It was Annus Terrificus as far as books go—many of the Big League writers delivered their Big Books, some of them after gestations that lasted from seven to 13 years. But the elite band of novelists faced unusually stiff competition on their turf by a band of outsiders: top politicians who hogged the headlines for their memoirs. It was, as a Punjabi bookseller put it, a very "healthy" year—the healthiest, some say, possibly since Independence—with books in every conceivable genre including memoirs, short stories, inspirationals and how-tos flying off the shelves.