The Sunday Haul (on 18-03-2018)

Perhaps to make up for the zero haul at Abids the previous Sunday, last Sunday yielded another wonderful haul. Three of the four titles I found were truly eye-popping titles of which one was a truly spectacular find. The haul did not coming cheap though for I ended up paying quite a bit. But I think they were all worth the six hundred and fifty rupees I shelled out for them.

The first find last Sunday at Abids was the aforementioned spectacular title. I spotted ‘The Greek Myths’ emblazoned in gold on the red cover. It was too striking to miss and as soon I saw it I decided to buy the book whatever the price. It turned out to be not one book but two volumes of the same title when I took a closer look. The two volumes were inside a half box which, I later discovered is called a ‘slipcase.’ When I took the two volumes out and looked at the illustrated cover I was taken aback.

It was The Folio Society edition and the books were very, very beautiful. I thought the seller would ask for something like a thousand rupees for the two-volume set. I was willing to pay that much but I was pleasantly surprised when he said the price was five hundred rupees but would give them to me for four hundred rupees. I paid three hundred and fifty rupees and the set was mine. It was a steal and I was pleased like anything at having found a wonderful title.

The second find at Abids was some kind of a mix about movies, books and a famous Hollywood actress. I found a copy of ‘5th Avenue 5 AM’ by Sam Wasson. It was about the making of the movie ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s based on the book with the same title by Truman Capote, starring Audrey Hepburn. I don’t know why I bought it but I paid forty rupees for it.

After finding these titles at Abids the rest of the haul got added at Chikkadpally on the way home. Sometime in 2015 at a sale by Best Books I had found a copy of ‘Avarana’ by SL Bhyrappa. It was a huge tome running into hundreds of pages. Like ‘Avarana’ ‘Parva’ that I found at Chikkadpally was another tome of 950 odd pages. It would take more than a month for me to finish reading it. But I was terribly pleased I did not hesitate to buy the Sahitya Akademi English version of ‘Parva’ by SL Bhyrappa the moment I saw it. I do not have any idea about it and I bought it thinking it would be something good.

At the other seller in Chikkadpally I spotted another wonderful title. It was a title related to my favorite continent- Africa. Sometime after Doris Lessing won the Nobel in Literature I picked up a copy of ‘The Golden Notebook’ but never got around to reading it. When I saw another title, a non-fiction title, by Lessing I picked it up. It was a copy of ‘African Laughter- Four Visits to Zimbabwe’ that seems to be some kind of a travelogue. I was just unconsciously looking for something like this on Africa I guess. I am glad I have something more and something very good on Africa by a Nobel laureate to read. I bought it for hundred rupees but I think it will be worth a lot more than that.