Diehl’s ‘Sharky’s Machine’ that I remember reading about somewhere. ‘Sharky’s Machine’ sounds like it is going to be a good read but I don’t know when I will get to read the books since I have a tremendous backlog of books that I have to read.
I had set out thinking I wouldn’t buy a single book but ended up buying five good books in all last Sunday for less than a hundred rupees.
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