The Sunday Haul ( on 1-5-2016)

Right from the beginning 2016 has been very lucky for me when it comes to finding good books on Sundays at Abids. I’ve been picking up at least one good title every Sunday at Abids and last Sunday too I was similarly lucky. I found not one but two interesting titles at Abids last Sunday. Since I had to attend a marriage in the afternoon on Sunday I planned to browse for about an hour and leave early so that I could be on time for the marriage. In the hour and half that I was at Abids I was able to bag two books that I felt I had to buy.

Sometime back I had found Gordon Ramsay’s memoir titled ‘Playing with Fire’ at Abids. When I began reading it I realized that the pages at the end were missing. I was disappointed that I wouldn’t be able to know how the book ends. Normally I check for missing pages at the front and the back, half torn pages and such damages before I decided to buy any book at Abids. Somehow I failed to notice the missing last pages in ‘Playing with Fire’ before paying for it. Anyway, I found ‘Humble Pie’ also by Gordon Ramsay that turned out to be his autobiography. It was at the bottom of a heap and somehow I spotted the title and dug it out. It would have to be someone very dumb not wanting to know more about Gordon Ramsay after watching ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ on television.

The copy of ‘Humble Pie’ that I found was a hardcover one and in a fairly good condition. It was in a heap of books selling for forty rupees which was what I paid for it. I wish I hadn’t given away ‘Playing with Fire’ because it would have been interesting to read ‘Humble Pie’ before reading ‘Playing with Fire’ again.

After discovering Ross Macdonald’s Lew Archer my interest in reading Robert B. Parker’s Spenser series waned a little. However, I haven’t stopped buying them when I find a title I do not have. Next to the heap in which I found ‘Humble Pie’ was another heap of mostly paperbacks selling for thirty rupees each. It was in this heap that I found a beautiful copy of ‘Mortal Stakes’ by Robert B. Parker that was a Penguin edition. I do not remember if I already have this copy but nevertheless I bought it because it was too good a copy to leave behind.

I also found a nice copy of 'Asterix at the Banquet' that looked almost brand new. The smart sellers at Abids quote no less than a hundred and fifty rupees for such copies but I got mine for just fifty rupees which was a steal.