The Sunday Super Haul

In this year by the end of September, I noticed that I have bought exactly one hundred and thirty five books. All of the with the exception of a couple of books are second hand books that I picked off the pavements at Abids on Sundays. I’ve found some good ones at Chikkadpally too and also at second hand bookstores and at sale of secondhand books. When I realized I had bought too many books I thought I’d go a little easy on my book buying at Abids. I’ve made similar resolves in the past but somehow the week I’ve made such resolution I happen to find books that I absolutely cannot resist buying. Last Sunday full of such a resolve I set out for Abids with the intention of returning home empty handed. But even before I got to Abids, at Chikkadpally itself, I came up with a super haul of five books.

The first book I saw was one I had seen earlier at Abids many years ago but somehow hadn’t bought it. This time I did not want to miss Henry Miller’s ‘Quiet Days in Clichy’ which was in a good condition. The second book I saw was Andre Gide’s ‘The Counterfeiters’’ and the third book was Soren Kierkegaard’s ‘Either/Or’ two books by writers I am nervous to read. Anyway I bought them along with a good copy of Jack Kerouac’s ‘On the Road’ that I already own. I have this habit of buying multiple copies of some books. I had to pay quite a large sum for these books but I did not regret since they are all good books and I wouldn’t have forgiven myself I had not bought those books.

At Abids the first book I saw and also bought was Pankaj Mishra’s ‘Temptations of the West’ that I did not exactly want to buy since it was quite a hefty tome though I wanted to read it. I offered to pay a ridiculous price for it and to my surprise the seller agreed to it which was even more ridiculous. I was glad that I got the book at my price. After finding all these books I was on a sort of high. However at the back of my mind was the doubt whether I would be able to find time to finish reading all the books I was buying since I am in a job where I am not finding much time for things like reading books or watching television.

The surprise find of the day was a book I had been searching all along and had also found recently at Delhi. I came upon a reasonably decent copy of Arun Joshi’s ‘The Apprentice’ that I knew I’d find someday at Abids. I already have two new copies of this title that I found at Delhi at the Book Fair sometime in September this year. This buy capped off the Sunday’s haul that was one of the best hauls of the year. However, I now have a hundred and forty one books added to my ever growing collection.