The Sunday Haul (on 24-03-2019)

As usual the surprises at the Sunday book bazaar in Abids never seem to cease. Last Sunday I got another pleasant surprise. About a year or more ago I had read about James Salter in some newspaper column about food, and shortly afterwards I had found a copy of his ‘A Sport and a Pastime’ that I read immediately afterwards. Later again I found a copy of his autobiography ‘Burning the Days’ in a second hand book store not very long ago. I began 2019 by making ‘Burning the Days’ the first book I read. It was so good that it made me eager to read his other titles but I couldn’t find any of them until last Sunday.

The first book I found last Sunday at Abids was a beautiful copy of ‘Light Years’ by James Salter. I let out a silent whoop on spotting it and bought it right away. I got it for only fifty rupees. It was one joyful moment finding the book and later when I checked the reviews online I found Jhumpa Lahiri’s essay published in the Paris Review in 2015 where she writes that she read the book when she was eighteen and reread it many times over the years.

The next find was yet another copy of ‘On Writing’ by Stephen King that I found with a seller near the General Post Office. Over the years I have found so many copies of this wonderful book that I have lost count. I have also given away so many copies of it that I have also lost count of the number of people I gave it to. One of the times I posted about finding a copy someone on the blog wondered why he never seemed to find a copy at Abids. So friend, if you are reading this then this copy is for you.

Right beside the copy of ‘On Writing’ that I bought I saw a book with a bright red cover with ‘Copy-editing’ by Judith Butcher on the cover. Being someone very interested in the writing business I bought this book along with Stephen King’s book. Both cost me a hundred and fifty rupees.

The last find was a copy of ‘The Mirror’ with a fantastic painting on the cover. It turned out to be a magazine published in December, 1961. For something published nearly six decades ago it was in a very good condition. Apart from the wonderful cover the other reason I picked up this magazine was the advertisements for Cadbury’s chocolates, Tata Benz trucks, Hotel Ashoka, Fiat cars in the inside pages. The contents are on the back page where the price of the magazine is also mentioned- 50 np! This is an Eve’s Weekly publication. I am wondering if this is some kind of a treasure that I’ve found.

The Sunday Haul (on 17-03-2019) and the Holi Haul (on 20-03-2019)

It had felt hotter the Sunday before than it was last Sunday at Abids. But it was hot enough to feel the need to wear a cap. Though it was uncomfortable being out in the hot sun the haul I made was pretty cool. I picked up four books one of which was a cookbook.

The first title I found was a Hindi title. I had resolved sometime back to read one Telugu and one Hindi book every year because I can read and write in these two languages and there is no point in knowing other languages without reading their literature. So when I spotted an old copy of ‘Shah aur Maat’ by Rajendra Yadav I picked it up. I remembered reading somewhere about ‘Saara Aakash’ by Rajendra Yadav and thought it might be a good idea to buy ‘Shah aur Maat’ that I got for just thirty rupees.

A few minutes later a bright yellow cover in a book shelf caught my eye. It was a good copy of ‘Monsignor Quixote’ by Graham Greene that I do not have. I do not remember reading about this title anywhere before so I grabbed it because I love reading anything by Graham Greene. Along with this I bought a nice copy of ‘Indian Cooking’ by Lalita Ahmed that had a large and attractive cover. I discovered that this book was published sometime back and was in quite a good condition.

Jan Morris is one of my favourite travel writers. Recently I found a copy of ‘Oxford’ that I had bought without a second thought and two Sundays before I had found a Penguin 60’s copy of ‘From the Four Corners’ that I had bought for just twenty rupees. Last Sunday at Abids I saw a copy of ‘Hav’ by Jan Morris in a lot selling for fifty rupees. I knew that this wasn’t a travel book in the real sense and had actually let go of this title when I had seen it earlier at the book fair. Last Sunday I couldn’t resist the price so took it.

The ‘Holi’ Haul

On Holi I had to go to the Institute because an international training was going on. Going to work on a holiday is something no one is happy about. I consoled myself saying I would drop in at MR Books on the way home if I could leave early. Luckily I could leave right after lunch and raced to MR Books. After an hour’s browsing I found a good copy of ‘JJ: Some Jottings’ by Sundara Ramaswamy, and bought it after reading the endorsement by K. Satchidanandan on the front which said: ‘One of the masterpieces of modern Indian fiction.’ I would have anyway bought it because I had read one of his books recently and knew how good Sundara Ramaswamy was.

The Sunday Haul (on 10-03-2019)

Last Sunday was one of the hottest days so far this year with the temperature touching almost 37⁰ C that had me thinking twice before venturing out. But the pull of Abids is so strong that I decided to go wearing a cap on the head and a water bottle in hand. It was a good thing I went because I found five wonderful titles.

The first book I found was a copy of ‘Much Depends on Dinner’ by Margaret Visser that was too interesting to ignore. It is about corn on the cob, chicken with rice, lettuce salad and ice cream and a lot about these food items. The cover seemed a bit soiled but it only appeared like that. I got this book for seventy rupees.

One writer I discovered long back was William Trevor who I found to be one of the most wonderful writers I’ve ever read. I do not remember the title of the book but I had found a copy of ‘After Rain’ soon afterwards. I found another beautiful copy of ‘After Rain’ by William Trevor at Abids last Sunday. I got this collection of short stories by William Trevor for just thirty rupees.

I cannot ignore any book with the Penguin logo on the cover so when I saw a copy of ‘The Night of the Twelfth’ by Michael Gilbert I picked it up. Not only did it have the Penguin logo, also there was high praise for it on the back cover. I read that this title was the ‘Winner of Current Crime’s Silver Cup for the best British crime novel of 1976.’ The thing that clinched it for me was that it was a crime fiction title so I HAD to buy it.

With the same seller from where I bought ‘The Night of the Twelfth’ by Michael Gilbert I found a copy of ‘Company Limited’ by Sankar. It was another Indian title that seemed to have been published sometime in the fifties. On the front cover was a picture of Sharimila Tagore which explained what I read on the back cover that it was made into a movie by Satyajit Ray, the most acclaimed Indian movie maker. I noticed that this was published by Sangam Books, a division of Orient Longman which was something I hadn’t heard about before. But I think this was the find of the day.

Just when I was about to call it a day at Abids I spotted a small book. It was a copy of ‘From the Four Corners’ by Jan Morris, a Penguin 60’s title that contained essays about four – Delhi, Manhattan, Sydney and Vienne. The title of the essay on Delhi is ‘Mrs Gupta Never Rang’ that sounds very interesting. These four essays have been taken from her collection ‘Among the Cities’ that’s now on my ‘to read’ list. I picked up this small book from a pile of books selling for twenty rupees.

The Sunday Haul (on 03-03-2019)

Of the couple of books that I have bought multiple copies over the past few years ‘The Summing Up’ by Somerset Maugham is a title that regularly appears at Abids, in second hand book stores and elsewhere. Last Sunday I spotted a nice copy that was priced pretty cheap at Abids and bought it. I got it for just thirty rupees.

Of late since the past couple of years I have begun to look for books by Indian writers in English published in the early years. Over the years I have managed to find quite a few good titles by writers I have read about or have come across somewhere but I always end up finding titles by writers I have never even heard about. Last Sunday I spotted a book with an attractive cover and picked it up. It was a copy of ‘Nails & Flesh’ by Kartar Singh Duggal. I got it for thirty rupees only.

The copy of ‘Nails & Flesh’ by Kartar Singh Duggal I found had no year of publication mentioned anywhere inside. There are no details of the publisher mentioned anywhere on the cover or in the inside pages except the name ‘Pearl’ and its logo. I wish I could know more about this publisher.

The Sunday Haul (on 25-02-2019)

There’s no better way to judge if it’s summer yet than to be out in the open for a couple of hours. Last Sunday just a few minutes in the open at Abids and I was convinced that summer has begun in Hyderabad. The temperatures have touched 35 degrees C and in another couple of weeks it will be somewhere around forty degrees or more. Then it would be hellish to be in the open for more than a few minutes. However, I did not want to think about the coming weeks and went about looking for books. I ended up finding three good titles.

Sometime back I had found a copy of ‘ A Town Like Alice’ by Nevil Shute that I haven’t yet read. Last Sunday I spotted an old copy of ‘Lonely Road’ by Nevil Shute and hesitated for a few moments wondering if I should buy it. But after reading the first page I decided to buy it and it was the first book I bought last Sunday at Abids.

Further down the road at a seller with a heap of books selling for twenty rupees only I found another Anita Brookner title. I am currently reading ‘Look at Me’ that I had found recently. It is beautifully written. So when I saw a nice copy of ‘Providence’ by Anita Brookner in the heap I picked it up hoping it would be as good as ‘Look at Me.’ Then a few moments after I read the blurb on the cover (“A beautiful study…has the gentle concentration of Barbara Pym”) I spotted the copy of ‘A Glass of Blessings’ by Barbara Pym in the same heap. This copy belonged to someone in London, an OBE and J.P. Needless to say I bought the two books right away.