The Sunday Haul (on 31-01-2021)

This year, in January alone, I managed to buy thirty six books. Most of these were titles that I picked up at the Sunday Abids secondhand books market, and a few from sales on WhatsApp groups of some sellers. As if this weren’t enough I went to Abids last Sunday too, as usual, and found four more titles. Curiously, I buy second or third copies of a title that I already have and found it to be extremely good after reading it. I was very impressed by ‘Ghachar Ghochar’ by Vivek Shanbag that I had read a couple of years ago and told almost everyone I know who reads that a wonderful book it was. Whenever I was asked which was the best book I’ve read recently I would say ‘Ghachar Ghochar’ by Vivek Shanbag. So when I found another copy of ‘Ghachar Ghochar’ by Vivek Shanbag selling for just fifty rupees I snatched it like I had found a diamond on the ground.

In the last week and on the last day of 2020, a bibliophile friend I made online, sent me a copy of a travel title. It was ‘The Lost Heart of Asia’ by Colin Thubron. I had another title by Thubron- Behind the Wall, his book on China. Last Sunday I spotted a nice copy of another title by the same author. It was a copy of ‘Journey into Cyprus’ by Colin Thubron that I got for just seventy rupees. Now I have to decide which title to read first. I am thinking of ‘The Lost Heart of Asia’ to read first.

Sometime back I had found a copy of an Elena Ferrante title that I am yet to read. The writer is such a rage that I cannot find any second hand copies of her titles, maybe because the readers do not like to part with their copies. But last Sunday at the seller who stands before the General Post Office in Abids I spotted a nice copy of ‘Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay’ by Elena Ferrante. I got it for 250.

In a heap of books selling for fifty rupees near Bata I found a copy of ‘The TimeOut Book of London Short Stories’ that I decided to buy. When I looked at the back cover there was a sticker of ‘Blossom Books’ of Bengaluru on it. It is edited by Maria Lexton and has twenty six stories by writers like Neil Gaman, Julie Burchill, Clive Barker, Will Self, Hilary Mantel, Nick Hornby, Adam Thorpe and a few others.