The Sunday Haul (on 24-10-2021)

It was the usual scene at Abids on Sunday at this time of the year when Diwali is just around the corner with all the stores open. But the second hand book sellers too were at their usual places save a couple of them who had shifted to new spots. Last Sunday too I returned home with another haul of five titles, one less than what I had found the previous Sunday.

Sometime ago someone asked me what I prefer to read- humor, travel, crime fiction etc? I thought for some time and then realized that I read everything that I think is interesting. There isn’t any category or genre that I prefer over others. I read science, I read politics, read crime fiction, romance sometimes, in short everything. I am not an investor or worry about my savings too much and do not much bother whether I earn only a little by keeping it in the bank. But I do like to read about investing and such stuff.  My first find at Abids turned out to be a copy of ‘The Zurich Axioms’ by Max Gunther.

 I am slowly building up a collection of travel books by Indian writers about their travels in the country. I have at least three on my shelf that I have to read. But I told myself that I would wait until I manage to collect at least half a dozen before beginning to read them all one after the other. Fortunately last Sunday I came across two titles that I can add to my growing pile of travel books by Indians.

First was a copy of ‘Is that Even a Country, sir’ by Anil Yadav, a journalist. It is a book about the author’s visit in the North East states in the company of another friend. I saw on the cover that it was translated from Hindi by Anurag Basnet into English. I had read a review of this book somewhere I don’t remember much about the review. But now I wanted to read it so I picked it up as it looked very interesting.

Another similar title was ‘Indian Takeaway’ by Hardeep Singh Kohli a copy of which I saw on the pavement. It seems to be a travel book focussed mainly on food which was the first impression I got. Though I had seen copies of this book earlier somehow I had not found it interesting enough to buy. But now I wanted to add it to the pile of books on India by Indian writers that I want to read.

I thought I was very lucky when I found a Robert D. Kaplan title- ‘The Return of Marco Polo’s World’- the previous Sunday. But last Sunday I thought I was very, very lucky when I found yet another Robert D. Kaplan title- ‘Earning the Rockies’ that I found in a pile of books selling for hundred rupees.  I love books on travel that go deeper than just the touristy stuff.

So the next book that I found turned out to be something like a gourmet meal of travel writing. I spotted a copy of ‘The Best American Travel Writing’ 2009’ editor:  Simon Winchester in the same heap in which I had found the Robert D. Kaplan book seconds earlier.

Some of the sellers know my taste in books well and sometimes they show me books they had kept aside for me to take a look. I feel very flattered when they do it. Last Sunday one of the sellers told me he had kept aside something for me. He took out a beautiful copy of ‘Things Fall Apart’ by Chinua Achebe that had a red cover. Though I had at least two copies with me already I couldn’t resist buying it because of the cover and also to please the seller. I got this book for just seventy rupees.