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.