The Sunday Haul (24/07/2022)

The weather in Hyderabad, or rather, Telangana has changed a lot. There have been spells of rains almost every day, some very heavy, causing a lot of damage. One has learnt to check the weather forecast first thing in the day. Last Sunday however, it did not rain though it was cloudy, at least in the morning when I started out for Abids. After about an hour and half going around the lanes and by-lanes I ended up with three good titles. 

The first book I saw was a nice copy of ‘A Bit of Singing and Dancing’ by Susan Hill which is a collection of eleven short stories- Halloran’s Child; Mr Proudham and Mr Sleight; In the Conservatory; How Soon Can I Leave; The Custodian; A Bit of Singing and Dancing; The Peacock; Missy; The Badness Within Him; Red and Green Beads; and Ossie. I got it for a hundred rupees but I wasn’t happy because I left behind a copy of Vita Sackville West’s ‘St Joan of Arc’ and also ‘Goodbye to All That’ by Robert Graves. However, next Sunday I plan to buy them if they are still available. 

I can never tire of reading about Africa, and have so many books on or about Africa on my shelves that I feel like visiting at least one African country in my lifetime. Last Sunday with a seller who sells almost new books I saw a nice copy of ‘Continental Shift: An Investigative Journey into Africa’s 21^st Century’ by Kevin Bloom & Richard Poplak that I immediately bought for two hundred rupees. ‘Continental Shift’ is an account by two S.African journalists of the sixteen African countries they travelled to. This appears a very good and informative book and I can’t wait to read it.  

Later on the way home, at Chikkadpally, I saw a small pile of translated books in the Literature in Translation series by Orient Longman.  At the bottom of the pile was a copy of ‘Sand and Other Stories’ by Ashokamitran  (Translated by N.Kalyan Raman and Gomathi Narayanan) that I got for eighty rupees. It has a foreword by Malayalam author, Paul Zacharia, and has three novellas- Sand (Manal translated by N.Kalyan Raman), Malati translated by N.Kalyan Raman, Those Two (Iruvar translated by Gomathi Narayanan). I was thrilled to find another title by Ashokamitran to add to my collection of his titles. But I was also a bit disappointed that I had not bought the rest of the titles in the pile that I hope to pick up next Sunday. 

The Sunday Haul (on 17-07-2022)

 Since missing going to Abids the previous Sunday because of rain and also a bit of ill-health I was eager to make it to Abids last Sunday. When Sunday finally dawned there was the sky all clouded over and bit of a drizzle. It looked like it would rain all day but an hour later it became clear and I was relieved to discover that I would be going to Abids after all.

The Abids trip began on a good note. There were a lot of good titles with a seller including a copy of a George Orwell title, one by Edith Wharton that I somehow did not buy. I patiently went through each and every title piled up in three stacks but in the end there was only one that seemed interesting. It was an old copy of ‘The Skeleton’ by Amrita Pritam, a slim book not more than seventy pages. I got this title for fifty rupees.

The next find was in another pile of a different seller. All the books were for hundred rupees each and after some sifting through the books I found a nice copy of ‘The Kite and the String’ by Alice Mattison that turned out to be a book on writing. It was a hardcover book and books on writing are something I do not leave behind so I bought it.

I finished reading ‘The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie’ by Muriel Spark a couple of weeks ago. She is one of writer I like very much for her story telling. Last Sunday I spotted a copy of ‘The Go-Away Bird and Other Stories’ by Muriel Spark. There are eleven stories in this collection- The Black Madonna; The Pawnbroker’s Wife; The Twins; Miss Pinkerton’s Apocalypse; ‘A Sad Tale’s Best Winter’; The Go-Away Bird; Daisy Overend; You Should Have Seen the Mess; Come Along, Marjorie; The Seraph and The Zambesi; and The Portobello Road.

A couple of months ago I had bought a copy of ‘Their Eyes Were Watching God’ by Zora Neale Hurston that I am yet to read. Last Sunday at Abids I spotted a copy of ‘Spunk’ by Zora Neale Hurston that I took. There are nine stories in this collection- Spunk; Isis; Muttsey; Sweat; The Gilded Six-Bits; Cock Robin Beale Street; Book of Harlem; and Story in Harlem Slang. I got this book also for fifty rupees only.  

The online Haul

 Last Sunday it rained all day from morning till night. In fact it had been raining since Saturday evening. Also, Bakrid was on Sunday and since all the sellers at Abids celebrate Bakrid I felt there would be no point in going to Abids and so stayed put at home. I was also recovering from a bad cold so I thought it would do me some good if I rested instead of going out. I was a bit disappointed that I couldn’t go to Abids since I had planned to pick up a few titles that I had seen the previous Sunday but hadn’t bought. But it wasn’t a totally book less weekend. On Saturday I received a couple of books I had claimed in a sale conducted by a bookseller in Mumbai on his WhatsApp group.

A long time back when I really had no idea about what I liked to read, and which title was good and worth reading, I came across a title by Jonathan Raban. I liked the book very much and some years afterwards I found a couple of titles by Raban, (Arabia, Hunting Mister Heartbreak, Old Glory) one of which was ‘For Love and Money’ which was a sort of a memoir that I enjoyed reading very much. In a sale I had claimed a copy of ‘Passage to Juneau: A Sea and Its Meanings’ by Jonathan Raban that I received in the mail last Saturday. It is about his in the Inside Passage, a journey from Puget Sound to Alaska on a boat. It is a hardcover title and looks almost new.

I came into Anita Brookner’s books only recently, and have enjoyed reading all her books that I’ve read so far. I am desperate to find ‘Hotel du Lac’ that I haven’t been able to get anywhere and I really hope I find it soon enough. I had also claimed a copy of ‘Family and Friends’ by Anita Brookner in the sale on WA which was also delivered last Saturday.

I’ve written it here several times that I love anything on Africa, a continent I am fascinated by. I have managed to find many titles on Africa written by Africans themselves and also by non-Africans. A couple of months ago I had seen the Instagram page of a Goa based bookseller where he had pictures of covers of a few books on sale. The first was a copy of ‘Small Wars, Small Mercies: Journeys in Africa’s Disputed Nations’ by Jeremy Harding that I could hardly wait to lay my hands on after claiming it. It is a Penguin title and is a journalist’s account of his journeys in some African nations.

Another title that I managed to claim and also get was a copy of ‘Blood River: A Journey to Africa’s Broken Heart’ by Tim Butcher. A couple of months ago I had found a different title by Tim Butcher- ‘Chasing the Devil’ which I had read and liked very much. Tim Butcher is a journalist with Daily Telegraph and had been its Africa Bureau Chief. I am very glad I got this book that no one had claimed on the sale.

With these two titles I have a long list of books on Africa that I have to begin reading soon.

The Sunday Hauls (on 19-06-2022 onwards )

 I’ve been quite busy the past month with heavy work conducting  three-day training courses at the rate of one every week. It is quite stressful conducting them as it requires a lot of coordination, paperwork, and on top of it I was also taking sessions for two full days in each course which meant standing almost all day. It left me quite exhausted and though I visited Abids and picked up books I simply did not have the time to do the posts. So I am doing a combined post of three Sunday hauls.

The Haul on 19-06-2022.

After a fortnight’s gap I was eager to visit Abids and see what I would find in my haul of books at the second hand book markets that comes up on Sundays in Hyderabad. The previous Sunday I was unable to go to Abids as I was not well and wanted to rest instead of exerting myself at Abids in the hot sun. I picked up four titles out of which three titles seem quite good.

There is no other continent that fascinates me as much as Africa. I picked every book I can find on Africa, about Africa written by Africans and also non-Africans. Of all the travel titles I have on my bookshelves books on Africa make up for more than half. I almost missed looking at the nice copy of ‘Move Your Shadow; South Africa, Black and White’ by Joseph Lelyveld that I could spot at the last moment. It was lying on the ground among other titles but the title caught my eye. I felt excited after I saw that it was a Pulitzer Prize winner, and also that it was an ‘Abacus’ title. I do not remember reading about this title anywhere so I felt quite elated to realize that I had found a very good book. I got it for just eighty rupees.

I also read a lot of crime fiction and when I saw a copy of ‘Spook Country’ by William Gibson that was a Penguin title I picked it up instantly. I got it for a hundred rupees. But when I started reading it I was a bit disappointed with the writing and the story so abandoned it.

Again this was a book I almost did not buy because of the bad condition of the cover. ‘Say Goodbye to Sam’ by Michael J. Arlen. This was also a Penguin title that I normally buy without a second thought. I took another look at the cover and noticed that some of the inside pages were also stained. But the blurb on the cover was what finally made me buy it. It said that the book was a National Book Award winner.

Though I already have a copy of ‘The Story of a Brief Marriage’ by Anuk Arudpragasam I decided to buy the copy I saw last Sunday because I want to give this beautiful book to a friend. However, it is his next title- A Passage North- that I am looking for though I do not think I would be able to find a second hand copy so soon because it is not even a year since it has been out.

Sunday Haul on 27-06-2022

Not so long back I had, once again, foolishly let go of a Hannah Arendt title that I had spotted. To be fair to myself, I had no idea then of Hannah Arendt, and despite an urging inside to pick it up I did not. Soon afterwards I came to know who Hannah Arendt was and was filled with regret for not listening to my inner urge and ignoring her title I had seen at Abids. Anyway, on the last Sunday of June I saw a nice copy of ‘Crises of the Republic’ by Hannah Arendt in a pile of children’s’ books and grabbed it immediately. It has four essays: Lying in Politics, Civil Disobedience, On Violence, and Thoughts on Politics and Revolution.

Somehow this Sunday seemed to be the day for revolutionaries since the next title I spotted was a beautiful copy of ‘Words of Freedom’ by Aruna Asaf Ali, a Penguin title.

There’s a book, a graphic novel in fact, that my friend’s been telling me about and urging me to read. Somehow I am reluctant to read graphic novels for some reason even I cannot understand. She had told me about ‘Persepolis’ by Marjane Satrapi that I had come across a few times at Abids but hadn’t bought. But last Sunday when I saw a nice copy of the title I decided to buy and fulfill my friend’s wish to read it. I got this nice copy for a hundred rupees.

The Sunday Haul (on 03-07-2022)

Even though there was a forecast of rain on Sunday fortunately it did not rain in the morning while I was at Abids. However it was cloudy and cool as I went around checking out the books laid out on the pavements hoping I would strike gold and find something truly wonderful. Though I did not find anything wonderful I found an interesting title and another a copy of a title I already have.

I spotted a copy of ‘The Quiet Fear’ by Michael Halliday with a cover that seemed interesting. It was a small, slim book and I thought it would be an interesting read. Also, it was published by Hodder. I got it for forty rupees. Later when I searched online for Michael Halliday I came to know that it was another name used by John Creasey.

Sometime back I had found a nice copy of ‘The Artist’s Way’ by Jullia Cameron. I even did the ‘morning pages’ for a couple of months but couldn’t make it a habit. A lot in the book is useful advice and when I saw another copy of it I bought it hoping I would be able to help someone out by giving it to them.