The Sunday Haul (on 23-03-2025)

In the normal course of things one goes looking for books but sometimes though not very often the books come to one on their own. Something like that happened to me at Abids the previous Sunday, so this post is not exactly about last Sunday’s haul. I remember only two occasions when a seller at Abids stopped me and said he had something in a bag that I might find interesting. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case but in order not to disappoint him I had bought a book though I wouldn’t have read it. I did it to encourage him to show me books that he did not display on the pavement in the hope of finding a good title some day.  

The previous Sunday the seller who has a good collection most of them almost brand new titles stopped me and asked me to take a look at a few books he had in a bag. I was a bit excited wondering if I would find something very good. He took out a hardcover title that unfortunately was in German! Then when he took out another hardcover with a greenish cover I was excited. It was a copy of ‘Inside Africa’ by John Gunther, another title on my Africa shelf. Many years ago I had found a copy of ‘Death Be Not Proud’ by John Gunther though at that time I did not know he was a journalist because I did not read the book after discovering it was about the untimely and tragic death of his son. At that time my own kid was about the same age and I couldn’t bring myself to read that book. Anyway, I was glad I found ‘Inside Africa’ that was about nine hundred pages long that appears to be an interesting read. I also learnt that he had written other ‘Inside’ series especially about Asia and also America that I hope to find someday. 

The second book he took out was also a hardcover copy of ‘The Yemen: Imams Rulers and Revolutionaries’ by Harold Ingrams. This seemed to be by a diplomat so I was not very excited but nevertheless bought it along with another hardcover title, ‘The View from Steamer Point’ by Charles Johnston. I had to pay quite a packetfor these three books that were also heavy to carry. 

Then the next find was a copy of ‘Best Loved Indian Stories of the century’ edited by Indira Srinivasan and Chetna Bhatt. It had a beautiful blue cover and was a Penguin title so I bought it even without looking inside for the list of stories. Later I sat in the Star of India along with two friends who were already in the café and managed to look at the list of stories in it. There were twenty-three stories in it all of them English translations from various Indian languages. I was glad to find there was a story by a Tamil writer I like very much- Pudumaipithan- titled ‘Redemption’. Now this was Volume -II which means there’s a volume-I somewhere out there that I have to find. 

On the way home I stopped at Chikkadpally and found a copy of ‘Bookless in Baghdad’ by Shashi Tharoor. I already have a copy of this hardcover book that I have also read but I couldn’t resist buying a second copy. 

The Sunday Haul (on 16-03-2025)

 A heatwave was notified for about five days that covered Sunday also. Accordingly, it was pretty hot on Sunday morning when I landed at Chikkadpally with a cap on my head. I had breakfast earlier at Snehitha at RTC Crossroads followed by ginger tea at a small joint where I sat and wondered how many books I would find later on the pavements at Chikkadpally as well as Abids. A few months back, in December, I was quite thrilled to find a copy of ‘The State of Africa: A History of the Continent since Independence’ by Martin Meredith during one of my visits to the Hyderabad National Book Fair. Even before I could read it, last Sunday, I came across a nice copy of ‘The Fortunes of Africa: A 5,000-year History of Wealth, Greed and Endeavour’ by Martin Meredith sitting on the pavement. This was another addition to the titles on Africa on my bookshelf. Sometimes I get the feeling that eventually I would know everything about Africa without actually visiting the continent. 

Alongside the above book was another title that I found. I spotted a nice copy of ‘To the River’ by Olivia Laing, a name I keep reading quite often. When I read in the blurbs comparing the writing with Sebald I felt I must read it right away and so bought it. I got both these titles for three hundred rupees. Lugging these books, I made my way to Abids by bus from Chikkadpally to Koti and from there to GPO, Abids from where I began the search that ended with finding just one more book. 

I met a Twitter mutual who had called me and we sat in the Star of India café sipping chai and talking about books, life, my retired life of two weeks, as well as our children and other matters for so long that it was one in the afternoon when we parted. I had not yet completed my tour of the booksellers so I branched out into one of the lanes where I spotted a nice copy of ‘the collected short novels’ by Paul Theroux with an arresting cover that could be seen from far away. I got this book for a hundred rupees. Then back home. 

The Sunday Haul (on 09-03-2025)

 

I did not count how many books I have bought since the beginning of this year but my guess is that I must have picked up about two dozen books including those I ordered online. So I thought I’d go easy on Sundays at Abids but I am unable to buy anything less than four books each Sunday. Last Sunday too I picked up four books, all of them I found unable to resist buying. 

The first book I picked up was one because of the cover and the fact that I had never heard of this book before. I saw a copy of ‘The Wildest Sport of All’ by Prakash Singh, that was about tiger hunts and I had a hunch that it was something good and took it. I got it for a hundred rupees. It turned out to be the chronicle of the tiger hunting experiences of the author’s father-in-law when it was not yet illegal to hunt tigers. I was surprised that this was published just a decade ago, in 2015.

Sometime in February 2021 I had found a copy of ‘Fortunes of War Volume II: The Levant Trilogy’ by Olivia Manning that I read shortly afterwards. I forgot all about it thinking I would never find the other volumes but I was surprised when I came across a copy of ‘Fortunes of War: The Balkan Trilogy’ by Olivia Manning in a heap of books selling for a hundred rupees. I did not know if I would be able to read the thick novel running into a little over nine hundred pages and almost walked away. But I picked it up hoping to read it sometime since I would be able to find time as I am not retired and do not have to go to work anymore. 

Of late I seem to be picking up books by journalists mostly like the title by Alan Rusbridger that I found the previous Sunday. The third book in last Sunday’s haul was a nice copy of ‘The Shock Doctrine’ by Naomi Klein that I looked at for a long time wondering whether to buy it or not and finally bought it. I got it for hundred rupees. While sitting in the Star of India café and sipping chai I managed to read the Introduction to the book. I will continue to read it until I finish it. 

I had heard about ‘Goodnight and God Bless’ by Anita Nair and had also checked out a copy in a bookstore shortly after it was launched. Somehow, I did not buy it though I should have because I love to read this type of books. So, when I saw a nice copy at Abids I eagerly grabbed it. I paid only fifty rupees for this book that now appears wonderful after I read a few random pages. 

The Sunday Haul (on 02-03-2025)

It was a bit late by the time I reached Abids last Sunday almost breathless. I had to meet a follower on Twitter and we sat in the ‘Star of India’ Irani café and over chai talked about books, when we began to read, our Abids routine, and our lives for a long time. I gave him a copy of ‘The Road’ by Cormac McCarthy that I had found a little earlier. Unfortunately, he reads Telugu books mostly but I was excited to see a copy of a popular Telugu novel, one of the few that I had read a long back. It was a 1965 edition of Gopichand’s ‘Oka Asamarthuni Jeevitha gaatha’.  We parted with the intention of meeting every Sunday at Abids if possible. 

The first find of last Sunday at Abids was a copy of ‘The Year of the Runaways’ by Sunjeev Sahota. Many years before I had seen copies of ‘Ours are the Streets’ quite often at Abids but somehow I did not think I would be able to read it so I missed out on buying it. Recently I had read about his latest title and when I saw ‘The Year of the Runaways’ I bought it right away. I got it for sixty rupees. 

The next find was a copy of ‘Lenin’s Tomb’ by David Remnick. Of late I’ve begun to swing towards reading more of non-fiction especially accounts by journalists about happenings in particular countries, and also books about geopolitics and such. When I saw the copy of ‘Lenin’s Tomb’ by David Remnick with a sticker on the cover saying it had won the Pulitzer Prize I grabbed it. I got it for just hundred rupees. I do not want to put off reading this book that promises to be a good read.

The Sunday Haul (on 23-02-2025)

 Last Sunday there was a function at home: engagement ceremony of my niece in the morning that went upto almost half past two in the afternoon. I couldn’t go to Abids at my usual time but I went in the afternoon. It feels so different to be at Abids at that time. I ended up buying two wonderful books.

The first book was a title that had an attractive cover in yellow and light blue. I decided to buy the copy of ‘The School of Life: An Emotional Education’ introduced by Alain de Botton the moment I spotted it. I got it for a hundred rupees.

Shortly before I had chai I spotted a copy of ‘Breaking News: The Remaking of Journalism and Why it Matters Now’ by Alan Rusbridger, a thick volume that was in a heap of Rs.50 books. Somehow, I have developed an interest in reading journalists’ accounts and since Alan Rusbridger was an editor of ‘The Guardian’ newspaper for two decades and had made a name for himself I thought it would be worth reading and so bought it. I couldn’t believe that I got this wonderful title for only fifty rupees.

The Sunday Haul (on 16-02-2025)

I had thought not to go to Abids last Sunday as I had to go to a faraway place to attend a marriage that was at noon. It would take me more than an hour to go to the venue which meant that I would have to skip the visit to Abids. But I did not want to as there was no point in being at the marriage at the correct time. I thought the marriage wouldn’t go ahead if I wasn’t there so I decided to first go to Abids and do a quick round of browsing before leaving for the marriage.

As planned, I was at Abids at my usual time but since I had limited time I checked only a few sellers. I had seen a copy of ‘Embers’ by Sandor Marai the other Sunday but had not bought it since I already have a copy. But I wanted to buy this copy too but unfortunately, I couldn’t find it with the seller. Instead, I spotted another new crime fiction title by an author I hadn’t heard about. Since it was a Penguin title I decided to take it. It was a copy of ‘The Crooked Man’ by Philip Davison that I got for fifty rupees. 

The seller did not have change for the hundred-rupee note I gave him so I decided to buy another book for fifty rupees. The second book I picked up was a copy of ‘Writing for Pleasure and Profit’ by Michael Legat, a name I had heard and read about many times in books on writing. 

The Sunday Haul (on 09-02-2025)

 The weather in Hyderabad is slowly getting warmer as if indicating that summer was round the corner. I had my cap on and rushed to Abids as Hari had said we’d meet and do a sort of heritage walk. By the time he came I had already picked up a copy of ‘Kitchen Confidential’ by Anthony Bourdain that I had seen the previous Sunday and had waited to see if anyone would pick it up. Since no one seemed interested in it I took it though I already have a copy with the original cover. I got it for only fifty rupees.

Then after Hari came, we had a cup of chai at Grand before setting off in the direction of The Golden Threshold’ that I already had told him was razed to the ground. He took some pictures of all the places we saw, and he gave away a carton of books to one of the sellers. I had also spotted a copy of ‘Embers’ by Sandor Marai that was for fifty rupees only but since I already had a copy of it I did not take buy though now I think I should have. 

After Hari left, I looked around for some time and crossed to the other side of the road leading to Nampally railway station to look at the books of the lone seller in the corner who looks lost. He had some good titles but I picked up only one title- ‘Distrust that Particular Flavor’ by William Gibson that had the sub-title ‘Encounters with a Future That’s Already Here’ which is what made me pick it up other than the fact that it was a Penguin Viking title. I paid two hundred rupees for it.

On the way back I stopped at Chikkadpally and picked up a beautiful The Modern Library Classics edition of ‘War and Peace’ by Leo Tolstoy that was thicker than a brick. I already have a copy of it that I wanted to read but it isn’t attractive as the copy I found last Sunday. Coincidentally just the day before I had read about Tolstoy and his ‘War and Peace’ in Somerset Maugham’s ‘Ten Authors and their Novels’. Someday soon I am going to begin reading this copy that seems too good to give away or just keep on the shelf without reading. 

The Sunday Haul (on 02-02-2025)

 For the first time in the year I took out the cap as it looked like it would get quite hot later in the day. Later when I reached Abids I was glad I had decided to bring along the cap as the sun was uncomfortably hot. Earlier at Chikkadpally I picked up the copy of ‘The Anatomy of Story’ by John Truby that I had spotted with a seller two Sundays ago but hadn’t bought. Many years ago I had found a hardcover copy of this book and had also started reading it but couldn’t finish more than half of it for some reason I do not recollect now. But I plan to read it again starting tomorrow. I got it for a hundred and fifty rupees. 

At Abids I got the pleasantest surprise when I spotted a nice copy of ‘South by Limpopo’ by Dervla Murphy with the same seller from whom I had bought a copy of ‘On a Shoestring to Coorg: An Experience of Southern India’ the previous Sunday. I got it for a hundred rupees and felt glad because I had seen a copy of it at Blossoms Book House in Bengaluru last December and had not bought it. The reason was that I had bought too many books by then especially titles by Jan Morris and another reason was that the price of the book was somewhere around three hundred rupees. I felt very lucky finding it.

But more luck was in store for me. A little later I spotted a copy of ‘Hidden Agendas’ by John Pilger! I love reading his journalism and was very thrilled to find it for just fifty rupees. This is the fourth John Pilger title I have found. Sometimes I wish I had become a journalist instead of a government flunkey. 

 The last find of the day was a copy of ‘The Ivory Grin’ by Ross Macdonald that I spotted in a heap of fifty rupees books. I already have a copy of this title that I had found long back but it had a different cover.  I want to read it again as I love Ross Macdonald’s writing. 

The Sunday Haul (on 26-01-2025)

 Though I missed the first day of Hyderabad Literary Festival on the 24^th of this month I attended on the last two days. Last day of the HLF happened to be on Sunday when I am at Abids no matter what. Since I couldn’t be at Abids and also HLF at the same time I solved this dilemma by going to Abids in the morning and to HLF in the afternoon. I had originally planned to give Abids a miss but I am glad I didn’t because I found three wonderful titles at Abids last Sunday.

            At a seller at RTC X-Roads on my way to Chikkadpally and thereafter to Abids I spotted a copy of ‘A Confederacy of Dunces’ by John Kennedy Toole that I already have a copy of, and also have read. But this copy seemed to be an older edition with an attractive illustration on the front cover that had its top edge on the right torn off. It did not prevent me from buying it since I got it for just thirty rupees. 

        The next find was at Chikkadpally where coincidentally I had found a memoir by John Bernhard whose ‘Correction’ I found with the same seller last Sunday. I hadn’t read anything by Bernhard though I have read a lot about his books. So not wanting to miss out on a great book I picked it up for a hundred rupees. 

                The third and last find was at Abids. A long time back I had come across a copy of ‘On a Shoestring to Coorg: An Experience of Southern India’ by Dervla Murphy that I was foolish enough to let go. Later when I read about it I felt bad and looked for it everywhere and thought I would find it at the second-hand bookstores in Bengaluru. But though I found other titles I did not find the Coorg book. So, when I saw a beautiful copy of ‘On a Shoestring to Coorg: An Experience of Southern India’ by Dervla Murphy on the pavement I pounced on it. I got it for only fifty rupees. 

The Sunday Haul (on 19-01-2025)

A few years ago I had come across a copy of a title by CLR James but it was in such a bad condition that I did not buy it. Now I am not able to recollect the title but I think it was a copy of ‘Beyond a Boundary’ that I found last Sunday at Abids. I was looking for another book, a title on China that I had not bought the previous Sunday thinking I would buy it this Sunday. Unfortunately, I did not find it but found the CLR James title that I got for a hundred rupees only. 

I already have a copy of ‘The Blue Hammer’ by Ross Macdonald but it was a paperback. I saw a beautiful hardcover copy of the same title in a heap selling for just fifty rupees and I could not resist buying it. 

Only the previous Sunday I had bought a title on Russia that I haven’t yet started reading and this Sunday I was surprised to find another similar title- ‘The Russians’ by Hedrick Smith. Smith is a journalist, a veteran New York Times Pulitzer Prize winning reporter, and on the cover there was just one word blurb by Time magazine that said ‘Superb’ which was enough reason for me to buy it. 

Later on I spotted a copy of ‘Gathering Evidence’ by Thomas Bernhard not at Abids but at Chikkadpally. Sometime back I had found a title by Bernhard but haven’t found the time to read it. ‘Gathering Evidence’ is a memoir something I love reading especially if they happen to be by writers. I got this too for a hundred rupees. 

The Sunday Haul (on 12-01-2025)

Even before the first week of the New Year had gone by I broke one of the resolutions I made that I would stop buying books for a couple of weeks in 2025 if not for the first few months. It wasn’t one book I bought but a total of four books. 

To tell the truth I had seen all these titles the previous Sunday, except for the Gauri Lankesh book. I had then decided I would think of buying them if they happened to be around until the next Sunday. So the Sunday came and I found that the three titles I had seen the previous Sunday were at the same place except one book on Australia that I couldn’t find. I was a bit disappointed because it was that book I had wanted to buy. 

 

So the first book was a copy of ‘Russia- Broken Idols, Solemn Dreams’ by David K. Shipler, a book about Russia by a journalist. It was the kind of books I had begun buying of late, journalists’ accounts of a place or a war they were covering. It appeared interesting after I read a few random paragraphs, and got it for fifty rupees only. 

 

The copy of ‘The Columbia Companion to the Twentieth-Century American Short Story’ ed Blance H. Gelfant, a thick volume with detailed profiles of several writers along with the short stories they had written was one I thought I would find gone but surprisingly no one seemed to have checked it out. This one was a bit expensive at three hundred rupees but it wasn’t what I was a bit worried about but about when I would get around to reading it since I had several books I have to read. 

 

I found a nice copy of 'The Way I See It- A Gauri Lankesh Reader’ ed Chandan Gowda with a different seller and I grabbed it the moment I laid my eyes on it. 

 

I had seen the copy of ‘Reading with Patrick’ by Michelle Kuo, at Chikkadpally the previous Sunday so when I found it at its usual place I bought it. This one cost me a hundred and fifty rupees. 

The Sunday Haul (on 05-01-2024)

After having picked up too many books at Bengaluru last month and again almost a dozen books at the Hyderabad Book Fair in the last week of December I decided not to buy books for at least a few weeks until I had read a few books in the New Year. I thought I’d just go to Abids and look around without buying anything. However, it wasn’t so because who comes back from the second-hand book market on Sundays at Abids without at least one title in hand? 

 

So I bought just one title but that wasn’t technically at Abids but at Chikkadpally. I saw a nice copy of ‘Peregrine’ by J.A. Baker that I later noticed was a NYRB Classic with an introduction by Robert Macfarlane.  I knew it was something good the moment I spotted it, and got it for just eighty rupees. Very rarely do I find books on nature and wildlife so I felt lucky finding this title. 

The Haul at the 37th Hyderabad National Book Fair

 The 2024 Book Fair Haul-1

 

There’s one event I wait for with a lot of excitement and anticipation, and that is the Hyderabad Book Fair that usually is held in December. This year it was from 19-29, December. But this year before stepping into the HBF on the first day of HBF i.e., Dec 19^th, I decided to take it easy and buy not more than six books because only a couple of days earlier I had returned from Bengaluru with a dozen books I had picked up in the bookstores on Church Street. 

 

But I ended up buying a total of twenty books during my six visits to the book fair. I couldn’t resist buying them because each and every of them was a book I wanted to read. There were many titles I did not buy because I feared I would end up with too many unread books. 

As usual I reached there on the first day but couldn’t enter as the CM was inside for the inauguration. But after sometime I noticed people entering from a side entrance and I too went in. I decided to check out only a few stalls on the first day and buy whatever I find good enough. 

These are the titles I found on the first day. 

 

I really did not know Nicholas Basbanes had written this book. I have his classic, ‘A Gentle Madness’ that I bought online last year. I found a beautiful copy of ‘Every Book Its Reader’by Nicholas Basbanes and made it the first book I bought at the HBF. 

 

A journalist friend had told me about Philip Gourevitch’s book about the killings in Rwanda and since then I had been looking for it, and that was about a decade ago. At the Hyderabad Book Fair this year I found ‘We Wish to Inform that Tomorrow We Will be Killed with Our Families’ by Philip Gourevitch. I was very glad to have found it. 

 

I had read about Suresh Menon’s book recently and had also looked for it at Bookworm in Bengaluru but they did not have it, and later I almost ordered it online. Somehow I did not order it and was pleasantly surprise to find it within the hour for Rs.250 only! I was pretty amazed when I showed the picture of the cover to the salesman in one of the stalls and he simply walked over to a shelf and pulled it out. I did not expect to find it at the HBF but I am lucky I found ‘Why don’t You Write Something that I Might Read?’ by Suresh Menon.

 

Then there was this slim book that I almost did not buy and in fact had kept it back on the shelf after the seller quoted an outrageous price for it. He later reduced it and I picked it up the copy of  

‘Deccan: Ilustrated Hyderabad’ by Mehdi Saajid and Sibghat Khan

 

 

Not really content with what I found on the first day of HBF I went again on the second day and picked up another half a dozen titles.

 

I had read about tThe Art of the Personal Essay’ by Philip Lopate a long, long time back and had hoped to find it sometime soon. But a decade passed before I came across it at a stall. I did not expect it to be such a big tome and the price was also high. But I think it is worth it since it has more than seventy-five essays by some wonderful writers like William Hazlitt, Annie Dillard etc 

 

Once again another book I wanted to read as soon as I heard about it. I had seen a nice copy of ‘Caste Matters’ by Suranj Yengde at the Best Book Store in Abids but the price sticker on it said ‘Rs.500’ and so I did not buy it. At the HBF I got it pretty cheap. 

 

This was one title I had already read but my copy was destroyed by termites a couple of years ago and I had to burn it. I was pretty pleased to see another copy of ‘Why I am Not a Civil Servant’ by Ajay Singh Yadav’ and I bought it because it is a candid account of the IAS by another IAS who left the service, disillusioned. 

 

Ever since the latest conflict/war in Palestine the book most mentioned on Twitter was the 

‘The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine’ by Rashid Khalidi, and every time I read about it my desire to read it grew like anything. I got a shock when I saw it in one of the stalls that I had already been to on the first day, and wondered how I had missed it. But I thanked my stars that I found it. 

 

I can never read enough books about Africa, by Africans, on Africa so when I saw this book with a dazzling cover I grabbed it. ‘African Rhapsody’ edited by Nadezhda Obradovic is a collection of short stories by African writers, and at last I found a story in it by Ken Saro Wiwa.

 

Earlier in the week I had picked up four wonderful titles by Jan Morris and though there were several other titles I did not buy them because the price was too high. But at HBF I saw two titles I had seen at Blossoms in Bengaluru but did not buy, and was thrilled to get them at half the price. 

The first title was ‘Spain’ by Jan Morris and the other was ‘Heaven’s Command’ by James Morris (Jan Morris’ name before the sex-change surgery). Someday I hope to find the third title in the Empire trilogy. 

 

I skipped a day or two of the HBF and on the next day I found a wonderful title on Africa. I picked up the beautiful copy of ‘The Search for Africa’ by Basil Davidson.

 

The next find was a beautiful copy of ‘Self-Help’ by Lorrie Moore that I already had but this copy that I saw at HBF had a really wonderful cover so I picked it up and got it pretty cheap. 

 

I have bought several books about India as seen by foreigners earlier and had found their views about India pretty interesting without all the sentimental stuff Indian writers write. Another of such books was a copy of ‘Through the Indian Looking Glass’ by David Selbourne that I bought. 

 

I must have bought at least a dozen copies of ‘The Snow Leopard’ by Peter Matthiessen over a period of thirty years and whenever I see a copy I buy it. I spotted another copy with a completely different cover that I immediately wanted to buy, and bought it.

 

 

Even at the HBF in the second-hand book stalls there were lots of books being sold for fifty and also hundred rupees. In one of the fifty rupee lots I saw a copy of ‘Friends & Lovers’ by Oscar Pinkus and bought it based on the blurb on the front cover. 

My next visit to the HBF was on 28^th December, a Sunday. I thought I’d just look around and try not to buy more books but I ended up buying three titles. 

 

I found a beautiful copy of ‘bad land: an american romance’ by Jonathan Raban that had a startlingly attractive cover. I have many titles by Jonathan Raban but this title was not in my collection. 

 

Then I saw another title on Africa, and bought it. It was an almost new copy of ‘The State of Africa’ by Martin Meredith.

 

I had found and read ‘Rogue Male’ by Geoffrey Household and found it a gripping read. In one of the stalls I saw a copy of ‘A Time to Kill’ by Geoffrey Household and picked it up hoping it would be as good as ‘Rogue Male’. 

On the last day of the HBF I picked up two more titles. Somehow I saw a couple of titles of Ved Mehta, and I picked up one of them which was 'John is Easy to Please' that I got for a hundred rupees. 

The last book I bought at HBF on its last day was a beautiful copy of 'A History of the Middle East' by Peter Mansfield that I had seen on the first day but couldn't locate it again even after a detailed search. Luckily, I spotted it in the same stall but on a different shelf. I already have another title by Peter Mansfield- The Arabs.