The Sunday Haul

The short story collections on my book shelf have now grown to more than a dozen titles. It is still growing with one or two titles being added every two months or so. I am finding good titles at Abids and I have made it a point not to miss any collection of short stories by writers I haven’t heard about. Last Sunday I found a slim book- ‘Fast Lanes’ by Jayne Anne Philips- that turned out to be a collection of just seven short stories- How Mickey Made It, Rayme, Fast Lanes, Bluegill, Something That Happened, Blue Moon, and Bess . I haven’t ever heard of Jayne Anne Philips before but I did not hesitate to buy this title since I was getting it for only twenty rupees. It was worth more than that since the title story that I read first was very good.

One of the best things to happen in my life is coming across Dave Barry’s writing. Reading just one paragraph of his is enough to bring me back from the darkest of my moods and leave me in splits. The second find of Sunday was another title that I probably must have bought several copies of- Dave Barry’s Greatest Hits’’ by Dave Barry. I like this book tremendously and give it to anyone who appears interested after I tell him/her that Dave Barry is one of the funniest writers in the world. Recently I read his ‘Money Secrets’ that I had found at the Hyderabad Book Fair last year and needlessly to say it is very, very funny. ‘Boogers are My Beat’ is the only Dave Barry title I do not have and I hope I find it very soon somewhere.