The Super Haul

It was too good to be true and also hard to believe, at first. There was this book I had been waiting to find since the past few years and had lost all hopes of ever finding it since it was sort of rare. But there it was, right before my eyes, waiting to be picked up. I was at the sale of books by Best Books at YMCA in Secunderabad on Monday, the same day I had read about it in the papers. I unhesitatingly picked up WG Sebald’s ‘The Rings of Saturn’ which is one of the ten odd books listed as travel classics in Lonely Planet Travel Writing. Anyway, I put aside a book of short stories- ‘Island’ by Alastair MaCLeod that I had planned to buy and instead picked up ‘The Rings of Saturn.’ I had also found two titles by Raymond Chandler ‘The Big Sleep’ and ‘The Little Sister’ as well as another title that I was looking for- Cormac McCarthy’s ‘Blood Meridian.’ Also on the shelves were many other titles I wanted to buy but couldn’t due to budget problems. Adding to the excitement was the fact that I had also spotted Tom Wolfe’s ‘The New Journalism’ that Uma was looking for since god knows how long. I was eager to go back home and go through the find. But when I got home I realized my mistake.

When I opened ‘The Rings of Saturn’ I saw that the book began from page five which meant that the first four pages were missing! I was crestfallen and almost heartbroken about the discovery because I can never find another copy of the book. But luckily on Amazon I saw that what was missing was just two pages of the first chapter which I typed out. I plan to print these paragraphs out and paste in my copy so it could be complete in some way. When I checked the reviews of Alistair MacLeod’s ‘Islands’ I saw that it was a book not to be missed so I went back the next day and picked up the hardcover jacketed copy. While at it I also picked up James Cameron’s ‘An Indian Summer’ that I had failed to buy on an earlier occasion years ago. In all, in just two days I had bought six books not counting Jan Morris’ ‘Conundrum’ that I found at Abids on Sunday.

Earlier in the week on Sunday we had scoured the pavements at Abids but did not find anything worth finding until it was time for me to leave. At that moment I spotted ‘Conundrum’ by Jan Morris and bought it for fifty rupees. ‘Conundrum’ is an account of the gender change process that Jan Morris underwent. How James Morris became Jan Morris might be interesting to read. However I did not feel guilty that I had bought so many books. I would consider them as gifts for myself on my fiftieth birthday that falls on Wednesday. There’s nothing like good books to cheer one up on such a momentous occasion.

Last Sunday brought with it ‘The Literary Review’ in The Hindu with interviews of Mridula Koshy and also Benyamin. There was the announcement of Lit for Life that begins sometime next week in Chennai. The curtain raiser at Delhi had already begun and yesterday (Thursday) the titles on the short list for the Fiction Prize were revealed. There was a writer I had not known about till now- Easterine Kire but I think Anjum Hasan might win for ‘Difficult Pleasures’ or maybe Jeet Thayil for ‘Narcopolis.’ It could be someone else ultimately. Anyway I am seriously planning to go to Chennai to attend the Lit Fest provided everything goes right. Inside the Literary Review there was the detailed schedule for the two days. I read that Sidin Vadukut would be coming so would be Pradeep Sebastian, Jerry Pinto, Nilanjana S. Roy, Timeri N. Murari and others who it might be a delight to see in person.