Best of Booker:Last chance to vote for Siege of Krishnapur

It's the last week to vote for J.G. Farrell's Siege of Krishnapur as the Best Booker book ever (it's made a shortlist of six books). Though the 1973 winner may look like a long-shot, we can be heartened by a BBC story about an experiment done in a small English village, in which copies of all six finalist books were distributed and The Siege of Krishnapur beat favorite Midnight's Children. As reported on the Booker Prize site:
 

Despite being one of the earlier winners, the villagers called the book a "rip roaring yarn", enjoyed the humour and adventure, and likened it to the "Indiana Jones" films. Tim Samuels suggested the Best of the Booker award might bring the book back in to circulation after it had dropped off the radar for modern readers.

[when did the word "modern" come to mean anything that happened more than five years ago? is there some meaning drift happening, making "modern" a direct synonym for "contemporary"? maybe the shift is inevitable and we should stop being prescriptivists.]

We've finally tracked down Lavinia Greacen's Farrell biography, which turns up some other tidbits:

• Mary McCarthy and Edna O'Brien were judges that year
• John Banville was on the unofficial longlist; he would not win until 2005
• Iris Murdoch, who was the presumed winner, did not attend the award ceremony
• After criticizing the prize's sponsor in his acceptance speech, Farrell eased up on the company, which produced Tia Maria: "An acquired taste, perhaps, but delicious poured over vanilla ice-cream and served with a sprinkling of Ovaltine for the texture. I call it Sepoy's Surprise."

Vote here and spread the word!