A Midweek Haul

There’s nothing more exciting for a book lover than finding a book on books. Over the years I’ve managed to find books on writing ( more than 100 titles) books on reading ( ‘Ruined by Reading’ by Lynne Sharon Schwartz, ‘Ex-Libris’ Anne Fadiman, ‘How Reading Changed My Life’ by Anna Quindlen, ‘How to Read and Why’ by Harold Bloom ) and a few books on books (‘The Groaning Shelf’ by Pradeep Sebastian, ‘84, Charing Cross Road’ by Helene Hanff) and also a few memoirs by editors and publishers (‘Stet’ by Diana Athill, ‘At Random’ by Bennett Cerf). But nothing interests me as much as reading a book on books. Sometime last week I cut loose from the tedium at the office and dropped in at the Best Books store at Lakdikapul. There I found ‘The Bantam Story’ by Clarence Petersen. I leafed through the book and discovered it is a treasure trove of information about paperback publishing. I was surprised that this book was priced at just fifty rupees which was a small price to pay for such a wonderful book. In a later post I will try to write more about ‘The Bantam Story.’

Somewhere in a book on writing I remember reading a scene in which a young man refused to meet some guests his father had invited to a party. I did not take note of where these passages were taken from but I remember the effect the scene had on me. I had thought that the young man was being rude though I did not know the reasons.

After picking up ‘The Bantam Story’ the next book I saw was a brand new copy of ‘The Graduate’ by Charles Webb. It was a Penguin title that I rarely miss buying. But before buying it I decided to read the first paragraphs. I was surprised to see that the scene I had read about sometime back in the book on writing came from ‘The Graduate’ by Charles Webb. It sealed my decision to buy the book. It was priced at hundred rupees but I did not mind it because I realized I wouldn’t be able to find the title on the pavement at Abids.