The Sunday Haul (on 12-01-2020)

The second Sunday of the New Year turned out to be one that yielded a generous haul of books for me at Abids. I picked up five titles, four more than what I picked up the previous Sunday that happened to be the first Sunday of 2020. Though I always resolve to buy fewer books every new year I end up buying as usual- more than what I can read.

A long time back, at Abids, I came across a title that was intriguing-‘The Dressing Station’ by Jonathan Kaplan. It was an account by a surgeon of the time he travelled to many places including those where there were wars and conflicts. I had picked it up right away and also read it not long after. Somehow I lost track of the book though I think it is somewhere at home. Last Sunday I came across another copy of it but this was a hardcover copy and a first edition to boot. It was irresistible and in it went into my haul.

Some of the most commonly seen books anywhere are titles by RK Narayan. But I am on the lookout for older copies published in the 60’s and published by the same publishing house that RK Narayan started to publish his books. I saw a copy of ‘The Dark Room’ by R.K. Narayan with a striking cover with a lady’s face that I had not seen anywhere before. Inside I noticed that it was exactly sixty years ago in 1960 by Pearl Publications. I did not even think twice before picking up and adding it to my haul that was slowly growing.

My interest in knowing more about Indian literature featuring writings from other languages means I occasionally pick up titles in other languages that I know, that is Hindi and Telugu, and also books on literature in other languages. When I first saw a copy ‘Comparative Indian Literature-Volume I’ Chief Editor: K.M. George I was hesitant to buy it. For one thing it was a huge tome running into more than seven hundred pages. Another thing was the price which was five hundred rupees. But after flipping through the copy I bought it for three hundred rupees.

I don’t think anyone who reads thrillers would not know about Frederick Forsyth’s ‘The Day of the Jackal’ and other titles. I had read ‘The Day of the Jackal’ a long time ago and I still remember some of the scenes from the book especially the scene where the assassin misses his shot because de Gaulle bends down unexpectedly. It was so well written that I must have read the book about half a dozen times and I cannot ever forget Frederick Forsyth’s name.

Curiously, I did not know much about Frederick Forsyth nor did I make any effort to learn more about the writer. I was not even aware that Forsyth had written a memoir until I saw a copy of ‘The Outsider: My Life in Intrigue’ by Frederick Forsyth at Abids. I was lucky to find it because I almost gave up going across the road to look at the books a group of sellers spread out before the GPO.