A Mixed Haul

My fifty third birthday turned out to the one of the luckiest in terms of the presents I got. Two friends gave me titles of my choice. A friend from Mumbai sent me ‘Vanity Bagh’ by Anees Salim, and Hari bought for me ‘The Girl Who Ate Books’ by Nilanjana Roy on the day I turned 53. Just when the birthday high started to come down Jai made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. He generously asked me to choose any title that I wanted as his gift to me on my birthday. I mentioned two titles and he, knowing how much I love books (in fact, he named me as ‘Bibliovenator’) ordered ‘Second Thoughts’ by Navtej Sarna. I did not realize it would be such a beautiful book with a pale yellow color and superior looks. I have been following his column in The Hindu and many of the essays on books, reading, and writers/writing in the ‘Second Thoughts’ are those I have already read. But it is always a good idea to have them all at one place and this book does just that. Thank you, Jai for the wonderful gift.

Sometime last week I was in Abids when it wasn’t a Sunday. Whenever I am in a locality I always make it a point to check out the bookstores in the neighborhood to see if there is anything worth buying. Needless to say I always I chance upon something that I feel I must, must buy and also end up buying it. So when I saw ‘The Zebra Striped Hearse’ by Ross Macdonald I knew I had to buy it, and bought it right away. Later on Sunday at Abids I saw a copy of ‘Riding in Cars’ with Beverly Donofrio that had the Penguin logo on the cover. It looked interesting so I picked it up. It cost me only thirty rupees.