Tale Of A Tall List
The Crossword 2009 longlist looked more like a laundry list—a record 72 books listed in the fiction category, making it hard to spot the usual prize-winning types among the chicklit, ladlit, Chetan Bhagat, thrillers and folktales. The jury could not make up its mind on time, and no wonder—who can read through 72 books in six weeks?
Crush Of 79
The longlist was even longer for non-fiction: 79. But the jury did manage to come up with a shortlist, however odd their choice: Violence, Martyrdom and Partition by Nonica Datta; Bazaars, Conversations and Freedom by Rajni Bakshi; The Difficulty of Being Good—On The Subtle Art of Dharma by Gurcharan Das; Looking East to Look West—Lee Kuan Yew’s Mission India by Sunanda K. Datta-Ray; Baulsphere by Mimlu Sen; The Bakkarwals of Jammu and Kashmir by Anita Sharma; Bollywood in Posters by S.M.M. Ausaja. So where’s William Dalrymple’s Nine Lives, which was submitted but didn’t even get into the longlist.
