The Sale Haul- 2

On normal days I find it difficult to keep myself from visiting at least one of the more than half a dozen second hand bookstores in Hyderabad. I drop in at least two such stores in the middle of the week even after I’ve been to the Abids book bazaar on Sundays where thousands of books are laid out on the pavements. But when a sale of second hand books is going on in Hyderabad it is impossible for me not to drop in there every other day. In the Best Books sale that took place in the first fortnight of September I’ve managed to buy seven books in the three visits I made to the sale. I went there once again last Friday and ended up buying six more books and added another book on another visit on Saturday which was the last day of the sale.

Despite possessing scores of books on writing I cannot resist buying more of then whenever I see them. This maybe because I haven’t yet managed to achieve a certain level of proficiency in writing. One of the books on writing I have is ‘On Being a Novelist’ by John Gardner that I found a couple of years ago. However I do not have his other book- ‘The Art of Fiction’ that I managed to read after borrowing it from a friend. I have been looking for this acclaimed title since long. On my third visit to the Best Book sale, a day before the last day of the sale this was the first title I spotted on a shelf minutes after I went in. Needless to say, I grabbed it. Later I found ‘Small Memories’ by Jose Saramago, the Nobel Prize winner. It was a compact little book and I felt terribly pleased to find it. I wondered why I did not see these books on my earlier visits to the sale.

In the section of books being sold by weight I was surprised to find some really interesting titles. Next to books on writing I never fail to buy books on books. So when I saw ‘So Many Books, So Little Time’ by Sara Nelson I was delighted. It was a sort of account of the year Sara Nelson spent reading one book a week.

Next I saw another wonderful title that I already have a copy of. I found ‘No Great Mischief’ by Alistair MacLeod on another table. It was a good copy and I grabbed it without much hesitation. I do not understand how it ended up in this pile of books being sold by weight. Since these two titles wouldn’t add up to a kilo which was the minimum to be bought I looked among the hefty titles but couldn’t find anything good. I picked a crime fiction title ‘Vendetta’ by Michael Dibdin and ‘The Italian Neighbors’ by Tim Parks. These four titles added up to a kilo of books that I got for only eighty rupees. I had bought my first copy of ‘No Great Mischief’ in a similar sale for two hundred and fifty rupees.

Next day, that is Saturday, was my friend Daniel’s birthday so he took me out for lunch at Paradise. After a long leisurely lunch I suggested that we drop in at the sale since he too is a book junkie like me. I was eager to visit since it was the last day of the sale and I thought maybe I would be able to find some title that might escaped my eye on my earlier visits. Luckily I was able to find another interesting title, a memoir of a writer, a well-known one. In the pile of books being sold by weight I found ‘Teacher Man’ by Frank McCourt. I added it to the pile of books that Daniel had picked up and also paid for which means I got it for free!

Adding all the books I’ve picked up during the four or five visits I made to the Best Book sale it comes to fifteen (15) books.