"I had been to the Strand Book Exhibition at Sunderbai Hall and I am pretty disappointed." complained a friend. I didn't believe him. How can you be disappointed with a book exhibition? And that too of Strand's? When so many books are on display, you are sure to find some that you have always wanted to make a part of your private library and at a good price too.
So I went there today morning. The sight of rows and rows of books up for grabs was a sight for sore eyes. I passed a couple of first rows that displayed big books on science, astronomy, biology, even languages. Same for the aisle that had all sorts of cookbooks for sale (I hardly ever flip through those that I have at home. Sorry Mr. Sanjeev Kapoor!). The aisles for fiction and non-fiction books didn't look appealing because one, books from different authors were piled on next to each other making it well neigh impossible to spot any one book unless you were patient enough to check out each and every one and two, I couldn't see the books by the usual suspects anywhere. I was combing through the aisles, mustering every last ounce of patience that I possessed but truth be told, I was losing heart. To top it all, the prices didn't seem that low (maybe I have been to too many exhibitions of Ashish Book Center!).
Then I spotted 'The Blair Years' - extracts from the diaries of Alastair Campbell who has been an adviser for Mr. Tony Blair and Britain's Labour Party. I checked out the price - Rs. 350. What? No way! I checked again. Rs. 350 it said. "Oh okay, let's see at the Checkout counter" I said as I moved ahead with the book. An alert attendant ran to me with a basket. God bless his soul! In another aisle, I found 'Fish! For Life'. I have been wanting to have the entire Fish series in my collection since long. So it went into the basket.
A book on Hillary Rodham Clinton - which promised to reveal all about her ambition to become the first woman president of the USA caught my eye. I know my collection is rather short on books on world politics and both world wars. But when I asked myself whether I would feel like reading this book on Hillary, I realized that the answer was a clear 'No'.
I didn't find much in the rest of the aisles and so I proceeded to the checkout counter with just 2 books in the basket - giving cardiac arrest to my family which is used to seeing me emerge with an average of 5 books from such exhibitions! On my way to the checkout counter, I saw many people with baskets full of 10-12 books and wondered which ones they have bought. Maybe, I need to be aware of work of more authors.
BTW, I indeed paid just Rs. 350 for 'The Blair Years' :-)
So I went there today morning. The sight of rows and rows of books up for grabs was a sight for sore eyes. I passed a couple of first rows that displayed big books on science, astronomy, biology, even languages. Same for the aisle that had all sorts of cookbooks for sale (I hardly ever flip through those that I have at home. Sorry Mr. Sanjeev Kapoor!). The aisles for fiction and non-fiction books didn't look appealing because one, books from different authors were piled on next to each other making it well neigh impossible to spot any one book unless you were patient enough to check out each and every one and two, I couldn't see the books by the usual suspects anywhere. I was combing through the aisles, mustering every last ounce of patience that I possessed but truth be told, I was losing heart. To top it all, the prices didn't seem that low (maybe I have been to too many exhibitions of Ashish Book Center!).
Then I spotted 'The Blair Years' - extracts from the diaries of Alastair Campbell who has been an adviser for Mr. Tony Blair and Britain's Labour Party. I checked out the price - Rs. 350. What? No way! I checked again. Rs. 350 it said. "Oh okay, let's see at the Checkout counter" I said as I moved ahead with the book. An alert attendant ran to me with a basket. God bless his soul! In another aisle, I found 'Fish! For Life'. I have been wanting to have the entire Fish series in my collection since long. So it went into the basket.
A book on Hillary Rodham Clinton - which promised to reveal all about her ambition to become the first woman president of the USA caught my eye. I know my collection is rather short on books on world politics and both world wars. But when I asked myself whether I would feel like reading this book on Hillary, I realized that the answer was a clear 'No'.
I didn't find much in the rest of the aisles and so I proceeded to the checkout counter with just 2 books in the basket - giving cardiac arrest to my family which is used to seeing me emerge with an average of 5 books from such exhibitions! On my way to the checkout counter, I saw many people with baskets full of 10-12 books and wondered which ones they have bought. Maybe, I need to be aware of work of more authors.
BTW, I indeed paid just Rs. 350 for 'The Blair Years' :-)
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