The Sunday Haul (on 22-11-2015)

Not surprisingly it is on days that I make a firmer-than-usual resolve not to buy any book on my trip to Abids on Sundays that I end up buying more than the usual couple of books I invariably buy at Abids. Last Sunday this was what happened after I landed at Abids with this resolve in mind. The first book was one I didn’t really have to buy but I bought it. We don’t keep pets at home nor am I overtly fond of dogs. Though I have had a scary encounter with a huge dog at Port Blair almost a decade ago I am kindly disposed towards dogs in general. However, watching Cesar Millan’s show on TLC in which he talks about dog psychology made me more interested in dogs. My son loves dogs and is aching for a pet dog since he was a small kid it hasn’t been possible to get a pet for some reasons. Anyway, on Sunday I saw a nice copy of ‘Cesar’s Way’ that I immediately picked up. I got it for only fifty rupees.

The next book I found was ‘Chowringhee’ by Sankar that I almost grabbed off the pavement. It was a beautiful Penguin edition and I was getting it for fifty rupees only. Sometime last year I had bought Sankar’s ‘Middleman’ and after reading it had been looking for more books by Sankar. The translation was done by the well-known writer Arunava Sinha and I was glad I found this book. I am looking forward to begin reading it sometime soon. This was one buy I am not going to regret.

The next find was a book I read was flying off the shelves after the recent incidents in Paris. I have a copy of ‘A Moveable Feast’ by Ernest Hemingway that I had picked up a long time ago somewhere. I do not remember where the copy is but when I saw another copy of ‘A Moveable Feast’ I decided to buy it. It is a slim book of not more than 126 pages but cost me a little more than what I usually pay. I got it for sixty rupees and it was worth it because the copy was quite good though inside some of the pages appeared to be stained. It is one of the few books I am planning to read next after I finish the lot I am currently reading.

On the way back home I stopped at one of the three sellers and immediately found another couple of wonderful books both incidentally linked to movies. I found ‘Four Films of Woody Allen’ that I took out to see if it was in a good condition because I had made up my mind to buy it. It was in an excellent condition and my next fear was what the seller would ask. I had guessed at the price which he would quote but I was pleasantly surprised when he asked for one third of the price I had in mind. I got this book containing screenplays of four of Woody Allen’s films (Annie Hall, Interiors, Manhattan, and Stardust Memories) for just seventy five rupees.

The other book that I got at the same price was ‘Stephen King Goes To the Movies’ which was a book containing six books by Stephen King that were made into movies. There’s an introduction by King before each story telling us something about how he came to write the story and how and what liked in the movie version. The stories in this book are: 1408, The Mangler, Hearts in Atlantis, The Shawshank Redemption, Children of the Corn. This is another whopper of a book that is thicker than a brick. But I am glad I found these two books in addition to the three books I found at Abids.