The Haul at the 33rd Hyderabad National Book Fair

I have made it a habit of going to the annual Hyderabad book fair on the first day itself in the hope of picking up good books long before anyone could get to them. This year too I was there on the first day of the 33rd Hyderabad National Book Fair at the NTR Stadium on Monday evening. Most of the stalls were up and the shelves filled with books in the few second hand book stalls I visited. I could pick up only four titles and that left me quite relieved since I had expected to return home with more than a dozen books.

I have managed to find and read most of Graham Greene’s titles but there are a few titles I couldn’t find all these days. When I saw a nice copy of ‘The Tenth Man’ by Graham Greene at a second hand book stall put up by someone from Mumbai I bought it. I got it for hundred rupees. The prices this year are almost the same as they were last year. The crowd too was a good one.

The second title I found was a book set in Africa. I never miss buying any book on Africa so I when I saw a copy of ‘I Dreamed of Africa’ by Kuki Gallmann I decided to buy it. It was a Penguin title and was in quite good condition. This was slightly expensive at a hundred and fifty rupees.

The third title was an old copy of ‘Poetry and Experience’by Archibald MacLeish. Inside the pages I found a poem written a piece of paper by someone who was perhaps attempting to be a poet. I bought this book for a hundred rupees.

The last title was a wonderful find. I spotted a copy of ‘The Children of Dynemouth’ by William Trevor. It was an almost brand new copy and I got it for a hundred rupees. Inside the pages I found a British Rail ticket someone seems to have used as a bookmark.

The Sunday Haul (on 15-12-2019)

With the most awaited event of the year, the Hyderabad National Book Fair, not more than two weeks away, last Sunday I was wondering whether I should go to Abids and bring home more books. I told myself that the finding books at the Book Fair is one and finding books at Abids is another thing and thus convinced I went to Abids.

Since a long time I had been waiting to find books by Surendra Mohan Pathak, who, I’ve read, is one of the most prolific and bestselling novelist in Hindi. I had come across copies of his books translated into English but I did not buy them since I wanted to read the original ones in Hindi. Last Sunday I found two titles by him, both in Hindi. I picked up a nice copy of ‘Pyaada’ by Surendra Mohan Pathak and got it for thirty rupees. Though I can read Hindi, my second language in high school, I cannot understand some words. I have no idea what ‘Pyaada’ means but I hope to find the meaning after reading the book.

A couple of years ago I came across a copy of ‘The Burden of Democracy’ by Pratap Bhanu Mehta that I gave away to Umashankar. Last Sunday I found another copy that I immediately grabbed. I need not have been so hasty since I saw another copy of the same book. The book is something I need to read to understand the mystery that our democracy is.

The last find was a nice copy of ‘The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie’ by Muriel Spark, a Penguin edition. I got it for only thirty rupees.
The friendly bookseller at Abids who gives me a free pass to the Hyderabad Book Fair every year gave me another one. Habeeb is the name and he sits in the Hollywood shoes lane with a small collection of books. Though I haven’t bought many books from him he makes it a point to give me that pass and his gesture fills me with gratitude.

The Sunday Haul (on 08-12-2019)

I have to confess here that sometimes I become nervous thinking about all the books I have with me. I am overwhelmed by the thought that I may not have the time to read all of them even if I live to be seventy or more. That is, if I do not buy any more books and read only those that I have managed to pick up. Last Sunday I had picked up seven books at Abids and this Sunday I managed to pick up only three, thank god.

Ever since I read ‘Stet’ by Diana Athill I’ve become a fan of her writing and managed to find a couple of her memoirs. At Abids last Sunday I found another title by her- Make Believe. It was a brand new copy with a plastic wrapping around it that I bought for two hundred rupees. Since it was a brand new copy and a Diana Athill title I did not mind paying so much for the book though I wonder how the book got there.

Though I am not much of a movie watcher some movie titles are such that one cannot forget them. One such movie title is ‘Midnight Cowboy’ that stayed in my mind all these years, and last Sunday I found the actual novel- ‘Midnight Cowboy’ by James Leo Herlihy. I spotted it in a heap and bought it though the cover and the spine weren’t in such a good condition. I got it for thirty rupees.

The next title was one I picked up on a hunch. It was a nice copy of ‘Murder as Usual’ by Hugh Pentecost published by Keyhole Crime. It appeared interesting so I bought it. I got this one too with the same seller where I bought ‘Midnight Cowboy’ and got it at thirty rupees.

Bookstore news: The Bests Books branch at YMCA, Secunderabad has been shut down. An eatery has come up in its place!

The Sunday Haul (on 01-12-2019)

The Sunday before last Sunday I missed the weekly hunt for books at Abids. There were some important guests coming over so I was ordered not to step out of the house that Sunday. But last Sunday I went to Abids and made for the Sunday before picking up six good titles. I came home with six books taking my haul of books so far this year to 196. There are still four Sundays to go before the year ends not to forget the Hyderabad Book Fair beginning a day before Christmas. It means at least another dozen books are likely to be added to the year’s haul that will cross the 200 figure again.

There’s a mix of reasons why I picked up ‘Khushwant Singh’s India; A Mirror for its Monsters and Monnstrosities’ by Khushwant Singh last Sunday at Abids. Firstly, I like to read analytical essays by intelligent observers. Secondly a curiosity to know how some problems have grown over the years in the country, and thirdly, I am attracted to books published in the country in the late sixties and early seventies. The last reason is a desire to know how Indian writers present the country and its problems to the Western reader. All these made me buy this title within moments of finding it with a seller who gave it to me for only thirty rupees.

The next book I found was of a similar vintage but a fiction title. I found a bound copy of Harper Lee’s ‘To Kill a Mocking Bird’ that I did not look at closely when I first saw it. I already own a nice copy but something about the cover and the overall appearance of the book made me pick it up for a better look. My interest grew when I noticed that it was published by Prentice Hall in 1973. The font was one that almost universal in the country during that time which I found to be quaintly charming. What really made me buy it was the name of the person stamped on the front page. The name was- Syed Shahid Raza, Lieutenant 4112-Z, Indian Navy. The copy was from the American Library at USIS Calcutta. What a long journey that this copy of Harper Lee’s ‘To Kill a Mocking Bird’ in my hands must have made over the years.

The next two finds were two cookbooks that I found one after the other though with different sellers. When I saw a decent copy of Madhur Jaffrey’s ‘A Taste of India’ in a pile of fifty-rupee books I couldn’t resist buying it though I already own a copy that I found quite recently.

The other cookbook was a beautifully preserved copy of ‘Classic Indian Cooking’ by Julie Sahni that I grabbed off the pavement the moment I spotted it. It was published first by ‘Grub Street’ London in 1997, and reprinted in 2008 in India. I got it for only seventy rupees though the book runs into nearly 450 pages and has some beautiful illustrations.

With the same seller I found two more wonderful titles. I had resolved to read all titles by Charles McCarry after I read his ‘Tears of Autumn’ that I had picked up on a hunch some years ago. Over time I found his other titles like ‘Second Sight’, ‘The Better Angels,’ ‘The Miernik Dossier,’ and ‘The Last Supper.’ So last Sunday when I saw a nice copy of ‘The Secret Lovers’ by Charles McCarry I was pleased with myself.

The other titles was a hardcover book with a jacket and appeared like a library copy. It is only a few years for my retirement, less than five years in fact. Naturally, thoughts of retirement have replaced other thoughts in my mind and the foremost thought is what I should do after retiring. The things I could do after my retirement range from finally beginning to write seriously to going back to the small town where I was born to live a quiet life with my collection of books. Of course, there are always new things getting added frequently- travelling, living on a farm, learning something that would keep me occupied and so on. So when I spotted a book with the title ‘taking retirement- a beginner’s diary’ in small letters I was curious about it. The author was Carl H. Klaus who, I read on the inside of the back cover, was the founder of the non-fiction writing program at Iowa University. I needed no other reason to buy it. This book I will certainly read before I retire.

The last title was a children’s book. I picked it up because it looked like something good. It was a copy of ‘Wandy and the Bumbly Wizard’ by James Flora who also illustrated the book.