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Behind The Beautiful Forevers
An indelible portrait of lives all too often invisible, and of courage impossible to forget! Annawadi is a slum in the shadow of luxury hotels near the Mumbai airport, and as the Indian economy booms, Annawadians are electric with hope. Abdul, a reflective teenager, sees ‘a fortune beyond counting’ in the recyclable garbage that the city’s richer people throw away. He is so fast, sorting waste, that he’s close to lifting his whole family out of the slum. Asha, a woman of formidable wit and deep scars from a childhood in rural poverty, is eyeing an alternate route to the middle class: political corruption. With a little luck and the right connections, her sensitive, beautiful teenaged daughter might soon become the first female college graduate in the slum. And even the poorest Annawadians, like Kalu, a homeless 15-year-old scrap-metal thief, feel themselves inching closer to the good lives and good times they call ‘the full enjoy.’ But then Abdul the teenaged garbage sorter is falsely accused in a shocking tragedy; a terrorist attack and a global recession rock Mumbai; and suppressed tensions over religion, caste, sex, power and economic envy turn brutal. As the tenderest human hopes intersect with the harshest realities of life in an Indian megacity, the true contours of a desperately competitive age are revealed. And so, too, are the resilience and ingenuity of the people of Annawadi. In Katherine Boo's fast-paced and riveting book—beautifully written, rigorously researched and intimately reported—the impact of poverty, inequality, corruption and global change is made human through breathtaking, sometimes heartbreaking, stories that will stay with you forever. About the Author Katherine Boo is a staff writer at The New Yorker and a former reporter and editor for the Washington Post. Her reporting has been awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, a MacArthur ‘Genius’ grant, and a National Magazine Award for Feature Writing. This is her first book.
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How to Love Your Body
Inspiring, practical and totally revolutionary, here’s a book that provides you with the ultimate diet not just for your body but also your mind! Do you look in the mirror and dislike what you see? Are you always trying different diets? Do you feel guilty if you overeat? You’re not the only one. For sixteen years, model and actress Yaana Gupta struggled with her body and the way she felt about it. She tried every diet, worked out constantly but the fears remained. In How to Love Your Body (and get the body you love), Yaana writes about how she got the balance back in her life and learnt to love herself. Using her own experiences, she gives you easy to follow eating advice and the real lowdown on food from the right portions to eat to being healthy on the go. She also gives you great tips—how to understand the nutrition labels, the great dabba trick and the best snack to eat when you get a late-night hunger attack. Finally Yaana teaches you the greatest lesson of all—how you can learn to love and accept your body. Because without it, she argues, no weight loss will ever make you happy. About The Author Yaana Gupta is a model, actress and singer. She was one of India’s top models, the face of Lakmé and a Kingfisher calendar girl. Most recently she was a finalist on the TV show Jhalak Dikhla Jaa. She is currently recording her first album.
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Grandma's Bag Of Stories
Who can resist a good story, especially when it s being told by Grandma? From her bag emerges tales of kings and cheats, monkeys and mice, bears and gods. Here comes the bear who ate some really bad dessert and got very angry; a lazy man who would not put out a fire till it reached his beard; a princess who got turned into an onion; a queen who discovered silk, and many more weird and wonderful people and animals. Grandma tells the stories over long summer days and nights, as seven children enjoy life in her little town. The stories entertain, educate and provide hours of enjoyment to them. So come, why don t you too join in the fun.
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Target 3 Billion: Innovative Solutions Towards Sus
With 750 million people living in villages, India has the largest rural population in the world. Based on his Indian experience, Dr Kalam recommends a sustainable and inclusive development system called PURA Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas to uplift the rural masses not by subsidies but through entrepreneurship with community participation. To make his case, Dr Kalam cites the examples of individuals and institutions, in India and from across the world, who, with an entrepreneurial spirit and a burning desire to make a difference, have successfully generated and tapped into the potential of the rural masses. Fabio Luiz de Oliveira Rosa changed the face of the rural district of Palmares, Brazil, by acquiring for the farmers access to electricity and water, which effect combined with better agricultural methods led to an increase in prosperity and stemmed the migration to the cities. The 123-strong Magar clan owned Magarpatta, a 430-acre plot on the outskirts of Pune, Maharashtra. In the 1990s, they organized and set up the Magarpatta city which is now home to over 35,000 residents and a working population of 65,000, and boasts of an IT park.
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Romancing With Life : An Autobiography
With the death of Dev Anand in December 2011, Bollywood lost its most passionate, most charismatic romantic hero. In Romancing with Life, Dev Anand tells his remarkable life story no less dramatic and gripping than any of his films as only he could. Here are tales from Dev s youth in 1930s Gurdaspur and Lahore; his years of struggle in 1940s Bombay; his doomed romance with Suraiya; his marriage to co-star Kalpana Kartik; and his relationships with his many luminous heroines. Romancing with Life is the quintessential Dev Anand a book chock-full of bittersweet reminiscences, written in a pacy, effervescent style that carries the reader through sixty of Bollywood s most interesting years.
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Let Me Tell You About Quinta
When Queirozito wins the protracted litigation against relatives who had laid claim to his 200-year-old ancestral home, Quinta, he gets a new lease of life. He invites his grandson Suraj from the US to take a look at the half-slumping villa for possible repairs. When Suraj s Russian-American wife California arrives instead, Queirozito faces yet another invasion on his beloved home and decides to fight back once again only to stumble upon some bitter, dark family secrets. In Let Me Tell You about Quinta, Savia Viegas weaves an intricate tale of the small, secluded and fading world of the elite Viegas family which, in many ways, reflects contemporary Goan society.
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Dead Or Alive
Jack Ryan is back. And he's joined by one or two familiar faces. For years, Jack Ryan, Jr. and his colleagues at the Campus have waged an unofficial and highly effective campaign against the terrorists who threaten western civilization. The most dangerous of these is the Emir. This sadistic killer has masterminded the most vicious attacks on the west and has eluded capture by the world's law enforcement agencies. Now the Campus is on his trail. Joined by their latest recruits, John Clark and Ding Chavez, Jack Ryan, Jr. and his cousins, Dominick and Brian Caruso, are determined to catch the Emir and they will bring him in dead or alive.
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The Children Of Green Knowe
Tolly's great grandmother isn't a witch, but both she and her old house, Green Knowe, are full of a special kind of magic. There are other children in the house - children who were happy there centuries before. Running around Green Knowe's moat, gardens and mysterious rooms, Tolly slowly discovers them, their toys and animals, and their stories.
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Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
It's a brand-new year and a brand-new journal and Greg is keen to put the humiliating (and secret!) events of last summer firmly behind him. But someone knows everything - someone whose job it is to most definitely not keep anything embarrassing of Greg's private - his big brother, Rodrick. How can Greg make it through this new school year with his cool(ish) reputation intact? Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules is the second title in the bestselling Diary of a Wimpy Kid series.
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Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw
Greg's dad, Frank, is on a mission - a mission to make this wimpy kid, well, less wimpy. All manner of 'manly' physical activities are planned, but Greg just about manages to find a way out of them. That is until military academy is is mentioned and Greg realizes that he's going to have to come up with something very special to get out of this one . . . Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw is the third title in the bestselling Diary of a Wimpy Kid series.
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Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever
The sixth book about the comic adventures of Greg Heffley and family. The funniest books you'll ever read! Watch this trailer to find out what's in store for Greg and the Heffleys in the hilarious SIXTH Diary of a Wimpy Kid book, Cabin Fever!
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Can Love Happen Twice?
When Ravin first said ‘I love you . . .’ he meant it forever. The world has known this through Ravin’s bestselling novel, I Too Had a Love Story. But did Ravin’s story really end on the last page of that book? On Valentine’s Day, a radio station in Chandigarh hosts a very special romantic chat show. Ravin and his three best friends are invited as guests to talk about Ravin’s love story. But surprisingly everyone apart from Ravin turns up. As the show goes live, there is only one question in every listener’s mind: what has happened to Ravin? To answer this question the three friends begin reading from a handwritten copy of Ravin’s incomplete second book—the entire city listens breathlessly, unable to believe the revelations that follow. This highly anticipated novel by Ravinder Singh is an emotional rollercoaster that bravely explores the highs and lows of love. About The Author Ravinder Singh is a bestselling author. His debut novel I Too Had a Love Story has touched millions of hearts. Can Love Happen Twice? is his second book. After spending most of his life in Burla, Orissa, Ravinder has finally settled down in Chandigarh. Having worked as a computer engineer for about several years at some of India’s prominent IT companies, Ravinder is now pursuing his MBA at the world renowned Indian School of Business, Hyderabad. Ravinder loves playing snooker in his free time. He is crazy about Punjabi music and loves dancing to its beats.
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Sultry Days
On a sultry, rainy Bombay day Nisha, an impressionable teenager, meets God in the college canteen and falls in love with his ragged, bearded looks and crude, streetwise manners. God patronizingly accepts her into his 'group' and it is in this way that their long and passionate romance begins…. God's driving ambition leads him into the unreal world of pseudo poetry, art for hire and compromised journalism while Nisha lands a job in advertising. Sycophants, court jesters, whores, dirty old men, fixers, pretty boys and party girls drift in and out of their lives (and interrupt their romance!) as their careers take off with dizzying speed… And then, abruptly and harrowingly, everything about their lives goes wrong... 'Ms De shocks India, and much of its literary set like no other writer today' — New York Times...
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Valhalia Rising
When the luxury cruise-liner Emerald Dolphin – powered by a revolutionary new propulsion system – becomes a raging inferno and sinks mysteriously, it is lucky that NUMA special projects director Dirk Pitt is on hand to rescue the passengers and investigate the tragedy. Sifting through the undersea wreckage for signs of foul play, Pitt is unaware of powerful, dark forces playing their hand against him. Forced to fight for his life – and those of friends and colleagues – against ever more ruthless enemies from a shadowy organization, Pitt finds himself caught between the secrets of the past and the intrigues of the future. A future that will hold the world to ransom . . . Filled with breathtaking suspense and dazzling action, Valhalla Rising sees Clive Cussler at the height of his storytelling powers.
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The Hills Of Angheri
For as long as Nalli can remember, the guardians of her village of Angheri, the hills that have so often come alive in her grandfather’s stories, have been asking her to do something with her life ...Twelve-year-old Nalli is restless to pursue a dream rather unusual for a girl in her traditional society: she wants to be a doctor. After all, how else will she stand by Jai—her friend and hero—when he returns as a qualified surgeon to start Angheri’s very own hospital?Adamantly resisting all the objections her family raises, Nalli travels to Madras and then to London to study, and experiences a world she had never imagined. She learns to keep her voice down and sit with her knees together, is haunted by Subbu, the first human cadaver she cuts up, and encounters complicated medical cases that test her faith in the values Appa taught her to live by and her own skills as a surgeon. Yet, for all her adventures, Nalli yearns constantly for a sight of Angheri’s hills, for Ajja’s gods and Appa’s advice, and, most of all, for the hospital of her dreams to become a reality. But her return home is fraught with heartbreak and disillusion, and Nalli sets off again, this time to remote Keshavganj, in search of solace and the fulfillment of her heart’s desire . . .Sensitive and humorous, graceful and invariably engaging, Kavery Nambisan’s latest novel tells the story of a young surgeon coming to terms with the untidiness of life and her profession.
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Gods Of War
"Five ordinary people from five separate versions of Earth are brought together by an ancient Hindu god…Santosh—a ten-year-old from a Mumbai slum with a passion for cricket, Bollywood, and Ganpati Bapa; Salim—a socialist trader from Birmingham and witness to the aftermath of the unjust 'war on terror'; Ruth—a lesbian ship-welder from New Jersey whose fierce rightwing patriotism cost her the love of her life; Akechi—a rakish, self-obsessed manga star with a fondness for high living and beautiful gaijin women; and Yoshi—Akechi's twin and fellow mangaka, a hermaphrodite consumed by a guilty secret about their Japanese father and Chinese mother. Can these five wildly unlikely people succeed in their impossible mission of travelling to the ends of time and space to bring peace to the world? Can they overcome their cultural, racial, religious and other differences and find a way to end the apocalyptic War of Wars that threatens not only humanity, but all creation, with ultimate destruction? Does humanity even deserve to be saved? Asking the boldest and most searing questions of our time, while unfolding a spectacular and tremendously entertaining epic adventure, Gods of War is a tour de force of imagination by the author of the internationally acclaimed Ramayana Series."
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Angel Dogs
Meet Zeke, the newly adopted collie who saved a dying infant Tequila, a dog whose matchmaking ability sparks a life-long romance and, Haley, the service dog who gave a teenager the help and hope she needed to survive radiation therapy and Oliver, the shih tzu who warmed the heart of a dying man and many others. These tales of unconditional love, devotion, courage and intuition celebrate the deep-rooted connection between people and dogs and are wonderful testament to the most enduring friendships on earth. They will capture a piece of your heart.
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Blood Atonement
Katie Drake was an affluent single mother living in Queen's Park - until someone cut her throat and tore out her tongue. Worse still, the killer has abducted her fourteen-year-old daughter, Naomi.Detective Chief Inspector Grant Foster quickly sees chilling parallels with the disappearance of teenager Leonie Stamey three years earlier. With hopes fading of finding Naomi alive, he calls on genealogist Nigel Barnes to piece together the links between the families of the two girls.The trail leads Nigel back to 1890, when a young couple arrived in the UK. A husband and wife fleeing a terrible crime in their past, and harbouring a secret that's now having bloody repercussions in the present …
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The Great Indian love Story
The Great Indian Love Story is set in a world where appearances mean everything and nothing is as it seems. There’s no time for love in a world that revolves around the latest Ferraris, the hottest nightclubs, diamonds, single malts, cocaine and ecstasy. In this whirl of wild parties, sex and drugs we meet Serena Sharma who lives her life one debauched night at a time, always falling for the wrong men. Her life is a rollercoaster ride: her father’s death followed by her mother’s remarriage, a broken heart and a lost love. Adding to this is her torrid affair with Amar Khanna—a trophy husband, coke addict and serial adulterer. Riya, jaded by her unsuccessful attempt to find a job in America, returns to Delhi to find the city of her childhood changed beyond recognition. Striking an unlikely friendship with Serena, Riya finds her complacent torpor shattered. The Great Indian Love Story is also the story of Parmeet, Serena’s mother, who looks for passion outside her marriage with disastrous consequences, and S.P. Sharma, Parmeet’s husband, who is driven to violence by her infidelity. Ira Trivedi weaves together sex, revenge, glitz, friendship and a chilling murder to create a potent cocktail in this gripping novel on the perfidious nature of love and power.
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Medusa
In the Micronesian islands, a top-secret U.S. government-sponsored undersea lab conducting vital biomedical research on a rare jellyfish known as the Blue Medusa suddenly... disappears. At the same time, off Bermuda, a bathysphere is attached by an underwater vehicle and left helpless a half-mile below the surface, its passengers - including Zavala - left to die. Only Kurt Austin's heroic measures save them from a watery grave, but suspecting a connection, Austin puts the NUMA team on the case. He has no idea what he's just gotten them all into. A hideous series of medical experiments ... an extraordinarily ambitious Chinese criminal organization ... a secret new virus that threatens to set off a worldwide pandemic. Austin and Zavala have been in tight spots before, but this time it's not just their own skins they're trying to save - it's the lives of millions.