What if your life depended on being able to tell a good story? Schariar, King of Persia, would marry a woman every night only to chop off her head every morning. He had sentenced the beautiful and clever Scherazade to the same fate. Determined to save herself and other women from this gruesome decree, Queen Scherazade began telling him stories one night — of magic lamps and genies, of fishermen and caliphs, of treasure-caves and strange potions. Tales so wonderful that the one night turned into 1001…. But what would happen when Scherazade ran out of yarns to spin? This new collection of Tales from the Arabian Nights will make you gasp with wonder and laugh with delight and the magical storyteller Scherazade will keep you spellbound for days.
Archives: Books
Songs Of Blood And Sword
In September 1996 a fourteen-year-old Fatima Bhutto hid in a windowless dressing room shielding her baby brother while shots rang out in the streets outside the family home in Karachi. This was the evening that her father, Murtaza, was murdered along with six of his associates. In December 2007 Benazir Bhutto, Fatima’s aunt, and the woman she had publicly accused of ordering her father’s murder, was assassinated in Rawalpindi. It was the latest in a long line of tragedies for one of the world’s best known political dynasties. Songs of Blood and Sword tells the story of the Bhuttos, a family of rich feudal landlords who became powerbrokers in the newly created state of Pakistan; the epic tale of four generations of a family and the political violence that would destroy them. It is the history of a family and nation riven by murder, corruption, conspiracy and division, written by one who has lived it, in the heart of the storm, The history of this extraordinary family mirrors the tumultuous events of Pakistan itself, and the quest to find the truth behind her father’s murder has led Fatima to the heart of her country’s volatile political establishment. Finally Songs of Blood and Sword is about a daughter’s love for her father and her search to uncover, and to understand, the truth of his life and death.
The Death Of Bunny Munro
‘I am damned,’ thinks Bunny Munro in a sudden moment of self-awareness reserved for those who are soon to die. He feels that somewhere down the line he has made a grave mistake, but this realisation passes in a dreadful heartbeat and is gone—leaving him in a room at the Grenville Hotel, in his underwear, with nothing but himself and his appetites.
Bunny Munro drinks too much, smokes too much and thinks of sex all the time. Following his wife’s suicide, he takes his nine-years-old son on a trip to recover from the tragedy. But he is about to discover that his days are numbered.
Dark, funny and raunchy, The Death of Bunny Munro is the story of a man full of emotional atyachar. Written in the high octane, charged prose that has made Nick Cave one of the world’s most acclaimed lyricists, it is an unforgettable book.
A Hundred Measures Of Time
‘Look, my feet measure beyond earth and sky!’ he said
and touched the sky.
I have surrendered to my lord
who glanced at me with his large radiant eyes.
The Tiruviruttam is an iconic poem by Namma?var (c. ninth century CE), the greatest of the a?var poet-saints of the Tamil Srivai??ava tradition. Its hundred interlinked verses celebrate the love between an anonymous heroine and hero, who come to be identified with Namma?var and his beloved deity, Vi??u. The poet masterfully weaves the erotic and esoteric to reveal both the contours of love and the never-ending cycles of separation and union, of birth and death, from which only Vi??u can offer release.
In A Hundred Measures of Time, Archana Venkatesan has crafted a sonorous free-verse rendering and an accompanying far-ranging essay to delight poetry lovers and scholars alike.
Chokher Bali
The literature of the new age seeks not to narrate a sequence of events, but to reveal the secrets of the heart. Such is the narrative mode of Chokher Bali’ – Rabindranath Tagore, Preface to Chokher Bali
Chokher Bali explores the forbidden emotions unleashed when a beautiful young widow enters the seemingly harmonious world of a newly married couple. This path-breaking novel by Rabindranath Tagore weaves a tangled web of relationships between the pampered and self-centred Mahendra, his innocent, childlike bride Asha, their staunch friend Bihari, and the wily, seductive Binodini, whose arrival transforms the lives of all concerned.
Radha Chakravarty’s translation brings the world of Tagore’s fiction to life, in lucid, idiomatic prose.
The Shadow Of The Crescent Moon
Fatima Bhutto’s stunning fiction debut begins and ends one rainswept Friday morning in Mir Ali, a small town in the troubled tribal region of Waziristan. Three brothers meet for breakfast. Soon after, the eldest, recently returned from America, hails a taxi to the local mosque. The second brother, a doctor, goes to check in at his hospital. His troubled wife does not join the family that morning for no one knows where Mina goes these days. And the youngest, the idealist, leaves for town on a motorbike. Seated behind him is a beautiful, fragile girl whose world has been overwhelmed by war. Three hours later, their day will end in devastating circumstances.
Beautifully written, full of emotion and heartbreak, The Shadow of the Crescent Moon is an extraordinary novel.
The Secret Of Falcon Heights
Sandeep and his younger brother, Manish, are not looking forward to spending three months in the remote, Internet-challenged hill station of Pahadpur, especially under the eagle eye of their military-minded great aunt. Apart from taking care of their kid sister, Chubs, who has a tendency to wander off on her own, the boys have absolutely nothing to do in the holidays. But there is more to Pahadpur than meets the eye. Sandeep and Manish discover that the neighbours next door, at Falcon Heights, are shunned and called ‘lepers’ by all the townsfolk. Who is the sullen, mysterious girl who lives there and flies a falcon every morning? Why do perfectly respectable citizens get up and leave, muttering darkly,every time she enters a shop or cafe? As Sandeep unravels the mystery, two terrible but seemingly plausible stories emerge, only one of which can be true.
Word Power Made Easy
The bestselling book and authorized Penguin edition to learn and improve your English quickly!
– Improve your English skills for Boards, competitive/entrance Exams (GMAT, GRE, IELTS, LSAT, SAT, TOEFL, CAT )
– Better vocabulary for interviews: job, university, visa
– Practise just 15 minutes a day
– Become a self-assured English speaker
– Ensured success in your job and career
– Learn the best language skills from the master
– Know the correct usage of words
– Improve your personality
– Easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions
– Clear tools and tips for quick learning
– Fun exercises and a daily progress-tracking system
– A large repository of words to express your thoughts clearly
– Suitable for both beginners and advanced readers
Word Power Made Easy does more than just add words to your vocabulary. It teaches ideas and a method of broadening your knowledge as an integral part of the vocabulary-building process.
– Do you always use the right word?
– Can you pronounce it-and spell it-correctly?
– Do you know how to avoid improper expressions?
– Do you speak grammatically, without embarrassing mistakes?
– If your answer to any of these questions is no, you need this book!
Written in a lively, accessible style, Word Power Made Easy includes useful sections explaining which grammar rules are valid and which are outdated or misguided and can be safely ignored.
Loaded with helpful reviews, progress checks, and quizzes to reinforce the material, this classic resource has helped millions learn to speak and write with confidence.
Word Power Made Easy has been popular since it was first published in 1949. It has run into several editions since then and is still relied upon as a credible book by even those who know the English language fairly well. Generations of students have benefited and improved their language by using this book. This is a core book about English language and correct word usage. Anybody who wants to improve their vocabulary will find it very useful.
Authored by the bestselling grammarian Norman Lewis, Word Power Made Easy serves as a ready reference for students who want to brush up their English speaking, reading and writing skills. It is a must for students who want to excel in the subject and feel confident.
The style of writing of this book is very easy to understand. There are separate sections on rules and applied grammar. By way of simple techniques, the author has presented easy tips for improving one’s vocabulary and word skills. After having created awareness about the new words and their meaning, he then goes onto explain how to make their correct usage.
Those who have struggled to use the right word at the right time, are not sure about a particular expression, are poor in expressing themselves in English, mix up word meanings of like sounding words, are low on confidence when it comes to the right pronunciation stand to benefit from referring to this book regularly.
At the end of the chapters there are revision exercises that can be used for undertaking a self-evaluation. This book also has interesting quizzes and other puzzle exercises which test a practitioner’s ability to judge and use the language correctly.
Puffin Classics: The Mystery of Munroe Island and Other Stories
Join Professor Trilokeshwar Shonku, eccentric genius and scientist, on an incredible world tour as he confronts a daring doppelganger,undertakes an experiment to create pure gold, unravels the mystery of a scientist’s loss of memory and visits an unknown island to look for an amazing fruit, amongst other escapades,What is the message in the mysterious papyrus found in Cairo and why did scientists go missing in the deep jungle of Congo? Is there any truth about the sightings of the UFO and what happens when he takes an extraordinary animal to Koblenz in Germany?
Featuring the indomitable Professor Shonku and a bunch of madcap characters is presented here in a brilliant new translation that brings alive the magic and charm of Satyajit Ray’s imaginative world. Get ready for some hair-raising fun with the weird and wonderful Prof. Shonku, whose exploits have held readers spellbound for over five decades.
Clean Bowled, Butterfingers!
What Amar ‘Butterfingers’ Kishen really wants is to hold a cricket match in Colonel Nadkarni’s memory. But what the principal really wants is for the teachers of Green Park School to be more healthy and active. So, Amar playfully proposes a match between the teachers of the junior and senior schools. What follows is a roller-coaster ride of adventure, intrigue and madness!
Entertaining, uplifting and rib-tickling, this third novel, featuring, everyone’s beloved Butterfingers will delight readers both old and new.