The Sunday Haul (on 17-12-2023)

After the accident though there is a minor change in my manner of reaching Abids on Sunday mornings there is no change in what I am finding at Abids. I continue to find good books at Abids every Sunday, and last Sunday too I found four wonderful titles. 

The first title I spotted was a copy of ‘The Writer and the World’ a collection of essays by the venerable V.S. Naipaul. I do not remember if I have this title or not but I couldn’t let go of such a fine copy and therefore I bought it. I got it for two hundred rupees which is a bit high. But what the heck, I’d pay anything for a good title.

Another title that I remember having bought earlier was ‘The Granta Book of India’ the copy of which stared back at me from the pavement and before I could try to remember clearly I picked it up. This title I got for hundred rupees.

Another find was a beautiful hardcover title ’Signs and Images’ by Roland Barthes and I grabbed it at lightning speed though there was no one around who would have snatched it. This is my second Roland Barthes title having found the first title ages ago and which I am yet to read. This title I got for just eighty rupees.

The last title I found was one I clearly remember having several copies of and which I’d buy any number of copies that I came across. It was almost by accident that I spotted the distinctive red cover of ‘Ex-Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader’ by Anne Fadiman, and I felt a strange thrill at having found yet another copy of this wonderful book that every bibliophile ought to have on their bookshelf. I couldn’t believe it when the seller asked just thirty rupees for this slim book. 

The Sunday Haul (on 03.12.2023)

 Going to Abids has become a bit complicated for me since the past three weeks. I had a road accident last month a day before Diwali and fractured my collarbone after falling down on the road from my two-wheeler that was hit by a rashly driven autorickshaw. I have been wearing a clavicle brace and have my right arm in a sling which means I cannot ride a two-wheeler. So I am going by cab to Abids which isn’t the same as going on my two-wheeler. 

Anyway, I got there as usual a little before noon and managed to find three titles. The first title I found was a copy of ‘With Chatwin’ by Susannah Clapp that was almost brand new and had Chatwin’s picture on the cover. It is a memoir/biography, and I plan to read it along with another biography of Chatwin by Nicholas Shakespeare that I had found a long time ago but haven’t yet managed to read it.

 

The next find was a nice copy of ‘Delhi Metropolitan: The Making of an Unlikely City’ by Ranjana Sengupta that I got for eighty rupees. Coincidentally I had claimed ‘City of Gold: The Biography of Bombay’ by Gillian Tindall on an online sale and that is yet to be delivered. Someday I have to read both these titles. I’ve already read Geoffrey Moorehouse’s book on Calcutta sometime last year. 

 

Though I felt that I have already read the copy of ‘Finding the Centre’ by V.S. Naipaul that I had found some time ago I couldn’t resist buying another copy though with a different cover and also an older edition that I saw at Abids last Sunday. One reason for buying it was that it was in a heap of Rs.50 books. 

The Sunday Haul (on 26-11-2023)

 I couldn't go to Abids as usual on Sunday in the morning because I had to attend an election related training. But I could go up to Chikkadpally where I found a title by an African author I hadn't heard about before. 'The God Who Begat a Jackal' by Nega Mezlekia that I got for a hundred rupees. 

The Sunday Haul (on 19-11-2023)

 After 'The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz' that I couldn't finish this is the second Mordecai Richler title that I found last Sunday at Abids. It is a collection of essays that I got for fifty rupees. 

The Sunday Haul (on 05.11.2023)

 

The Diwali shopping buzz has begun and so all the shops in Abids were open. Only a few of the second-hand booksellers had shifted from their regular spots so I did not feel much of a difference in my usual Sunday hunt for books at Abids. However, I did not feel like buying every book that I saw because at home the books are taking over every available spot spacious enough to keep a book. I ended up buying just two titles last Sunday at Abids. 

 

A long time back I had found a copy of ‘The Savage Detectives’ by Roberto Bolano that I did not find the time to read and somehow I gave it away to someone without realizing I was giving it away. Later when I read about the book somewhere and searched for my copy I couldn’t find it and belatedly realized that I had foolishly given it away. Luckily sometime later I found another copy that again I haven’t had the time to read. So while the copy of ‘The Savage Detectives’ by Roberto Bolano is still lying somewhere on my bookshelf unread I found a copy of ‘Distant Star’ by Roberto Bolano last Sunday at Abids. I got it for just fifty rupees and have begun reading it since it is quite slim and can be finished in a day. 

 

 

I do not have to mention it again that I love travel titles especially those that are about the traveler living in another country and writing about the people, life and other things in that country that the writer has chosen to call it his home. 

 

I did not buy the copy of ‘Italian Neighbours’ by Tim Parks that I saw at Abids last Sunday just like that. I had read ‘Teach Us to Sit Still’ by Tim Parks a couple of years ago and was very impressed by what he wrote about a delicate problem that he had and how he went through that using meditation and other ways. I found a nice copy of ‘Italian Neighbours’ that I got for a hundred rupees. 

The Sunday Haul (on 29.10.2023)

 As someone who likes to read a lot I make it a point not to miss reading each and every piece in the ‘magazine’ of The Hindu on Sunday. Last Sunday while reading the articles in ‘the open page’ of the ‘magazine’ I came across a very interesting item titled ‘On a Literary Trail in the U.K.’ by one Sebastian Valiakala, a major Sebastian Faulks fan.  I was amazed to read that he had made a 20-week ‘bibliotour’ across England, Scotland, and Ireland and wrote about coming across titles by Sebastian Faulks on his trip. I wondered how passionate a book lover Mr. Sebastian Valiakal was to have made a 20-week ‘bibliotour’ across the U.K. In a strange coincidence a few hours after reading this wonderful piece I found a copy of ‘A Week in December’ by Sebastian Faulks in a heap of Rs.100 books. I picked it up since I had not read anything by Sebastian Faulks so far. 

 

The next find was a copy of ‘Sacred Virgin: Travels across the Narmada’ by Royina Grewal that I got for a hundred and fifty rupees. It was a title that I do not remember reading about anywhere so I was pretty thrilled to find another Indian travel title. Another reason for picking it up was that it was a Penguin title and they never disappoint me. 

 

Funnily enough the next find at Abids was another travel title- ‘The Golden Peak: Travels in Northern Pakistan’ by Kathleen Jamie, yet another Penguin title that I picked up for a hundred rupees. I haven’t read may accounts of journeys in Pakistan, and I hope this title fill the gap in my reading about Pakistan. 

 

Then I found a copy of ‘Bombay Time’ by Thrity Umrigar, a writer I had read about somewhere and had actually seen a book by her a long time back that I did not pick up. But when I read on the inside pages that it was her debut novel and a Picador title I decided to buy it. I got this book too for a hundred rupees. 

 

Any book with the words ‘Books’ and ‘Bookstore’ instantly grabs my attention and I end up buying such books without a moment’s hesitation. When I saw a copy of ‘Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore’ by Robin Sloan that had a zany and attractive cover I bought it right away not bothering to find out whether it was fiction or non-fiction or even if it was any good. But after I noticed that it was an Atlantic Books title and a work of fiction I felt convinced that it would be a good read. I got this for only sixty rupees. 

I also picked up two titles- ‘The Kingdom of Blue Skies’ by Mayakshi Chattopadhyaya and 

‘Like Fishes in the Ocean’ by Gita Iyengar about which I want to write sometime later in another post. 

 The Sunday Haul (on 22.10.2023) 

The regular shops at Abids were just beginning to open when I reached there last Sunday. The festival bustle would begin in a few hours so I got around all the sellers looking for something good to pick up. Though I looked carefully all I could manage to find was a good copy of a book that I already have.

 

Australia is one country that fascinates me and I try to read as many travel titles on Australia as I can find. I have a few such titles on Australia that I have found a long time back. One of them is of course Bill Bryson’s ‘Down Under’ and also ‘West of Centre’ by Ray Ericksen that I loved. Not long ago I had found a copy of ‘The Ribbon and the Ragged Square: An Australian Journey’ by Linda Christmas that I had spotted at a store in Bengaluru sometime in May this year. Another title on Australia that I found sometime in August 2019 was a copy of ‘In the Land of Oz’ by Howard Jacobson that I read right away after finding it and then again recently. 

 

It was a copy of this same title- ‘In the Land of Oz’ by Howard Jacobson that I found last Sunday at Abids. It was a far better copy than the one I had so I couldn’t resist buying it and got it for just eighty rupees.

The Sunday Haul (on 15.10.2023)

 The festival season is on in Hyderabad and many shops in Abids were open last Sunday so some of the sellers of second-hand books had to move their books to other spots. This would be the situation until Diwali in November. However, it did not matter much to me at all because I knew where the sellers were. 

 

Sometime after I found ‘On Writing’ by Stephen King after reading which I felt confident enough to think of putting down on paper the idea for a novel I had in mind I found a copy of ‘The Writing of One Novel’ by Irving Wallace at Abids a long time back. It gave me an idea of how writers develop their novels after getting the idea for it, and what happens while the novel is written, and the numerous obstacles the writer has to face while writing. ‘The Writing of One Novel’ was one title I read and reread numerous times. I also found several copies of it all these years that I gave away to anyone who expressed the slightest interest in writing a novel. It is a different matter that not one who I gave a copy of ‘The Writing of One Novel’ has managed to bring out a novel so far.

 

Anyway, I found yet another copy of ‘The Writing of One Novel’ by Irving Wallace at Abids last Sunday and I was unable to move on without buying it. I got it for fifty rupees, a nice copy that I plan to retain and give away a different copy that is not in such a good condition that I had found some time back. 

 

I do not know where I read about ‘Harry’s Game’ that was described as a great read but I forgot who the author was however I remembered the title. Last Sunday at Abids I spotted a copy of ‘Harry’s Game’ by Gerald Seymour at a seller that I almost pounced on and grabbed it. I got it for just fifty rupees. 

The Sunday Haul (on 08.10.2023)

It is unusually warm for this time of the year in Hyderabad when it would have begun to get a bit cold early in the morning. I read somewhere that it would begin to get cold sometime in mid-November which is almost a month away so until then we in Hyderabad have to put up with these warm days.  

As usual I was in Abids last Sunday eager to pick up interesting titles, and soon after reaching I spotted a copy of ‘Inspector Matadeen on the Moon’ by Harishankar Parsai. I had read a long back about Harishankar Parsai’s satirical pieces but hadn’t expected to find an entire book of them. I got this title for sixty rupees.

 

The next find was a travel title- ‘Inka-Kola: A Traveller’s Tale of Peru’ by Matthew Parris that I found in a pile of Rs.100 books. I picked it up after reading a blurb by Dervla Murphy on the back cover. Of course, the attractive cover also played a role in my decision to buy it. 

 

Though Saddam Hussein of Iraq has been long dead I haven’t lost the desire to know what the newspapers haven’t written about this much reviled President. So when I saw a copy of 

‘Saddam’s War’ by John Bulloch & Harvey Morris published by faber and faber I grabbed it. I got it for a hundred rupees at a seller in Chikkadpally 

This year it is going to be a too big haul of books that I've picked up at Abids and also got a lot of books online. I have to start counting from now on!

The Sunday Haul ( on 01-10-2023)

 Though the temperatures do not show it but for all appearances winter is just around the corner in Hyderabad. It was bright and sunny in the morning at Abids when I reached for my weekly dose of Sunday browsing for books on the pavements. Hari came with Anjali to look for some good titles and I picked out a nice copy of ‘The Heart is a Lonely Hunter’ by Carson McCullers for Anjali. 

 

The first title I found was a copy of ‘A Life of One’s Own’ by Joanna Field that somehow felt could be a good title so I picked up and read that it had been out of print for a long time. It was some kind of a memoir/self-help/psychology title that I felt I had to read. I got this title for fifty rupees only. 

 

The next title I found was a copy of ‘Out’ by Pierre Ray, a voluminous crime fiction book that I somehow felt could be another good read. I got this for thirty rupees. 

 

On the way back home I stopped at Chikkadpally and spotted a copy with a blue cover that was ‘Propaganda and the Public Mind: Conversations with Noam Chomsky: Interviews by David Barsamian. This was the second Noam Chomsky title I found in the recent weeks. After I read that John Pilger was influenced by Noam Chomsky I had decided to read his books. 

 

A while ago the Literature Nobel was announced and it was awarded to Jon Fosse. I haven’t read any of his books though I have read about his books on Twitter. I hope I find a title by Jon Fosse soon.