Shopping of one kind or another is therapy! But book shopping is the most elevated form of it for me. It’s not just the urge to stock up, the urge to buy… Its the experience- going through rows and rows of books, being lost among hundreds of books, sometimes with a list, and some others with nothing in mind – just seeking a book that somehow beckons me to it. Though I have more unread books than books I’ve already read, every day I come across an author or a book that I come across which has me wanting it!
I always like to convince myself that its OK to have a growing pile of unread books. If you ever thought I had no hope to live, or if I myself felt the future is an unseen , uncertain space towards which am floating (which it is )– it’s these unread books that I can hold on to, they are an anchor in the abyss of uncertainties. I wouldn’t be exaggerating, if I said that even if I had nothing to live for, probably I’d just want to live long enough to finish my ever growing pile of unread books…
We at Meraki Post are delighted to be presenting our monthly hauls.We may sometimes buy a lot, and sometimes nothing at all, but every book buying has a story, and this is our little story. We would be delighted to know what have you been buying? What have you been wishing for?
So, my July haul was a little crazy. With The biblio box (our review for the first book subscription box in India) having “magical realism” as it’s theme for July, I went on to upgrade my box with books by masters in this genre. I know it’s a bit overboard – but I seem to really like shopping based on a certain theme, or a genre or even an author- its a more organised way of buying books, one can stick to a certain series and get all the books that would make for a great set! (yes, covers do really matter to me!) Hence I got six Gabriel García titles, four Murakami titles – both by the same publishers in order to keep the cover themes in place, along with Square root of Summer _ that came in the box. This genre has been a fascination since I read _Sputnik Sweetheart (review coming soon), and I cant wait to be reading these!
Come July, and there are sales everywhere, and so I picked Sleeping on Jupiter and Night at the Circus at the Landmark store sale! Not a very impressive sale with regards to books, hence it was just these.
Going to the local bookstore had me picking books I had no plans to, but when I saw these used twentieth edition penguin classics, how could I not buy them!?? Though am slowly getting attuned to classics of this era, I have been wanting these particular editions real bad. Coming to Ham on Rye, and post office – I had to, as Ham on Rye was on the TBR of this year ( find it here) and post office followed by Women (which I already have) are a part of the series.
I have heard so many good things about The Vegetarian that when I saw it, I was torn (are you judging me for my poor self control- are you not ?) . And though I have already read and reviewed The Prophet (read the review here), I had to pick it up again – see the cover? That’s why! The little black classics have been on my to buy for a while now, and as per a lot of bibliophile friends it is better to buy each separately (just the ones you like) than getting the entire set of those- hence begins the little black classics collection. Another Dostoevsky apart from the little black classic has been in my shopping bag, because I have never seen this cover before!
Lastly, I received Life after life from a bibliophile friend. Isn’t it amazing how this wonderful thing called reading brings us all together? Not to forget, I got Conversations with Architects from the author Vladimir Belogolovsky when I interviewed him recently! This is the only book that I’ll be reading soon, while all others are packed away to be read eventually.