Friday, April 23, 2010

Book Post!

I read Latha Anantharaman's column, Bookwise, in yesterday's The Hindu: Metroplus with that unmistakable sense of joy that I always experience on reading a fellow bibliophile's account of her love affair with books. In this installment, she talks about the joy of receiving books by post. Here's a delectable extract from the column in which Latha places an online order for the Seamus Heaney translation of Beowulf and waits in suspense over the sort of tastelessly produced edition she might end up with —

For Rs. 250 and free delivery I expected a cheap India-only edition, with some
typographical errors. What I got was an impeccable Norton critical edition, and
the supreme happiness of getting a book in the post. Since then, editors have
sent volumes by post for review, sometimes in slender packets, sometimes in a
hefty cardboard box. Generous friends send book parcels.

This resonates well with me, because I've always lamented the lack of the suspense element in my encounters with books (see my post Bookish Dreams and Other Speculations). The closest I ever got to waiting in suspense for a book was when my uncle mailed me the first volume, The Solitudes, of John Crowley's Ægypt novel cycle from London. It arrived a week later, neatly packed in a padded envelope (lined on the inside with bubble wrap!), and I held in my hand a beautiful, firmly bound paperback edition, published by The Overlook Press. For the first time in my life I experienced "the supreme happiness of getting a book in the post". I knew beforehand what book and exactly what edition I was about to get, having looked it up in Amazon.com myself. Therefore, my satisfaction was predominantly derived from the physical act of holding the book in my hands, ruffling through its pages and taking in the sweet odour. Unfortunately, unlike Latha, I haven't received books by post since then. Nevertheless I'm happy that her column got me thinking about this.

5 comments:

  1. Once a year I order some books online as a gift to myself. Usually I cannot afford to do this so it is a chance to splurge on some obscure and hard-to-find books. Once ordered, there is the delightful anticipation of the following weeks as I wait for the books to arrive. It is one thing to look at a book on a computer screen, and entirely another to actually hold it in my hands, and appreciate its size, weight, texture, and scent.

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  2. I read today, 27th April 2010, in Metroplus (The Hindu) the same article discussed by you above written by Latha Ananthanaraman in Bookwise column. I think the publisher has goofed up, by repeating it. However, I came to read your post, led from a search for Latha's posts. I understand your sentiments for books. Though not a bibliophile, I am interested in books, authors and publishers for another reason: I am a librarian.

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  3. I read today, 27th April 2010, in Metroplus (The Hindu) the same article discussed by you above written by Latha Ananthanaraman in Bookwise column. I think the publisher has goofed up, by repeating it.However I came to read your post, led from a search for Laths' posts. I understand your sentiments for books. Though not a bibliophile, I am interested in books authors and publishers for another reason: I am a librarian.
    http://naturallyamanuscript.blogspot.com/2010/04/book-post.html

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  4. Thanks, Mr. Vyasa, for your comment. I've solved your little mystery! This particular installment of the column was published in Metroplus Chennai (but not in Hyderabad) on 22nd April 2010; it has been published in Metroplus Hyderabad only today, 27th April 2010.

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  5. I can't help but envy you, Heather! It has just not occurred to me, yet, to order books online for myself. At the rate of once a year, it wouldn't be too much of an indulgence either and might be the best bet when it comes to hard-to-find volumes. I think I should give it a try once. I presently depend on my friendly neighbourhood bookshop when I'm badly in need of a hard-to-find book. These guys can lay their hands on any book from around the world as long as it is in print. All that is required of me is that I be patient for a couple of weeks!

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