Friday, March 22, 2024

The Sunday Haul (on 17-03-2024)

 Until recently I had no idea at all about Brendan Behan. It was on Twitter that I first read about this Irish writer and his fame. Last Sunday at Abids I found a copy of ‘Brendan Behan’s Island- an Irish Sketch Book’ that had illustrations by Paul Hogarth that seemed to me a good find. 

 

A major portion of the titles that I have on my shelves are Penguin titles. Sometimes I think i blindly buy anything published by Penguin and it was in that same belief that I picked up a nice copy of ‘The Discovery of Heaven’ by Harry Mulisch. After I read the blurbs on the back cover and the inside pages (one by John Updike in New Yorker) by such publications like The Times Literary Supplement, New York Times Book Review, London Review of Books, and Kirkus Reviews. I was glad I had discovered another wonderful writer I had not known until then. I am quite eager to begin reading but I am hesitant because it runs into 727 pages. I got it for hundred and twenty rupees. 




I’ve never read anything by Simone de Beauvoir except for the occasional essay somewhere because I have never come across any title by her. At Abids last Sunday I found a copy of ‘All Said and Done’ by Simone de Beauvoir, the third volume of her autobiography. I’m in a bind whether to begin reading it or wait until I find the first two volumes which looks quite impossible. On the other hand there is strong temptation to read it since flipping through the book I noticed that there is an entire chapter on what she reads. 

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