The Midweek Haul

Almost everyone I talked to in my small circle of family and friends seems to have been laid low by the fevers that are raging unabated in this city. Last week, at last, it was my turn and I was in bed for two and half days, that included last Sunday. Though I was in bed I did not stop dreaming about all the books spread out on the pavements at Abids that I would miss checking out. By Tuesday I had recovered from the fever and on Thursday I decided to drop in at a second-hand bookstore to bring down another sort of fever I seemed to have developed- the book fever. Since I was using the Metro train I decided to check out Liberty Books right beside the Durgam Cheruvu metro station in the evening.

About a year ago I had come across a badly damaged copy of ‘The Fall of a Sparrow’ by Salim Ali at Abids. Even though it was in tatters, with termite holes all over, I wanted to buy it because it was a very old edition. But I reluctantly left it alone and felt bad because I haven’t yet read that classic. About a fortnight ago on a visit to Liberty I had seen a good copy of ‘The Fall of a Sparrow’ by Salim Ali but decided to buy it later. It was on my mind all these days and on Thursday when I spotted it again I breathed a sigh of relief.

Last year in July I was in Delhi and had picked up a copy of Simon Winchester’s ‘Calcutta’ that I never got around to reading because of its bulk, and kept telling myself that I would read it one of these days. But before I could read the book on Calcutta by Simon Winchester I found another title on Calcutta at the Liberty Books store. I spotted a beautiful copy of ‘Calcutta: The City Revealed’ sitting atop a stack of books. It was another thick but after some initial hesitation I bought it unable to bear the thought of leaving it behind. I got these two books for under four hundred rupees.

On the way back home I got lucky when a girl mistaking me for a senior citizen offered me her place to sit. It was the perfect excuse for me to begin reading ‘Calcutta’ by Geoffrey Moorhouse, and it was so engrossing that I almost missed getting down at Secunderabad station. After I finish reading this title I plan to start reading Simon Winchester’s Calcutta.

The Sunday Haul (on 15.09.2019)

Sometimes, but very rarely though, I get the feeling that I am perhaps too lucky finding good titles almost every Sunday at the second hand book market at Abids. I cannot stop myself from buying all the good books that I see even if it means there are books piled up all over the place at home. Last Sunday, once again, I found four good books that I couldn’t resist buying.

The first book I found at Abids was one that attracted me with its cover. It was a bright yellow one and on the cover was the information about John Updike’s introduction, that it was ‘The Classic novel of Life and Death in an American Hospital’ which was more than enough for me to pick up the copy of ‘The House of God’ by Samuel Shem. On the inside of the back cover I read that Samuel Shem was the pen name of Steve Bergman, a Rhodes scholar and a doctor on the faculty of Harvard medical School and he had written three novels and a non-fiction title with his wife.

By a strange coincidence the second book I found at Abids- ‘The Death of a Beekeeper’ by Lars Gustaffson- was also published in the same year as ‘The House of God’ by Samuel Shem, the first book I found at Abids last Sunday. Published by Collins Harvill, the book has a classy attractive cover which was the first thing that drew my attention to the book. There’s a lot of praise for this book on the back cover so it was another reason, apart from the cover, why I bought this book too. This I got for seventy five rupees.

There’s something about Australian writers and also about Australia that I find very difficult to ignore. Sometime back I had found ‘Monkey Grip’ by Helen Garner and was quite taken up by the unforgettable story. Recently I read Howard Jacobson’s ‘The Land of Oz’ his account of his travels in Australia in the company of his wife who had lived in Australia. There’s another Australian writer I am looking forward to read soon- Gerald Murnane. I have found Ray Ericksen’s ‘West of Centre’ and also ‘Sydney’ by Jan Morris a long time back and also read those books. Last Sunday I found a copy of ‘The Mint Lawn’ by Gillian Mears. I picked up the book after I saw the Penguin logo on the cover and later I read on the cover that Mears was an Australian writer. Needless to say I bought it but I had to pay a hundred rupees for it.

There’s another thing I picked up at Abids along with these three books. It isn’t exactly a book of fiction or non-fiction but it can be called as a student’s guide book on Robert Browning’s ‘My Last Dutchess.’ It had that sort of cover that suggested that it belonged to the 40’s or 50’s but I couldn’t find the date of publication anywhere inside. But the reason I bought it was the name on the cover- The Deccan Publishing House, and the name ‘Chandragupta Press, Afzal Gunj’ on the last page. I don’t think The Deccan Publishing House exists now. This is historically interesting, and I hope to find out more about it.

The Sunday Haul (on 8-9-2019)

Last Sunday was one more rain-free one that ended with a three-book haul that I had made at the second hand book market at Abids. Somerset Maugham is another writer I like for his style of writing. I like to give copies of his books to whoever asks me for good books to read. I must have bought at least two dozen copies of his ‘Summing Up’ that I have given away to as many people. Another title of his that I have a couple of copies of is ‘The Razor’s Edge’ that, I am stupid enough to reveal, I am yet to read. Last Sunday I found yet another copy and it turned out to be in quite good condition though the edition of the copy I held was published in the year 1963. In fact it was with a seller who called me and took out several books from a large sack and showed them to me.

From that collection in the sack I found another title. It was a copy of ‘Karmayogi’ by Veena Nagpal that has a nude on the cover and it is the reason why I have not put its photograph. But the nude isn’t the reason why I bought the book. I have begun to pick up books in English written by Indian authors that were published in the 50s and 60s. There are so many such writers who have written several books but are not well known. One such author happens to be Veena Nagpal whose name I haven’t heard anywhere before and whose books also I haven’t found anywhere. So I decided to buy it and add it to my collection of such titles by authors such as Mayah Balse, Nergis Dalal and so on. It was published in 1972 and I got it for a hundred rupees.

It had been a long time since I had picked up a cookbook so when I saw a nice copy of ‘India’s Vegetarian Cooking’ by Monisha Bharadwaj at a seller at Chikkadpally I grabbed it. It was published in the UK and obviously meant for the Westerners. I got it cheap for only hundred rupees.

The Sunday Haul (on 01-09-2019)

It was the first Sunday of September, a rain-free one once again. My weekly trip to the Abids second hand book market ended with four good titles in the haul. Of these four titles two were titles that I already had picked up several copies of earlier.

I am not exactly a fan of Khushwant Singh but I find his books a lot serious and better than his syndicated columns. Sometime back I had found a copy of ‘Khushwantnama’ that had a nice list of books by Indian writers I hadn’t known about. The first book I found at Abids last Sunday was a copy of ‘Around the World with Khushwant Singh’ by Khushwant Singh in a reasonably good condition though the spine appeared to be a bit out of shape. It is a collection of his travel writing edited by Rahul Singh. I got this copy for just thirty rupees.

Next find was my third copy of ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ by Maurice Sendak. A copy I had seen with a seller about a year ago I did not buy because he had quoted what I thought was an outrageous price. Last Sunday however the copy I found cost me only twenty rupees. It was in quite good condition and I was glad I found it.

One of my all-time favourite writers is Chinua Achebe and his book that made a big impact on me was ‘Things Fall Apart’ that I, for some reason, came to rather too late in life. But late of whatever I am glad I found it and read it. After reading it I found many copies that I picked up and gave away to people who asked me to recommend a good book to read. Last Sunday I found another copy of ‘Things Fall Apart’ by Chinua Achebe that was a different edition published by Allied Publishers. The simple looking cover is quite striking and it caught my eye when I was with a seller who had a large spread of books on the pavement. I got it for only forty rupees.

I know it is quite stupid of me but I thought that ‘Catcher in the Rye’ by J.D. Salinger was the only book by Salinger that was worth reading. Though I came across copies of ‘Raise High the Roof Beam Carpenters...’ and also ‘Franny and Zooey’ by Salinger I did not buy them, and so have missed reading them. Recently I read somewhere that the short stories by JD Salinger were worth reading and luckily enough I saw a copy of ‘Nine Stories’ by J.D. Salinger with a seller at Chikkadpally on the way home from Abids. It appeared to be quite an ancient copy and when I looked inside I saw a name, place, and date inscribed on it by the previous owner. I couldn’t decipher the name but and the name of the place was Kharagpur and the date underneath the name was July 7, 1965. I was born a year before that which means that the book is 55 years old. The copy was in wonderful condition and I got it for only thirty rupees.

It had, as it says on the cover, nine stories: A Perfect Day for Bananafish, Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut, Just Before the War with the Eskimos, The Laughing Man, Down at the Dinghy, For Esme-with Love and Squalor, Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes, De-Daumier-Smith’s Blue Period, and Teddy.