..And there you are again :-) Thank you for adding Vikram Seth to that most illustrous of lists. I loved "A Suitable Boy" and his collection of "Kakoli couplets". Khushwant Singh..not quite sure about Dirty Harry but, the devil needs it's due, and I must admit that he does write very well. I must admit that I am not as familiar as I perhpas ought to be with Amitav Ghosh, but, I have an ever expanding Summer reading list so I may have to put him on that. Looks like the "establishment" got us in their clenches..I too, like you, seem to have been a victim, in that I stuck to the stars of literature: Austin, O'Henry, Somerset Maughum et all..William Darcy being the highest achievement in strength of a character (I know that had to do a heck of a lot more with Mr. Firth:-)) but it is indeed wonderful to be able to walk away from that doggedness, but, the downside is that you tend to compare other very gifted writeres with the novel laurete "norm". Till later, Sir.