The Sunday Haul- Two Books and a Magazine

Though the number of memoirs by famous chefs that I’ve found at Abids till date comes nowhere near those by writers and books on writing that fill my shelves their numbers are steadily increasing. But I cannot understand my fascination for such books. Firstly, I cannot cook and secondly, I do not have any more love for food than is needed to fill the stomach. So I am unable to explain my growing interest in books by chefs and ex-chefs recounting their lives in the kitchen. Maybe I am destined to become a chef sometime in the near or distant future rather than a writer I was hoping to be. Whatever, on Sunday I found another such book- ‘Comfort Me with Apples’ by Ruth Riechl that I got for only twenty rupees. It was a sequel to her first book titled ‘Tender to the Bone’ that I now want to buy even before I have begun to read CMWA. In fact some of the reviews on the net suggest that it is better to read her first book before beginning her second. God knows when I will find 'Tender to the Bone.'

Joyce Carol Oates is another writer whose name and titles of books I come across very frequently mentioned in books on writing. She herself has written a book about writing titled “The Faith of a Writer: Life, Craft, Art” that I am still hoping to find someday. Meanwhile, I found a copy of her “You Must Remember This” in a heap of books selling for twenty rupees. It was an old copy with a tattered and torn cover and had an interesting book mark stuck between the pages. I love it when I find bookmarks in books that I pick up. It gives an idea where the previous owner of the book might have been. The one I found belonged to a lady in the USA.

It is not usual to find the latest issues of famous international magazines at the Abids book bazaar. On Sunday I found the very latest issue of ‘Vanity Fair’ and got it for thirty rupees only. There was a terrific piece by Christopher Hitchens on his cancer diagnosis. Here's the first line- 'I have more than once in my time woken up feeling like death.' Here's another 'In whatever kind of a ‘race’ life maybe, I have very abruptly become a finalist.'

If in one of the issues of CNT that I found last week I came across mention of Anjali Joseph’s ‘Saraswati Park’ then this week I read about Tishani Doshi’s ‘The Pleasure Seekers’ mentioned in Vanity Fair. Though described in just one line (Tishani Doshi's 'Pleasure Seekers' delights.) I guess that's enough to have serious readers take note of it. However, I am not as much eager to buy any of these two books as I am to buy Pradeep Sebastian’s ‘The Groaning Shelf and Other Instances of Book Love’ that I read about in Sunday’s Crest Edition of TOI. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the book published by Hachette and priced at Rs 395, is out in the bookstores. If it had been any other week of the month I would not have hesitated to rush out to the nearest bookstore to pick it up but being the last week of the month when the wallet is not exactly overflowing with cash I wisely decided to wait another week. That is, if I can hold myself back.