The Sunday Haul (on 7-5-17)

Since the beginning of this year I’ve been finding quite a number of books on my trips to Abids on Sundays. But the haul has been quite bountiful in the past week with the trip to Delhi yielding a haul of five titles and another four titles at Abids last Sunday. With this haul of four titles the total number of books that I’ve bought so far this year is now sixty four! However hard I am trying to cut down on my book buys I am unable to restrain myself. I don’t know what the total haul this year would be and I sincerely hope I don’t create any new records.

Last Sunday it wasn’t so hot at Abids so I did a leisurely amble at Abids. Since a long time I’ve been looking for a good copy of ‘The Good Earth’ by Pearl S. Buck. I had read it when I was a kid just out of high school when I wasn’t exactly mature enough to take the book in. I wanted to read it but I did not have a copy. I had seen a few copies in the second hand bookstores but they were priced too high so I waited until I could find a copy at Abids. Last Sunday at last I got a decent enough copy for just twenty rupees. I want to read it when it starts raining and the farming activity begins here.

The second find was a cookbook classic that I had been reading about in almost all the ‘must have’ lists of chefs in India. I wasn’t really looking for ‘Tiffin’ by Rukmini Srinivas or expecting to find it but at Abids last Sunday I was in for a pleasant shock. I found a really good copy of Tiffin’ by Rukmini Srinivas that I got for only hundred rupees. I was quite surprised to read that it was published in 2015! I had thought it was published long, long back but anyway I am glad I found this wonderful memoir-cum-cookbook.

Another good find was ‘We Need New Names’ by NoViolet Bulawayo that I had read about recently. It was on the short list for the Booker Prize in 2013. I was very excited finding this title at Abids that is getting to be a bigger treasure house than I’ve thought it to be. I got this book too for a hundred rupees which was a bit too high for Abids standards.

In a heap of books before the Bata store there were many brand new titles selling for just twenty rupees. I spotted three Le Carré titles and Ross Macdonald’s ‘Twilight at Mac’s Place’ that I wanted to buy but did not. Instead I picked up ‘The Hunted’ by Elmore Leonard. It was a beautiful copy and I was glad I bought it though I already have a copy of the same title at home.