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.