Bibliofile

The runaway success of Strobe Talbott's Engaging India: Diplomacy, Democracy and the Bomb is inspiring others. Among them is former minister Jaswant Singh. Not surprisingly, he plans to focus on his tenure as foreign minister rather than his "accountant" days in the finmin. Judging by his earlier book, District Diary, Jaswant is a writer with a gift for gossip, like Talbott.

It's not exactly an airplane read, but Talbott's book has just earned itself the sobriquet of unputdownable. And from a reader no less than Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The PM, who was carrying Talbott's book with him to read on the plane, had little chance to read until almost the end of his trip. But on his last evening in the US, after a hectic day of meetings with Pak prez Musharraf, the Asia Council and a press conference, Manmohan retreated to his suite for some self-indulgence: to read Talbott's book.