The Sunday Haul (on 11-10-2015)

Though the festival season of Dasara and Diwali is less than a fortnight away the shops at Abids were closed on Sunday allowing the pavement book sellers to put up their shelves. I was glad that most of the booksellers were at their usual places. In the couple of hours I spent browsing alone I found four good titles. Every Sunday I am finding at least two good titles to take home. I have bought so many books till date this year that I have stopped counting.

I do not watch movies but I like to buy books related to movies such as autobiographies of actors, collection of movie reviews, scriptwriting books, and so on. It may sound unbelievable but I have not watched any movie by Akira Kurosawa. It is a matter of great embarrassment to be confessing this fact. I don’t understand why I haven’t tried to watch Akira Kurosawa’s movies but it fills me with regret now. I have made up my mind to get hold of his movies. When I saw a beautiful copy of ‘Something Like an Autobiography’ by Akira Kurosawa I grabbed it. I did not hesitate even when the seller told me it would cost me two hundred rupees. I was willing to pay any price for it so I paid up and took it.

The next title I found at Abids was an interesting one by an interesting person. I had read about Chris Kyle, the movie on him, and also about how he was murdered. I did not watch the movie ‘American Sniper’ when it ran here sometime recently but when I saw the book ‘American Sniper’ based on which the movie was made I took it. I was interested in knowing about Chris Kyle and I hope to learn something about this fascinating personality. I bought this almost brand new copy for just fifty rupees. It looks like an easy read and I am planning to finish it one of these days.

Last Sunday I found a nice copy of Woody Allen’s ‘Getting Even’ that I got for thirty rupees. This Sunday I found his ‘Side Effects’ that I got for thirty rupees again. It was a nice copy and I am glad I found it. I also found a copy of ‘The 5th Penguin Book of Sunday Times Crosswords’ that I got for fifty rupees. One of my younger brothers is a major crossword buff and was in the Top 10 in Indian Crossword League, an annual competition for crossword solvers. I too am interested in solving crosswords but am not such an addict as my brother is. Though I may not be able to match him I bought this book for the same reason I cannot let go of any book on books, reading, writing, and also pens.