The Sunday Haul

Somewhere on the top of my ‘Most Wanted’ titles is Ted Lewis’s ‘Get Carter’ that I have been trying to find since a couple of years. Ever since I found a screenplay of ‘Get Carter’ I have kept my eyes peeled for the book whenever I go book hunting in Abids and elsewhere. So far I haven’t been able to find it but last Sunday I came close. I found ‘All the Way Home and All the Night Through’ which, I read somewhere, is the first novel written by Ted Lewis and also a title that is not very easy to find. I am quite pleased that I found this book at Abids and paid only thirty rupees for it.

The second find of Sunday was a crime fiction title by an author I haven’t heard before-Theodore Wilden. I picked up solely on the basis of the cover which was arresting and also had Eric Ambler’s endorsement on it. I hope it turns out to be a good read for the twenty five rupees I paid for it. The third find too I bought for the cover alone but this wasn’t any other book but a book of recipes. I got Chandra Padmanabhan’s ‘dakshin’ for just forty rupees. It was published in 1992 and looks quite attractive. I hope the recipes in it are just as good.

I read in the papers that an event that I eagerly wait for -the Hyderabad Book Fair- will be held this year from 7-15 December at NTR Stadium instead of the usual venue at People’s Plaza on Necklace Road. I am filled with excitement as well as with some trepidation because I do not know how many books I will find at the fair that I have to absolutely buy. I have already begun the countdown and I want to be there on the very first day. Since it would be in the first week of the month I’d be with a full wallet which means I can buy whatever book I like. But before that I have to somehow make space for all the books I plan to buy at the Book Fair.