Raja As Knave
Many recent books have been the Congress party’s bane: Sanjaya Baru’s The Accidental Prime Minister, which hinted that Manmohan Singh was a puppet PM, followed by ex-CAG Vinod Rai’s Not Just An Accountant, on the 2G scam, Natwar Singh’s One Life Is Not Enough and Javier Moro’s The Red Sari, on the Gandhi family. The next bombshell could well be discredited UPA minister A. Raja’s forthcoming book, where he gives his side of the 2G scam story. The buzz is that it’s a tell-all—about how Raja was made the fall guy and how top Congress leaders were in the know—the last thing the beleaguered party needs at this point.
Spring Reading
The mini lit-fest, Penguin Spring Fever, is back in Delhi from March 14-22. Biggies include Amitav Ghosh, rarely seen at fests, talking about the final book of his Ibis trilogy, Flood of Fire. All the India-book authors—business editor T.N. Ninan, ex-CNBC honcho Raghav Bahl, journalists Mihir Sharma and Aaakar Patel—will slog it out over whether India will grow at 8 per cent. The redoubtable Ram Jethmalani and Shobhaa De will heat up debates, while Gulzar sahib would soothe things with poetry.
Pity For Gatsby
In a poll by a British paper, Hillary Clinton’s Hard Choices, on the NYT Bestsellers list, tops the Most Famous Books We Never Finish. It is followed by Thomas Piketty’s Capital and David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest. Surprisingly, it also has the cult Fifty Shades Of Gray and the eminently readable and well-loved The Great Gatsby.
