The Sunday Haul (on 25-12-2022)

 

Though the 35^th Hyderabad National Book Fair was going on in another part of the city I felt I had to go to Abids and check out the books laid out on the pavements every Sunday. I ended up finding four wonderful titles. 

 

I had been seeing this book at Abids and elsewhere for quite a long time but didn’t feel like buying it for some reason. Last Sunday however I felt I should maybe buy it and read it because it was a travel title by someone who left the IAS after a few years of service. So I bought a nice copy of ‘Don’t Ask Any Old Bloke for Directions’ by P.G. Tenzing for a hundred rupees.

 

There was a pile of books selling for twenty rupees and the books all looked quite old and a few were damaged with torn covers and broken spines. Among all those books I managed to pick out three titles. I already have a copy of ‘My Heart is Broken’ by Mavis Gallant but when I saw a copy that seemed in quite good condition I couldn’t resist buying it. It is a collection of her short stories, btw.

 

There are some titles that I buy solely on the basis of the cover. Last Sunday I saw a copy of ‘Flynn’ by Lesley Grant-Adamson that had a very attractive cover in blue orange. Another thing that made me buy it was that it was published by faber and faber. Since it was in the Rs 20 heap I bought it.

Now I do not remember if I have a copy of ‘Twilight in Italy’ by D.H. Lawrence but when I saw it in the heap, I picked it up and flipped through the pages to see if I could remember having read it. But it all looked new so I bought this title too.

This was the last Sunday haul but since the 35th Hyderabad National Book Fair will be until 1st of January I plan to pick up a few more books in the coming days. 

The Sunday Haul (on 18-12-2022)

After being away from Hyderabad for almost two weeks and missing two Sundays visits to Abids to look for books I looked forward eagerly to go there on the Sunday on the 18^th of December. I was away at Ooty on work and spent two miserable Sundays there so when I reached Hyderabad late in the night on that Sunday 11^th of December I spent a whole week waiting for it to be Sunday.

 

So after a quick breakfast I rushed to Abids and I felt very good feeling the warm winter sun on my face and felt all was alright with the world when I saw all those books on the pavements. However I didn’t find as many books as I wanted to fill in for the lost Sundays and ended up finding just one good title. 

 I have a thing for memoirs, especially ones about mental health and so when I saw a hardcover copy of ‘The Center Cannot Hold’ by Elyn R. Saks. Saks is a Professor of Law and her memoir is about her experiences with Schizophrenia. I read a few paragraphs at random and found it to be a bit scary and also interesting reading how she coped with the condition. 

 

I felt glad I found this title. I got it for two hundred rupees. 

 

A WA Haul

I hadn't been to Abids the previous two Sundays because I was in Ooty on work. I missed the visits to Abids to look for books but I managed to look for books online. Since I am a member of WA groups of a few second hand booksellers who conduct regular sales I managed to get a look at some good titles. In one of those sales when I was in Ooty and managed to get the mobile signal I managed to claim a Sandor Marai title. A long time back I had found a copy of ‘Conversations in Bolzano’ by Sandor Marai about whom I read in a book of essays by J.M. Coetzee. Sometime later I also found a nice copy of 'Embers' also by Sandor Marai. 

The title I claimed and also got was 'Rebels' that no one on the group seemed to know about and hence I managed to get it quite easily. I don't remember how much I paid for it but when I got home last Sunday the book was waiting for me. 

I am looking forward to visit Abids this Sunday and also hope to find some good titles. But I am quite excited that the 35th Hyderabad National Book Fair is beginning on 22nd December, that is, next Wednesday. I am eagerly counting the days and I plan to be at the Book Fair on the first day even before it is inaugurated and get inside the minutes visitors are allowed and grab whatever I find in the secondhand book stalls that I am sure will occupy more stalls than the stalls of the regular book sellers. 

The Sunday Haul (on 27-11-2022)

'The 'Tiger of Malgudi' by RK Narayan was the first full length book in English I read when I was about twelve years old. I felt elated after finishing reading it since I had never read anything of that length. With that book I had embarked on my journey as a life-long reader and bibliophile. Since then I have read almost everything RK Narayan has read and buy copies of his titles published by Young Thought, the publishing firm that he himself started. Those editions are hard to find and so when I found a copy of 'Under the Banyan Tree & Other Stories' by RK Narayan at Abids last Sunday. 

It has twenty eight stories including 'A Horse and Two Goats' and a few other stories that I have read and there are some I haven't read. I got this book for fifty rupees.

The other title I found was a copy of 'The Wisdom of Crowds' by James Surowiecki with a blurb by Malcolm Gladwell on the cover saying '...brilliant book on business, society and everyday life...' which was the sole reason I bought this title. I got it for a hundred rupees. 

The Sunday Haul (on 20-11-2022)

In the two hours that I was at Abids last Sunday before going for a family function I managed to find three nice titles. I have been always interested in Ireland and its writers so when I saw a copy of ‘Jiving at the Crossroads’ by John W

Only a couple of Sundays ago I had found a title ‘Ai Ladki’ by Krishna Sobti that I am yet to read so when I saw another title by her I wondered whether to buy it. But this hesitation did not last two seconds before I picked up the hardcover copy of ‘Sunflowers of the Dark’ by Krishna Sobti for eighty rupees.

I spotted a book with a striking cover and after I picked it up I saw that is was a copy of ‘Ayyankali- A Dalit Leader of Organic Protest’ by M. Nisar & Meena Kandaswamy. I had read a bit about Ayyankali before and bought this book hoping to know more. I got this book for fifty rupees. It is a short book and I want to read it one of these days. 

Since a couple of weeks I had been seeing a copy of ‘Saint Joan of Arc’ by Vita Sackville West, a Penguin title that I wouldn’t hesitate to buy but somehow I felt it was out of my league. However last Sunday I finally picked it up for a hundred rupees.

The Sunday Haul (on 13-11-2022)

 I had been to Abids last Sunday and found these three books. I am posting it today instead of on Friday because I was travelling and did not have the time to write it during the week. Sorry. 

The Sunday Haul (on 06-11-2022)

 Another bright and sunny morning on a pleasant Sunday in Hyderabad when l left home for Abids to look at the thousands of books on the pavements. I had earlier bought a copy of ‘Siddhartha’ by Herman Hesse sometime back but haven’t yet read it for some reason. Last Sunday I saw another copy with a photograph of the two actors Shashi Kapoor and Simi Grewal who played the lead roles in the film, and saw that it was a Macmillan India edition that I had never seen before. I decided to buy it and got it for only thirty rupees. Somebody told me it was a rare cover not easily available but how true it is I do not know.

I saw an almost new copy of ‘More Bodies Will Fall’ by Ankush Saikia, a new title by Ankush Saikia who made his debut as a writer with ‘Jet City Woman’ that I had read a long back. Next week I will be travelling to Ooty on work for four days and maybe I will read it at Ooty. I got it in a pile of books selling for hundred rupees each.

The Sunday Haul (on 30-10-2022)

It was the first Sunday after Diwali so all the regular shops were closed which meant that the second hand booksellers of Abids were at their original places in full strength. I was at Abids as usual and spent about two hours looking at all the wonderful titles on sale on the pavements. I ended up buying only two titles last Sunday at Abids.

The first book was one that had a stunning blue cover that caught my eye. When I picked it up for a closer look it had ‘Joe Gould’s Secret’ by Joseph Mitchell on the cover. There was high praise for it in the blurbs on the back cover by Bill Bryson, Salman Rushdie, Julian Barnes, Doris Lessing, Martin Amis and also Robert McCrum that made me buy the book without thinking twice about the price the seller was asking for it. I got it for a hundred rupees.

The other title that I found was a book that looked very old but in a good condition. It was a copy of ‘Job: The Story of a Simple Man’ by Joseph Roth. Sometime back I had read on Twitter about Joseph Roth about whom I had not heard of before. The cover looked quite attractive and it was one reason why I picked up the book for eighty rupees.

The Sunday Haul (on 23-10-2022)

 Last Sunday was the day before Diwali so all the shops in Abids were open and packed with shoppers. As a result the sellers at Abids shifted their books to other spots. Almost all of the second hand book sellers were present though at different spots. I found two titles both Virago modern classics coincidentally.

I sometimes fool myself into thinking that I know almost any writer worth knowing. But this illusion doesn’t last for long because almost every Sunday I find books by writers I haven’t heard before. Last Sunday too at Abids I found a book by an author I hadn’t heard before. It was a copy of ‘Winged Seeds’ by Katharine Susannah Prichard, a Virago Modern Classics title that seemed too attractive to give a miss to. I read that it was the third and last novel in an epic trilogy. The trilogy is set in the gold mines of Western Australia. It was a terrific find for I love to read Australian authors. But I was very disappointed at the same time since it would be impossible to find the other two titles.

The other Virago Modern Classic title that I found a few minutes after I found the copy of ‘Winged Seeds’ was a nice copy of ‘The Ante-Room’ by Kate O’ Brien. I had heard about Kate O’Brien but I haven’t found any book by her so far so finding the copy of ‘The Ante-Room’ was a wonderful surprise. I got these two books for hundred rupees each.

The Sunday Haul (on 09-10-2022)

 

Last Sunday turned out to be a bit special. My son agreed to come along with me to Abids. So off we went to Abids after breakfast on a sunny and bright Sunday morning. Though he did not buy any books I bought two titles.

I spotted an ancient looking book, a hardcover with a plastic cover with a seller. It was a copy of ‘The Man Died’ by Wole Soyinka. Though the pages inside were intact and in good condition the cover on the spine was damaged but it did not matter to me since I wanted to read what was inside so I bought it. It is an account of Wole Soyinka’s time in a jail in Nigeria.

On Saturday in a second hand book store I had found a small book, about half the size of a postcard. Last Sunday at Abids I found a similar sized book that was a copy of ‘We Should All Be Feminists’ TED talk that Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie gave. I got this small book of not more than fifty pages for fifty rupees. I have a few such books that I had picked up over the years. 

Afterwards we picked up biryani at Grand Hotel behind the GPO in Abids and took it home to have for lunch. 

The Sunday Haul (on 02.10.2022)

 Last Sunday at Abids was an absolute delight finding five great titles though the festival had made the shopkeepers open their shops which meant the second hand booksellers had to shift to other spots. But only a few of them had to do it and many other second hand booksellers were at their usual places. A few minutes into the market I saw a table with Rs 50 only written on a board and felt drawn to it. On the table I found a copy of an early edition of ‘The Snow Leopard’ by Peter Matthiessen. The first copy ot this title I had picked up more than two decades ago was of the same edition. Though I have two copies already I couldn’t resist buying this copy too so in it went into my haul.

On the same table was a beautiful and almost brand new copy of ‘Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind’ by Shunryu Suzuki, another title I had found long back. I couldn’t walk away without buying it so I picked it up. I felt it was a great start to the Sunday browsing at Abids and hurried to other sellers hoping to find more good titles.

Another few minutes and I found a beautiful, original copy of ‘Maximum City’ by Suketu Mehta, a title that I had been looking for since a long time. I think this is the original edition but I am not sure. Anyway I was quite thrilled to find it since I wanted to read it. I got it for just hundred rupees which was an unbelievable price to pay for such a good book in a nice condition.

With the same seller was another title- ‘Red April’ by Santiago Roncagliolo that intrigued me. On the cover it was mentioned that it was translated by Edith Grossman, translator of books of famous Latin American writers. Apart from the translator’s name I also discovered that it was published by Atlantic Books so I felt it could be a good book though I had not heard of Santiago Roncagliolo until last Sunday. I got this book too for only a hundred rupees.

Wherever I am I am always on the lookout for travel titles especially those by Jan Morris and Dervla Murphy whose ‘Full Tilt’ I have been unable to find. But last Sunday I found another title by her, ‘Where the Indus is Young’ by Dervla Murphy. I felt very excited when I spotted it on a shelf with a seller who asks for very high prices. So I waited with bated breath while he checked the book after I handed it to him to tell me the price. I breathed a sigh of relief when he asked hundred rupees for it. It was quite cheap at that price.

The Sunday Haul (on 25.09.2022)

The Sunday before last Sunday too I had made a good haul at Abids but I couldn’t write the post because I was very busy at work and did not get the time to sit and type it out. Since today and tomorrow are Dasara holidays for us I am writing the two posts at one go. It was a normal day on Sunday so there was no rain and I was at Abids at my usual time.

The first title I saw was a beautiful copy of ‘interesting times in India’ by Daniel O’ Connor with a seller who, to my surprise, gave it to me at the price I asked him. O’Connor taught at St Stephen’s College in Delhi for a decade and this book is a kind of memoir about that period. I got this book for eighty rupees.

 Actually I wasn’t prepared to find anything good more so anything by Javier Marias whose ‘Infatuations’ I had found a couple of weeks before, and had also finished reading just a few days before Sunday. So I very surprise when I saw a copy of ‘Between Eternities & Other Writings’ by Javier Marias with the same seller from whom I had bought ‘Infatuations’ sometime last month. I was quite excited when I read on the cover that it was a book of his non-fiction writing. I paid hundred rupees for it as it was in a pile of books selling for Rs 100 each.

In the same pile I also unearthed a copy of ‘Time after Time’ by Molly Keane with a wonderful cover. This too was for hundred rupees. I bought it since I saw that it was published by 'Abacus' and had a great blurb on the cover. 

The last title I found was a nice copy of ‘Walking with the Comrades’ by Arundhati Roy that I got for fifty rupees only. It is a short book of not more than a hundred and fifty pages so I want to finish reading it in one sitting sometime soon.

The Sunday Haul (on 18-09-2022)

 After the previous Sunday’s disappointment at not having been to the second hand book market at Abids due to continuous rain I was counting the days to the next Sunday, i.e., last Sunday. The weather was clear and sunny when I started for Abids after breakfast, and managed to find some really good titles in the hour and half that I was at Abids.

Since a long time I’ve been looking for books by Krishna Sobti especially her ‘Zindaginama’ that I found with a seller on WA last December. Last Sunday I found a hardcover copy of ‘Listen Girl’ by Krishna Sobti, the English translation of her ‘Ai Ladki’ that I had read about many time in several places. Translated by Shivanath and published by Katha ‘Listen Girl’s is a little over a hundred pages, just right to finish in a single sitting that I plan to read only after I finish reading ‘Zindaginama’ that is somewhere on one of the shelves at home.  

Then with the same seller I found a book that was by title Penguin that I automatically buy. It was a copy of ‘Ennal’s Point’ by Alun Richards, a writer I had never heard of before. However it seemed interesting as it was described as a ‘vivid and moving story about lifeboats and the men who sail in them’ on the back cover.

In the same pile of books I saw another title by an author I had again never heard of. It had an attractive cover and the title was ‘Saturday Night at the Greyhound’ by John Hampson. The reason why I picked it was that on the cover it also said ‘Hogarth Fiction’ published by Hogarth Press. On the back cover was a blurb by Graham Greene- ‘A Book I greatly admire’ which convinced me that it could indeed be a good read. I got these three books for only hundred rupees. 

Just before I decided to have a cup of tea in the local Irani I saw a nice copy of ‘Right of Passage: Travels from Brooklyn  to Bali’ by Rahul Jacob. It was a collection of travel essays by Rahul Jacob, and since I love travel titles I decided to buy it. I had seen the book earlier too but somehow I did not buy it then.

Even though I do not read sci-fi I couldn’t resist picking up the copy of ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’ by Philip K. Dick that I saw. I messaged a friend who loves sci-fi if he wanted it but he messaged back saying he had a copy of it. So I bought it for eighty rupees.

A Recent Haul

Not only do I buy books at Abids and second hand bookstores in Hyderabad, I also buy them on WhatsApp groups of a couple of second hand booksellers based in different cities in the country. Last week I had claimed two wonderful travel titles that I wanted to post here since I couldn’t go to Abids on Sunday because it was raining quite heavily all day in Hyderabad.

The first title I had claimed was a nice hardcover copy of ‘The Penguin book of Indian Journeys’ edited by Dom Moraes who has also written the introduction. It is a collection of travel essays by many travel writers such as Jan Morris, Bruce Chatwin, Salman Rushdie, VS Naipaul, Mark Tully, Charlie Pye Smith, James Cameron and many others on various places and journeys within India. Some of these essays I have read elsewhere.

The other title was a nice copy, hardcover again, of ‘Out of God’s Oven’ by Dom Moraes and Sarayu Srivatsa that is described as ‘a revelatory blend of memoir, travelogue and reportage’ of the travels of the authors in India during a time when momentous events took place that shook the country’s conscience and took it in a dangerous direction, perhaps never to be the same again. Somehow I want to read this book right away without losing much time.

The Sunday Haul (on 04-09-2022)

I really do not understand how I missed knowing about this book that was published in 2010, more than a decade ago. I try to learn about books on book and the ‘The Possessed’ by Elif Batuman is one such title. On the cover it says ‘Adventures with Russian books and the people who read them’ which should have alerted me. I guess I haven’t seen this title at Abids or anywhere. But even if I have found it a decade after it was published I don’t mind. On Sunday I saw this book in a pile of Rs 100 books and I was glad I took my time to check out each and every book that looked interesting.

About a few months ago I had read about Stefan Zweig somewhere online and the name stuck in my mind. So last Sunday when I saw a copy of ‘Beware of Pity’ by Stefan Zweig I bought it though I have never read anything by Zweig till then. One reason why I bought it was the attractive cover and the other than it was a Penguin title that I always trust. I got this book for sixty rupees.

The Sunday Haul (on 28-08-2022)

It turned out to be a sunny and bright Sunday morning as I left for Abids to look for books. My heart is full of eager anticipation as I head out to Abids. Every Sunday I manage to find good titles and last Sunday too I found four good ones.

The first title I found was a Penguin title. I spotted a nice copy of ‘Rocking the Babies’ by Linda Raymond and checked to see what it was about. It was an unusual story about two different women who end up caring for infants in a neonatal ICU and bond with each other after some initial mistrust. I wanted to read it right away because it was an unusual story. I got it for eighty rupees.

The next two finds were with the same seller and these were titles I already have. I picked up the two nice copies of ‘The Heart of the Matter’ by Graham Greene and ‘The Quiet American’ by Graham Greene for just thirty rupees each. The seller also had a copy of Greene’s ‘Travels with My Aunt’ which also I have but did not buy. Maybe next Sunday I might pick it up if I see it.

I have developed a thing for books especially memoirs by editors and publishers and have managed to collect a small pile of such books. So last Sunday when I saw a hardcover copy of ‘My Mistake’ by Daniel Menaker I really was not keen on picking it up and seeing what it was. However curiosity got the better of me and when I read on the back cover that Daniel Menaker had been an editor with The New Yorker I bought it without a second thought though I have never heard of Daniel Menaker. It was a lucky find and I am pleased with myself for having bothered to check out the back page or I would have missed this wonderful memoir.

The Sunday Haul (on 21-08-2022)

 Unlike the previous Sunday it was bright and sunny last Sunday when I set out for Abids a bit earlier than usual. I had to go somewhere on work so I planned to do the Abids routine and leave early. The previous Sunday it had rained almost all day and therefore I could not go to Abids but managed to get a book at Chikkadpally. I found a copy of Alice McDermott’s ‘Charming Billy’ for just fifty rupees.

So last Sunday I ended up finding two good titles. The first one I found was a nice copy of ‘They Came Like Swallows’ by William Maxwell that I already have. This is my third copy I think. I bought it because I was getting it cheap and besides William Maxwell is a writer I would like others to know about.

The second title was a copy of ‘To a Dubious Salvation’ by Etienne Leroux, a Penguin Modern Classics title. It has a stunningly stark cover that got my attentions right away. Inside I saw that it was a trilogy – Seven Days at the Silbersteins, One for the Devil, The Third Eye- translated from the Afrikaans into English. I got this for two hundred rupees.

The Sunday Haul (on 07-08-2022)

 It looks like the heavy rains aren’t going to leave Telangana any time now. Last Sunday it was cloudy with the sort of dark clouds portending heavy rains covering the sky in Hyderabad. However, it did not rain while I was out browsing the books at Abids. I hadn’t seen anything interesting and had also not found the titles I had seen the previous Sunday. It was then that I spotted a book at the bottom of a pile with the title ‘Haydn and the Valve Trumpet’ by Craig Raine. It seemed like a fiction title and I almost did not take it out until I saw Picador was the publisher. I took it out of the pile and saw ‘Literary Essays’ on the cover. I did not have to think twice before deciding to buy it though part of the title was torn off.

I have not heard of Craig Raine so far so I was pretty intrigued when I read that he is a literary critic. I was pleased I found this title because it has sixty seven essays on various writers, poets, and books. I got the book for just eighty rupees. After finding this title I did not bother to look at anything else, and besides it began to drizzle so I hurried home with my single haul.