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.