The Sunday Haul (on 5-6-2016)

Sometimes being deprived of something one is addicted to has a brighter side to it. Among other things one learns to savor what one is deprived of. Last Sunday visiting Abids after a two-week gap I realized the eye had become keener and the hunger to find good titles is a bit sharper. I ended up finding seven good titles at Abids last Sunday that washed away any remnants of resentment I had over not being able to go to Abids and look for books on the pavements.

When I spotted a book by Cyril Connolly I did not even want to look at it because I thought his were books that I wouldn’t understand. Though I had come across the name ‘Cyril Connolly’ enough times to remember it I hadn’t bothered to find out more and it was my loss. Last Sunday after much hesitation I picked up the slim and small copy of ‘The Unquiet Grave’ by Cyril Connolly that I decided to buy for the sole reason that it was a Penguin and I strongly believe that Penguin publishes only the best writing. It sounds like a very interesting book judging from the blurbs on the front cover and the back.

Sunday’s second find was a nice copy of ‘Billion Doller Brain’ by Len Deighton that I had been eyeing since the past few weeks at the same spot with the same seller. I have a couple of copies of this title but nevertheless I bought this copy too hoping to pass it on to someone who hasn’t yet discovered Len Deighton’s magic.

I found the third and fourth books of the day in a heap of books selling for twenty rupees only. I found a good copy of ‘Black Sun’ by Edward Abbey. (I have already finished reading it.) I also found a copy of ‘Memoirs of Hecate County’ by Edmund Wilson in the same heap. The first time I saw this title a long time back I had a feeling that it could be a good read. But somehow for whatever reason I did not buy it and later I regretted not picking it up. This time however I did not want to lose it so I picked it up. I am also looking for a good copy of ‘Peyton Place’ by Grace Metalious to read along this book.

The last find at Abids was a book by another author who is one of my favorites- Arun Joshi. I found yet another copy of one of the earliest editions of Arun Joshi’s ‘The Foreigner. Sometime recently I had found a good copy of this same edition and added it to my collection of multiple copies of novels by Arun Joshi. I couldn’t resist buying this copy too and adding to the delight was the price which was just forty rupees that the seller asked.

Later at Chikkadpally on the way home I found a nice and almost new copy of ‘South of the Border West of the Sun’ by Haruki Murakami. It was a slim volume and in quite good condition and I expected the seller to quote hundred or hundred and fifty rupees for it. I did not let the shock on my face show when the seller asked for fifty rupees so I quietly handed him the cash and took the book.

The last find also at Chikkadpally but at a different seller was yet another book on writing. I must have close to a hundred and fifty books on writing half of which would have been more than enough for anyone to get started on their writing yet I wanted, desperately, to buy the copy of ‘Writing on Both Sides of the Brain’ by Henriette Anne Klauser that I saw at Chikkadpally.