The Sunday Haul (on 08-01-2023)

 Only the week before I had picked up twenty five books during my five visits to the 35^th Hyderabad National Book Fair and it was already Sunday again making me wonder if I should be buying more books at Abids. Since I really cannot stop myself from going to Abids on Sundays I decided on the way that I would buy only one book and that too if it was something really good. However, I ended up buying three titles including one that I already have on last Sunday’s visit to Abids. 

The first title I found was a nice copy of ‘Around India in 80 Trains’ by Monisha Rajesh. I had seen this title earlier some time back but hadn’t bought it because the seller was asking a too high price. Last Sunday however I saw it at a different seller’s and he gave it to me for eighty rupees only. 

Sometime back I had found a copy of ‘Indian Summer’ by James Cameron and had found it to be very absorbing as it was mostly about his life in India, being married to an Indian, and about the political developments around that time. Last Sunday in a heap of books selling for fifty rupees each I saw a book with a cover torn here and there. After I picked it up I saw that it was a copy of ‘What a Way to Run the Tribe’ by James Cameron, a collection of his journalistic pieces about the places he had been and the people he had met which was just the sort of thing I love to read. 

In the same pile I saw a copy of ‘The Big Sleep’ by Raymond Chandler that had a half-torn back cover and for a moment I almost put it back in the pile but I didn’t. I bought this copy though I have two copies of the same title on my bookshelf. 

The Sunday Haul (on 01-01-2023)

It was the first day of the New Year, first Sunday, and also the last day of the 35^th Hyderabad National Book Fair where there were more than three hundred stalls packed with books. But I wanted to go to Abids and I went only to buy just one book, a title that I never miss buying though I have bought multiple copies so far.

‘On Writing’ by Stephen King is a title I first found a long time back, more than two decades ago. Since then I must have bought more than twenty copies of this book and given them away to people who told me they wanted to write. Last Sunday I came across another copy that I bought right away for a hundred rupees. It was a beautiful copy in very good condition that I was lucky to find.  

 

The Sunday Haul (on 25-12-2022)

 

Though the 35^th Hyderabad National Book Fair was going on in another part of the city I felt I had to go to Abids and check out the books laid out on the pavements every Sunday. I ended up finding four wonderful titles. 

 

I had been seeing this book at Abids and elsewhere for quite a long time but didn’t feel like buying it for some reason. Last Sunday however I felt I should maybe buy it and read it because it was a travel title by someone who left the IAS after a few years of service. So I bought a nice copy of ‘Don’t Ask Any Old Bloke for Directions’ by P.G. Tenzing for a hundred rupees.

 

There was a pile of books selling for twenty rupees and the books all looked quite old and a few were damaged with torn covers and broken spines. Among all those books I managed to pick out three titles. I already have a copy of ‘My Heart is Broken’ by Mavis Gallant but when I saw a copy that seemed in quite good condition I couldn’t resist buying it. It is a collection of her short stories, btw.

 

There are some titles that I buy solely on the basis of the cover. Last Sunday I saw a copy of ‘Flynn’ by Lesley Grant-Adamson that had a very attractive cover in blue orange. Another thing that made me buy it was that it was published by faber and faber. Since it was in the Rs 20 heap I bought it.

Now I do not remember if I have a copy of ‘Twilight in Italy’ by D.H. Lawrence but when I saw it in the heap, I picked it up and flipped through the pages to see if I could remember having read it. But it all looked new so I bought this title too.

This was the last Sunday haul but since the 35th Hyderabad National Book Fair will be until 1st of January I plan to pick up a few more books in the coming days. 

The Sunday Haul (on 18-12-2022)

After being away from Hyderabad for almost two weeks and missing two Sundays visits to Abids to look for books I looked forward eagerly to go there on the Sunday on the 18^th of December. I was away at Ooty on work and spent two miserable Sundays there so when I reached Hyderabad late in the night on that Sunday 11^th of December I spent a whole week waiting for it to be Sunday.

 

So after a quick breakfast I rushed to Abids and I felt very good feeling the warm winter sun on my face and felt all was alright with the world when I saw all those books on the pavements. However I didn’t find as many books as I wanted to fill in for the lost Sundays and ended up finding just one good title. 

 I have a thing for memoirs, especially ones about mental health and so when I saw a hardcover copy of ‘The Center Cannot Hold’ by Elyn R. Saks. Saks is a Professor of Law and her memoir is about her experiences with Schizophrenia. I read a few paragraphs at random and found it to be a bit scary and also interesting reading how she coped with the condition. 

 

I felt glad I found this title. I got it for two hundred rupees. 

 

A WA Haul

I hadn't been to Abids the previous two Sundays because I was in Ooty on work. I missed the visits to Abids to look for books but I managed to look for books online. Since I am a member of WA groups of a few second hand booksellers who conduct regular sales I managed to get a look at some good titles. In one of those sales when I was in Ooty and managed to get the mobile signal I managed to claim a Sandor Marai title. A long time back I had found a copy of ‘Conversations in Bolzano’ by Sandor Marai about whom I read in a book of essays by J.M. Coetzee. Sometime later I also found a nice copy of 'Embers' also by Sandor Marai. 

The title I claimed and also got was 'Rebels' that no one on the group seemed to know about and hence I managed to get it quite easily. I don't remember how much I paid for it but when I got home last Sunday the book was waiting for me. 

I am looking forward to visit Abids this Sunday and also hope to find some good titles. But I am quite excited that the 35th Hyderabad National Book Fair is beginning on 22nd December, that is, next Wednesday. I am eagerly counting the days and I plan to be at the Book Fair on the first day even before it is inaugurated and get inside the minutes visitors are allowed and grab whatever I find in the secondhand book stalls that I am sure will occupy more stalls than the stalls of the regular book sellers. 

The Sunday Haul (on 27-11-2022)

'The 'Tiger of Malgudi' by RK Narayan was the first full length book in English I read when I was about twelve years old. I felt elated after finishing reading it since I had never read anything of that length. With that book I had embarked on my journey as a life-long reader and bibliophile. Since then I have read almost everything RK Narayan has read and buy copies of his titles published by Young Thought, the publishing firm that he himself started. Those editions are hard to find and so when I found a copy of 'Under the Banyan Tree & Other Stories' by RK Narayan at Abids last Sunday. 

It has twenty eight stories including 'A Horse and Two Goats' and a few other stories that I have read and there are some I haven't read. I got this book for fifty rupees.

The other title I found was a copy of 'The Wisdom of Crowds' by James Surowiecki with a blurb by Malcolm Gladwell on the cover saying '...brilliant book on business, society and everyday life...' which was the sole reason I bought this title. I got it for a hundred rupees. 

The Sunday Haul (on 20-11-2022)

In the two hours that I was at Abids last Sunday before going for a family function I managed to find three nice titles. I have been always interested in Ireland and its writers so when I saw a copy of ‘Jiving at the Crossroads’ by John W

Only a couple of Sundays ago I had found a title ‘Ai Ladki’ by Krishna Sobti that I am yet to read so when I saw another title by her I wondered whether to buy it. But this hesitation did not last two seconds before I picked up the hardcover copy of ‘Sunflowers of the Dark’ by Krishna Sobti for eighty rupees.

I spotted a book with a striking cover and after I picked it up I saw that is was a copy of ‘Ayyankali- A Dalit Leader of Organic Protest’ by M. Nisar & Meena Kandaswamy. I had read a bit about Ayyankali before and bought this book hoping to know more. I got this book for fifty rupees. It is a short book and I want to read it one of these days. 

Since a couple of weeks I had been seeing a copy of ‘Saint Joan of Arc’ by Vita Sackville West, a Penguin title that I wouldn’t hesitate to buy but somehow I felt it was out of my league. However last Sunday I finally picked it up for a hundred rupees.

The Sunday Haul (on 13-11-2022)

 I had been to Abids last Sunday and found these three books. I am posting it today instead of on Friday because I was travelling and did not have the time to write it during the week. Sorry. 

The Sunday Haul (on 06-11-2022)

 Another bright and sunny morning on a pleasant Sunday in Hyderabad when l left home for Abids to look at the thousands of books on the pavements. I had earlier bought a copy of ‘Siddhartha’ by Herman Hesse sometime back but haven’t yet read it for some reason. Last Sunday I saw another copy with a photograph of the two actors Shashi Kapoor and Simi Grewal who played the lead roles in the film, and saw that it was a Macmillan India edition that I had never seen before. I decided to buy it and got it for only thirty rupees. Somebody told me it was a rare cover not easily available but how true it is I do not know.

I saw an almost new copy of ‘More Bodies Will Fall’ by Ankush Saikia, a new title by Ankush Saikia who made his debut as a writer with ‘Jet City Woman’ that I had read a long back. Next week I will be travelling to Ooty on work for four days and maybe I will read it at Ooty. I got it in a pile of books selling for hundred rupees each.

The Sunday Haul (on 30-10-2022)

It was the first Sunday after Diwali so all the regular shops were closed which meant that the second hand booksellers of Abids were at their original places in full strength. I was at Abids as usual and spent about two hours looking at all the wonderful titles on sale on the pavements. I ended up buying only two titles last Sunday at Abids.

The first book was one that had a stunning blue cover that caught my eye. When I picked it up for a closer look it had ‘Joe Gould’s Secret’ by Joseph Mitchell on the cover. There was high praise for it in the blurbs on the back cover by Bill Bryson, Salman Rushdie, Julian Barnes, Doris Lessing, Martin Amis and also Robert McCrum that made me buy the book without thinking twice about the price the seller was asking for it. I got it for a hundred rupees.

The other title that I found was a book that looked very old but in a good condition. It was a copy of ‘Job: The Story of a Simple Man’ by Joseph Roth. Sometime back I had read on Twitter about Joseph Roth about whom I had not heard of before. The cover looked quite attractive and it was one reason why I picked up the book for eighty rupees.