The Sunday Haul (on 17-04-2016)

Even a heatwave couldn’t deter me from my quest for books at Abids on Sunday morning. I hadn’t been to Abids the previous Sunday and I was filled with that restlessness that I feel when I miss my Sunday hunt for books on the pavements of Abids. I rushed to Abids as soon as I was ready, equipped with cap and a bottle of water since I knew it would be pretty hot and that I would be thirsty. Fortunately there was a slight breeze which made the heat bearable. I decided to stay in the shade for as long as possible. Not very soon after I found the first title.
The first title I found was ‘Little Birds’ by Anais Nin. I had read about Anais Nin but hadn’t found any book by her so far, not that I had been looking for them. It was a small book with about a dozen stories. I got this book for thirty rupees and this was from a seller who thinks he is very smart and quotes high prices if you show the slightest interest in the book you pick up from the pavement. This time I felt I had outwitted him and got the book so cheap.

The next find was the kind of book I look forward to reading. I have a lot of autobiographies, and memoirs by writers mostly. Moss Hart’s ‘Act One’ is one autobiography by a playwright that I have with me and I found it very interesting. On Sunday I found another memoir and this was ‘Memoirs’ by Tennessee Williams who wrote the famous play- A Streetcar Named Desire. Though I haven’t read ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ I was thrilled to find the memoirs of its author. Once again, I got this wonderful book for just thirty rupees.

Though I have heard of ‘Game of Thrones’ and also read about how popular George RR Martin is so far I haven’t made any effort to read the books. Sometime back I had come across a title by George RR Martin at Abids but I was intimadated by the size of the book as well as the price quoted by the seller. I remember him asking for something like three hundred rupees and since I wasn’t very keen on the book I did not buy it. So when I saw another similar tilte in a heap of books selling for thirty rupees I was surprised. Though I have no intention to begin reading that fat volume I picked up ‘A Storm of Swords’ from the heap and bought it.