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.