43rd Chennai Book Fair 2020

Chennai Book Fair is an annual pilgrimage for me:
2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2010.

For those who are not in Chennai and will miss out on the annual Chennai Book Fair, I would like to share this photoblog with nearly a hundred photos that I shot for your benefit. Hope you all get a feel of a virtual tour of the fair, since it is about books, I have focused on the book titles readable and not the shops and surroundings :-)

[Disclaimer: By no means this coverage is comprehensive or the photos are my endorsement/liking. I have visited the stalls that caught my attention and took random pictures. In nearly the four hours I spent, it is impossible to cover each of the 900+ stalls.]

In my first visit today to this year’s annual Chennai Book Fair, I bought only two books – both are about the recent Kizadi archaeological findings. Normally, I buy over dozens of book every year.

1. கீழடி-வைகை நதிக்கரையில் சங்க கால நகர நாகரிகம். Keeladi-An urban settlement of Sangam age on the banks of River Vaigai.
2. அமுதன் எழுதிய ஆதிச்சநல்லூர்-கீழடி. மண்மூடிய மகத்தான நாகரிகம்.

My reasons for the low number of purchases were:

1. My reading list in GoodReads is nearing four digits; books in my own library that are unopened have crossed three digits a while ago.
2. I am becoming wiser that I won’t be reading many of the books that I buy on an impulse, so I take a picture of books that catches my attention, sleep on it. On my second visit (if I go once again) if I still remember and want the book I buy it.
3. It has become difficult to read books at a stretch for more than twenty minutes, this year I plan to increase my attention.
4. During the year, after reading a review in social/newspapers I keep buying books in Amazon & Kindle. The once a year purchase of a boatload of books during the bookfair has now turned into a pilgrimage and discovery than about purchase.
5. Lastly, there was no book that caught my attention. The two Tamil books that I had noted down and wanted to check out, turned out unimpressive.
6. Chennai book fair’s books mix (in my unscientific observation) is in the following order, I am not a ‘fiction’ guy, so with hardly any new non-fiction releases, I had very little to choose from:

• Religious Book (Epics, Puranas of Hinduism; followed by the Holy Quran and other Islamic works)
• School and College books and references
• English fiction
• Tamil well-known writers works: Bharathiyar, U.Ve.Sa, Kalki, Saavi, Jeyakanthan and others
• Tamil present-day fiction
• Tamil Historic / Classic works: Sangam literature, Thirukural and other Tamil Epics

Update 13th January 2020: Today was my second visit and I bought the following four books. I have also added another two dozen pictures to the gallery below.

1. பயண சரித்திரம் – முகில் – SixthSense Publications
2. உணவு சரித்திரம் – முகில் – SixthSense Publications
3. செங்கிஸ்கான் – எஸ்.எஸ்.வி.மூர்த்தி – SixthSense Publications
4. வயது வந்தவர்களுக்கு மட்டும் – கி.ராஜநாராயணன் – அகரம், தஞ்சாவூர்