Lively exciting lovely books !

Message sent to twistntales@yahoogroups.com on 4th July, 2008


Hi all,

Welcome to another round of lively exciting books, all lovingly reviewed for your reading pleasure. These and more at the Store!

We have added quite a few business books, especially in the areas of HR, business biographies and case studies. A few are listed below, but drop in for a wider selection.

New Arrivals:

Fiction:

“The Gravedigger’s Daughter” by Joyce Carol Oates @ Rs.295/- (582 pgs)
Hazel Jones and her young son Zacharias are liked and admired by all they meet – but they inspire curiosity too. Why is Zach forbidden to mention his father, and how did Hazel get the scars on her forehead which she takes such pains to hide? Why do they roam from place to place, settling nowhere and confiding in no one?
Because Hazel Jones wasn’t always Hazel Jones. Once she was Rebecca Schwart, daughter of German asylum seekers who fled to the US to escape the Nazis. Her father, hampered by language and chained to poverty, could only find work as a gravedigger. “The Gravedigger’s Daughter” explores the darkness that lurked on the other side of the American dream and the desperation that follows daily destitution. It is the story of one woman’s struggle to re-build herself against the crushing pressures of her past and to survive the aftermath of a life once lived.

“The Color Purple” by Alice Walker @ Rs.295/- (262 pgs)
Set in the deep American South between the wars, this is the tale of Celie, a young black woman born into poverty and segregation.
Raped repeatedly by the man she calls ‘father,’ she has two children taken away from her, is separated from her beloved sister Netty and trapped in an ugly marriage. Then she meets Shug Avery, singer and magic-maker – a woman in charge of her own destiny.
“The Colour Purple” is a salute to the human spirit, to the joy of discovering the beauty that comes with courage and living intensely. Celie, her pain, her discoveries, the resurrection of her spirit are magnified in their intensity. Black, poor and abused, she is the victim of a world where males and white skin are in power. Celie’s phoenix-like rise from the ashes of her past make for a gritty, achingly beautiful narrative, a celebration of the senses and the soul.

“Wolf Totem” by Jiang Rong @ Rs.505/- (524 pgs)
Beijing intellectual Chen Zhen volunteers to live in a remote, nomadic settlement on the borders of Inner and Outer Mongolia. There, he discovers an apparently idyllic, simple life based on the struggle between humans and the wild wolves who roam the plains. Chen learns about the rich, spiritual relationship that exists between these two adversaries, and what each might learn from the other. But when members of the People’s Republic swarm in from the cities to bring modernity and productivity to the grasslands, the peace of Chen’s solitary existence is shattered and the delicate balance between wolves and humans is destroyed. Set in the 1960’s, the heyday for the people of the Inner Mongolian grasslands, “Wolf Totem” celebrates a time when an age-old balance based on culture and tradition was maintained between man and animal. It is at once an evocative portrayal of a land and culture that no longer exists and a powerful insight into modern China, its history and its people.

“Rubbish Boyfriends (for anyone who’s kissed a lot of frogs)” by Jessie Jones @ Rs.225/- (436 pgs)
Everyone’s had rubbish boyfriends, but Dayna Harris has had enough to fill a skip. Now, in the throes of labour, she reflects on boyfriends past.
There’s…
Chris: Intelligent and sensitive. An aspiring rock star. As if…
Archie: Brimming with rough-diamond charm. Until Dayna discovers his true colours.
Mark: Kind to kittens and children. But what’s he hiding?
Cristian: A prince among men. Surely he’s The One? He even gives Dayna the ring to prove it!
This is a fun, frothy romp about navigating your way through relationships while trying to live life on your own terms.

“A Case of Exploding Mangoes” by Mohammed Hanif @ Rs.395/- (295 pgs)
I know I am saluting a bunch of dead men. But if you are in uniform, you salute. That’s all there is to it.

June 1988, Pakistan
General Zia is convinced there is a plot to kill him and barricades himself within the Army House, his official residence. There are plenty of people who might want him dead.
There are three army generals growing old waiting for their promotions.There is the CIA, the ISI and the RAW.And there is Ali Shigri, a junior officer at the military academy whose father has been murdered by the army.
Two months later, Zia gets into the presidential plane, Pak One, which explodes midway. Which of the plotters have succeeded?
Mohammed Hanif delivers a sharp, gripping debut, inventive and filled with suspense.

“Bone China” by Roma Tearne @ Rs.295/- (400 pgs)
Grace de Silva, wife of the shiftless but charming Aloysius, has five children and a crumbling marriage. Outside her family, civil unrest is stirring in Sri Lanka, and soon, the tensions begin to seep into each other as four of Grace’s children make the decision to leave home. But once in London, the de Silvas are all homesick in their own ways for life is not what they expected. It is only Anna-Meeka, Grace’s granddaughter, who embraces life’s possibilities, but even she must weather heartbreak and mistakes before she can acknowledge the place she has come from, and the person she has become.
A story of displacement and human development, of personal history and migration “Bone China” moves gently amongst three generations of de Silvas, carrying their struggles to preserve the old and imbibe the new, and the frailty of the idea of ‘home.’

“Happiness and Other Disorders” by Ahmad Saidullah @ Rs.299/- (255pgs)
Born in Ottawa, with a childhood spent in India and now living in Canada, The author was named a’ New Voice in Fiction’ by New York’s L Magazine. With many an award winning short stories in his repertoire, this book holds one of his finest collections of ten short stories. With a sensitivity that goes straight to heart, his narrations empathize with characters torn apart by violence and oppression. They are about a caste cursed old man devoted to his ‘holy’ cow, a simple man waylaid by mercenaries to commit a murder –with fatal consequences, a young girl with a split personality and more varying subjects. The last story also the title of the book is a witty, six paged single paragraph essaying an editors back problem.

“Keep off the Grass” by Karan Bajaj @ Rs.195/- (259 pgs) (Indian Writing)What do you do when you are a twenty-five year old Yale graduate making half a million dollars a year as a hotshot investment banker on Wall Street?

If you are Samrat Ratan, born in the USA to immigrant Indian parents, you quit and enroll in business school in India instead.
Samrat’s journey begins at IIM Bangalore where he spends his time getting high on marijuana while his grades – and his self confidence – plummet. Soon Samrat’s quest for identity turns increasingly bizarre as he ends up ‘meditating’ stoned with a Danish hippie, hanging out with a cannibal on the banks of the Ganga, and peddling soap to the formidable Raja Bhaiyya in Benares.
Does Samrat – Yale valedictorian, investment banker, convict, pothead - survive his fall from grace?
Read Karan Bajaj’s hilarious debut novel to find out.

Management:

“Sales Bible: The Ultimate Sales Resource” by Jeffrey Gitomer @ Rs.1005/- (287 pgs)
What does it take to be the best, most creative salesperson? Is it the attitude? Is it asking flawless, compelling questions? Maybe it’s about being creatively different. Based on the principles of sales education with real-world, proven results, “The Sales Bible” gives you cutting-edge information and answers you can take into the street and turn into money the same day.

“Zoom: The Global Race to Fuel the Car of the Future” by Iain Carson and Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran @ Rs.395/- (320 pgs)
“Zoom” visits the boardrooms of car executives and shows how some are fearlessly exploring new energy sources and designs to leave their competitors millions of dollars behind. Elsewhere, the authors examine the alliances that are forming tend our addiction to oil in both the West and the growing markets of India, China and Russia. We are also introduced to the Thomas Edison of the 21st century, a legendary inventor whose work with hydrogen-powered vehicles on a pure water loop is already having a huge impact on the international market.
The global race to discover cleaner energy sources is on – and “Zoom” demonstrates just how cars could be the driving force to a better and cleaner future.

“Divide or Conquer: How Great Teams Turn Conflict Into Strength” by Diana McLain Smith @ Rs.935/- (289pgs)
Ever been on a team where people can’t get along to save their lives? Maybe the VP’s of Sales and Manufacturing bicker at every meeting. Or a seasoned veteran and rising young star jockey for position every time. According to Diana McLain Smith, great teams don’t assume that everyone will get along. They anticipate conflict and use it to strengthen their relationships. Every team is only as strong as its weakest relationship and “Divide and Conquer” provides a powerful, step-by-step approach to building a team that is flexible and strong enough to master its toughest challenges.

“A New Beginning: The Turnaround Story of Indian Bank” by Ranjana Kumar @ Rs.675/- (301pgs)
The first lady officer to become Chairman and Managing Director of a bank, she was instrumental in the successful turnaround of the Indian Bank –from barely surviving to flourishing and which earned her the sobriquet-‘India’s Turnaround Queen’ by the Economist. The book records her journey from scratch... the status of Indian Bank when she took over its reigns to its rise like the proverbial Phoenix. Her dedication, concern for every employee’s motivational needs shine through each page and her smart strategies amaze the reader. With a foreword by Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam , in which he suggests that this book be used as teaching tool for students, the twelve succinct chapters not only recount the arduous journey to success but also encapsulate the lessons learnt from the turnaround.

Others:
“Discovering the Vedas: Origins, Mantras, Rituals, Insights” by Frits Staal @ Rs.495/- (347 pgs) (Philosophy)For Fritz Staal, originally a logician, the discovery of the Vedas is a voyage without the certainty of reaching an end. Even so, his book shows that the Vedas have a logic all their own. He puts Vedic civilization into a global perspective through a wide ranging comparison with other Indian philosophical texts and religions, primarily Buddhism. Accessible, finely argued, and with a wealth of information and insight, “Discovering the Vedas” combines scholarly research with the intimacy of story-telling, making it an interesting read for the curious mind.

“Smoke and Mirrors: An Experience of China” by Pallavi Aiyar @ Rs.395/- (266 pgs) (Travel)‘But what did I know of China? An alien and seemingly impenetrable language; an inscrutable people; an exotic cuisine…’

Following her heart and the man she would eventually marry, Pallavi Aiyer arrives in Beijing unsure and full of questions. ‘All I knew,’ she writes ‘was that we were in love and that my moving to China would give us a future.’
What begins as a purely personal exploration expands into a journey through the many prisms and dichotomies that is China.
As a professor of news writing at the Beijing Broadcasting Institute, the author is confronted with some of the brightest minds in China, and some of the most surprising. While most of them were uncomfortable with political thought and commentary, they were made to attend compulsory classes on Marxist thought. Aiyer writes of the ‘schizophrenia’ of some her students who spewed venom on American foreign policy while simultaneously asking her if she preferred McDonalds or KFC.
Aiyer’s slowly ripening relationship with a country where she is both spectator and player, where tradition and modernity are of equal importance, is heartfelt, humorous and filled with intimate insight.

“Super Crunchers: How Anything Can Be Predicted” by Ian Ayres @ Rs.350/- (260pgs)
Columnist for the Forbes magazine , contributor to the New York Times , author of eight books, Ian Ayres explore the psyche of the ‘Super Crunchers’-pioneers who ‘think by numbers ‘ to find patterns in human behavior and predict the future with staggeringly accurate results. This book exposes the hidden patterns all around us and utilizing examples from real time cases; he explains this new way - to be smart, savvy and statistically superior.

Other new books at twistntales:
“The Competencies Handbook” by Steve Whiddett and Sarah Hollyforde @ Rs.375/- (196pgs)
“Beyond Training and Development” by JW Rothwell @ 495/-
“Handbook of Reward Strategies: From Intent to Impact” by Duncan Brown @ Rs.975/- (278pgs)
“Handbook of Training Evaluation and Measurement Methods” by Jack Phillips @ Rs.450/- (420pgs)
“Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking when Stakes are High” by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan and Al Switzler @ Rs.275/-(228 pgs)
“The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream” by Barack Obama @Rs. 250/- (375 pgs)
“Unbowed: One Woman’s Story” by Wangari Maathai @Rs. 360/- (314 pgs)
“Teen Ink: Our Voices, Our Visions” Ed. By Stephanie H. Meyer and John Meyer @Rs. 250/- (361 pgs)
“Chasing Harry Winston” by Lauren Weisberger @ Rs.195/-(278 pgs)
“The Innovator’s Guide to Growth: Putting Disruptive Innovation to Work” by Scott D. Anthony, Mark W .Johnson, Joseph V. Sinfield and Elizabeth J. Altman @ Rs.1585/-(272 pgs)
“Descent into Chaos: How the War against Islamic extremism is being lost in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia” by Ahmed Rashid @ Rs.495/-(404 pgs)
“Barack Obama: In His Own Words” edited by Lisa Rogak @ Rs.425/-(166 pgs)
“Butterflies Be Gone: A Hands-On approach to Sweat-Proof Public Speaking” by Arthur H. Bell @ Rs.250/-(122 pgs)

Also, we now have an entire selection of self-help books available in Hindi. ‘The Alchemist,’ ‘Chicken Soup for the Woman’s Soul’ etc are now available in translation.

Books, books books and more books. Drop into the store and make your own selection,

From the team at

twistntales,