Shashi tharoor began reading books??enid blytons noddy series??when he was three by the time he was ten, he had published his first work of fiction, operation bellows, a credulity-stretching saga of an anglo-indian fighter pilot in between were years when he read a book a day and in the years since, he has published eight books and written for many indian and foreign publications bookless in baghdad brings together pieces written over the past decade by this compulsive reader and prolific writer on the subject closest to his heart: reading in these essays on books, authors, reviews, critics, literary festivals, literary aspirants, empire, and india, tharoor takes us on a delightful journey of discovery he wanders the ???book souk in a baghdad under sanctions where the middle-class are selling their volumes so that they can afford to live; analyses the indianness of salman rushdie; discusses pg wodehouses enduring popularity in india; and drives around huesca looking to pay an idiosyncratic tribute to george orwell there are excursions into the pitfalls of reviewing, explorations of the ???anxiety of audience of indian english writers, and a wicked account of how norman mailer dealt with a negative review