An Online Haul

More than a year ago when it was not possible to go out on Sundays to Abids or to second hand bookstores I lucky enough to be added to WA groups of second hand booksellers. Whenever I saw any title that looked good I put in my claim and most of the time I got them. Some I couldn’t because others claimed them before I could. Last week there was a sale by a seller who always puts up good titles and I claimed three titles before anyone could and got them. These are the three titles I was lucky to get.

I remember having bought a copy of ‘The Seven Pillars of Wisdom’ by TE Lawrence sometime back. I don’t know where it is. This title came up for claim and since no one seemed interested in it I put in my claim and wasn’t very surprised to see that I had got it. It is a thick book running into almost 685 pages.

I have been frustrated for long for not being able to find even a single title by Bohumil Hrabal ever since I heard the name. I was on the lookout for Bohumil Hrabal titles at Abids, I searched in all the second hand bookstores in Hyderabad but I was not successful. But the moment I saw ‘The Death of Mr Baltisberger’ by Bohumil Hrabal up for claim I waited breathlessly until the hour when the books were open for claims. I claimed this title first as soon as the sale was open for claim and waited nervously until it was time for the seller to put out the list of who got which titles. I felt a thrill when I saw on the list that the book was mine.

There are fourteen stories in this book, translated from Czech by Michael Henry Heim, and the Introduction by Daniel S. Miritz is translated by Kaca Polackova.

I had found a copy of ‘The Condemned Playground’ by Cyril Connolly many years ago but haven’t yet got around to reading it for some reason. I was keeping this wonderful title to read when I had a lot of time on my hands so it remained unread. Also the cover was a little dirty but it did not matter to me. But when I saw another copy up for claiming I put in my claim and was relieved to find that I had got it. The copy I got turned out to be a nice copy with a clean cover and the book looked almost new.

The Weekend Haul (on 11-09-2021)

Last weekend was pretty long with three holidays. Friday was a holiday because of Ganesh festival, second Saturday which is a holiday for us and of course, Sunday. Friday passed somehow but I felt restless on Saturday and so decided to check out Unique bookstore in Khairatabad. I always find something interesting in Unique on every visit and my visit there on Saturday was no different because I found two nice titles.

Since finding the first copy of ‘On Writing’ by Stephen King sometime in 2004 or so I have managed to find and also buy more than a dozen copies of this wonderful book. Even after giving away many copies of this book I have at least four copies of ‘On Writing’ gracing my shelves. I can never resist buying this book and so when on Saturday I found a beautiful, hardcover copy of ‘On Writing’ by Stephen King that appeared to be almost brand new I snatched it.

Of late I seemed to be finding books about India, and travel in India by foreigners and Indians. Only recently I had found a lovely copy of “If it is Monday it must be Madurai’ by Srinath Perur and before that I had found a copy of ‘Mofussil Junction’ by Ian Jack. On Saturday the second book I bought was a copy of the August-September 1997 issue of ‘London Magazine; India 1997 with Affection’ that looked interesting. It had a mix of articles, poems, photographs, art, book reviews mostly by Indians but the topic or theme was India because 1997 was the fiftieth anniversary of India’s independence. I was glad I found it though I would have been gladder if I had also bought other titles I had seen but couldn’t buy. But I plan to visit the store soon and pick up the other books I saw especially the copy of the collection of essays by Amitav Ghosh.

 Of course, the next day being Sunday I went to Abids too. However though I saw a couple of books that appeared very interesting I did not feel like buying them. I saw a nice copy of ‘Italian Neighbours’ by Tim Parks that I had earlier missed buying but gave it a miss this time too. I may have to wait until the Sunday after next Sunday to buy it because the next Sunday it is Ganesh immersion and there will be a lot of traffic restrictions. Also, the cops won’t allow the sellers to set up shop on the pavements.

The Sunday Haul (on 05-09-2021)

It had been raining almost all day since the past ten days over here and Sunday morning was no different except that it was all cloudy as if it would rain any moment. However it did not rain when I set out for Abids. The previous Sunday while picking up some books at Chikkadpally I had seen two other titles I couldn’t take. So before going to Abids I thought I would see if they were still there with the seller and take them if they were available. To my luck I saw them and took these two titles for just a hundred rupees for both.

The first title was a copy of ‘A View of My Own’ by Elizabeth Hardwick. A collection of essays in literature and society as it says on the cover, there are essays on a few writers known and little known, like Christiana Stead, Mary McCarthy, and the lives of some poets, writers. I hope to dip into it now and then over a long period.

The second title was a hardcover copy of ‘Light Blue, Dark Blue: An Anthology of Oxford & Cambridge Writing’ Edited by John Fuller, Julian Mitchell & William Donaldson, Robin McLaren. This book features writings of people who have been at these two universities in the sixties, and some of the writers I could recognise were Dom Moraes with three articles, Ted Hughes, Sylvia Plath, and many that I do not know. Another Asian sounding name was that of Waris Habibullah, who , I read at the back of the book,  was born in Lucknow, lived in Bombay,  and had also written three stories.

Occasionally I read books in the languages I know. I have read a couple of books in Hindi and a few in Telugu but that was a while ago. Last Sunday I saw a beautiful and almost new hardcover copy of ‘Krishnaveni’ by Ranganayakamma that I picked right away. In the Foreword the author writes about why she got this latest edition published. Ranganayakamma wrote ‘Krishnaveni’ in 1959 when she was nineteen years old and it was first published as a serial in a weekly magazine in the years 1960-61. But after more than eight editions there were no reprints and the book had become difficult to find.  There were several errors in the book that she wanted to change and she tried to obtain all the editions to know more about where she had made corrections and in which edition. Hence this latest edition published in 2010 has a lot of footnotes about the errors and the corrections in scenes. Now this only made me want to look for older editions of this title. I hope I will be able to find at least one edition before I begin reading this popular book.

The Sunday Haul (on 29-08-2021)

The other Sunday I had had a major haul of a few lovely titles by Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett among others, and three Sundays later I made another lovely haul last Sunday. However, not all of them were at Abids but most of them were at Chikkadpally.

I am a big fan of William Trevor and will not miss buying any of his titles that I happen to come across anywhere. I have multiple copies of a few of his titles though I do not always remember which. So when I spotted a copy of ‘The Love Department’ by William Trevor I thought I did not have it and felt pretty excited that I had found another William Trevor title. But when I got back home later in the afternoon I checked all the William Trevor titles on my bookshelf and saw that I already have a copy of ‘The Love Department’ but I was not disappointed.

Occasionally a bunch of old editions of some wonderful titles turn up with one of the sellers at Chikkadpally. The sight of such piles gets me all excited. I eagerly sorted through one such pile I noticed with a seller and picked up half a dozen titles that I kept aside for a closer look. Two of them were titles that I had been waiting to read after reading ‘The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie’ by Muriel Spark. The two titles were old editions of ‘Memento Mori’ and ‘The Comforters’ by Muriel Spark. I felt lucky to have found not one but two Muriel Spark titles at one place.

Another title I had kept aside was a beautiful copy of ‘The Heart of the Matter’ by Graham Greene, one of my favorite writers. I already have a couple of copies of this title but not with this cover. I was quite thrilled to find this copy.

The fourth title was one I picked up based on the blurb. It was a copy of ‘Mon’ by Natsume Soseki. I haven’t heard of this writer and since I have very few titles by Japanese writers I decided to buy it. I got all these four books for just a hundred and sixty rupees.

At another seller a little away I spotted a copy of ‘Why I am Not a Hindu’ by Kancha Ilaiah, a Dalit intellectual and a critic of Hinduism who lives and teaches in OU in Hyderabad, .

The Sunday Haul (on 22-08-2021)

 

After Chinua Achebe, Ngugi is my favourite African writer. His first title that I found was ‘Devil On the Cross,’ and recently I attended an event in Hyderabad where he was the chief guest. I was thrilled to get his signature on a copy of ‘Dreams in the Time of War’ and ‘Petals of Blood’ that I had carried with me to the event.  Over the years I have managed to find quite a few Ngugi titles at Abids mostly, and last Sunday I saw a copy of ‘Weep Not, Child’ by Ngugi Wa Thiong’O that was in an okay condition. I got it for only fifty rupees from a miserly seller.

There are very few, not even a handful, travelogues by Indian writers. Recently I have found ‘Detours’ by Salil Tripathi, and am in the process of getting another such title. But last Sunday I found a nice copy of ‘If it’s Monday then it Must be Madurai’ by Srinath Perur of which I had heard a lot. I have been looking for this title since long so when I found it at last in Abids I was quite excited. I am waiting for another travel book that I bought on a WhatsApp sale last week, to be delivered. The book is 'All the World's a Spittoon' by Sumit Sawhny. My collection of travelogues by Indian writers is slowly growing and one day I will post a blog about them. 

 

The Sunday Haul (on 15-08-2021)

In a continuing quest to learn how to cook I keep buying books about it. Over the years I have managed to gather a couple of dozens of such cookbooks and other books related to cooking.

Last Sunday for some reason both the titles I found at Abids turned out to be related to cooking.  The first find was a nice hardcover copy of ‘The Flavor of Spice’ by Marryam H. Reshii.

 

Lying just beside it was a copy of ‘Tiffin’ by Rukmini Srinivas which also I picked up though I already have a copy at home. I got both these titles for three hundred rupees. Both of them were in quite good condition looking almost new. 

The Sunday Haul (on 08-08-2021)

Blog Anniversary: The blog is now in its 14th year! Forgot to mention in my previous post. 

After a record haul of nine books the previous Sunday I managed to repeat the same feat last Sunday too.  I simply couldn’t resist the books I saw on the pavements. Some of them were titles I already have but after I saw them I had to buy them more so when they were titles by Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett.

However, the first title I came across at Abids last Sunday was a nice copy of ‘The Hungry Years’ by William Leith. The sub-title said ‘Confessions of a Food Addict’ and though I am not a food addict or a foodie I wanted to read it to know how it felt to be addicted to food.

 
A couple of weeks ago I had bought a book called ‘Arabs’ by David Lamb who had also written a book called ‘The Africans’ that I had bought long back and had read twice. David Lamb’s accounts of his travels in various African nations and their politics impressed me. I thought I would expect the same kind of insights in ‘The Arabs’ and so I had bought it. But I haven’t yet read it. Last Sunday at Abids I saw a copy of ‘From Beirut to Jerusalem’ by Thomas L Friedman that seemed a good enough book to read along with ‘The Arabs’ by David Lamb to get a complete picture of the Middle East. I got ‘From Beirut to Jerusalem’ by Thomas L Friedman for just fifty rupees.

 

A few steps down the road and I came to another seller where I stood rooted to the spot my eyes fixed on the books spread out on the pavement. There were half a dozen fantastic titles I wanted to buy right away. It did not matter that half of them were titles I already had. They were all in good condition and looked almost new. It was impossible to resist so I got down on my knees to gather them all before anyone could do so.

There were two Dashiell Hammett titles: ‘The Big Knockover’ and ‘The Dain Curse’ that I already had two copies. Then there were three titles by Raymond Chandler: ‘Trouble is My Business’, ‘The Simple Art of Murder’ and ‘The Long Goodbye’ all which I already have. I did not want to leave them behind so I took them along with a copy of ‘Pop…1280’ by Jim Thompson. Only very recently I had bought a copy of Jim Thompson’s ‘A Swell Looking Bird’ online. All of these titles came to me for one thousand rupees. But that was not the end of the day’s excitement.

At one of the sellers who keep their wares on the road in front of the General Post Office at Abids, I spotted a title that made my heart jump. I saw a nice copy of ‘The Hunters’ by James Salter.  But I had to be very careful for this seller was a clever one. If you showed the slightest interest in the book he would quote a high price. So I casually picked up the book as if I was not really interested in it, flipped through the pages and asked him the price. Luckily I was able to get it at a reasonable price of Rs 130.

 

The Sunday Haul (on 01-08-2021)

There are some books I don’t remember buying so I end up buying them again until I find out that I had bought that book before. Last Sunday at Abids I saw a copy of ‘The Confessions of Nat Turner’ by William Styron that I do not clearly remember buying but somehow I felt I had it at home. Nevertheless  I did not want to miss buying it so I picked it up.

A few years ago I had bought a nice copy of ‘Almost French’ by Sarah Turnbull that I remember reading and also giving it away. Later I realized I should not have given it away since I wanted to read it again. So last Sunday luck smiled on me and I found a nice copy of Almost French’ by Sarah Turnbull that I got for just fifty rupees only.

I had seen a copy of a ‘Rogue Male’ by Geoffrey Household somewhere on a seller’s WhatsApp group but someone claimed it before I could. I was curious to read the book and not soon after missing it online I came across a copy at Abids last Sunday. It was one of the four books I picked up from one seller. I read it after I got home and the main character in it reminded me of one of the killers in Jake Arnott's "He Kills Coppers' that I had read long back. 

 

The second book I found was a copy of ‘The Cat’s Paw’ by James Heron that appeared to be a good book on the face of it though I had not heard of the title or the author before.

 

The third book I found was a copy of ‘Lovers and Tyrants’ by Francine du Plessix Gray. I vaguely remember the author and I picked up this title too on the hunch that it might be a good read.

On the way home at Chikkadpally I stopped at a seller and at once spotted a nice copy of ‘Collected Poems-1952-1988’ Nissim Ezekiel.  While in junior college during 1979-81 we had ‘Night of the Scorpion’ in the English course taught by a short, long haired lecturer whose name I cannot remember now. The way he explained the poem has stayed in my mind and since then I have been collecting poems by Ezekiel and other Indian poets. I was terribly glad to find all of Nissim Ezekiel’s poems in one place.

In the same pile was a copy of ‘Inishfallen, Fare Thee Well- Autobiography: Book 4’ by Sean O’Casey, the Irish dramatist. I have heard of his name before but haven’t found or read any of his books. It was sufficient that he was Irish for me to pick up this autobiography.

I am a fan of Graham Greene and have almost all his titles except ‘In Search of a Character: Two African Journals’ by Graham Greene that I have heard of only recently. I had thought it would be a normal sized book of around 200 pages. But this turned out to be a slim volume but nevertheless I am terribly pleased that I found this title. I had not expected to find this book anywhere.

 

I had read about ‘The Vermilion Boat’ by Sudhin N. Ghose somewhere very recently but do not recollect where it was. But this copy, a hardcover one, with beautiful illustration on the title page was a fascinating one so I took it.

 

The Sunday (on 25-07-2021) and an Online Haul

    One of the few genre of books I am fond of reading is spy fiction, and also crime fiction especially if they are well written and the authors are famous names like le Carre, Len Deighton, Ross MacDonald and such writers. I recently finished reading ‘A Swell Looking Babe’ by Jim Thompson and was looking out for more such titles when I saw a copy of ‘Old Flames’ by John Lawton, a name I had not heard previously. What attracted me to it was first that it was a Penguin title and secondly the blurbs comparing John Lawton to le Carre, a writer I like very much.

The Online Haul

    A couple of years ago I had come across a copy of ‘Detours’ by Salil Tripathi at a seller in Chikkadpally. It was a hardcover book and the seller asked for what I thought was a very high price. I wasn’t willing to pay that much and so undecided I left hoping I would be able to buy it the next Sunday. But next Sunday much to my disappointment I couldn’t find it. The seller told me someone had bought it last Sunday itself that made me terribly annoyed with myself for not having the sense to buy a good book when I saw it. However, on one the WA groups of an online seller of secondhand books I happened to spot this title and I quickly claimed it before anyone could. Luckily for me no one wanted it so I got it. ‘Detours’ are a collection of Salil Tripathi’s essays about his travels all over the world. It was exactly the sort of book I was looking for, a travel book by an Indian author. I have already started reading it and finished the first two essays. In the essay about his time in Indonesia I read about Promodeya Ananta Toer whose one title of a trilogy I had found some time back. Another place was Toer was mentioned was in Hitch-22, Christopher Hitchens’ memoir.

 

    I had come across the name Vikram Paralkar somewhere very recently but did not know it was the name of a writer. When I saw a copy of ‘Wounds of the Dead’ by Vikram Paralkar in the same WA group I decided I would claim it. Once again no one seemed to want it so I got this title too. After I received the book this Monday I flipped through the book and found that the author was a medical doctor. This too was a hardcover book a little over 200 pages long that I can finish in a couple of days but when I would find the time to read it I do not know.

The Sunday Haul (on 18-07-2021)

 It is the rainy season over here with the monsoon very active bringing in rain almost every day. However, it did not rain in the morning on Sunday enabling me to go to Abids to look for books in the second hand book bazaar. I returned home with two good titles and luck was on my side since it began to rain shortly after I came back.

                 I have little doubt about what a treasure trove the Abids second hand book bazaar is since I’ve found too many good titles here over the years. It is also incredible how one finds good titles so cheap that one cannot believe it. Last Sunday I found one such title. I already have a copy of Daniyal Mueenuddin’s ‘In Other Rooms, Other Wonders’ that I had found almost a decade ago in 2012. It is a collection of some wonderful short stories that I had bought for sixty rupees. But the copy I saw at Abids last Sunday was only ten rupees. It was in a good condition and I did not have the heart to leave it behind so I picked it up. This was the only book I found at Abids and the second book I found at another place. 

At a seller in Chikkadpally I found a copy of ‘Skippy Dies’ by Paul Murray. I vaguely remember having come across the title mentioned somewhere and moreover it was a Penguin so it roused my interest enough to buy it. I bought the book for hundred rupees.