tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1392585844801854581.post3449711977301361514..comments2023-06-13T17:38:36.387+05:30Comments on Alive in an Ultra World: On why I hate second hand books.Vaishalihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15103329879834196189noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1392585844801854581.post-12750586237186039862011-06-29T15:55:19.659+05:302011-06-29T15:55:19.659+05:30I do enjoy voyeurism at times, albeit selectively....I do enjoy voyeurism at times, albeit selectively. I do get excited when I get books from people I know and which carries something of those people. But for me, a book is a private possession, much like one's own pillow and email inbox. It's fun to peek into others lives, some sort of guilty pleasure there - learning more about someone and filling the rest with my own imagination, but I do feel terribly guilty when random books from nowhere land up in my shelf, furtive and forever alien. That I'd prefer new gleaming untouched books is another story :)Vaishalihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15103329879834196189noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1392585844801854581.post-40443941335801286062011-06-29T06:58:11.603+05:302011-06-29T06:58:11.603+05:30Sounds like you don't like the role of a voyeu...Sounds like you don't like the role of a voyeur. But as a writer, don't you like catching glimpses of lives different from your own? <br /><br />Here's an example: I was forced to buy Mohsin Hamid's Moth Smoke secondhand from a fellow grad student last year for a South Asian class, and the inscription in it spoke of two siblings from Pakistan's "high society," similar to the one outlined in the book itself. Turns out the person I bought it from, had bought it from Amazon. Gave me a frissure of pleasure to have that air of mystery surround the book that I now own. It seems quite comfortable on my shelf, next to my brand new copy of Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist.<br /><br />Of course, to each his own. I, for one, love such personalized inscriptions. They help fuel my already fertile imagination.Sancharihttp://sursanchari.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1392585844801854581.post-64833782335791933712011-05-09T22:46:57.858+05:302011-05-09T22:46:57.858+05:30Awesome post..! But I actually like finding second...Awesome post..! But I actually like finding second hand books with dedications like those because it reassures me that all is not wrong in the world and that someone somewhere cares enough to actually go out and buy a book and gift it to someone else and not just download a pdf (even though that is what I do too, when I have to totally, positively, absolutely read a book and I cannot afford it)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1392585844801854581.post-34070660281587488782011-05-04T22:16:57.728+05:302011-05-04T22:16:57.728+05:30thanks a ton! :)thanks a ton! :)Vaishalihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15103329879834196189noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1392585844801854581.post-45423038321574466452011-05-04T13:57:53.161+05:302011-05-04T13:57:53.161+05:30wow! amazing piece of writing.....loved your threa...wow! amazing piece of writing.....loved your threadbare feelings .....while reading i also got into thought bursts of thousands of reasons for your mystical soumya or raji to have parted with their prized possessions.....way to go.... may you inspire many a soul into this marvelous portal of expression!geetahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14667701690030331371noreply@blogger.com