The Sunday Haul (on 20-04-2025)

 

It was another hot day last Sunday in Hyderabad. The sun was blazing down as I reached Abids to prowl the lanes looking for good books to pick up at the Sunday second-hand book market. The first find was a copy of ‘Recovering the Lost Tongue; The Saga of Environmental Struggles in Central India by Rahul Banerjee’ that is about the issues affecting environment in tribal areas in central India. I do not know when I will get to read it. 

The next find was a copy of ‘Brief Encounters’, a Granta issue. It is a collection of accounts by writers about their encounters with other writers and features Paul Theroux, John McGahern etc. This I am planning to start reading one of these days. 

Later I met an X mutual, Srinivas, and we sat in Star of India and discussed the books we had picked up until then. He gave me a hardcover copy of a Telugu novel ‘Salaam Hyderabad’ by Lokeshwar that he told me was based in Hyderabad, and urged me to read as he had found it to be very good. My Telugu is shaky but I try to read a couple of Telugu newspapers every Sunday, and had also read a couple of Telugu novels a long time back. I have to take out time to read it one of these days

On the way to Abids in the morning I had seen the same copy of ‘The Price of Inequality’ by Joseph Stiglitz with a seller at Chikkadpally that I have been seeing since the past couple of weeks. I did not buy it since it appeared to be an intimidating tome though the subject was something I felt I should read. Anyway, in the evening I felt restless that I had not picked it up and also thought it had remained unsold for so long because I was destined to buy it. So I started off for Chikkadpally and picked it up for a hundred and fifty rupees. 

The Sunday Haul (on 13-04-2025)

It is heating up here in Hyderabad with the temperatures around 40 degrees in the day time. Though I had reached early with the intention of quickly doing the rounds and leaving early before it got too hot the sellers had not yet spread their books on the pavements. So I lingered for a long time checking out the books on the pavements. The first book I picked up was a nice copy of ‘A Confederacy of Dunces’ by John Kennedy Toole that I have been seeing with the same seller for quite a few weeks now. Since no one seemed to be interested in it I picked it up.

 

The next find was yet another title on writing. I guess I have around two hundred and fifty titles on writing on my shelves and anyone with even a bit of common sense wouldn’t have thought of buying another title on writing. But that’s what I did when I saw the beautiful copy of ‘How to Write’ edited by Philip Oltermann and was from ‘the guardian’ newspaper group. I got this British Library discard for a hundred rupees. The light green cover with an ancient typewriter was so attractive I would have bought it even if I had no intention of learning to write. 

I just finished reading ‘The Shock Doctrine’ by Naomi Klein who had mentioned Jeffrey Sach’s name quite a few times. Though I had heard his name earlier I had not found any book by him until last Sunday when I spotted a beautiful copy of ‘The End to Poverty’ by Jeffrey Sachs that I instantly grabbed. 

The next find was a copy of a book that I already have. I had found a copy of ‘Act One’ by Moss Hart a long time back and had also read this memoir of a playwright. I liked how Moss Hart took to writing plays and when I found a hardbound copy a couple of years ago I had picked it up. When I saw another paperback copy of ‘Act One’ in a heap of books selling for twenty rupees I picked it up. 

The Sunday Haul (06-04-2025)

 It was hot again in Hyderabad after a couple of days of relatively cooler days. I got late starting from home for Abids and I took an 8A from Secunderabad to avoid the Ram Navami procession. I had to skip going to Chikkadpally before going to Abids as is my usual Sunday routine. 

The first title I found was a copy of ‘Funny Business: An Outsider’s Year in Japan’ by Gary Katzenstein that I somehow hadn’t picked up last Sunday when I saw it because I did not notice the sub-title. I saw that it was a Paladin title and felt pleased that Paladin publishes good travel titles. Somehow I felt terribly glad that I had found a wonderful book. 

A fortnight ago I had found a copy of ‘Best Loved Indian Stories of the Century Vol II’ edited by Indira Srinivasan and Chetna Bhatt at Abids. I had wondered if I would be able to find Volume I of the same collection. I don’t want to call it a miracle but I found Vol I at the same seller at Abids. I must have missed looking carefully or the seller had not kept it for sale. Either way I was happy I found the entire collection. The twenty stories in this collection are stories in English by Indian writers writing in English. I have read some of them earlier in other places but some are new that I want to read one by one over a period. 

The next find was a beautiful copy of ‘The Strange Case of Billy Biswas’ by Arun Joshi, one of my favorite writers. I already have three copies of the same title including two copies with the same cover. I simply cannot resist buying any title by this author. I got it for fifty rupees. 

My friend Srinivas who I met through X gave me a nice copy of ‘The Gentleman in Moscow’ by Amor Towles and urged me to read it since it was a wonderful book he said. I must take time to read it one of these days. 

The Sunday Haul (on 30-03-2025)

 It wasn’t too hot last Sunday but I had my cap on as I left for Abids for the Sunday second-hand book market. I got there just around noon, and within minutes I found the first two titles at a seller opposite the GPO. The first title I found was a copy of ‘Righteous Victims; A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict 1881-2001’ by Benny Morris with half of the author’s name torn away. It was thick as a brick and from the blurbs on the back cover it looked like to be a good book. 

I was still excited with finding it when I spotted the second title almost related to the same topic. I found a copy of ‘The Lion’s Gate’ by Steven Pressfield with an arresting cover. This was about the six day war that took place in 1967 between Israel and the Arab countries. I have another book on the same topic titled simply ‘The Six Day War’ by Jeremy Bowen that I had found at a second-hand book store sometime in January. It was a good haul so far and I had a wonderful feeling about finding these two books.

Then with another seller I found two more wonderful books. The first was a beautiful copy of ‘Antarctica’ by Claire Keegan. A couple of months back I had read ‘Small Things Like These’ and had found it to be a wonderful short read. ‘Antarctica’ is a collection of fifteen short stories by Claire Keegan.

The other book was a nice copy of ‘The Third Reich’ by Roberto Bolano, another thick volume that I almost did not buy because I have not yet read ‘2666’ and ‘The Savage Detectives’ that I had found long ago. I do not know when I will get the time to read all these books but I went ahead and bought the book because it is not every day that one finds books by Bolano at Abids. 

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.