FRIDAY DOUBLE POST: Post-2: The Sunday Haul

Last Sunday was the last Sunday of the year 2013. Though I had picked up almost 180 books I did not stop from buying more books. In fact the previous Sunday too I picked up two books that I had not written about on the blog. They were Somerset Maugham’s ‘Points of View’ that I found at Chikkadpally on the way home from Abids for only thirty rupees. It was not in such a good condition but then it is almost impossible to find some titles by Somerset Maugham so I picked it up.
Earlier at Abids I had found Madhur Jaffrey’s ‘Vegetarian Cookery’ that I got for only thirty rupees. It was in a good condition. I had also picked up a November-December 2002 issue of National Geographic Traveler that I got for twenty rupees.

Last Sunday the first find at Abids was a book that I picked up from a heap of books selling for only twenty rupees after reading the title. It was a funny sounding title and I had a hunch that it could be a good book. The book was ‘The Fools in Town Are On Our Side’ by Ross Thomas. Honestly, I had never heard of Ross Thomas and I bought the book on a hunch. After I searched on the net for reviews of this book I got a pleasant surprise to discover that Ross Thomas has been compared to Raymond Chandler. I felt very pleased that I had laid my hands on a good book that I got for only twenty rupees.

The second find was an autobiography that sounded interesting. It was Sheila Cassidy’s ‘Audacity to Believe’ that is an account of the time the author spent in Chile including a stint in jail imprisoned by Pinochet and his gang. With these two books the total number of books I bought in 2013 shot up. This wasn’t the only haul since I found another title which was a childrens book. It was ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ by Maurice Sendak. This is the second copy of this title that I have. The first copy too I had bought at Abids and at almost the same price- twenty rupees.