The Sunday Haul (on 2-9-2018)

Had I known it beforehand that I would be returning home with a haul of six books from Abids maybe I would have hesitated a bit before stepping out in the morning last Sunday. With all my bookshelves filled to overflowing, all available nooks and crannies stuffed with books there isn’t much space for more books yet I keep buying books every week and this is what fills me with dread. However the happiness at finding good titles is more than the dread I feel at thought of finding space to keep them at home.

The first find in the haul was a book I went for because I was drawn to the cover. It was an unusual cover with a black and white photograph of a Japanese family with two kids and their mother (?). I haven’t read many titles by Japanese writers other than those by Haruki Murakami. ‘The Broken Commandment’ by Shimazaki Toson was the first book in the haul and is an English translation of the original novel in Japanese- HAKAI. This is published by the University of Tokyo Press and is accepted in the Japanese Series of the Translations Collections of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). I was surprised to read in the introduction by the translator, Kenneth Strong, that in Japan there was a kind of caste system just like our own wretched one, and there’s a section of people, 'eta', considered ‘untouchable’ in the Japanese society. 'The Broken Commandment' is the story of one person from that section.

Though I already have copies of some titles I keep buying if I come across more copies because I love reading those writers and want to let others too read them. Dave Barry is one writer I’ll always be grateful for making me laugh because I don’t think I laugh much. When I spotted a beautiful copy of ‘Dave Barry Talks Back’ in a pile of books marked ‘Rs 20’ I picked it up. Similarly, when I saw a copy of ‘Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil’ by John Berendt I bought it though I haven’t yet read the copy I had picked up long back. I got this book for thirty rupees.

The next find was a crime fiction title- ‘The Moody Man’ by John Milne. Though I haven’t read about this writer before, I picked it up because it was a Penguin title. I read almost anything that is published by Penguin. Period. I got this book for just thirty rupees and I hope it turns out to be an enjoyable read.

Sometime back I had picked up a ‘Cal’ by Bernard MacLavery on a hunch and after reading it was so impressed by the writer that I wanted to read all his books. Luckily I found a copy of ‘Lamb’ sometime last year but haven’t read it yet. Last Sunday I came across a beautiful copy ‘The Anatomy School’ by Bernard MacLaverty that turned out to be a British Library discard. Whatever, I am glad I found this title and got it for fifty rupees only.

‘The Real Life of Alejandro Mayta’ by Mario Vargas Llosa was the last find that I picked up in another heap of books selling for twenty rupees. This was another book from the ‘Books N More’ collection that has now turned up at Abids. I wonder why the library folded up and was forced to sell/give away its books.