Strand Book Exhibition Underway in Bangalore

Book exhibitions can be tricky experiences. For the most part, they are merely a forum to bring together publishers, sellers, and readers. Readers tend to find a few rare pieces and mostly a collection of generally available books. Thus the currently underway Strand Book Exhibition at the Basava Bhavan in Bangalore is a real treat.

This exhibition has been personally curated by Vidya Virkar, the affable owner of the long standing bookshop, part of the 60 year old bookstore chain, founded by the iconic bookseller, the late Padmashri T. N. Shanbhag. It spans two floors, with the lower half reserved for books on the arts, design, photography, and children's literature. The upper section has a broad plethora of literary works, management, classics, and much more, including the iconic Strand specials. The interesting aspect about Strand exhibitions is the access to a great variety of imports, many quite recent.

We went in to the exhibition, promising to keep a firm hand on our wallets and resist the temptations of the printed word. This resolve lasted until probably the first third of the hall, but crumbled soon enough, resulting in a weighty takeaway of around 5 bags of books. Here's a sample:

Stalin's Folly provides a fresh perspective on the first ten days of the German invasion of the Soviet Union, a trauma that Stalin, and indeed the USSR never recovered from. The book explores lesser known alleyways of the events and is well-written indeed.

The Brotherhood of the Holy Shroud is a Da Vinci Code style historical fantasy, and yet, it blends Italian carabineri detective work with historical myth to reveal an 'age-old secret conspiracy'.

Speaking of Dan Brown, his latest book, The Lost Symbol introduced the general reader to Noetics and one was pleased to find Lynne McTaggart's The Intention Experiment at the exhibition. This book explores the provocative idea of whether thought could influence the physical world.

Another related find was Michio Kaku's Visions, which examines how science is revolutionizing the 21st century.

Jim Thompson, one of the greatest suspense writers ever, had quite a few books at the exhibition. I chose The Nothing Man about a newspaper man driven to murder.

We also picked up The Balti Cookbook and Lew Hunter's Screenwriting 434. The kids found some great books, including a good edition of Aesop's Fables and a fun book called Where's My Mummy.

There was a wonderful selection of art books, and we brought home a set of Watercolor and Acrylic Painting guides by Alwyn Cranshaw and an exquisite book on Chinese Watercolor Techniques.

I won't be too surprised if we end up going back to the exhibition before it closes on the 19th of December, and with new books added every day, I can't wait to see what we find

The Strand Book Exhbition Venue: Basava Bhavan, opp. Hotel Chalukya, Bangalore