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The Defector
Gabriel Allon took down the world's most dangerous man. He made just one mistake. Leaving him alive . . . Spy turned art restorer Gabriel Allon is in Umbria, when shocking news arrives from London. A Russian defector who saved his life has vanished without a trace. British Intelligence suspect he was a double agent, but Allon knows better. Soon he finds himself in a deadly duel of wits with a murderous Russian arms dealer as he bargains for his friend's life. Criss-crossing Europe at breakneck pace and culminating in a heart-stopping climax in the freezing birch forests of Russia, The Defector is a searing and bloody tale of courage and vengeance . . .
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Hostel Room 131
Hostel Room 131 is the story of two young men who fall in love with each other. This piece of queer literature also focuses on the issues of homophobia.In Hostel Room 131, the main protagonist is Siddharth, a twenty-three year old Bombay-born guy. His unconventional views make him a very interesting personality. He believes that in Sholay, Jai and Veeru have the hots for each other, rather than for the two heroines. One cold winter day in 1978, Siddharth meets Sudhir in Pune's Engineering College Hostel. Sudhir is a twenty-year-old guy from Belgaum. Siddharth instantly falls in love with this stranger. The two of them start a relationship and over the next seven years they become a committed couple. The story follows Siddharth, who is now a college lecturer, from Pune to Bombay and Belgaum. As the two boys explore their sexuality, they face many obstacles on the way. Sudhir's classmates from Belgaum start an anti-Siddharth group, which is headed by a homophobic named Ravi Humbe. To make matters worse, Sudhir's family also disapproves of Siddharth. The situation becomes so complicated that Siddharth ends up filing a police complaint against them.In Hostel Room 131, Gaurav and Vivek, a gay pair, decide to help the protagonists fight against homophobia. The first part of the novel contains thirteen chapters and focuses on 18 May 1982. The next portion covers December 1978 to May 1982 and has fifty-nine chapters. The third part has nineteen chapters and it concentrates on the time period from May 1982 to May 1983. The last section covers May 1983 to January 1985 and contains twelve chapters.
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Is Your Child Ready to Face the World?
Being a good parent is a skill that is acquired over time, one that requires constantly adapting to the rapidly changing times. In today’s world, where academics, extra-curricular activities and distractions in the shape of numerous gadgets make heavy demands on children’s time, it is tough to communicate with them. Dr Anupam Sibal, through his experience as father, paediatrician and Group Medical Director of Apollo Hospitals Group, outlines his approach to effectively getting through to children and mastering the art of parenthood. Focusing on the different values and qualities that make a good person, Dr Sibal has a hands-on approach to instil each of these in a child. Exploring the crux of parenting, this book asks and answers whether your child is ready to face the world.
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A Man Called Ove
The million-copy bestselling phenomenon, Fredrik Backman's heartwarming debut is a funny, moving, uplifting tale of love and community that will leave you with a spring in your step. Perfect for fans of Rachel Joyce's The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Graeme Simsion's The Rosie Project and David Nicholl's US. Soon to be a major film starring Tom Hanks New York Times bestseller 'Warm, funny, and almost unbearably moving' Daily Mail 'Rescued all those men who constantly mean to read novels but never get round to it' Spectator Books of the Year At first sight, Ove is almost certainly the grumpiest man you will ever meet. He thinks himself surrounded by idiots - neighbours who can't reverse a trailer properly, joggers, shop assistants who talk in code, and the perpetrators of the vicious coup d'etat that ousted him as Chairman of the Residents' Association. He will persist in making his daily inspection rounds of the local streets. But isn't it rare, these days, to find such old-fashioned clarity of belief and deed? Such unswerving conviction about what the world should be, and a lifelong dedication to making it just so? In the end, you will see, there is something about Ove that is quite irresistible...
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Good Strategy Bad Strategy
When Richard Rumelt's Good Strategy/Bad Strategy was published in 2011, it immediately struck a chord, calling out as bad strategy the mishmash of pop culture, motivational slogans and business buzz speak so often and misleadingly masquerading as the real thing. Since then, his original and pragmatic ideas have won fans around the world and continue to help readers to recognise and avoid the elements of bad strategy and adopt good, action-oriented strategies that honestly acknowledge the challenges being faced and offer straightforward approaches to overcoming them. Strategy should not be equated with ambition, leadership, vision or planning; rather, it is coherent action backed by an argument. For Rumelt, the heart of good strategy is insight into the hidden power in any situation and into an appropriate response – whether launching a new product, fighting a war or putting a man on the moon. Drawing on examples of the good and the bad from across all sectors and all ages, he shows how this insight can be cultivated with a wide variety of tools that lead to better thinking and better strategy, strategy that cuts through the hype and gets results.
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Doglapan: The Hard Truth about Life and Start-Ups
This is the unfettered story of Ashneer Grover-the favourite and misunderstood poster boy of Start-up India. Raw, gut-wrenching in its honesty and completely from the heart, this is storytelling at its finest. A young boy with a 'refugee' tag growing up in Delhi's Malviya Nagar outpaces his circumstances by becoming a rank-holder at the pinnacle of academic excellence in India-IIT Delhi. He goes on to do an MBA from the hallowed halls of IIM Ahmedabad, builds a career as an investment banker at Kotak Investment Banking and AmEx, and is pivotal in the making of two unicorns-Grofers, as CFO, and BharatPe, as co-founder. As a judge on the popular TV show Shark Tank India, Ashneer becomes a household name even as his life turns upside down. Controversy, media spotlight, garrulous social media chatter descend, making it difficult to distinguish fact from fiction.
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Changing Tracks: Reinventing the Spirit of Indian
How to make a 150-year-old run faster, carry more load and make more money In the year 2000, the Indian Railways - the world's second largest railway network under a single management was nearly bankrupt. Over the next eight years,however, there was a dramatic improvement in its performance. From a cash surplus before dividend of Rs 1,071 crores in 2000, it achieved an estimated Rs 25,000 crores (or around Rs 13,000 crores after accounting for all expenditures, receipts and depreciation) in 2008. Alongside came a dynamic and differential tariff policy, and technical changes that led to an enhanced carrying capacity. How all this was accomplished is the focus of this riveting study of change and innovation in the Indian Railways. Based on an extensive examination of internal documents of the Railways and in-depth interviews with key people involved in the change process, authors V. Nilakant and S. Ramnarayan identify four distinctive features associated with the organization's renewal between 2004 and 2008. The change leveraged the strengths of the organization, instead of being preoccupied with its weaknesses. The aim was to change mindsets about costs, revenues, investment and business models. The momentum of the change process was sustained by fostering positive emotions. Changes were persistently and patiently seen to completion by focusing on results. Confronting several myths about organizational change, the book offers powerful lessons for managers and administrators grappling with the challenges of generating innovation and improving performance radically in a changing world.
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Get It Done Now!
While productivity and time management expert Brian Tracy has been writing bestselling books and giving seminars on these topics for well over thirty years, the challenge of remaining optimally productive in our modern world has never been greater. How can this be? We live in the most technologically advanced period of history in the most technologically advanced world. With the advent of mobile phones, killer apps, internet speeds that stagger the imagination, and nearly any bit of information, products, and solutions only one click away, how can it be that remaining optimally productive is such a challenge for so many? In a word: DISTRACTION. Many of us spend precious time focusing on the incessant emails, texts, notifications, ads, etc. that seem important-even urgent-to our success and happiness, but, in reality, only complicate our lives and take us even further from our goals. In Get It Done Now!, Brian addresses this challenge of distraction in its many forms and shows you how to focus on your most important task so you can get it done now! In this book, you will discover: How to eliminate excuses and take control of your life NOW! Mental programming for getting things done NOW! The 10 best productivity methods Breakthrough habits for getting organized NOW! Productivity tips to fast-track your career
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The Perfect Assassin
At this school, the first lesson is survival. Dr Brandt Savage's plans for his sabbatical from the University of Chicago change drastically when he is enrolled in a school where he is the sole pupil. His professor is relentless in her lessons. She's also his captor. Savage is forced to undertake intense physical and mental training, with no idea why he was chosen or what is expected of him. But as he learns more about his abductor, Savage discovers just how deeply entwined their lives are. And why, together, they must make a pledge: Do right by all, and wrong to no one.
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Putin's Wars: From Chechnya to Ukraine
'The prolific military chronicler and analyst Mark Galeotti has produced exactly the right book at the right time.' - The Times A new history of how Putin and his conflicts have inexorably reshaped Russia, including his devastating invasion of Ukraine. Putin's Wars is a timely overview of the conflicts in which Russia has been involved since Vladimir Putin became prime minister and then president of Russia, from the First Chechen War to the two military incursions into Georgia, the annexation of Crimea and the eventual invasion of Ukraine itself. But it also looks more broadly at Putin's recreation of Russian military power and its expansion to include a range of new capabilities, from mercenaries to operatives in a relentless information war against Western powers. This is an engrossing strategic overview of the Russian military and the successes and failures on the battlefield. Thanks to Dr Galeotti's wide-ranging contacts throughout Russia, it is also peppered with anecdotes of military life, personal snapshots of conflicts, and an extraordinary collection of first-hand accounts from serving and retired Russian officers. Russia continues to dominate the news cycle throughout the Western world. There is no better time to understand how and why Putin has involved his armed forces in a variety of conflicts for over two decades. There is no author better placed to demystify the capabilities of the Russian military and give a glimpse into what the future may hold.
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Elizabeth The Queen Mother
An authoritative and affectionate biography of the Late Queen Mother. Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother’s life spanned the entire 20th century and through that century she witnessed decades of dramatic change, not least within her own family. Following her carefree and untroubled childhood she stepped into the public domain as the wife of a king, where she triumphed with her stoic support of the monarchy and her country and, after her husband’s death, with her oldest daughter Queen Elizabeth II, she remained a key player in the unfolding drama of Britain’s Royal Family. The book is published to coincide with the third anniversary of the Queen Mother’s death.
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Moon Shadows
Romance and magic meet by the light of the moon in this collection of Celtic tales from #1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts and New York Times bestselling authors Jill Gregory, Ruth Ryan Langan, and Marianne Willman.From mysterious warriors to evil sorceresses, from full moon cravings to moon witch spells, these enchanting tales of love and legend, magic and mystery are as menacing and alluring as the moon itself...
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Legend Of The Snow Queen
An ominous ET. A dead body by the frozen Starnberg Lake. A cryptic message. Hotel Die Kaiserin is all set to celebrate the 180th birthday of Sisi, the Empress Elisabeth of Austria. In her honour, a Peace Treaty between five European nations is to be signed. But a day before, antique swans-the mascots of the treaty-are stolen. A message threatens to disrupt the Treaty unless the Empress walks the Sisi route again and retrieves a 'soul-song'. But Sisi has been dead for more than 100 years! As investigative journalist Re Parkar plunges into the snowy trail, along with hotel guest Rosamonde, he unravels a conspiracy that brings royal history and love together in a dramatic finale... What is the 'soul-song?' And, how is 'Snow Queen' Rosamonde connected to Empress Elisabeth? Set against a Christmassy, Bavarian winter-wonderland, Legend of the Snow Queen is a chilling international conspiracy and a haunting love story.
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Sivakami's Vow: Paranjyothi's Journey
A young man trudges from a tiny Chola village to Kanchi, the great city of art and learning, hoping to discover his destiny. A bikshu wanders around the Pallava empire, befriending lonely souls. Spies lurk in the shadows, and even statues of the Lord Buddha conceal secrets. Emperor Mahendra Pallava, connoisseur beyond compare, rules with compassion and justice, while his son, Kumara Chakravarthy Narasimhar, falls deeply in love with the greatest dancer of the empire, Sivakami. Somewhere in the distance can be heard the drums of war. The fearsome Chalukyas are planning an invasion: their war elephants, horses and infantry sweep towards the Pallava empire. Emperor Pulikesi eyes Kanchi as the crowning glory to his martial achievements. Paranjyothi's Journey, the first in the four-volume Sivakami's Vow series, is a riveting tale of war, betrayal, secret passages, guarded forts, passions and a Pallava emperor who will do anything to save his kingdom. It was written by Kalki, a master storyteller who raised Tamil literature and history to new heights almost single-handedly.
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I Am Albert Ellis
Dr. Albert Ellis is one of the greatest psychologists in the world and an eminent personality from the United States. He became immortal in the history of psychology with his Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy or REBT, which he founded in 1955. Today REBT has gained recognition and is widely followed everywhere. In the present world full of stress and strife, we all are in pursuit of peace and happiness. Based on rational and humanistic life-philosophy, REBT has helped people from all walks of life in uplifting their lives and is hence extremely popular all over the world. This autobiographical novel gives the reader an insight into his thoughts, and his dauntless and resolute personality. Dr. Ellis lived actively and zealously till his death. He overcame several hurdles and shortcomings in his long life of 93 years only because of REBT. 'My life is my message' he said. REBT and Ellis' life were synonymous, which is proved by his life-journey. The novel unravels his emotions and puts forth his revolutionary views about sexuality in a forthright but sensitive way. It motivates the reader to introspect on his own life-philosophy, thereby enabling him to tide over his emotional problems and make life more meaningful. Readers have found the original Marathi novel, first published in 2009, to be a self-help guide. It enjoys a wide readership and is popular among psychiatrists, psychologists, counsellors, students and celebrities as well. and has thus been a consistent best-seller till date.
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Small Wonder: The Making Of The Nano
This is the story of the Nano, the Rs1-lakh wonder, and how it came to be. This book tells the story of how that dream was realised.
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You Can Coach
A Book That Will Redefine the Education System The only way to fix our broken education system is to build a new breed of teachers and mentors who are implementers. You Can Coach is a book that will provide a tangible solution to our outdated system. Siddharth Rajsekar decodes how he was able to plan, launch, and grow one of the largest communities of coaches, trainers, and experts, starting from scratch. This book features interviews with legendary coaches, Jack Canfield, Dr. John Demartini, Blair Singer, and many more. Filled with practical strategies and principles, this information has already helped over 10,000 experts from across the world and created numerous success stories. The e-Learning industry is booming into a multi-billion dollar industry and this is just the beginning. This will be "the manual" for coaches, experts, and teachers who want to take their game to the next level! If you are keen to ride this wave of digital transformation and impact peoples’ lives with your knowledge, this book is for you. You Can Coach!
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Size Doesn't Matter
Heather should be happy. She’s finally got a boyfriend and although he was only supposed to be her "rebound guy", things have gotten serious fast . . . She's also actually passing her first college course, and better yet her dad’s moving out. On the down side, her boss, Dr. Veatch, may well be the most boring man on the face of the planet . . . But that hardly seems reason enough to put a bullet through his head. Can Heather find her boss’s murderer, answer Tad’s question, and get her landlord Cooper to realize that by letting her go, he’s making the biggest mistake of his life, all while maintaining a fifteen hundred calorie per day diet?
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Faraway Music
On a long-haul international flight writer Piya Choudhury tells the one story she hasn't yet told - her own... Loved and indulged by her mother and grandparents, but haunted by the mysterious absence of her father, Piya grows up in Kolkata, a gifted and impetuous child who pursues her studies with the same passion as she does her first few adolescent crushes, until a savage encounter leaves her repulsed. She moves to Mumbai hoping to become a journalist and falls deeply in love with her editor, Abir, but when a controversial story she is working on is stymied, she is forced to choose between the man she loves and her own integrity. Years later, she is settled in New York, married to a renowned artist who helps her find herself creatively. A liberated, successful, and dynamic writer, Piya has everything she's ever wanted, until she is revisited by her past... Sensuous, profound, lyrical and moving, Faraway Music is a story of family, friendship, fame, love and loss - and all that lies in between...