The Sunday Haul (on 20-02-2022)

If the temperature on Sunday morning in Hyderabad was anything to go by then summer is not very far off. It wasn’t hot but a bit too warm. There was the usual crowd looking at the books spread out on the pavements by the regular sellers. Somehow I did not find many titles worth picking and in the end managed to find only one book.

A couple of years ago I had picked up a copy of ‘The Africans’ by David Lamb that I read soon after and was very impressed by David Lamb’s writing. I did not know then that he had also written a similar book titled ‘The Arabs’ that I found soon afterwards. However I am yet to read it since I had decided to read all the books I can find on a particular region, or country or people in keeping with my developing interest in history and geopolitics. Luckily, last Sunday I came across a nice copy of ‘The Closed Circle- An Interpretation of the Arabs’ by David Pryce-Jones.

The paperback copy I found was published in 1990 and runs into almost four hundred and fifty pages. I read the first few paragraphs in the introduction and some random paragraphs in the inside pages and was instantly hooked. Since I am currently reading other titles I want to read ‘The Closed Circle’ sometime in the near feature. Btw, I got this copy for a hundred and fifty rupees.

The Sunday Haul (on 13-02-2022)

 

Immediately after finding ‘Satisdiction’ the previous Sunday at Abids I began to go through the book which is mainly a list of some interesting words from the Oxford English Dictionary. One of the words I came across was the word ‘Apricity’ meaning soaking in the warmth of the winter sun. I was also experiencing Apricity at Abids last Sunday as the mild winter sun kept me comfortably warm as I browsed the books laid out on the pavements and road.

By some curious coincidence three out of the four books I found at Abids last Sunday turned out to be travel titles, and the one that wasn’t turned out to be a classic that is hard to find. But Abids is such a place that one can find great treasures one cannot find even in bookstores.

        Of late I had begun to come across the name Georges Perec and his books especially ‘Life- A User’s Manual’ that someone had mentioned on Twitter recently. But I did not even imagine that I would find a copy of the very same title- ‘Life- A User’s Manual’ by Georges Perec at Abids. I had picked up a thriller that seemed quite good going by the blurbs on the cover and had moved across the pile of books the seller had to pay him when I spotted the title ‘Life- A User’s Manual’ by Georges Perec on a book. I slowly picked it up to take a good look to see if it was the real thing, and realized that it was indeed the real thing. It was a copy from a library in the Secretariat! I paid just a hundred rupees for it and was quite thrilled that I had found a classic.

A few years back just when my interest in travel books began to peak I found a copy of ‘Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee’ by Dee Brown. I haven’t yet found the time to read it but that did not prevent me from buying another copy of the same title that I came across last Sunday. Initially I hesitated to buy it but when I realized that I was getting the rare title for only fifty rupees I bought it.

A couple of weeks ago, in January actually, I found another title about/on China- ‘Notes from China’ by Barbara Tuchman. It was another addition to the half-dozen odd titles on China that I have managed to gather over the years. Except for ‘Riding the Iron Rooster’ by Paul Theroux I haven’t read the others. I plan to read the rest of the titles one by one soon. Last Sunday at Abids I found another memoir of China. It was a copy of ‘Sounds of the River’ by Da Chen. This too I got for fifty rupees only with the same seller where I bought ‘Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee’ by Dee Brown.

If I were allowed to visit only one place then I would choose someplace in Africa. I don’t know what it is about Africa that attracts me but it is my favourite continent that never fails to fascinate me. It all began after I read ‘Dark Star Safari’ by Paul Theroux and later Chinua Achebe’s ‘Things Fall Apart’ when my interest in knowing more about Africa took off. I actively sought out books written on Africa, books by African writers, and books by people who have studied Africa. I found many titles about/on Africa that now fill my shelf. Only a couple of weeks back I had found another travel title and last Sunday at Abids I found a copy of ‘After Mandela: The Battle for the Soul of South Africa’ by Alec Russell. This too I got for only fifty rupees.

The Sunday Haul (on 06-02-2022)

Not very long back, in fact after reading ‘Balkan Ghosts’ by Robert D. Kaplan sometime last year, I developed a desire to know more about what happened in other parts of the world, and what is happening now. In short, history and geo-politics is what interests me of late. Fortunately I found more such books by other writers most of them journalists. Though I haven’t read all such books that I‘ve managed to buy I am glad I had decided to read such titles because it increases my understanding of the events in different parts of the world.  Each such title that I read makes me want to read more such books so I buy all such books whenever I come across them.

Last Sunday at Abids I spotted a mammoth book and at first I was hesitant to even look at it. But when I looked at the cover I decided to buy it though the first few pages were damaged a bit. It was a copy of ‘The Great War for Civilization-The Conquest of the Middle East’ by Robert Fisk. Right away I knew it was a great title and the blurb on the cover seemed to strengthen my feeling.

Sometime ago I had been lucky to find a beautiful copy of ‘Meditations’ by Marcus Aurelius that I now cannot find in my shelves. I do not remember reading it but I feel that I was lucky to find it. I had read about it in ‘English August’ by Upamanyu Chatterjee in which the main character refers to it. Also very recently, last month in fact, I had found a title in the ‘Penguin Books Great Ideas’ series, small books that easily fit in a small bag and very convenient to read while travelling. It was a copy of ‘Why I Write’ by George Orwell that I bought for a hundred rupees at Abids. At Abids again last Sunday I came across a beautiful copy of ‘Meditations’ by Marcus Aurelius with a cover I couldn’t take my eyes off and bought it.

In the past few years I must have bought more than half a dozen copies of ‘The Art of Living’ by Epictetus that I gave away to friends and others. Somehow I am very attracted to this beautiful book and when I saw another copy at Abids last Sunday I couldn’t resist buying it. I got it for fifty rupees only.

I don’t really know why but I keep buying several copies of a few titles that I liked. I also buy copies of some books I haven’t read. One such book is ‘An End to Suffering’ by Pankaj Mishra that I found some time ago. This is another title I haven’t read yet I bought another copy I saw last Sunday at Abids. The reason why I bought it was that it was a hardcover copy that was for sale for just fifty rupees. It was in good condition so I picked it up.

The Sunday Haul (on 30-01-2022)

It was a foolish of me not to have picked up a copy of ‘Guns, Germs and Steel’ by Jared Diamond when I first saw it in a pile of books at Abids a couple of years back. I was not aware it was such a good book so it was just ignorance that made me skip buying the book the first time I saw it. After some time I read somewhere about ‘Guns, Germs and Steel’ and began to look for it at Abids and other places but I could never come across it until last Sunday when I finally found it again. This time I did not hesitate but just swooped on it and picked it up. I got it for hundred and fifty rupees.

The next find too was something I did not think twice before buying it because the title itself was enough for me to want to buy it. It was a copy of ‘The Weekenders: Travels in the Heart of Africa’ and the word ‘Africa’ was enough to make me grab it right away. ‘The Weekenders’ contains a couple of short stories and travel essays by writers like Alex Garland, Giles Foden, Victoria Glenndinning, and Irvine Welsh who were sent to Sudan to write about the place and the conditions there. This was commissioned by Daily Telegraph and all proceeds from the sale of this book would be spent on aid in Sudan.

The next find too turned out to be a travel title. I saw a copy of ‘Far Horizons’ by Frank Gardner. I hadn’t heard of Frank Gardner till I saw the name on the cover of ‘Far Horizons.’ On the back cover and inside it says that Frank Gardner is the security correspondent for the BBC and has travelled widely covering many events, and places all over the world. The title further says ‘Unusual Journeys and Strange Encounters from a Travelling Life’ which was enough for me to buy it.

The last find was another interesting book. This is the second dictionary related non-fiction book that I found recently, the first one being ‘The Professor and the Madman’ by Simon Winchester and it was a title on the making of the Oxford English Dictionary. Coincidentally,  ‘Satisdiction’ by Ammon Shea is a compilation of some unusual words he came across in the Oxford English Dictionary. I love words and always want to know more about them so I didn’t think twice before picking up the book for fifty rupees. I started reading the book right after I got home. One of the words I liked was ‘Agelastic’ meaning someone who never laughs. It seems the right word to describe me.