An enchanting hour at a book fair…

Visited a book fair today and it was wonderful poking through second hand worn out books. They belonged to some library, so there were quite a lot of romance novels; the Mills & Boons and Silhouette types to Barbara Cartland and Nora Roberts. Then there were the usual Danielle Steel and Jude Deveraux books that usually span centuries. The staple teenage fodder was there too: The Hardy Boys ( I used to love the Hardy Boys, had a huge crush on Frank Hardy, growing up), Nancy Drew, Sweet Valley High and R.L. Stine. Saw some Archie comics lying around… the others were just the usual Tom Clancy, Robert Ludlum, Harold Robbins and James Hardley Chase. Surprisingly I didn’t see any John Grisham or Crichton or Cook. There were a few Maeve Binchy’s, Patricia Cornwell and Jeffrey Deavere’s too. I saw an A.J. Cronin book and my heart skipped a beat, I’ve been in love with him since I read his autobiography. Then picked up a Maeve Binchy and a few other random books because the outline at the back seemed promising.

Rows of books crammed into shelves and most of them were Mills and Boons… picked up a few for a friend. Was reminded of my favourite place, The Owen Trust Library, a library I used to frequent back home, where sunshine and angel dust lingered on the books and lent the place a magical glow. This book fair was quite small, probably bout eight shelves packed with books, and hardly any folks around. The place can be difficult to spot too, no banners out front and a nondescript building that seemed a bit shady from the entrance.

Purchased ten books for a mere two hundred rupees. Anything with a remotely legal term on it was duly picked up, as you can see from ‘The Juror’, I hope it’s interesting. If you are in Madras and would like to visit this fair,  do check this link to know more bout the venue and details regarding the book fair.

P.S: Thanks CBC (Chennai Bloggers Club) for bringing this book fair to my notice…