The Sunday Haul (on 23-08-2020)

After more than a week of almost continuous drizzle that dampened everyone’s moods it finally stopped around the weekend. The sun finally came out last Sunday and greatly improved the general feeling. Because of the rain I missed going to Abids the previous Sunday and since then I had been feeling a sense of restlessness. The gap of two weeks sharpened my longing to browse the pavements at Abids and I had hoped and prayed that it wouldn’t rain on Sunday. It didn’t thankfully and after breakfast I rushed to Abids.

Aside from the improvement in the weather there was also an improvement in the number of book sellers at the Sunday second hand book market at Abids. Except for just one seller all the booksellers were out with all their books spread on the pavements last Sunday. There seemed to be so many piles and heaps of books to dip into and I ended up buying half a dozen titles.

I had been eyeing a copy of ‘Your Blue Eyed Boy’ by Helen Dunmore that a seller had but did not buy it because the seller was someone I wouldn’t normally buy because of his uppity attitude. He thought he was the only one who sold good books. I had been seeing that title since more than two months and almost bought it from him last Sunday but backed out at the last moment. It was a decision that I was glad to have taken for I saw the same title with one of the friendliest bookseller at Abids who gave it to me at one fourth of the price that the earlier seller would have asked. The copy of ‘Your Blue Eyed Boy’ by Helen Dunmore that I got for only fifty rupees was in wonderful condition.

Graham Greene is one of my favourite authors and I do not miss buying anything by him that I find at Abids. I spotted a nice copy of ‘The Portable Graham Greene’ that I immediately grabbed. It was a collection of three novels, a few short stories, essays and was edited by Philip Stratford. I got this book for only forty rupees. Alongside it I found an old copy of ‘River and Bridge’ by Meena Alexander, a collection of poems. Meena Alexander is a fairly well known poet in India.

Further up with another seller I saw a copy of ‘The Chinese: Portrait of a People’ by John Fraser with a red cover. I had read ‘Riding the Iron Rooster’ by Paul Theroux, and also had a copy of ‘Behind the Wall’ by Colin Thubron that I hadn’t yet read though I found it long back. I also had a copy of ‘On a Chinese Screen’ by Somerset Maugham that I have read. John Fraser is a journalist who lived in China from 1977 to 1979 as a bureau chief of Toronto Mail and Globe.

The last find at Abids was a beautiful copy of ‘The Remains of the Day’ by Kazuo Ishiguro that I couldn’t resist buying though I already have a copy. When I wanted to read it I couldn’t locate my copy so I bought it. But this cost me a hundred rupees.

At Chikkadpally I saw a copy of ‘On Writing Well’ by William Zinsser. I already have three copies of this title but couldn’t leave without buying the copy I saw last Sunday. It was a beautiful copy and I paid a hundred rupees for it.

One title that I consider a treasure in my collection is ‘The Saddest Pleasure’ by Moritz Thomsen that I found a few years ago and picked up on a hunch only to realize it was a fantastic book, and difficult to find. Then I read that Thomsen had written two more books of which I was desperate to find ‘Living Poor’ and since there appeared no chance that I would find it I looked for it online. I usually do not buy books online but this was one title I really wanted to read so I ordered it sometime last month. I received the book this week. I have never been so happy buying a book.

A Friday Haul and The Sunday Haul (on 09/08/2020)

Last Friday, after a short gap I again dropped in at the office to catch up on some paperwork. Since we are not maintaining regular office hours and can come and go anytime I left early after lunch. I did not feel like going home so early and coincidentally I was near a second hand bookstore when I had this thought. I decided to spend an hour browsing the shelves of the smallish bookstore. A few minutes after I checked the first shelves at the entrance I found a copy of ‘Miami Blues’ by Charles Willeford. A long time back, in February, 2009, I had, on a hunch, picked up a copy of ‘The Shark Infested Custard’ by Charles Willeford. Sometime later I learnt that Willeford was a major crime writer and his ‘Miami Blues’ was mentioned as one of his better titles. Anyway, I haven’t yet opened ‘The Shark Infested Custard’ and read it to find out how good it was. But I decided to buy the copy of ‘Miami Blues’ because it was only an uncorrected proof copy as it clearly said on the top of the cover.

Not very long ago I missed buying a beautiful title of Herodotus because I was a bit foolish thinking that no one would buy it. It was gone in no time and I have regretted it since. I found another title ‘Snakes with Wings & Gold-digging Ants’ by Herodotus a few moments after I had found ‘Miami Blues’ and I decided to buy it. It was

On Sunday, as usual, I was at Abids glad that it wasn’t raining. However the dark clouds in the sky above indicated that it would rain in a couple of hours. I hoped it wouldn’t rain while I was browsing. It did rain a little but after I had bought three titles.

The name ‘Balwant Gargi’ is burnt into my memory. I haven’t read any book by him but I remember he was the one who wrote ‘The Naked Triangle’ that I found last year.  A long time back I had appeared for the Civil Services preliminary exam and there was a question in the General Knowledge paper- ‘Balwant Gargi’ wrote, followed by four choices one of which was ‘The Naked Triangle’ that I ticked. It was the right answer I learnt later and was thrilled to know. That I did not get through the exam is another story.

The thing was I spotted a copy of ‘Purple Moonlight’ by Balwant Gargi. It was a memoir, not a novel. I flipped through it and found references to Mulk Raj Anand who was his friend and other things. I love to read memoirs and autobiographies especially by writers so I grabbed this book right away. I had the feeling that I had made a good start finding ‘Purple Moonlight’ by Balwant Gargi. Incidentally I paid only fifty rupees for it.

On top of a pile of books with another seller I saw a copy of ‘From the Holy Mountain’ by William Dalrymple that I hadn’t read. I have not seen any copies of this book at Abids so I wanted to take a closer look at it. Only recently I had finished reading ‘Balkan Ghosts’ by Robert D. Kaplan that left me with a desire to read about the Balkans and how the people there protected their religion, their churches. ‘From the Holy Mountain’ was something about the same but dealt more elaborately. It was the book I needed so I bought it.

Down below in the same pile the bottom portion of a book stuck out revealing the cover with the word ‘A great traveller, a woman of astute judgment and an extremely sensitive writer’ that made me pull out the book. I was thrilled to see it was ‘The Coast of Incense’ by Freya Stark. A long time back I had found a copy of ‘Ionia’ and also 'The Southern Gates of Arabia' by her that I found to be wonderful reads. I love to read travel literature, serious stuff by good writers, and finding ‘The Coast of Incense’ which was an autobiography, the third volume, made me elated. However, I wish I could find the remaining two volumes too.

The Sunday Haul (on 02/08/2020)

This is the first post of the 14th year of this blog. 

 Last Sunday I was glad to be back at Abids again after a week. The weekly visit to Abids to look for books is proving to be a kind of life-saver to me because otherwise I am at home without much to do except read, due to the Corona virus restrictions. Not many people are coming to Abids which is a sort of blessing in disguise because books I’ve missed buying on one Sunday are still there on the next Sunday. However I haven’t missed buying anything the previous Sunday but last Sunday I picked up four more books.

 The first find was a nice copy of ‘The Art of Living- Epictetus’ by Sharon Lebell that I have bought several copies of in the past. I like to give away this book as a gift to friends and people I meet who I think might benefit from the wonderful advice in this book. I got this copy for just thirty rupees. 

 There are a couple of sellers who have heaps of books selling for fifty rupees each. One seller’s heap has been a regular source of some good titles I’ve bought in the past couple of Sundays. This Sunday too the heap yielded two more titles. 

 The first was a copy of ‘The Poison of Love’ by KR Meera that I had read about a lot. It was a hardcover copy. I am planning to read this next because I had read only high praise of KR Meera.

 The other title from the fifty rupee heap was a copy of ‘The Monkey King’ by Timothy Mo. I have heard of his name but this is the first title of his that I have seen. I don’t know when I will find the time to read it but I have bought it. 

 The last buy with another seller was a copy of ‘The Anatomy of Prose’ by Marjorie Boulton.