When folks are students, their minds are free and uncluttered. They are willing to do anything, work at anything to dirty their hands to get the "experience" of it all !
What happens when they get qualified and educated ? They lose their ability to think, the fear of failure grips them hard, they get into conditioned responses and attitudes and invariably, become unemployable ! No qualification today, bar a CA or an IIM, MBA demands a rigorous grind frm the students. Any other degree is a easy route to the degree itself. If folks have made it with lesser degrees, it is because of the grind that they have put in - in their early years. Folks are increasingly unwilling to work on the grind anymore. They know it all. If at all, then they need to work in "corporate" jobs. In the meantime, they would rather be "umemployed" - small businesses, where you may end up doing a more meaningful role, are not in consideration at all ! And this is happening in "retail" - a complete sunrise industry.
Both my husband and me have been working for almost 22-25 years now, and can hardly remember "non-grind" years. If today we have a surplus both of time and money, its directly attributable to that grind. I do not see others younger do it anymore. Either they have too much money, or they rationalize things for themselves. Its sad.
This is a generation born when India has been booming for a consistent period. They do not know "want"
So, i find as i look around to employ people, that there a whole lot of folks un or underemployed, but not employable anymore.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Monday, September 15, 2008
Message sent to twistntales@yahoogroups.com on 15th Sept'08
Hi all,
We let a whole month go by without sending you a mail on our new books ….. we have been a little understaffed :( …. But lots of books have been happening nevertheless! :). And good books at that !!! :) :) :)
Again we have loving reviews of the new books – yes, Tia is back! Some of these guys never leave us! But thank god for them, else we will be struggling to bring these lovely reviews to you!
New Arrivals:
Fiction:
“The Looters” by Harold Robbins & Junius Podrug @ Rs.250/-(422 pgs)Museum curator Madison Dupre takes a wild ride in the rarefied atmosphere of the lives of the superrich when she buys an ancient mask that has a history of spawning evil and murder. Stalked by killers, betrayed by people she thought were friends, she struggles to stay alive in a growing whirlpool of intrigue as rumours rage that the mask has been looted from the Baghdad museum. Can Madeline protect her own life, prove her innocence and return the fabled death mask to the museum?
“Loose and Easy” by Tara Janzen @ Rs. 250/- (406 pgs)In Denver bookie Franklin Bleak informs art recovery private investigator Esmee Alden that her father Burt owns him over eighty thousand dollars in gambling debts that is due now “or else”. She knows what ‘or else’ means to someone as bleak as this vicious bookie is. So the story of her life repeats itself with “Easy Alex” risking everything to bail her dad out of trouble.
Indian Writing:
“The Homecoming” by Shashi Warrier @ Rs. 299/- (304 pgs)
Javed Sharif returns home to Srinagar for his father’s eighty-fourth birthday. He returns with a sense of well-being, despite troubles, the violence and the bitterly cold weather. Unexpectedly, his dreams of retiring and settling in Kashmir again are shattered by a knock on the door on the day of the birthday party and, as he watches his life unravel, his world will never be the same again. The Homecoming is the story of one family, but also of the many families in Kashmir whose lives have been destroyed by decades of violence and uncertainty. Deeply moving and disturbingly honest, this is a haunting tale that is political yet profoundly personal, and tells of the pain and suffering that is a result of the cruelty – and the ultimately the indifference – of the State.
“When Dreams Travel” by Githa Hariharan @Rs. 299/- (276 pgs)
Night Falls Again. It is a soft night, willing to nurse a wounded soul with memories, fingers, words…
The curtain rises on four figures, two men and two women. There is the sultan who wants a virgin every night; his brother who makes an enemy of darkness and tries to banish it; and there are the ambitious brides, the sisters Shahrzad and Dunyazad, aspiring to be heroines – or martyrs.
With its sharp and lively blend of past and present, its skillful reworking of the historical tradition, Gita Hariharan’s multi-voiced narrative travels in and out of its characters lives in a range of dark, poetic stories, spanning medieval to contemporary times.
“Once Upon a Time in Aparanta” by Sudeep Chakravarti @ Rs. 250/- (220 pgs)
Goa is Aparanta of old – the Land at the Horizon. The tale of Dino Dantas, protestor and self-appointed guardian of Aparanta, and his innkeeper cousin Antonio begins here, in the sleepy village of Socorro Do Mundo by the Sea, where time holds little meaning and the haze of nostalgia is as binding a force as faith in the benevolence of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, ‘Perpet’ to familiars. In prose that is part lyrical, part brutal satire, yet always passionate, Sudeep Chakravarti evokes the essence of a paradise on the verge of losing its soul.
“A Situation in New Delhi” by Nayantara Sahgal @ Rs. 250/-(189 pgs)Shivraj is dead and with him the values with which he had governed the country for over a decade. While his successors destroy the idealistic world he had built, Shivraj’s circle of intimate friends – his sister Devi, the education minister, the vice-chancellor of Delhi University and Michael Calvert, an English writer – struggle to find order in the chaos, even as Rishad, Devi’s son, loses himself in it.
First published in 1977, Nayantara Sahgal’s writing juxtaposes personal relations with the larger canvas of corrupt politics and remains fresh and relevant even today.
Additional titles released recently after a long time.
“The Day in Shadow” by Nayatara Sahgal @Rs. 250/- (236 pgs)
“Storm in Chandigarh” by Nayantara Sahgal @Rs. 250/- (222 pgs)
“Bandicoots in the Moonlight” by Avijit Ghosh @Rs. 250/- (237 pgs)
Teenage boy Anirban Roy grows up in a small town in 70’s Bihar where his policeman father is posted to pick up information on the looming Naxalite menace. Ganesh Nagar possesses neither village simplicity nor urban slick, but observes a line of ethics that defies codification. It takes time for Anirban to learn to juggle adolescent angst and ping-pong hormones, loyal friends and part-time criminals, a bewildering succession of topsy-turvy lessons in life and lust, yet manage to keep them all afloat. Avijit Ghosh’s earthy account of boy-to-manhood in fictional Ganesh Nagar is simple, prosaic and unadorned.
“Nightmare Academy: Charlie’s Monsters” by Dean Lorey @ Rs. 295/- (330 pgs)Charlie’s imagination is so strong that when he has a nightmare, the nightmare creature gets portaled right into the room where he’s sleeping. This caused a lot of problems for Charlie, until he joins the Nightmare Academy, a school that trains children with imagination to fight the monsters from the Netherworld. Charlie is one of the most powerful people at the academy, and he still doesn’t fit in – but he gains a few good friends and starts his training. He ends up having to fight powerful monsters, work to save his family, and deal with bullies. Through this, Charlie finds that he can use his imagination and self-doubt for good – and he can find his own place to fit in, after all. Don’t let the cover fool you – this is a funny, light-hearted fantasy.
Inspiration/ Healing :
“What I Talk about When I Talk about Running” by Haruki Murakami @ Rs.495/-(180 pgs)Haruki Murakami is best-known as the author of books such as Sputnik Sweetheart, Kafka on the Shore and Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman.
What is less known is that Murakami has been a dedicated runner longer than he has been writing.
In 1982, having sold his jazz bar to devote himself to writing, Murakami began running to keep fit. Now, after dozens of races and triathlons, he reflects upon the influence the sport has had on his life and his writing.
Equal parts travelogue, training log and reminiscence, this revealing memoir covers his four-month preparation for the 2005 NYC Marathon and settings ranging from Tokyo’s Jingu Gaien gardens to the Charles River in Boston, among young women who outpace him!
Through this revelatory lens of sport emerge a slew of memories and insights: the eureka moment when he decided to become a writer, his passion for vintage records amongst others.
“Voices in the Family: A Therapist Talks about Listening, Openness and Healing” by Daniel Gottlieb @Rs. 250/- (294 pgs)Author of ‘Letters to Sam’, psychotherapist Gottlieb who is a quadriplegic dedicates this book to the human spirit in all of us. He speaks to us about how to understand the ties that form our family, the different aspects of relationships-as father, mother, sons, daughters and siblings. To each reader he explains the importance of bonding and empathy- through real life anecdotes and thought provoking examples. A book in four parts, this is advice about making peace with ourselves, our parents, children and partners in a no nonsense, amiable, adult manner.
Management:
“HRD Score Card 2500; Based on HRD Audit” by T.V. Rao @ Rs.450/-(293 pgs)Prof. T. V. Rao is one of the early gurus of the scientific HR systems in India. Most of his earlier books have been the first literature on the relevant HR topic in the Indian context. So too, with HRD Score Card 2500.
HRD Scorecard presents for the first time a systematic and scientific way of measuring the maturity level of HR, its systems and strategies, competencies, culture and values, and business impact through a score card.
This book provides a set of easily usable guidelines for converting HR Audit findings into measurable scores and helps provide timely information for interventions as necessary. This is a useful guide for CEO’s and HR managers to evaluate and improve their human resources.
“The Peter Principle: Why Things Always Go Wrong” by Dr. Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull @Rs.275/- (179 pgs)‘In a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his own level of incompetence.’
This dangerously simple maxim of organizational dysfunction, first spelled out more than 33 years ago, has wormed itself into everyday managerial vocabulary. The Peter Principle is rife wherever hierarchies exist –and is required reading for all those now setting their feet on the first rung of the promotional ladder. Do they really want to scale a peak from which their fate can only be a dismal shunting into oblivion?
A classic masterpiece of management humor, aptly illustrated with wickedly barbed cartoons.
Socio Eco Pol / Current Affairs/ History:
“The Way of the World: A Story of Truth and Hope in an Age of Extremism” by Ron Suskind @Rs. 625/- (415 pgs)In a sweeping, propulsive and multilayered narrative, The Way of the World investigates how the West relinquished the moral leadership it now desperately needs to fight the real threat of our era: a nuclear weapon in the hands of terrorists. Suskind shows where the most neglected dangers lie in the story of ‘The Armageddon Test’ – a desperate gamble to send undercover teams into the world’s nuclear black market to frustrate the efforts of terrorists trying to procure weapons-grade uranium. Finally, he reveals the explosive falsehood underlying the Iraq War and the Blair-Bush coalition.
Simultaneously following an ensemble of characters around the world, including a striving 24-year-old Pakistani émigré́, a fearless UN refugee commissioner, and Benazir Bhutto, who discovers days before her death, how she’s been abandoned by the US, The Way of the World is a test of Western values at a time of peril.
“187 Lives: A Remembrance” by The Indian Express Team @ Rs.395/-(225 pgs)A week after the Mumbai train blasts on July 11, 2006, in which 187 people dies, The Indian Express began a series documenting each of the lives lost, their dreams, their doubts, their hopes and struggles. This volume seeks to consolidate their memory in the form of a book.
Equally, this book is a tribute to the indefatigable spirit of Mumbai and its citizens who worked tirelessly through the night to help the wounded, the stranded and the missing, but for whom it was business as usual the next morning, as sixteen hours later, the Mumbai Locals rolled out again and a grieving city went about its business. In addition, 187 Lives looks at the major leads that helped resolve this case and zero in on the accused. Proceeds from this book will go to The Indian Express Citizen Relief Fund and will be used to aid terror victims.
“The Siege of Mecca: The Forgotten Uprising in Islam’s Holiest Shrine” by Yaroslav Trofimov @Rs.360/- (300 pgs)20 November 1979: As morning prayers began, hundreds of hardline Islamist gunmen, armed with rifles smuggled in coffins, stormed the Grand Mosque in Mecca. With thousands of terrified worshippers trapped inside, the result was a bloody siege that lasted two weeks, caused hundreds of deaths, prompted an international diplomatic crisis and unleashed forces that would eventually lead to the rise of al Qauda.
Journalist Yaraslov Trofimov takes us day-by-day through one of the most momentous – and heavily censored – events in recent history, interviewing many direct participants in the siege and drawing on secret documents to reveal the truth about the first operation of modern global jihad.
Personalities/ Memoirs :
“The Mighty and the Almighty: Reflections on Power. God and World Affairs” by Madeline Albright @ Rs.360/-(300 pgs)From the bestselling author of Madame Secretary comes a provocative look at the role of religion in world affairs, through the lens of history and of her own personal experiences in office. Does America, as Geroge W. bush has proclaimed, have a special mission derived from God, to bring liberty and democracy to the world? How much influence does the Christian right have over US foreign policy?
Madeline Albright offers a sharp critique of US policy, condemnation for those who exploit religious fervour for violent ends and praise for political, cultural and spiritual leaders who seek to harness the values of faith to bring people together.
“Hugo! The Hugo Chávez Story” by Bart Jones @ Rs.520/-(483 pgs)In December 2006, when Hugo Chávez declared at the UN that ‘the devil came here yesterday…the President of the United States,’ it was clear that one man was taking the most powerful nation on Earth head-on.
The ruling elites in Venezuela and the United States are keen to paint Chávez as the heir to Castro. From Jones’s account however, he emerges as far more complex; a master politician and an inspired improviser, a Bolivarian nationalist and an unashamed socialist.
Jones tells the story of Chávez’s impoverished childhood his military career and the election campaign against a former Miss Universe that finally won him the Presidency.
Dramatic and superbly described, Hugo! brings to life a charismatic leader whose stories extend ‘from mud hut to perpetual revolution.’
“An Outsider in Politics” by Krishna Bose @ Rs.599/-(256 pgs)Writer, educationist and three-time Lok Sabha MP from Kolkata, Kirshna Bose gives a compelling account from the time she was a schoolgirl witnessing some of the tragic scenes that accompanied Partition to her stint as chairperson of the parliamentary standing committee on external affairs.
Married into the family of Subhas Chandra Bose, Bose’s acute yet sympathetic observations combine to form an elegantly written intimate history as well as a gripping political memoir.
Travel:
“Higher than the Eagle Soars: A Path to Everest” by Stephen Venables @ Rs.495/-(353 pgs)
High, wild places have dominated Stephen Venables’ life and now he has written a full autobiography which explores how and – more importantly – why he became a mountaineer. Venables reveals a series of never-recorded adventures on four continents. At its climax he revisits his dramatic success without oxygen on the Kangshung Face of Everest, described by Reinhold Messner as the most adventurous in Everest’s history. As Venables writes: ‘Although we didn’t go seeking deliberately an epic near-death experience, it did turn out that way – the ultimate endurance test for which all the previous adventures seemed, retrospectively, to be a preparation.’
“Outlook Traveller: 45 Weekend Breaks from Hyderabad” @Rs.295/- (415 pgs)Sail on the Vasishta Godavari in Konaseema, search for the nine Narasimhas in Ahobilam and sample the chepala pulusu of Warangai. Soak your feet in the soothing waters of the Kailashnathakona falls and explore the former capitals of ancient kings that lie in the shadow of Hyderabad.
This book tells you how…and much more.
Others:
“Sarama and her Children: The Dog in Indian Myth” by Bibek Debroy @ Rs. 350/- (243 pgs)
The written proof of an economist and research professor’s love for both-Indology and dogs, this book is a one-of –a- kind narrative of the attitude towards the dog in Indian myth and history. Tracing the Indian attitude towards the dog in a chronological manner with pre-Vedic Indus valley civilization, he incorporates 29 ancient as well as modern short stories to prove his point! He traces how although initially dogs were treated with ‘respect’, their tribe soon had to bear negative connotations by the time of the Mahabharata, only to regain their lost dignity in later times through the Jataka and Hitopadesha tales, as well as the doctrines associated with Shiva. In a light hearted manner, the author ensures that the Indian dog finally has its day!
Other new books at the Store:
DK Eyewitness Travel: India @Rs. 895/- (823 pgs)
The Game- Changer: How Every Leader Can Drive Everyday Innovation by A. G. Lafley and Ram Charan
Mike’s Election Guide 2008 by Michael Moore @ Rs.250/-(155 pgs)
You Are Here by Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan @ Rs.199/-(255 pgs)
A Sense of Urgency by John P. Kotter @ Rs.495/-(194 pgs)
Empires of the Indus: The Story of a River by Alice Albinia @ Rs.550/-(309 pgs)
Silks by Dick Francis and Felix Francis @ Rs.395/-(368 pgs)
Outlook Traveller: New York @ Rs.445/-(343 pgs)
The Evil Seed by Joanne Harris @ Rs.355/-(443 pgs)
The Folklore of Discworld by Terry Pratchett & Jaqueline Simpson @ Rs.905/-(372 pgs)
Attila the Hun: Barbarian Terror and the Fall of the Roman Empire by Christopher Kelly @ Rs.540/-(230 pgs)
Freedom’s Child: Growing Up During Satyagraha by Chandralekha Mehta @Rs. 199/- (182 pgs)
Girls of Riyadh by Rajaa Alsanea @Rs. 295/- (300 pgs)
The Snake Stone by Jason Goodwin @Rs. 295/- (308 pgs)
Star Wars: Street of Shadows by Michael Reaves @Rs. 250/- (308 pgs)
Alternative Cures by Bill Gottlieb @Rs. 250/- (796 pgs)
White Man Falling by Mike Stocks @ Rs.250/-(302 pgs)
The Healing by Gita Aravamudan @ Rs.295/-(288 pgs)
My Family and Other Saints by Kirin Narayan @ Rs.295/-(339 pgs)
Private Life of an Indian Prince by Mulk Raj Anand @ Rs.395/-(389 pgs)
Tales of Wit and Wisdom: Riddles, hilarious escapades and facts for young and old alike
Enjoy your books and HappyReading,
From the team at,
twistntales
We let a whole month go by without sending you a mail on our new books ….. we have been a little understaffed :( …. But lots of books have been happening nevertheless! :). And good books at that !!! :) :) :)
Again we have loving reviews of the new books – yes, Tia is back! Some of these guys never leave us! But thank god for them, else we will be struggling to bring these lovely reviews to you!
New Arrivals:
Fiction:
“The Looters” by Harold Robbins & Junius Podrug @ Rs.250/-(422 pgs)Museum curator Madison Dupre takes a wild ride in the rarefied atmosphere of the lives of the superrich when she buys an ancient mask that has a history of spawning evil and murder. Stalked by killers, betrayed by people she thought were friends, she struggles to stay alive in a growing whirlpool of intrigue as rumours rage that the mask has been looted from the Baghdad museum. Can Madeline protect her own life, prove her innocence and return the fabled death mask to the museum?
“Loose and Easy” by Tara Janzen @ Rs. 250/- (406 pgs)In Denver bookie Franklin Bleak informs art recovery private investigator Esmee Alden that her father Burt owns him over eighty thousand dollars in gambling debts that is due now “or else”. She knows what ‘or else’ means to someone as bleak as this vicious bookie is. So the story of her life repeats itself with “Easy Alex” risking everything to bail her dad out of trouble.
Indian Writing:
“The Homecoming” by Shashi Warrier @ Rs. 299/- (304 pgs)
Javed Sharif returns home to Srinagar for his father’s eighty-fourth birthday. He returns with a sense of well-being, despite troubles, the violence and the bitterly cold weather. Unexpectedly, his dreams of retiring and settling in Kashmir again are shattered by a knock on the door on the day of the birthday party and, as he watches his life unravel, his world will never be the same again. The Homecoming is the story of one family, but also of the many families in Kashmir whose lives have been destroyed by decades of violence and uncertainty. Deeply moving and disturbingly honest, this is a haunting tale that is political yet profoundly personal, and tells of the pain and suffering that is a result of the cruelty – and the ultimately the indifference – of the State.
“When Dreams Travel” by Githa Hariharan @Rs. 299/- (276 pgs)
Night Falls Again. It is a soft night, willing to nurse a wounded soul with memories, fingers, words…
The curtain rises on four figures, two men and two women. There is the sultan who wants a virgin every night; his brother who makes an enemy of darkness and tries to banish it; and there are the ambitious brides, the sisters Shahrzad and Dunyazad, aspiring to be heroines – or martyrs.
With its sharp and lively blend of past and present, its skillful reworking of the historical tradition, Gita Hariharan’s multi-voiced narrative travels in and out of its characters lives in a range of dark, poetic stories, spanning medieval to contemporary times.
“Once Upon a Time in Aparanta” by Sudeep Chakravarti @ Rs. 250/- (220 pgs)
Goa is Aparanta of old – the Land at the Horizon. The tale of Dino Dantas, protestor and self-appointed guardian of Aparanta, and his innkeeper cousin Antonio begins here, in the sleepy village of Socorro Do Mundo by the Sea, where time holds little meaning and the haze of nostalgia is as binding a force as faith in the benevolence of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, ‘Perpet’ to familiars. In prose that is part lyrical, part brutal satire, yet always passionate, Sudeep Chakravarti evokes the essence of a paradise on the verge of losing its soul.
“A Situation in New Delhi” by Nayantara Sahgal @ Rs. 250/-(189 pgs)Shivraj is dead and with him the values with which he had governed the country for over a decade. While his successors destroy the idealistic world he had built, Shivraj’s circle of intimate friends – his sister Devi, the education minister, the vice-chancellor of Delhi University and Michael Calvert, an English writer – struggle to find order in the chaos, even as Rishad, Devi’s son, loses himself in it.
First published in 1977, Nayantara Sahgal’s writing juxtaposes personal relations with the larger canvas of corrupt politics and remains fresh and relevant even today.
Additional titles released recently after a long time.
“The Day in Shadow” by Nayatara Sahgal @Rs. 250/- (236 pgs)
“Storm in Chandigarh” by Nayantara Sahgal @Rs. 250/- (222 pgs)
“Bandicoots in the Moonlight” by Avijit Ghosh @Rs. 250/- (237 pgs)
Teenage boy Anirban Roy grows up in a small town in 70’s Bihar where his policeman father is posted to pick up information on the looming Naxalite menace. Ganesh Nagar possesses neither village simplicity nor urban slick, but observes a line of ethics that defies codification. It takes time for Anirban to learn to juggle adolescent angst and ping-pong hormones, loyal friends and part-time criminals, a bewildering succession of topsy-turvy lessons in life and lust, yet manage to keep them all afloat. Avijit Ghosh’s earthy account of boy-to-manhood in fictional Ganesh Nagar is simple, prosaic and unadorned.
“Nightmare Academy: Charlie’s Monsters” by Dean Lorey @ Rs. 295/- (330 pgs)Charlie’s imagination is so strong that when he has a nightmare, the nightmare creature gets portaled right into the room where he’s sleeping. This caused a lot of problems for Charlie, until he joins the Nightmare Academy, a school that trains children with imagination to fight the monsters from the Netherworld. Charlie is one of the most powerful people at the academy, and he still doesn’t fit in – but he gains a few good friends and starts his training. He ends up having to fight powerful monsters, work to save his family, and deal with bullies. Through this, Charlie finds that he can use his imagination and self-doubt for good – and he can find his own place to fit in, after all. Don’t let the cover fool you – this is a funny, light-hearted fantasy.
Inspiration/ Healing :
“What I Talk about When I Talk about Running” by Haruki Murakami @ Rs.495/-(180 pgs)Haruki Murakami is best-known as the author of books such as Sputnik Sweetheart, Kafka on the Shore and Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman.
What is less known is that Murakami has been a dedicated runner longer than he has been writing.
In 1982, having sold his jazz bar to devote himself to writing, Murakami began running to keep fit. Now, after dozens of races and triathlons, he reflects upon the influence the sport has had on his life and his writing.
Equal parts travelogue, training log and reminiscence, this revealing memoir covers his four-month preparation for the 2005 NYC Marathon and settings ranging from Tokyo’s Jingu Gaien gardens to the Charles River in Boston, among young women who outpace him!
Through this revelatory lens of sport emerge a slew of memories and insights: the eureka moment when he decided to become a writer, his passion for vintage records amongst others.
“Voices in the Family: A Therapist Talks about Listening, Openness and Healing” by Daniel Gottlieb @Rs. 250/- (294 pgs)Author of ‘Letters to Sam’, psychotherapist Gottlieb who is a quadriplegic dedicates this book to the human spirit in all of us. He speaks to us about how to understand the ties that form our family, the different aspects of relationships-as father, mother, sons, daughters and siblings. To each reader he explains the importance of bonding and empathy- through real life anecdotes and thought provoking examples. A book in four parts, this is advice about making peace with ourselves, our parents, children and partners in a no nonsense, amiable, adult manner.
Management:
“HRD Score Card 2500; Based on HRD Audit” by T.V. Rao @ Rs.450/-(293 pgs)Prof. T. V. Rao is one of the early gurus of the scientific HR systems in India. Most of his earlier books have been the first literature on the relevant HR topic in the Indian context. So too, with HRD Score Card 2500.
HRD Scorecard presents for the first time a systematic and scientific way of measuring the maturity level of HR, its systems and strategies, competencies, culture and values, and business impact through a score card.
This book provides a set of easily usable guidelines for converting HR Audit findings into measurable scores and helps provide timely information for interventions as necessary. This is a useful guide for CEO’s and HR managers to evaluate and improve their human resources.
“The Peter Principle: Why Things Always Go Wrong” by Dr. Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull @Rs.275/- (179 pgs)‘In a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his own level of incompetence.’
This dangerously simple maxim of organizational dysfunction, first spelled out more than 33 years ago, has wormed itself into everyday managerial vocabulary. The Peter Principle is rife wherever hierarchies exist –and is required reading for all those now setting their feet on the first rung of the promotional ladder. Do they really want to scale a peak from which their fate can only be a dismal shunting into oblivion?
A classic masterpiece of management humor, aptly illustrated with wickedly barbed cartoons.
Socio Eco Pol / Current Affairs/ History:
“The Way of the World: A Story of Truth and Hope in an Age of Extremism” by Ron Suskind @Rs. 625/- (415 pgs)In a sweeping, propulsive and multilayered narrative, The Way of the World investigates how the West relinquished the moral leadership it now desperately needs to fight the real threat of our era: a nuclear weapon in the hands of terrorists. Suskind shows where the most neglected dangers lie in the story of ‘The Armageddon Test’ – a desperate gamble to send undercover teams into the world’s nuclear black market to frustrate the efforts of terrorists trying to procure weapons-grade uranium. Finally, he reveals the explosive falsehood underlying the Iraq War and the Blair-Bush coalition.
Simultaneously following an ensemble of characters around the world, including a striving 24-year-old Pakistani émigré́, a fearless UN refugee commissioner, and Benazir Bhutto, who discovers days before her death, how she’s been abandoned by the US, The Way of the World is a test of Western values at a time of peril.
“187 Lives: A Remembrance” by The Indian Express Team @ Rs.395/-(225 pgs)A week after the Mumbai train blasts on July 11, 2006, in which 187 people dies, The Indian Express began a series documenting each of the lives lost, their dreams, their doubts, their hopes and struggles. This volume seeks to consolidate their memory in the form of a book.
Equally, this book is a tribute to the indefatigable spirit of Mumbai and its citizens who worked tirelessly through the night to help the wounded, the stranded and the missing, but for whom it was business as usual the next morning, as sixteen hours later, the Mumbai Locals rolled out again and a grieving city went about its business. In addition, 187 Lives looks at the major leads that helped resolve this case and zero in on the accused. Proceeds from this book will go to The Indian Express Citizen Relief Fund and will be used to aid terror victims.
“The Siege of Mecca: The Forgotten Uprising in Islam’s Holiest Shrine” by Yaroslav Trofimov @Rs.360/- (300 pgs)20 November 1979: As morning prayers began, hundreds of hardline Islamist gunmen, armed with rifles smuggled in coffins, stormed the Grand Mosque in Mecca. With thousands of terrified worshippers trapped inside, the result was a bloody siege that lasted two weeks, caused hundreds of deaths, prompted an international diplomatic crisis and unleashed forces that would eventually lead to the rise of al Qauda.
Journalist Yaraslov Trofimov takes us day-by-day through one of the most momentous – and heavily censored – events in recent history, interviewing many direct participants in the siege and drawing on secret documents to reveal the truth about the first operation of modern global jihad.
Personalities/ Memoirs :
“The Mighty and the Almighty: Reflections on Power. God and World Affairs” by Madeline Albright @ Rs.360/-(300 pgs)From the bestselling author of Madame Secretary comes a provocative look at the role of religion in world affairs, through the lens of history and of her own personal experiences in office. Does America, as Geroge W. bush has proclaimed, have a special mission derived from God, to bring liberty and democracy to the world? How much influence does the Christian right have over US foreign policy?
Madeline Albright offers a sharp critique of US policy, condemnation for those who exploit religious fervour for violent ends and praise for political, cultural and spiritual leaders who seek to harness the values of faith to bring people together.
“Hugo! The Hugo Chávez Story” by Bart Jones @ Rs.520/-(483 pgs)In December 2006, when Hugo Chávez declared at the UN that ‘the devil came here yesterday…the President of the United States,’ it was clear that one man was taking the most powerful nation on Earth head-on.
The ruling elites in Venezuela and the United States are keen to paint Chávez as the heir to Castro. From Jones’s account however, he emerges as far more complex; a master politician and an inspired improviser, a Bolivarian nationalist and an unashamed socialist.
Jones tells the story of Chávez’s impoverished childhood his military career and the election campaign against a former Miss Universe that finally won him the Presidency.
Dramatic and superbly described, Hugo! brings to life a charismatic leader whose stories extend ‘from mud hut to perpetual revolution.’
“An Outsider in Politics” by Krishna Bose @ Rs.599/-(256 pgs)Writer, educationist and three-time Lok Sabha MP from Kolkata, Kirshna Bose gives a compelling account from the time she was a schoolgirl witnessing some of the tragic scenes that accompanied Partition to her stint as chairperson of the parliamentary standing committee on external affairs.
Married into the family of Subhas Chandra Bose, Bose’s acute yet sympathetic observations combine to form an elegantly written intimate history as well as a gripping political memoir.
Travel:
“Higher than the Eagle Soars: A Path to Everest” by Stephen Venables @ Rs.495/-(353 pgs)
High, wild places have dominated Stephen Venables’ life and now he has written a full autobiography which explores how and – more importantly – why he became a mountaineer. Venables reveals a series of never-recorded adventures on four continents. At its climax he revisits his dramatic success without oxygen on the Kangshung Face of Everest, described by Reinhold Messner as the most adventurous in Everest’s history. As Venables writes: ‘Although we didn’t go seeking deliberately an epic near-death experience, it did turn out that way – the ultimate endurance test for which all the previous adventures seemed, retrospectively, to be a preparation.’
“Outlook Traveller: 45 Weekend Breaks from Hyderabad” @Rs.295/- (415 pgs)Sail on the Vasishta Godavari in Konaseema, search for the nine Narasimhas in Ahobilam and sample the chepala pulusu of Warangai. Soak your feet in the soothing waters of the Kailashnathakona falls and explore the former capitals of ancient kings that lie in the shadow of Hyderabad.
This book tells you how…and much more.
Others:
“Sarama and her Children: The Dog in Indian Myth” by Bibek Debroy @ Rs. 350/- (243 pgs)
The written proof of an economist and research professor’s love for both-Indology and dogs, this book is a one-of –a- kind narrative of the attitude towards the dog in Indian myth and history. Tracing the Indian attitude towards the dog in a chronological manner with pre-Vedic Indus valley civilization, he incorporates 29 ancient as well as modern short stories to prove his point! He traces how although initially dogs were treated with ‘respect’, their tribe soon had to bear negative connotations by the time of the Mahabharata, only to regain their lost dignity in later times through the Jataka and Hitopadesha tales, as well as the doctrines associated with Shiva. In a light hearted manner, the author ensures that the Indian dog finally has its day!
Other new books at the Store:
DK Eyewitness Travel: India @Rs. 895/- (823 pgs)
The Game- Changer: How Every Leader Can Drive Everyday Innovation by A. G. Lafley and Ram Charan
Mike’s Election Guide 2008 by Michael Moore @ Rs.250/-(155 pgs)
You Are Here by Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan @ Rs.199/-(255 pgs)
A Sense of Urgency by John P. Kotter @ Rs.495/-(194 pgs)
Empires of the Indus: The Story of a River by Alice Albinia @ Rs.550/-(309 pgs)
Silks by Dick Francis and Felix Francis @ Rs.395/-(368 pgs)
Outlook Traveller: New York @ Rs.445/-(343 pgs)
The Evil Seed by Joanne Harris @ Rs.355/-(443 pgs)
The Folklore of Discworld by Terry Pratchett & Jaqueline Simpson @ Rs.905/-(372 pgs)
Attila the Hun: Barbarian Terror and the Fall of the Roman Empire by Christopher Kelly @ Rs.540/-(230 pgs)
Freedom’s Child: Growing Up During Satyagraha by Chandralekha Mehta @Rs. 199/- (182 pgs)
Girls of Riyadh by Rajaa Alsanea @Rs. 295/- (300 pgs)
The Snake Stone by Jason Goodwin @Rs. 295/- (308 pgs)
Star Wars: Street of Shadows by Michael Reaves @Rs. 250/- (308 pgs)
Alternative Cures by Bill Gottlieb @Rs. 250/- (796 pgs)
White Man Falling by Mike Stocks @ Rs.250/-(302 pgs)
The Healing by Gita Aravamudan @ Rs.295/-(288 pgs)
My Family and Other Saints by Kirin Narayan @ Rs.295/-(339 pgs)
Private Life of an Indian Prince by Mulk Raj Anand @ Rs.395/-(389 pgs)
Tales of Wit and Wisdom: Riddles, hilarious escapades and facts for young and old alike
Enjoy your books and HappyReading,
From the team at,
twistntales
Monday, September 8, 2008
Bihar Flood Relief
An appeal sent by my cousin, Chandra Vishwanath, who heads AID India in Chennai
Bihar has been hit by a terrible flood. It is one of the worst disasters to strike the country. It is worse than the Tsunami, worse than the Gujarat Earthquake. Several million people have been affected. Entire districts - villages and towns - have been washed away. The number of people dead is not even known.
There are over 6 lakh people living in 200 relief camps. In Saharsa district alone there are 2 Lakh people in 68 relief camps. Similar numbers are living in camps in Madhepura, Supaul, Araria, Purnia and Katihar districts. And many more (those who are better off and have relatives and friends outside) have fled these districts.
This is NOT the usual Bihar flooding.
Usually the Kosi river overflows its banks and floods the villages nearby. The people in these villages are prepared for it.
This year, the Kosi completely changed course - sweeping across several districts. Thousands of villages that never had experienced flooding before are now submerged in water. The people living there were completely taken by surprise. Many have died. Others have lost everything - they are without clothes, food, homes, money.
The scale of the disaster is much bigger than the Tsunami. But because it is Bihar and people think this is like the usual annual flooding, there has been very little coverage of the flooding and very little support pouring in for relief. There is an urgent need to inform people about the nature of this disaster and to mobilize support.
For a week now, AID INDIA’s Bihar team has been on the field organizing rescue and relief efforts in the affected districts. So far we have been able to organize some rescue operations and have provided food, milk for children, and medical support for children in several camps.
But this is not enough - the scale of the disaster is very large and the need is a lot more. Pratham teams in Bihar have also started working with us and we will now be scaling up the relief efforts significantly.
After the initial shock, the government has been taking a lot of steps to organize rescue and relief operations. The army has rescued people from most of the places. The immediate focus needs to be on food, clothing and health needs of the people in relief camps. Some food is being provided at the camps - but there is a severe shortage and lot of rioting to get at the food.
Children are the most affected.
Our immediate focus is on children - there are about 2 lakh children in all the camps. Milk, biscuits and food for children is the first priority now. We are trying to ensure that milk and food reaches all the children in all the relief camps.
The second need is clothes. Most people left their homes with what they were wearing.
We need children’s clothes, saris for women, undergarments, lungis and lots of blankets. Disease outbreaks are becoming a serious threat and we need medicines.
After the immediate phase, the need will be to focus on health, education, shelter and livelihood needs.
But at present, given the scale of the problem, getting past the immediate relief and survival needs are the most critical issues to address.
AID INDIA and Pratham field teams need a lot of support at this time. We need:
1. Funds: You can donate online at www.eurekachild.org/biharflood or you can send a check payable to AID INDIA (mention Bihar Flood Relief) to:
AID INDIA
Post Box No: 4903, Gopalapuram, Chennai - 600086, India.
Phone: +91-44-42636125/ 28350403
2. Food: Milk Powder and Biscuits
3. Clothes: Children’s clothes, saris, lungis and blankets
4. Volunteers: To raise awareness and mobilize support, help with collection and packaging. We also need volunteers to work with our relief teams at the field (but for that you must spend at least 10 days in the affected areas and must be very healthy and ready to work in difficult circumstances.)
To keep everyone updated on what’s happening at the field level, we have set up a separate website for the relief efforts:
www.eurekachild.org/biharflood
Please direct your friends and others you know to this site. We will keep posting new updates, reports, photos and other information from the field at this site.
For more information please contact: eurekachild@gmail.com or
Chandra: +91-97909-20752(chanvish@yahoo.com)
Prabha: +91-98403-51132 (prabha.balaraman@gmail.com)
REACH OUT FRIENDS, SHOW THAT YOU CARE.
Bihar has been hit by a terrible flood. It is one of the worst disasters to strike the country. It is worse than the Tsunami, worse than the Gujarat Earthquake. Several million people have been affected. Entire districts - villages and towns - have been washed away. The number of people dead is not even known.
There are over 6 lakh people living in 200 relief camps. In Saharsa district alone there are 2 Lakh people in 68 relief camps. Similar numbers are living in camps in Madhepura, Supaul, Araria, Purnia and Katihar districts. And many more (those who are better off and have relatives and friends outside) have fled these districts.
This is NOT the usual Bihar flooding.
Usually the Kosi river overflows its banks and floods the villages nearby. The people in these villages are prepared for it.
This year, the Kosi completely changed course - sweeping across several districts. Thousands of villages that never had experienced flooding before are now submerged in water. The people living there were completely taken by surprise. Many have died. Others have lost everything - they are without clothes, food, homes, money.
The scale of the disaster is much bigger than the Tsunami. But because it is Bihar and people think this is like the usual annual flooding, there has been very little coverage of the flooding and very little support pouring in for relief. There is an urgent need to inform people about the nature of this disaster and to mobilize support.
For a week now, AID INDIA’s Bihar team has been on the field organizing rescue and relief efforts in the affected districts. So far we have been able to organize some rescue operations and have provided food, milk for children, and medical support for children in several camps.
But this is not enough - the scale of the disaster is very large and the need is a lot more. Pratham teams in Bihar have also started working with us and we will now be scaling up the relief efforts significantly.
After the initial shock, the government has been taking a lot of steps to organize rescue and relief operations. The army has rescued people from most of the places. The immediate focus needs to be on food, clothing and health needs of the people in relief camps. Some food is being provided at the camps - but there is a severe shortage and lot of rioting to get at the food.
Children are the most affected.
Our immediate focus is on children - there are about 2 lakh children in all the camps. Milk, biscuits and food for children is the first priority now. We are trying to ensure that milk and food reaches all the children in all the relief camps.
The second need is clothes. Most people left their homes with what they were wearing.
We need children’s clothes, saris for women, undergarments, lungis and lots of blankets. Disease outbreaks are becoming a serious threat and we need medicines.
After the immediate phase, the need will be to focus on health, education, shelter and livelihood needs.
But at present, given the scale of the problem, getting past the immediate relief and survival needs are the most critical issues to address.
AID INDIA and Pratham field teams need a lot of support at this time. We need:
1. Funds: You can donate online at www.eurekachild.org/biharflood or you can send a check payable to AID INDIA (mention Bihar Flood Relief) to:
AID INDIA
Post Box No: 4903, Gopalapuram, Chennai - 600086, India.
Phone: +91-44-42636125/ 28350403
2. Food: Milk Powder and Biscuits
3. Clothes: Children’s clothes, saris, lungis and blankets
4. Volunteers: To raise awareness and mobilize support, help with collection and packaging. We also need volunteers to work with our relief teams at the field (but for that you must spend at least 10 days in the affected areas and must be very healthy and ready to work in difficult circumstances.)
To keep everyone updated on what’s happening at the field level, we have set up a separate website for the relief efforts:
www.eurekachild.org/biharflood
Please direct your friends and others you know to this site. We will keep posting new updates, reports, photos and other information from the field at this site.
For more information please contact: eurekachild@gmail.com or
Chandra: +91-97909-20752(chanvish@yahoo.com)
Prabha: +91-98403-51132 (prabha.balaraman@gmail.com)
REACH OUT FRIENDS, SHOW THAT YOU CARE.
As a retailer/ customer !
I write this as a consumer and retailer.
Many are our needs and requirements as customers. But the way we get serviced is pathetic. But the problem is we are beginning to accept shoddy service - if this is from small kirana merchants, it may still be ok.... But our/my experience shows they are damn good in service. Its the large format Store that's the issue. And this inspite of big Corporates with advanced systems running it. And they get away becoz we let them do it.
I have not got my card slip printout at "Bombay Store" because the machine ran out of paper. Its such a simple thing to load/ chk paper in card machine before a transanction. "Pulse" has misplaced my membership form 3 times. Now i am too tired to fill another form. I would rather pay a little more. Ditto with the big branded bookstore ! At "Reliance fresh", yesterday i was told, you get 1 kg sugar free, but we are out of sugar. In "More", when my husband didn't have membership number, coolly the points got added to some other member. We have the bills, and my husband has written to Aditya Birla Group, highlighting the corruption.... but no response.
My f-in law passed away in April, still my mom-in law is not receiving her pension (6 months), because "SBI" has misplaced papers TWICE ! Ditto with "ICICI bank" for demat. The less said about "Airtel" and "Reliance telecom", the better. And i'm not talking about the Subikshas and Big Bazaars of the world, where u are told clearly that this is a bargain hunt, do not expect service !
Phew, the list is endless ! I have got good service at Pankaj Varieties. And at Hanuman. And at Dhanashri. Everywhere else, i think we can teach a thing or two. I like to believe that we give good service. And that's why i am happier taking enthusiastic students rather tan "regular" employees.
Comments ?
Many are our needs and requirements as customers. But the way we get serviced is pathetic. But the problem is we are beginning to accept shoddy service - if this is from small kirana merchants, it may still be ok.... But our/my experience shows they are damn good in service. Its the large format Store that's the issue. And this inspite of big Corporates with advanced systems running it. And they get away becoz we let them do it.
I have not got my card slip printout at "Bombay Store" because the machine ran out of paper. Its such a simple thing to load/ chk paper in card machine before a transanction. "Pulse" has misplaced my membership form 3 times. Now i am too tired to fill another form. I would rather pay a little more. Ditto with the big branded bookstore ! At "Reliance fresh", yesterday i was told, you get 1 kg sugar free, but we are out of sugar. In "More", when my husband didn't have membership number, coolly the points got added to some other member. We have the bills, and my husband has written to Aditya Birla Group, highlighting the corruption.... but no response.
My f-in law passed away in April, still my mom-in law is not receiving her pension (6 months), because "SBI" has misplaced papers TWICE ! Ditto with "ICICI bank" for demat. The less said about "Airtel" and "Reliance telecom", the better. And i'm not talking about the Subikshas and Big Bazaars of the world, where u are told clearly that this is a bargain hunt, do not expect service !
Phew, the list is endless ! I have got good service at Pankaj Varieties. And at Hanuman. And at Dhanashri. Everywhere else, i think we can teach a thing or two. I like to believe that we give good service. And that's why i am happier taking enthusiastic students rather tan "regular" employees.
Comments ?
That's my book !!!
"NONFICTION: McMurtry recounts life as reader, writer, bookseller
Sunday, Aug 03, 2008 - 12:02 AM
By JAY STRAFFORD
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
NONFICTION
For the true bibliophile, books are as essential to life as air. No book-lover would be caught in a doctor's waiting room, or an airport lounge, or even a traffic standstill, without something substantial to read. Pruning a collection that threatens to overflow one's home can be as painful as watching a child leave the nest, but spending hours in a bookstore -- new, used or specialty -- can be blissful (and never mind the coffee).
OK, so we're a bit obsessive. But as Virginia's own Renaissance man, Thomas Jefferson, once said, "I cannot live without books."
Neither can the distinguished American author Larry McMurtry, whose "Books: A Memoir" is the captivating story of his nearly lifelong devotion.
McMurtry's story, which begins on the ranch in northern Texas where he spent his early years (he was born in 1936), does not start with promise: "I don't remember either of my parents ever reading me a story." On the ranch, he writes: "Of books, there were none."
But one day in 1942, a cousin on the way to enlist in the military for World War II "stopped by the ranch house and gave me the gift that changed my life. The gift was a box containing nineteen books."
And the rest, as they say, is history -- and fiction, and screenwriting, and the eventual accumulation of a personal library of 28,000 volumes, and a sideline (although the word may not convey the depth of McMurtry's passion) as an antiquarian bookseller.
The focus of "Books: A Memoir" is on McMurtry's life as a bookman, but he gives us some insights into the worlds of reading and writing, too.
Reading, he says, gave him a window onto the larger world: "The reason is that, in our country isolation, I came to reading before I came to American popular culture generally."
And reading led to writing. His first book, 1961's "Horseman, Pass By," became the revered movie "Hud" with Paul Newman, Patricia Neal, Melvyn Douglas and Brandon De Wilde. But the prolific McMurtry (28 novels, two collections of essays, three memoirs and more than 30 screenplays) is probably best known for 1985's "Lonesone Dove" -- a book he rightly calls the "Gone With the Wind" of the American West -- and its successors, both sequel and prequels.
Still, the heart of this latest memoir is bookselling, complete with descriptions of the eccentric scouts who keep the antiquarian business alive. His main store is now in his hometown of Archer City, Texas, but he owned Booked Up in Georgetown with Marcia Carter for more than 20 years. The stories he tells of some of Washington's swells are priceless:
Janet Auchincloss, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis' snobbish mother, wanted to sell some of the library of her late husband, Hugh D. Auchincloss. But she knew Carter and her mother socially, and she was horrified to find Carter "in trade" and couldn't bear the thought of doing business with her. It was left to the grande dame's latest fiancé to deal with the buyers.
Diplomat David K.E. Bruce owned substantial libraries at his Georgetown house and his family estate, Staunton Hill, in Virginia's Charlotte County. McMurtry's account of acquiring Bruce books in fits and starts is a lesson in diplomacy itself. But mediation was unnecessary in dealing with Bruce's widow, a social lioness in her own right. "Evangeline Bruce could not have cared less that we were in trade. She happily took our check, and banked it."
Despite Washington being a book-lover's dream town, only once, McMurtry writes, did he and Carter sell a book to a member of Congress: then-Sen. Charles McC. Mathias, R-Md. Then-Sen. Gary Hart, D-Colo., browsed from time to time but, to McMurtry's recollection, never bought.
As entertaining as "Books: A Memoir" is, though, at its heart lies sadness -- an elegy for the many independent bookstores that have closed, as well as a lament for reading: "Today the sight that discourages book people most is to walk into a public library and see computers where books used to be. . . . Computers now literally drive out books from the place that should, by definition, be books' own home: the library."
But as long as writers such as McMurtry can string together words such as those, reading will not die, and books will live on. Put this engaging memoir on your summer-reading list, and revel in the stories McMurtry tells of the lovable eccentrics known as bibliophiles."
Am looking for this book ? anyone ?
Sunday, Aug 03, 2008 - 12:02 AM
By JAY STRAFFORD
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
NONFICTION
For the true bibliophile, books are as essential to life as air. No book-lover would be caught in a doctor's waiting room, or an airport lounge, or even a traffic standstill, without something substantial to read. Pruning a collection that threatens to overflow one's home can be as painful as watching a child leave the nest, but spending hours in a bookstore -- new, used or specialty -- can be blissful (and never mind the coffee).
OK, so we're a bit obsessive. But as Virginia's own Renaissance man, Thomas Jefferson, once said, "I cannot live without books."
Neither can the distinguished American author Larry McMurtry, whose "Books: A Memoir" is the captivating story of his nearly lifelong devotion.
McMurtry's story, which begins on the ranch in northern Texas where he spent his early years (he was born in 1936), does not start with promise: "I don't remember either of my parents ever reading me a story." On the ranch, he writes: "Of books, there were none."
But one day in 1942, a cousin on the way to enlist in the military for World War II "stopped by the ranch house and gave me the gift that changed my life. The gift was a box containing nineteen books."
And the rest, as they say, is history -- and fiction, and screenwriting, and the eventual accumulation of a personal library of 28,000 volumes, and a sideline (although the word may not convey the depth of McMurtry's passion) as an antiquarian bookseller.
The focus of "Books: A Memoir" is on McMurtry's life as a bookman, but he gives us some insights into the worlds of reading and writing, too.
Reading, he says, gave him a window onto the larger world: "The reason is that, in our country isolation, I came to reading before I came to American popular culture generally."
And reading led to writing. His first book, 1961's "Horseman, Pass By," became the revered movie "Hud" with Paul Newman, Patricia Neal, Melvyn Douglas and Brandon De Wilde. But the prolific McMurtry (28 novels, two collections of essays, three memoirs and more than 30 screenplays) is probably best known for 1985's "Lonesone Dove" -- a book he rightly calls the "Gone With the Wind" of the American West -- and its successors, both sequel and prequels.
Still, the heart of this latest memoir is bookselling, complete with descriptions of the eccentric scouts who keep the antiquarian business alive. His main store is now in his hometown of Archer City, Texas, but he owned Booked Up in Georgetown with Marcia Carter for more than 20 years. The stories he tells of some of Washington's swells are priceless:
Janet Auchincloss, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis' snobbish mother, wanted to sell some of the library of her late husband, Hugh D. Auchincloss. But she knew Carter and her mother socially, and she was horrified to find Carter "in trade" and couldn't bear the thought of doing business with her. It was left to the grande dame's latest fiancé to deal with the buyers.
Diplomat David K.E. Bruce owned substantial libraries at his Georgetown house and his family estate, Staunton Hill, in Virginia's Charlotte County. McMurtry's account of acquiring Bruce books in fits and starts is a lesson in diplomacy itself. But mediation was unnecessary in dealing with Bruce's widow, a social lioness in her own right. "Evangeline Bruce could not have cared less that we were in trade. She happily took our check, and banked it."
Despite Washington being a book-lover's dream town, only once, McMurtry writes, did he and Carter sell a book to a member of Congress: then-Sen. Charles McC. Mathias, R-Md. Then-Sen. Gary Hart, D-Colo., browsed from time to time but, to McMurtry's recollection, never bought.
As entertaining as "Books: A Memoir" is, though, at its heart lies sadness -- an elegy for the many independent bookstores that have closed, as well as a lament for reading: "Today the sight that discourages book people most is to walk into a public library and see computers where books used to be. . . . Computers now literally drive out books from the place that should, by definition, be books' own home: the library."
But as long as writers such as McMurtry can string together words such as those, reading will not die, and books will live on. Put this engaging memoir on your summer-reading list, and revel in the stories McMurtry tells of the lovable eccentrics known as bibliophiles."
Am looking for this book ? anyone ?
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