The Sunday Haul (on 22/11/2020)

 

Sometime last week I dropped in at the Unique Bookstore branch in Khairatabad. I had been there earlier too and had managed to find a few good titles. So this time too I expected to find something good.  It did not take me long to spot a thin volume on a shelf. I had seen only the words- ‘Pillai’ ‘Scavenger’s Son’ and ‘Heinemann’ on the spine of the book that lay flat in a pile high up on a shelf. I had it taken down after I realized that if it was published by Heinemann then it ought to be something very good. I thought it could be someone I did not know but I was pleasantly surprised to see the beautiful cover with the author’s name- ‘Scavenger’s Son’ by Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai. It was a thin volume with not more than 120 pages. I got it for a hundred rupees.

Then came Sunday. As usual I was at Abids after breakfast. I looked for the titles I had missed buying the last week. I was a bit disappointed that the copy of ‘Mango Coloured Fish’ by Kaveri Nambisan was not to be seen. But I saw the copy of The Postman Always Rings Twice’ by James M.Cain with the back cover missing. I did not feel like buying it since I already own a copy though a tattered one. Before I could change my mind and buy a second copy I walked away. 

I couldn’t find anything interesting with the next couple of sellers. Then I happened to spot ‘Fire on the Mountain’ by Anita Desai with a lovely cover. It was a copy from a college library and there was a sticker on the cover that I later removed. I got this slim book for just fifty rupees. This is the next book I want to read. Only … pages long it will be a quick read that I can do in a day. Sometime during the week I plan to take a couple of days’ leave. There’s heavy rain coming up due to a cyclone and I don’t want to travel to office in that weather. I have leaves left over that I want to use now.