Best Novel of 25 Years

The Guardian, after polling 150 literary luminaries, has declared J M Coetzee's Disgrace the best novel of 25 years!

Both Rushdie and Naipaul might be disappointed with this choice, but I am not. I just love Disgrace!

Though I was personally disappointed not to see A House for Mr Biswas at all in the list. Naipaul's Enigma of Arrival might be elegant and perfectly written, but the humanism and comedy in A House for Mr Biswas makes it a much more valuable work. And it was honest.

And with it will tie, in my opinion, Rushdie's Midnight's Children and Ian McEwan's Atonement (which is at no 3). And close comes Roy's The God of Small Things.

But where is Amitav Ghosh? None of his works features in the list. Amitav is currently held as the best novelist from the Indian subcontinent. See this appreciation from Tabish Khair in Outlook Magazine. But well, Ghosh has never won a Booker, so can't be expected to be in the list.