{"id":4589,"date":"2021-06-23T17:31:08","date_gmt":"2021-06-23T17:31:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ibrahimsheme.com\/?page_id=4589"},"modified":"2023-10-07T22:27:35","modified_gmt":"2023-10-07T22:27:35","slug":"a-bibliophile-goes-a-shopping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ibrahimsheme.net\/?p=4589","title":{"rendered":"A bibliophile goes a-shopping"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">This afternoon, my bibliophilic instinct (combined with nostalgia) drove me to do something extraordinary that I used to do way back in my secondary school days in the 1980s: I went out deliberately to buy books written by the popular British crime writer James Hadley Chase (1906-1985). I had been enamoured of this author when I first bought and read his novel &#8216;No Orchids for Miss Blandish&#8217; (published in 1948) which, incidentally, also happened to be the first book that he wrote. Eventually, I went ahead to read most of his 90 books. For years, I had kept the Chase books I consumed until, one by one, they disappeared from my clogged bookshelf.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Today, I went to my favourite bookshop in Abuja, The Booksellers, in Garki, and bought the six titles that were available on the shelf. Let me tell you about them.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><em>\u00a0&#8216;You&#8217;re Lonely When You Are Dead&#8217; &#8211; (First published: 1949). <\/em><em style=\"font-size: 16px;\">This is the first of three Vic Malloy novels that Chase published. Set in fictional &#8220;Orchid City,&#8221; which Chase places on the Southern California coast, but near &#8220;Coral Gables,&#8221; a deep water port with rough neighbourhoods.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>\u00a0&#8216;The Vulture is a Patient Bird&#8217;<\/em> &#8211;\u00a0<em style=\"font-size: 16px;\">(First published: 1969)<\/em><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">. <\/span><em style=\"font-size: 16px;\">The blurb says: &#8220;A brilliant but sadistic safe-breaker; a beautiful seductress; an expert young hunter and an ace pilot with a shady past &#8211; this is the team that undercover operator Armo Shalik assembles to steal the priceless Borgia ring from millionaire Max Kahlenberg&#8217;s closely guarded fortress in the remote and deadly African bush.&#8221;<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>&#8216;Figure It Out Yourself&#8217; &#8211; <\/em><em style=\"font-size: 16px;\">(First published: 1950)<\/em><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">. <\/span><em style=\"font-size: 16px;\">The second of the three Vic Malloy novels, its blurb says: &#8220;From the moment Lee Dedrick, husband of the fourth richest woman in the world, disappears, believed kidnapped, Vic Malloy is snarled up in a vicious vortex of murder, glamorous women and violent non-stop action.&#8221;<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>&#8216;This Way for a Shroud&#8217;<\/em> &#8211;\u00a0<em style=\"font-size: 16px;\">(First published: 1953)<\/em><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">. <\/span><em style=\"font-size: 16px;\">The blurb says: &#8220;MISS ARNOT IS IN THE SWIMMING POOL, MINUS HER HEAD&#8230; The brutal murder of June Arnot, famous screen actress, and the massacre of all her servants is just the curtain raiser to this chill-a-page novel.<\/em> <em style=\"font-size: 16px;\">The D.A. suspects that June Arnot was the mistress of Jack Maurer, boss of a billion dollars&#8217; worth of rackets. For fifteen years he has been trying to bring Maurer to trial. Is this the opportunity he has been waiting for? His case depends on one terrified and unwilling eye-witness, but can she survive Maurer&#8217;s vengeance and be persuaded to talk&#8230;?&#8221;<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>\u00a0&#8216;Have This One On Me&#8217;<\/em> &#8211;\u00a0<em style=\"font-size: 16px;\">(First published: 1967).<\/em> <em style=\"font-size: 16px;\">This is the third book in the Mark Girland trilogy, so I&#8217;ve got all the Girland themed books!<\/em> <em style=\"font-size: 16px;\">The blurb says: &#8220;Mark Girland, good-for-nothing secret agent with a distinct weakness for money and women, finds himself in Prague for his latest adventure. Events in the Communist country prove all too much for Girland as he comes face to face with a sinister world of deception, fraud and corruption. The result is another gripping thriller from the James Hadley Chase Library.&#8221;<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>\u00a0&#8216;Goldfish Have No Hiding Place&#8217; &#8211; (First published: 1974). The blurb says: &#8220;Steve Manson&#8217;s magazine dealt in corruption: he attacked the rich, the powerful and the famous &#8211; and he made enemies. In a job like that, you couldn&#8217;t afford to have dirty secrets of your own. With the whole town itching for you to make a slip, it was like living in a goldfish bowl.&#8221;<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Take note that these Chase titles were re-issued by a Nigerian company, Goodbooks Africa, based in Ibadan, in 2010. Not pirated, though. I guess that explains the less provocative photos of (Nigerian instead of white) girls on the covers.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4592\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4592\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"4592\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/ibrahimsheme.net\/?attachment_id=4592\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/ibrahimsheme.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Cropped_Image_20230530_184104-1.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"1080,1067\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Cropped_Image_20230530_184104\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;James Hadley Chase (Archived \/ Getty Images &lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/ibrahimsheme.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Cropped_Image_20230530_184104-1-1024x1012.jpg\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-4592\" src=\"https:\/\/wip.ibrahimsheme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Cropped_Image_20230530_184104-1-300x296.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"296\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ibrahimsheme.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Cropped_Image_20230530_184104-1-300x296.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ibrahimsheme.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Cropped_Image_20230530_184104-1-1024x1012.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/ibrahimsheme.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Cropped_Image_20230530_184104-1-768x759.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ibrahimsheme.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Cropped_Image_20230530_184104-1-75x75.jpg 75w, https:\/\/ibrahimsheme.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Cropped_Image_20230530_184104-1-750x741.jpg 750w, https:\/\/ibrahimsheme.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Cropped_Image_20230530_184104-1.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4592\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">James Hadley Chase (Archived \/ Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Another thing worth noting is that, as I once wrote, Chase had never visited America in his life in spite of the America-tinged themes of most of his books. He reportedly &#8220;relied on books and movies for his knowledge about America, and some times it showed&#8221;, one writer said.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, I should add that I bought two other books today. One is &#8216;The Golden Gate&#8217; by the multiple award-winning author Vikram Seth. Having read his second novel, &#8216;A Suitable Boy&#8217; since 1993 when I was a student in the U.K. (the year it was published), I was delighted to see his first novel (published in 1986) today. &#8216;A Suitable Boy&#8217;, a lovely epic, had set the tone for me to love Seth&#8217;s books. Now I look forward to seeing the several others that he authored. &#8216;The Golden Gate&#8217;, which Gore Vidal described as &#8220;The greal Californian novel&#8221;, promises to be as delectable as &#8216;A Suitable Boy&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>The other book I bought today is &#8216;My Life as an Almajiri&#8217;, a made-for-kids, illustrated novel by Hadiza Mohammed, a children&#8217;s writer based in Abuja. The blurb says the story is about a boy, Rabiu, who &#8220;goes to Almajiri school for the first time&#8221; (and) &#8220;is excited because his school is a path to paradise&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>I once wrote a &#8216;commissioned&#8217; short story in Hausa about an almajiri myself, some eighteen years ago in 2003. It is a subject in which I am deeply interested, so I look forward to enjoying this book by Hadiza (published in 2016).<\/p>\n<div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div>\n<p id=\"pvc_stats_4589\" class=\"pvc_stats total_only  \" data-element-id=\"4589\" style=\"\"><i class=\"pvc-stats-icon medium\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" version=\"1.0\" viewBox=\"0 0 502 315\" preserveAspectRatio=\"xMidYMid meet\"><g transform=\"translate(0,332) scale(0.1,-0.1)\" fill=\"\" stroke=\"none\"><path d=\"M2394 3279 l-29 -30 -3 -207 c-2 -182 0 -211 15 -242 39 -76 157 -76 196 0 15 31 17 60 15 243 l-3 209 -33 29 c-26 23 -41 29 -80 29 -41 0 -53 -5 -78 -31z\"\/><path d=\"M3085 3251 c-45 -19 -58 -50 -96 -229 -47 -217 -49 -260 -13 -295 52 -53 146 -42 177 20 16 31 87 366 87 410 0 70 -86 122 -155 94z\"\/><path d=\"M1751 3234 c-13 -9 -29 -31 -37 -50 -12 -29 -10 -49 21 -204 19 -94 39 -189 45 -210 14 -50 54 -80 110 -80 34 0 48 6 76 34 21 21 34 44 34 59 0 14 -18 113 -40 219 -37 178 -43 195 -70 221 -36 32 -101 37 -139 11z\"\/><path d=\"M1163 3073 c-36 -7 -73 -59 -73 -102 0 -56 133 -378 171 -413 34 -32 83 -37 129 -13 70 36 67 87 -16 290 -86 209 -89 214 -129 231 -35 14 -42 15 -82 7z\"\/><path d=\"M3689 3066 c-15 -9 -33 -30 -42 -48 -48 -103 -147 -355 -147 -375 0 -98 131 -148 192 -74 13 15 57 108 97 206 80 196 84 226 37 273 -30 30 -99 39 -137 18z\"\/><path d=\"M583 2784 c-38 -19 -67 -74 -58 -113 9 -42 211 -354 242 -373 16 -10 45 -18 66 -18 51 0 107 52 107 100 0 39 -1 41 -124 234 -80 126 -108 162 -133 173 -41 17 -61 16 -100 -3z\"\/><path d=\"M4250 2784 c-14 -9 -74 -91 -133 -183 -95 -150 -107 -173 -107 -213 0 -55 33 -94 87 -104 67 -13 90 8 211 198 130 202 137 225 78 284 -27 27 -42 34 -72 34 -22 0 -50 -8 -64 -16z\"\/><path d=\"M2275 2693 c-553 -48 -1095 -270 -1585 -649 -135 -104 -459 -423 -483 -476 -23 -49 -22 -139 2 -186 73 -142 361 -457 571 -626 285 -228 642 -407 990 -497 242 -63 336 -73 660 -74 310 0 370 5 595 52 535 111 1045 392 1455 803 122 121 250 273 275 326 19 41 19 137 0 174 -41 79 -309 363 -465 492 -447 370 -946 591 -1479 653 -113 14 -422 18 -536 8z m395 -428 c171 -34 330 -124 456 -258 112 -119 167 -219 211 -378 27 -96 24 -300 -5 -401 -72 -255 -236 -447 -474 -557 -132 -62 -201 -76 -368 -76 -167 0 -236 14 -368 76 -213 98 -373 271 -451 485 -162 444 86 934 547 1084 153 49 292 57 452 25z m909 -232 c222 -123 408 -262 593 -441 76 -74 138 -139 138 -144 0 -16 -233 -242 -330 -319 -155 -123 -309 -223 -461 -299 l-81 -41 32 46 c18 26 49 83 70 128 143 306 141 649 -6 957 -25 52 -61 116 -79 142 l-34 47 45 -20 c26 -10 76 -36 113 -56z m-2057 25 c-40 -58 -105 -190 -130 -263 -110 -324 -59 -707 132 -981 25 -35 42 -64 37 -64 -19 0 -241 119 -326 174 -188 122 -406 314 -532 468 l-58 71 108 103 c185 178 428 349 672 473 66 33 121 60 123 61 2 0 -10 -19 -26 -42z\"\/><path d=\"M2375 1950 c-198 -44 -350 -190 -395 -379 -18 -76 -8 -221 19 -290 114 -284 457 -406 731 -260 98 52 188 154 231 260 27 69 37 214 19 290 -38 163 -166 304 -326 360 -67 23 -215 33 -279 19z\"\/><\/g><\/svg><\/i> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"16\" height=\"16\" alt=\"Loading\" src=\"https:\/\/ibrahimsheme.net\/wp-content\/plugins\/page-views-count\/ajax-loader-2x.gif\" border=0 \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This afternoon, my bibliophilic instinct (combined with nostalgia) drove me to do something extraordinary that I used to do way back in my secondary school days in the 1980s: I went out deliberately to buy books written by the popular British crime writer James Hadley Chase (1906-1985). 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