The Sunday Haul (on 24-12-2023)

 

 

A bit late writing about last Sunday’s haul because I wanted to post it on the last day of the year 2023. I love humor and when I found a beautiful collection of humor writing I did not think twice before buying it. I saw a copy of ‘Fierce Pajamas: An Anthology of Humor Writing from The New Yorker’ edited by David Remnick and Henry Finder with a seller outside the GPO at Abids and bought it for just a hundred and fifty rupees only. It has more than a hundred and fifty pieces by writers like Woody Allen, James Thurber, E.B. White, Garrison Keillor, Steve Martin, Peter De Vries, and there’s even one by Susan Sontag!

 

I have copies of ‘The Blue Nile’ and ‘The White Nile’ both written by Alan Moorehead but I am yet to find the time to read them. When I saw a copy of ‘No Room in the Ark’ by Alan Moorehead, a slim volume I was curious to know what it was. I got it for only thirty rupees. 

The Sunday Haul (on 17-12-2023)

After the accident though there is a minor change in my manner of reaching Abids on Sunday mornings there is no change in what I am finding at Abids. I continue to find good books at Abids every Sunday, and last Sunday too I found four wonderful titles. 

The first title I spotted was a copy of ‘The Writer and the World’ a collection of essays by the venerable V.S. Naipaul. I do not remember if I have this title or not but I couldn’t let go of such a fine copy and therefore I bought it. I got it for two hundred rupees which is a bit high. But what the heck, I’d pay anything for a good title.

Another title that I remember having bought earlier was ‘The Granta Book of India’ the copy of which stared back at me from the pavement and before I could try to remember clearly I picked it up. This title I got for hundred rupees.

Another find was a beautiful hardcover title ’Signs and Images’ by Roland Barthes and I grabbed it at lightning speed though there was no one around who would have snatched it. This is my second Roland Barthes title having found the first title ages ago and which I am yet to read. This title I got for just eighty rupees.

The last title I found was one I clearly remember having several copies of and which I’d buy any number of copies that I came across. It was almost by accident that I spotted the distinctive red cover of ‘Ex-Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader’ by Anne Fadiman, and I felt a strange thrill at having found yet another copy of this wonderful book that every bibliophile ought to have on their bookshelf. I couldn’t believe it when the seller asked just thirty rupees for this slim book. 

The Sunday Haul (on 03.12.2023)

 Going to Abids has become a bit complicated for me since the past three weeks. I had a road accident last month a day before Diwali and fractured my collarbone after falling down on the road from my two-wheeler that was hit by a rashly driven autorickshaw. I have been wearing a clavicle brace and have my right arm in a sling which means I cannot ride a two-wheeler. So I am going by cab to Abids which isn’t the same as going on my two-wheeler. 

Anyway, I got there as usual a little before noon and managed to find three titles. The first title I found was a copy of ‘With Chatwin’ by Susannah Clapp that was almost brand new and had Chatwin’s picture on the cover. It is a memoir/biography, and I plan to read it along with another biography of Chatwin by Nicholas Shakespeare that I had found a long time ago but haven’t yet managed to read it.

 

The next find was a nice copy of ‘Delhi Metropolitan: The Making of an Unlikely City’ by Ranjana Sengupta that I got for eighty rupees. Coincidentally I had claimed ‘City of Gold: The Biography of Bombay’ by Gillian Tindall on an online sale and that is yet to be delivered. Someday I have to read both these titles. I’ve already read Geoffrey Moorehouse’s book on Calcutta sometime last year. 

 

Though I felt that I have already read the copy of ‘Finding the Centre’ by V.S. Naipaul that I had found some time ago I couldn’t resist buying another copy though with a different cover and also an older edition that I saw at Abids last Sunday. One reason for buying it was that it was in a heap of Rs.50 books. 

The Sunday Haul (on 26-11-2023)

 I couldn't go to Abids as usual on Sunday in the morning because I had to attend an election related training. But I could go up to Chikkadpally where I found a title by an African author I hadn't heard about before. 'The God Who Begat a Jackal' by Nega Mezlekia that I got for a hundred rupees. 

The Sunday Haul (on 19-11-2023)

 After 'The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz' that I couldn't finish this is the second Mordecai Richler title that I found last Sunday at Abids. It is a collection of essays that I got for fifty rupees. 

The Sunday Haul (on 05.11.2023)

 

The Diwali shopping buzz has begun and so all the shops in Abids were open. Only a few of the second-hand booksellers had shifted from their regular spots so I did not feel much of a difference in my usual Sunday hunt for books at Abids. However, I did not feel like buying every book that I saw because at home the books are taking over every available spot spacious enough to keep a book. I ended up buying just two titles last Sunday at Abids. 

 

A long time back I had found a copy of ‘The Savage Detectives’ by Roberto Bolano that I did not find the time to read and somehow I gave it away to someone without realizing I was giving it away. Later when I read about the book somewhere and searched for my copy I couldn’t find it and belatedly realized that I had foolishly given it away. Luckily sometime later I found another copy that again I haven’t had the time to read. So while the copy of ‘The Savage Detectives’ by Roberto Bolano is still lying somewhere on my bookshelf unread I found a copy of ‘Distant Star’ by Roberto Bolano last Sunday at Abids. I got it for just fifty rupees and have begun reading it since it is quite slim and can be finished in a day. 

 

 

I do not have to mention it again that I love travel titles especially those that are about the traveler living in another country and writing about the people, life and other things in that country that the writer has chosen to call it his home. 

 

I did not buy the copy of ‘Italian Neighbours’ by Tim Parks that I saw at Abids last Sunday just like that. I had read ‘Teach Us to Sit Still’ by Tim Parks a couple of years ago and was very impressed by what he wrote about a delicate problem that he had and how he went through that using meditation and other ways. I found a nice copy of ‘Italian Neighbours’ that I got for a hundred rupees. 

The Sunday Haul (on 29.10.2023)

 As someone who likes to read a lot I make it a point not to miss reading each and every piece in the ‘magazine’ of The Hindu on Sunday. Last Sunday while reading the articles in ‘the open page’ of the ‘magazine’ I came across a very interesting item titled ‘On a Literary Trail in the U.K.’ by one Sebastian Valiakala, a major Sebastian Faulks fan.  I was amazed to read that he had made a 20-week ‘bibliotour’ across England, Scotland, and Ireland and wrote about coming across titles by Sebastian Faulks on his trip. I wondered how passionate a book lover Mr. Sebastian Valiakal was to have made a 20-week ‘bibliotour’ across the U.K. In a strange coincidence a few hours after reading this wonderful piece I found a copy of ‘A Week in December’ by Sebastian Faulks in a heap of Rs.100 books. I picked it up since I had not read anything by Sebastian Faulks so far. 

 

The next find was a copy of ‘Sacred Virgin: Travels across the Narmada’ by Royina Grewal that I got for a hundred and fifty rupees. It was a title that I do not remember reading about anywhere so I was pretty thrilled to find another Indian travel title. Another reason for picking it up was that it was a Penguin title and they never disappoint me. 

 

Funnily enough the next find at Abids was another travel title- ‘The Golden Peak: Travels in Northern Pakistan’ by Kathleen Jamie, yet another Penguin title that I picked up for a hundred rupees. I haven’t read may accounts of journeys in Pakistan, and I hope this title fill the gap in my reading about Pakistan. 

 

Then I found a copy of ‘Bombay Time’ by Thrity Umrigar, a writer I had read about somewhere and had actually seen a book by her a long time back that I did not pick up. But when I read on the inside pages that it was her debut novel and a Picador title I decided to buy it. I got this book too for a hundred rupees. 

 

Any book with the words ‘Books’ and ‘Bookstore’ instantly grabs my attention and I end up buying such books without a moment’s hesitation. When I saw a copy of ‘Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore’ by Robin Sloan that had a zany and attractive cover I bought it right away not bothering to find out whether it was fiction or non-fiction or even if it was any good. But after I noticed that it was an Atlantic Books title and a work of fiction I felt convinced that it would be a good read. I got this for only sixty rupees. 

I also picked up two titles- ‘The Kingdom of Blue Skies’ by Mayakshi Chattopadhyaya and 

‘Like Fishes in the Ocean’ by Gita Iyengar about which I want to write sometime later in another post. 

 The Sunday Haul (on 22.10.2023) 

The regular shops at Abids were just beginning to open when I reached there last Sunday. The festival bustle would begin in a few hours so I got around all the sellers looking for something good to pick up. Though I looked carefully all I could manage to find was a good copy of a book that I already have.

 

Australia is one country that fascinates me and I try to read as many travel titles on Australia as I can find. I have a few such titles on Australia that I have found a long time back. One of them is of course Bill Bryson’s ‘Down Under’ and also ‘West of Centre’ by Ray Ericksen that I loved. Not long ago I had found a copy of ‘The Ribbon and the Ragged Square: An Australian Journey’ by Linda Christmas that I had spotted at a store in Bengaluru sometime in May this year. Another title on Australia that I found sometime in August 2019 was a copy of ‘In the Land of Oz’ by Howard Jacobson that I read right away after finding it and then again recently. 

 

It was a copy of this same title- ‘In the Land of Oz’ by Howard Jacobson that I found last Sunday at Abids. It was a far better copy than the one I had so I couldn’t resist buying it and got it for just eighty rupees.

The Sunday Haul (on 15.10.2023)

 The festival season is on in Hyderabad and many shops in Abids were open last Sunday so some of the sellers of second-hand books had to move their books to other spots. This would be the situation until Diwali in November. However, it did not matter much to me at all because I knew where the sellers were. 

 

Sometime after I found ‘On Writing’ by Stephen King after reading which I felt confident enough to think of putting down on paper the idea for a novel I had in mind I found a copy of ‘The Writing of One Novel’ by Irving Wallace at Abids a long time back. It gave me an idea of how writers develop their novels after getting the idea for it, and what happens while the novel is written, and the numerous obstacles the writer has to face while writing. ‘The Writing of One Novel’ was one title I read and reread numerous times. I also found several copies of it all these years that I gave away to anyone who expressed the slightest interest in writing a novel. It is a different matter that not one who I gave a copy of ‘The Writing of One Novel’ has managed to bring out a novel so far.

 

Anyway, I found yet another copy of ‘The Writing of One Novel’ by Irving Wallace at Abids last Sunday and I was unable to move on without buying it. I got it for fifty rupees, a nice copy that I plan to retain and give away a different copy that is not in such a good condition that I had found some time back. 

 

I do not know where I read about ‘Harry’s Game’ that was described as a great read but I forgot who the author was however I remembered the title. Last Sunday at Abids I spotted a copy of ‘Harry’s Game’ by Gerald Seymour at a seller that I almost pounced on and grabbed it. I got it for just fifty rupees. 

The Sunday Haul (on 08.10.2023)

It is unusually warm for this time of the year in Hyderabad when it would have begun to get a bit cold early in the morning. I read somewhere that it would begin to get cold sometime in mid-November which is almost a month away so until then we in Hyderabad have to put up with these warm days.  

As usual I was in Abids last Sunday eager to pick up interesting titles, and soon after reaching I spotted a copy of ‘Inspector Matadeen on the Moon’ by Harishankar Parsai. I had read a long back about Harishankar Parsai’s satirical pieces but hadn’t expected to find an entire book of them. I got this title for sixty rupees.

 

The next find was a travel title- ‘Inka-Kola: A Traveller’s Tale of Peru’ by Matthew Parris that I found in a pile of Rs.100 books. I picked it up after reading a blurb by Dervla Murphy on the back cover. Of course, the attractive cover also played a role in my decision to buy it. 

 

Though Saddam Hussein of Iraq has been long dead I haven’t lost the desire to know what the newspapers haven’t written about this much reviled President. So when I saw a copy of 

‘Saddam’s War’ by John Bulloch & Harvey Morris published by faber and faber I grabbed it. I got it for a hundred rupees at a seller in Chikkadpally 

This year it is going to be a too big haul of books that I've picked up at Abids and also got a lot of books online. I have to start counting from now on!

The Sunday Haul ( on 01-10-2023)

 Though the temperatures do not show it but for all appearances winter is just around the corner in Hyderabad. It was bright and sunny in the morning at Abids when I reached for my weekly dose of Sunday browsing for books on the pavements. Hari came with Anjali to look for some good titles and I picked out a nice copy of ‘The Heart is a Lonely Hunter’ by Carson McCullers for Anjali. 

 

The first title I found was a copy of ‘A Life of One’s Own’ by Joanna Field that somehow felt could be a good title so I picked up and read that it had been out of print for a long time. It was some kind of a memoir/self-help/psychology title that I felt I had to read. I got this title for fifty rupees only. 

 

The next title I found was a copy of ‘Out’ by Pierre Ray, a voluminous crime fiction book that I somehow felt could be another good read. I got this for thirty rupees. 

 

On the way back home I stopped at Chikkadpally and spotted a copy with a blue cover that was ‘Propaganda and the Public Mind: Conversations with Noam Chomsky: Interviews by David Barsamian. This was the second Noam Chomsky title I found in the recent weeks. After I read that John Pilger was influenced by Noam Chomsky I had decided to read his books. 

 

A while ago the Literature Nobel was announced and it was awarded to Jon Fosse. I haven’t read any of his books though I have read about his books on Twitter. I hope I find a title by Jon Fosse soon. 

The Sunday Haul (on 24.09.2023)

The Sunday before I was travelling and so wasn’t in Hyderabad therefore no Sunday Haul. But I was back from Ooty on Saturday evening and was raring to go to Abids to check out the books. Luckily for me it wasn’t raining and I was able to browse to my heart’s content during the two hours I was there. 

The first book I found was a copy of ‘Maai’ by Gitanjali Sree, a Hindi title that I had seen a couple of Sundays before but had hesitated to buy for some reason. But last Sunday I picked it up for just forty rupees. I don’t know when I will find the time to read it but I will read it because it is one of the few Hindi books I would be reading.

 

The next find was a copy of ‘Pubis Angelical’ by Manuel Puig. I read on the cover that Puig was a well-known Argentine writer and had also written a bestseller earlier. I did not hesitate to buy it and got it for a hundred rupees.

 

A couple of years ago a friend had gifted me a new copy of ‘Living to Tell the Tale’ by Gabriel Garcia Marquez that I am yet to read. Last Sunday at Abids with one of the sellers I saw another copy that I did not have the heart to leave behind so bought it for hundred rupees. 

The Sunday Haul (on 10-09-2023)

Almost every Sunday I am convinced that when it comes to finding good titles I am very lucky. It was proved again last Sunday when I found a wonderful title by an author I was desperate to find. But it happened almost at the end of my browsing at Abids. 

 

Sometime back I had found a book of articles and essays by TCA Srinivasa Raghavan in which there was a lengthy piece on second hand bookstores. Last Sunday at Abids I happened to find a novel by TCA which is about publishing which is a field I like to read about so I  picked up a copy of ‘Goodbye to All That’ by TCA Srinivasa Raghavan that I saw with a seller. 

 

There are a few titles I have many copies of because I cannot resist leaving behind those titles whenever I come across them. ‘Narrow Road to the Deep North’ by Richard Flanagan is one title that I have picked up at least three copies so far and on Sunday at Abids I picked up my fourth copy not because I was getting it cheap but because I love it and want my friends also to read it. I got it for just fifty rupees. 

 

I had come across nothing but high praise for titles by Olga Tokarczuk on Twitter and elsewhere. I felt that it would be next to impossible to find copies of her books and had not even expected to find them in, of all places, Abids where one gets only second-hand copies. But last Sunday I was shocked to find a nice copy of ‘Flights’ by Olga Tokarczuk with a seller near the GPO. I tried to appear as calm as possible and not show any excitement while picking up the copy to take a good look at it. I was surprised to find that it was an edition for sale in India and the subcontinent only for Rs.499. I got it for Rs.120. 

 

Then in another heap of books selling for Rs.20/ only I saw a copy of a children’s title with a very attractive cover ‘Nagoba and Other Stories’ by Aruna Bhargava that I bought just for the cover alone. 

The Sunday Haul (on 03-09-2023)

I am a big fan of Len Deighton’s writing and have all his titles that I found over the years. Bernard Samson is one of my favorite characters and I have read and reread all titles that feature Bernard Samson. Last Sunday at Abids I spotted a beautiful hardcover copy of ‘Only When I Laugh’ by Len Deighton that I immediately picked up intrigued by the differently spelled ‘Laugh’ in the title. I have a copy of ‘Only When I Larf’ and when I checked this copy I realized that it was an American edition published by The Mysterious Press, New York. 

On the way back home from Abids I stopped at Chikkadpally as usual and saw a nice copy of ‘Red Harvest’ by Dashiell Hammett. I thought I did not have this title and so picked it up. I got it for only hundred rupees. 

The Sunday Haul (on 27.08.2023)

Before I write about the haul last Sunday at Abids I have to write about the haul the previous Sunday about which I could not post here due to a heavy workload.

The other Sunday (on 20^th August) I had found a wonderful title at Chikkadpally on the way home from Abids where I could not find anything interesting. I spotted a copy of ‘A Mouthful of Air’ by Anthony Burgess that I got for less than a hundred rupees. 

 

 

Last Sunday at Abids I netted another wonderful haul of two great titles. I was thrilled beyond measure to find these two books. The first find was a title I had seen the other Sunday but had not picked up assuming no one would buy such a book and indeed no one bought it since I saw it at the same spot last Sunday and picked it up. It was a nice copy of ‘The Great Game: On Secret Service in High Asia’ by Peter Hopkirk. I got it for a hundred and fifty rupees.

 

 

Only the other day I had seen a tweet about ‘The Darker the Night the Brighter the Stars’ by Paul Broks that seemed to have been published very recently so I thought I would not be able to get it so soon at Abids, at least the original copy. However, last Sunday I got a pleasant surprise when I found an original copy of it and got it for hundred rupees only. 

This was the haul on Sunday before I fly off to Ooty on Monday. 

The Sunday Haul (13.08.2023)

 It was a bountiful haul last Sunday at Abids with four good titles finding home on my bookshelf. The first find was a copy of ‘Dispossession; The Struggle for Palestinian Self-Determination’ by Edward Said with a seller near the GPO at Abids. It was in good condition and I felt glad I had found a good title. 

 Along with this title I also found a copy of ‘Alone Across the Atlantic’ by Francis Chichester with the same seller who gave me both these titles for just hundred and fifty rupees. I have another title by Francis Chichester that I found a long time ago at Abids but haven’t got around to reading it as it is quite a tome running into several hundred pages. 

A little further away with another seller I found a nice copy of ‘Heaven on Wheels’ by Firdaus Kanga, a title that I had been looking for sometime now. I had read about it and was interested in finding it as it was said to be a travel title. I got it for just seventy rupees. 

But the best haul of the day was not at Abids but at Chikkadpally where I stopped before going home. I almost did not stop since I had already found three good titles and did not want to buy any more books. I am glad I stopped because I spotted a copy of ‘Suttree’ by Cormac McCarthy that made me get down from my bike hurriedly and pick it up. I got this title for just a hundred rupees and boy was I glad because the copy I found was in very good condition. 

The Sunday Haul (on 06-08-2023)

 Last Sunday was a sort of special visit to Abids. Someone who follows me on Twitter messaged me that she would be visiting Abids and asked me to show her around. I was a bit nervous but the lady turned out to be an avid reader like her mother who accompanied her. She bought ten books and I gave her six copies of some of my favorite titles including ‘All About H Hatterr’ by GV Desani, ‘Summer of 42’ by Herman Raucher, a collection of stories by Mavis Gallant, a Dave Barry title. It is for this reason that I buy multiple copies of titles I loved to read. Anyway it all went off well and I was pleased about it all. 

I too picked up four titles on my own. The first title I picked up was a beautiful almost new copy of ‘The News: A User’s Manual’ by Alain de Botton. Over the past weeks and months  I have found Alain de Botton’s ‘How Proust Can Change Your Life’, ‘Essays in Love’, ‘The Art of Travel’, ‘The Consolations of Philosophy’ after reading which I was convinced that de Botton was a wonderful thinker and writer.  

 

Somehow I like reading accounts by individuals who lead interesting lives doing something not many people do or can do. One such title I found last Sunday was ‘The Shepherd’s Life; A Tale of the Lake District’ by James Rebanks that I picked up also because it was a Penguin title. I did not mind paying a hundred and fifty rupees for it. 

Of course any title related to travel does not escape my eye and so when I spotted a nice copy of ‘Without a Guide’ edited by Katherine Govier I picked it up knowing it would be a good title. I wasn’t wrong as the book is a collection of travel pieces by seventeen celebrated women writers like Annie Proulx, Alice Walker, Bapsi Sidhwa, Ann Beattie, Margaret Atwood and also Robyn Davidson whose ‘The Ribbon and the Ragged Square’ I had bought at Bengaluru, and from which book an excerpt is included in ‘Without a Guide’. 

 

I never seem to write good English so I am always trying to improve my writing by learning the basics of writing, grammar, style and so on. Sometime last month or the month before it I had found a nice copy of ‘The King’s English’ by H.W. Fowler and F.G. Fowler that I plan to read along with Fowler’s ‘Modern English Usage’ that I had got cheap earlier this year.

The Sunday Haul (31-07-2023)

 It did not rain last Sunday, mercifully since it had rained all through the other week. It was cloudy though but no sign of any rain. As usual I rushed to Abids and returned home with three good titles. 

The first find was a nice copy of ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’ by John Boyne that I bought right away. I had come across many copies in the past but none of them were in a good enough condition. So when I found an almost new copy I picked it up for fifty rupees.

 

The second find was at the seller who has copies of new and almost new titles in the piles he displays. I found a nice hard cover copy of ‘The Pleasures of Leisure’ by Robert Dessaix that I got for hundred and fifty rupees. I read that Robert Dessaix was an Australian writer since I had not heard of his name anywhere before. Anyway I was pleased to find this non-fiction title that I have already started reading. 

I found a most interesting title that I seemed to have read about somewhere very recently. I do not know where I read about ‘Christ Stopped at Eboli’ by Carlo Levi but when I read that title on the cover of a tattered looking book I stopped and picked it up. I was pretty excited finding this book that I got for only twenty rupees. Now I want to recollect where it was that I read about this title recently. 

An Online Haul

 This post is the last of the posts in the 16^th or 17^th year of this blog, I am not clear. I began the blog on the 31^stof 2007.  Next week this blog turns 18?

 

I have a thing for short stories. I haven’t read as many as I should have though I have plenty of collections of short stories by many famous names in Indian as well as those in other places. It is as if I am hoarding these short story collections to read some time in the future. I think I began my reading life with short stories and over the years have get to know some really good writers who have written the kind of stories you never forget. I have almost all the titles by Alice Munro, a couple of titles by Lorrie Moore, but I am yet to find anything by Grace Paley save for a short story or two by her that I chanced upon in anthologies. Somewhere I read about ‘I Stand Here Ironing’ by Tille Olsen but haven’t been able to find it anywhere until last week when I got lucky and bagged a copy of ‘Tell Me a Riddle’ by Tille Olsen in a sale on WhatsApp. 

 

I knew that Tille Olsen wrote some really good stories but I did not expect to find ‘I Stand Here Ironing’ in ‘Tell Me a Riddle’ that I received the other day. I was delighted to find this famous and much quoted story in this collection along with three other stories including the title story. The other stories in this slim collection include: Hey Sailor, What Ship?; and O Yes. 

Later when I opened the book to take a better look I was pleasantly surprised it was a New Year gift to a friend in 2000 from someone called Thrity. It set off my imagination and I wondered who Thrity was and who it was she gifted the book to and how it ended with the bookseller from whom I bought it.