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New Year, Who ‘Dis? –10 Books for Your 2024 Makeover

Out with the old, and in with the awesome! Get ready for a year of transformation with our handpicked selection of 10 wellness and career books that promise to make your journey through 2024 nothing short of extraordinary. From boosting your health to thriving in the new work era, these books make self-improvement simple and accessible.
Easy tips, real stories, and quick routines await – it’s time for a new and better you!

 

Heal your Gut, Mind and Emotions
Heal your Gut, Mind and Emotions || Dimple Jangda

In Heal Your Gut, Mind & Emotions, she shares the tools that shaped her life and advises on how you can use food to preserve your health and reverse diseases. She outlines a five-step process that will help you unlock the huge potentials of the gut and improve your gut–brain axis so it can share critical information with you on what the body truly needs.
Dimple’s goal is to empower people to use nutrition to prevent disease, and through this accessible, exhaustive book, shows you just how you can do that.

 

Career 3.0
Career 3.0 || Abhijit Bhaduri

Abhijit Bhaduri, a renowned expert on talent and leadership, shows you how to develop the six key skills that will make you future-ready and successful in Career 3.0. Whether you work for an organization, run your own business or do both, you will discover how to adapt to change, learn new skills, and lead with impact.

Career 3.0 is a guide that will help you stay relevant. The book is filled with inspiring stories that will challenge you to rethink your career vision, strategy and action. It will give you the tools and techniques to thrive in the new world of work.

You may be surprised to find out that you already have a Career 3.0 mindset. Now you know what it is called.

 

 

Move Better
Move Better || Shikha Puri Arora

Have you woken up one day and noticed that your knee is suddenly hurting? Do you go through days managing spasms and sprains that you can’t really explain? All of this, even though you exercise regularly and have a fitness schedule?

The problem might be in how you move or how you sit, says popular rehab and movement coach, Shikha Puri Arora. In this practical and timely book, the Mumbai-based expert argues that the way we move, sit, stand, walk and carry ourselves reveals a lot about the quality of our health.

Unlocked
Unlocked || Gezim Gashi

Gezim Gashi recounts his extraordinary journey-from escaping the Kosovo genocide to becoming the first Albanian-Swede to launch a high school institute in the United States – Gezim lays out a path to personal success and fulfillment that is accessible to all, regardless of their background. With his mentorship, readers will be inspired to overcome obstacles and achieve their biggest goals.

 

The Perfect 10
The Perfect 10 || Yasmin Karachiwala

Fitness looks hard. Weight maintenance looks difficult.

It is a culture that has normalized conversations that have been internalized so deeply that we forget that many are the same half-truths or untruths repeated for so long that they become part of our conditioning.

Normalize this: fitness is easy.

This book will show you that all it takes is ten minutes a day to start that journey and will be packed with exercise plans, movement ideas and lifestyle changes punctuated by stories of real journeys of real people. Get up. Move with Yasmin Karachiwala. And see how your body and your life changes.

 

Play to Transform
Play to Transform || Avinash Jhangiani

Play to Transform is a book that challenges the traditional mindset of business leaders and encourages them to tap into their inner child to accelerate transformation with purpose. The book argues that we are all born creative geniuses with an innate ability to empathize deeply with others, but somewhere along the way, we have lost touch with these qualities. In the post-pandemic world, leaders need to be more empathetic and agile than ever before, and a conscious shift in mindset is required to achieve this.

 

 

Pause, Rewind
Pause, Rewind || Nawaz Modi Singhania

In Pause, Rewind, Nawaz Modi Singhania writes about the role of fitness, nutrition and good mental health in ageing well. She shares techniques she’s developed over her years as a leading fitness consultant, including facial fitness exercises, muscle work, how to build the immune system and health-promoting foods.
When it comes to lifestyle, the book talks of other factors that affect ageing, including sleep, hydration, stress, drinking, smoking, what’s in your head space and heart space, and one’s mindset-positive or negative.
She also shares how to reverse the effects of age, whether it’s weakened eyesight, reduced hearing, osteoporosis, or losing stability and balance.

 

Leading from the Back
Leading from the Back || Ravi Kant, Harry Paul, Ross Reck

Leading from the Back is a distillation of the collective experience and wisdom of Ravi Kant (former CEO, vice chairman, Tata Motors), Harry Paul (co-author of the bestseller FISH! A Proven Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results) and Ross Reck (co-author of The Win-Win Negotiator).

Dhruva
Dhruva || Gauranga Darshan Das

Does destiny block our path to success?
How can we make complex relationships thrive?

Discover practical answers to these questions within the pages of DHRUVA, an enthralling narrative penned by Gauranga Darshan Das, an esteemed author, educator and monk, hailing from the prestigious IISc.
Prince Dhruva’s awe-inspiring journey evokes a spectrum of emotions–love, heartbreak, revenge, passion, guilt and devotion. As you immerse yourself in this gripping tale, Gauranga Darshan artfully weaves his realizations as pearls of wisdom that are refreshingly simple yet remarkably effective.
With a seamless blend of storytelling prowess and practical wisdom, DHRUVA shall deeply resonate with your pursuit of organic success and fulfilling relationships.

 

Attitude
Attitude || Adam Ashton & Adam Jones

Have you ever stumbled upon a piece of life-changing knowledge that made you think: Why the hell didn’t someone tell me this sooner?!
Millions of people have listened to Adam Ashton and Adam Jones on the What You Will Learn podcast, where they have spent tens of thousands of hours studying the best ideas from the greatest minds on the planet. Their most frequently asked question: What is the best lesson you’ve come across? While you’d think a simple question would have a simple answer, it hasn’t-until now! Attitude: The Sh*t They Never Taught You will take you on a journey through takeaways from over a hundred of the world’s greatest thinkers, capturing lessons in personal development, career, business, personal finance, human nature, history and philosophy. Every lesson will be useful, and one might change your life. Remember, it is your attitude, not aptitude, that determines your altitude in life.

Start 2024 on the Right Page!

Ready to kick off 2024 with a bang? Wondering what to read next? From epic adventures to delicious culinary tales, we’ve got the scoop on the hottest releases. Get ready to dive into stories that will make 2024 your best reading year yet! Let the page-turning begin!

 

Angria
Angria || Sohail Rekhy

An astounding debut, Angria is the tale of one of history’s most feared naval commanders. Amid the smell of gunpowder and salt, Sohail Rekhy brings to life a momentous era when the war for swaraj was fought on the seas of India and when only one man stood between the firangis and the Desha. This is the chronicle of a hero whose story has been lost to the waves of time.

 

Loot
Loot || Tania James

Working alongside the legendary French clockmaker Lucien du Leze, Abbas hones his craft, learns French, and meets Jehanne, the daughter of a French expatriate. When Du Leze is finally permitted to return home to Rouen, he invites Abbas to come along as his apprentice. But by the time Abbas travels to Europe, Tipu’s palace has been looted by British forces, and the tiger automaton has disappeared. To prove himself, Abbas must retrieve the tiger from an estate in the English countryside, where it is displayed as a part of a collection of plundered art.

A spellbinding historical novel set in the eighteenth century: a hero’s quest, a love story, the story of a young artist coming of age, and an exuberant heist adventure that traces the bloody legacy of colonialism across two continents and fifty years.

 

 

The Nepal Cookbook
The Nepal Cookbook || Rohini Ranan

Rohini Rana, food connoisseur and the author of The Rana Cookbook, has travelled the length and breadth of Nepal interacting with different ethnic communities and recording in painstaking detail their recipes and knowledge of food and nutrition. The result is this remarkable book featuring a carefully curated selection of 108 recipes, each accompanied by stunning photographs. Its purpose is to offer readers a glimpse into the kaleidoscope that is Nepali cuisine. From the delicious rikikur (potato pancake) and the Newari Haans Ko Choela (barbecued tempered duck) to the lip-smacking momos, this book takes you on a captivating journey across Nepal—a journey that nourishes both your belly and your soul.

 

 

 

Roadwalker
Roadwalker || Dilip D’Souza

 

Dilip D’Souza joined the Bharat Jodo Yatra four times. This is the story of that experience. But even more, this is the story of how he found energy, empathy and enthusiasm in the Yatra. How it spoke to him of renewal. How it filled him, and many others, with hope. ‘This was my chance to make my own slice of personal history,’ he writes. ‘That was enough for me.’

 

Make Epic Money
Make Epic Money | Ankur Warikoo

In his groundbreaking book Do Epic Shit, Warikoo dropped this truth bomb: ‘Three relationships determine our life’s course – time, money, and ourselves.’

Now, in his third book, Make Epic Money, he dives deep into the complex world of money to provide you with the ultimate personal-finance blueprint. Drawing on a lifetime of experience of financial highs and lows, he shares everything he has learnt about money that he wishes someone had taught him when he was young.

Prepare to unlock the secrets to financial well-being with this no-nonsense guide. Say goodbye to confusing jargon and hello to practical advice. Discover how to earn, spend and make your money work just as hard for you as you do for it.

 

A General Reminisces
A General Reminisces || Satish Dua

The son of a modest famer, Nazir tried his hand at carpet weaving, a traditional Kashmiri craft, as a young boy. Teenagers those days heard strident voices, fiery speeches, and more than occasional gunfire. Some were scared, some swayed. Nazir strayed on the wrong side as a teenager, starting with running errands for terrorist groups to more. Fortunately for him, Ikhwan, a rehabilitation programme that allowed young Kashmiri men to convert from militancy and work with the Indian Army, was started just then.

 

Treasures of Lakshmi is the culmination of the much-loved goddess series, brilliantly curated and edited by Namita Gokhale and Malashri Lal. This trilogy, which began with In Search of Sita and continued with Finding Radha, examines the mystical realms of Hindu thought and practice, celebrating the essence of the sacred feminine. Whether it is Lakshmi’s 108 names or a sahasranama of a thousand appellations, her blessings are multidimensional and eternal. as the third and final instalment of this remarkable trilogy, Treasures of Lakshmi takes readers on a unique journey of exploration, unravelling the compelling narrative of ‘the goddess who gives’.

 

A Long Season of Ashes
A Long Season of Ashes || Siddhartha Gigoo

In March 1990, sixteen-year-old Siddhartha Gigoo is forced to flee his home in Safa Kadal, Srinagar, Kashmir. The preceding days have been full of fear and horror for the Gigoos—having seen friends and neighbours killed outside their homes. They could be next if they don’t leave. But they want to stay, even when faced with a looming threat to their lives. Siddhartha thinks his leaving is temporary and that he will be back home soon. Little does he know that his fate is sealed.
What follows is a long, dark time—a camp existence and a struggle for survival.
Thirty-four years on, Siddhartha chronicles the story of his flight from Kashmir and an entire youth spent in exile.
A meditation on the nature of memory, A Long Season of Ashes is a book about a boy’s journey of self-discovery.

 

Crosswinds
Crosswinds || Vijay Gokhale

Crosswinds is based on archival material, outlines India’s efforts to craft a foreign policy in the context of the Anglo–American competition in the Far East. The roles played by the towering personalities of that era—Jawaharlal Nehru, Zhou Enlai, Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John Foster Dulles, Winston Churchill, Anthony Eden and Krishna Menon—and the personal chemistry between them are woven into the narrative to paint a picture of the nuts and bolts of Indian diplomacy during the early years of the nation.

The Descendants
The Descendants || Laksh Maheshwari, Ashish Kavi

When a fiery meteor lands on the Somavanshi estate, Jay and his mentor Kaka are the first to find it, and Jay is mesmerized by the element he finds in the orb. Using his family-owned Vantra Labs, of which he is the CEO, Jay carries out extensive research into the material, along with his team of brilliant scientists. He names the material, the black element.

Little does he know the chain of events that he is about to set off. Directed by the strings of fate, Jay is heading towards the truth concealed in family legend and a prophecy that can be traced back to the times of the Mahabharata war.

 

Crime, Grime and Gumption
Crime, Grime and Gumption || O.P. Singh

From the dusty plains of Gaya, Bihar, to the swampy and terror-infested wetlands of Lakhimpur Kheri, Uttar Pradesh, Crime, Grime and Gumption is an honest and hard-hitting account of law enforcement and governance in the Hindi belt of India. As the ‘policewallah’ gives you a peek into the world of the khaki in this memoir, you will be left thirsting for more.

 

Zin
Zin || Haritha Savithri, Nandakumar K.

 

Set against the 2015–16 Turkish repression of the Kurdistan movement, Zîn is a novel in which an ordinary love story between people of two different nationalities and cultures is flung into an unexpected, extraordinary political and historical setting. The pacey and emotionally stirring novel throws light on how governments reduce minority communities to a lower status and use them as a tool to seize power—a situation that’s become all too familiar across the world.

 

Don't Shut Up
Don’t Shut Up || Prakhar Gupta, Mudit Yadav

Your success in this world is directly proportional to your ability to manage the world and get what you need while also building sustainable relationships—communication in its various forms is the technology that allows you to do so. Don’t Shut Up is a simple and directly applicable toolkit for any communication-related situation you might have —be it a Tuesday morning presentation or a Friday evening date. What do you need from your friends, dates, college, work and life? In this book, Prakhar Gupta and Mudit Yadav have magnified your life one conversation at a time, discovered twenty-three situations that have the potential to impact your life and happiness, and offered their advice on how to navigate each one.

 

Ghalib
Ghalib Flowers in a Mirror || Mehr Afshan Farooqui

In Flowers in a Mirror, Mehr Afshan Farooqi continues her research in the strain of her first book, A Wilderness at My Doorstep. She examines Ghalib’s approach to his work, the world in which he lived and composed, and ultimately, his genius. She selects 30 ghazals from the rejected corpus, translates them into English and provides an erudite, sparkling critical commentary. Through this book, she highlights the significance of marginalized poetry and the need to reinstate the forgotten verses in our lives and hearts.

Happy New Year

Jumpstart January with these Children’s Books

Hey young readers! Ready to kick off the New Year with a blast of stories and adventures? Our special January collection is here to make 2024 your best year of reading yet. Let’s dive into a world of fun and imagination together – who’s in for the ride?

The Later Adventures of Hanuman
The Later Adventures of Hanuman || Amit Majmudar

In this collection of forty exciting tales, read how Hanuman, the monkey-god, vanquishes the thousand-headed Ahiravana, defeats a giant wasp-demoness, races with Garuda to see who is the fastest and has many other escapades.

Action-packed and fast-paced, these reimagined stories of chiranjeevi Hanuman’s later adventures are magical, heart-warming and bittersweet. Continuing the traditional folk practice of inventing adventures for Hanuman, Amit Majmudar takes us along on the monkey-god’s long and lonely, and rollickingly eventful, immortality.

 

Feathers, Fools and Farts
Feathers, Fools and Farts || L. Somi Roy, Thangjam Hindustani Devi

Be warned.

These ten wacky stories in Feathers, Fools, and Farts: Manipuri Folktales Retold from Manipur, perched on India’s border with Myanmar, are not for scaredy-cats.

Nor for those of you who do not enjoy a hearty laugh or a good cry. And if you try to copy the foolishness of the characters, animal and human, in these folktales, you just might turn into a tiger, get stung by a swarm of bees, or even get poo’ed on.

If, however, you believe in strange romances, admire bravery, and like magic and sorcery, this book is for you, wherever you are.

 

 

The Talking Book
The Talking Book || L. Somi Roy, Thangjam Hindustani Devi

 

The story of communication begins in prehistoric times, gallops through the dark arts, untranslatable words and languages brought back from the dead, and arrives in the age of AI. Along the way, we meet outstanding characters—the one-word man, the 400-word monkey and the million-word computer—who play their part in the development of language.

Every tale in this book holds a clue to the gigantic puzzle of the evolution of language that has hypnotized brilliant minds over time. Handprints of not-quite-humans on ancient cave walls, secrets buried in ash from a seven-year-long winter, forbidden experiments by kings on babies and even a rogue gene hiding in your DNA—how do they all piece together?

WARNING: Enjoy the rollercoaster ride of language, hilarious histories and crazy quizzes, but ignore the wise-cracking dog who will insist he wrote this book.

 

Rocket Science for Smartypants
Rocket Science for Smartypants || Anushka Ravishankar

Are you a Smartypants?
Do you ask a lot of questions? Like—
What makes a rocket take off?
What is a satellite?
Can you take off like a rocket if you eat a lot of beans?
If you do, then you just might find the answers in this book.
It has gorgeous pictures, simple explanations and a very curious cat!

Cell Theory for Smartypants
Cell Theory for Smartypants || Anushka Ravishankar

Are you a Smartypants?
Do you ask a lot of questions? Like—
Can you see an animal cell?
Does a Golgi body need exercise?
How many cells does a cat have?
If you do, then you just might find the answers in this book.
It has gorgeous pictures, simple explanations and a very curious cat!

 

Set Theory for Smartypants
Set Theory for Smartypants || Anushka Ravishankar

Are you a Smartypants?
Do you ask a lot of questions? Like—
Can a set have a bicycle and a banana?
Can there be a set with nothing in it?
Do cats like tuna or chicken?
If you do, then you just might find the answers in this book.
It has gorgeous pictures, simple explanations and a very curious cat!

 

 

Grandma's Bag of Stories
Grandma’s Bag of Stories || Sudha Murty

This beloved and bestselling collection of stories by India’s favourite author, Sudha Murty, has sold countless number of copies and entertained generations of children in the subcontinent. Featuring gorgeous illustrations and a new introduction by the author, this special keepsake edition brings to book lovers an old favourite in a stunning new look.

New Year’s special: A reader’s resolutions

The New Year is almost upon us and research tells us that people who make resolutions on New Years’ as opposed to resolutions taken up throughout the year, succeed in keeping them. So let’s get this New Year started with some interesting choice of resolutions for bibliophiles:

 

1. The Books that Defined the Eras – Books that are legendary don’t only define people, they also revolutionize the time period and the thinking. The Beats in the USA and the Hungryalists in India defined literature and revolutionized it. They lived the words they wrote. My New Year resolution is to plunge myself into these literary movements and read all their work, the whys, the whats and the hows.

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source: online-literature.com

 

2. Cosplay – Cosplay is really cool in general. But in places like India, where cosplay doesn’t happen everywhere across the country and frequently, it would be so much fun to dress up as your favourite fictional character and be them for a day. It would certainly startle some people out, but it would also be so much fun! Imagine dressing up as Hermione Granger or Cho Chang from Harry Potter and screaming Expelliarmus with your wand!

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source: gamingcentral.in

 

3. The Forbidden – The forbidden is also the most tempting.  This year could be the year for you to read all the banned books, books by exiled authors and controversial books.  There is plenty of fish in the sea, for you to pick and choose the one you want to hook and read.

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source: literarysluts.com

 

4. Popular Fiction – Lewis Carroll, in his book, ‘An Experiment in Criticism’, also muses about the blasphemy or the dark aura that literature-elitists have created around the books that constitute the genre of popular fiction. There is always ONE (or more than one) book that EVERY book-lover wants to read but is hesitant to, because the Literature Gods have declared them as blasphemy. But this New Year can be letting go of all the inhibitions and reading what we like and trying to understand the animosity displayed against popular fiction.

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 source: facebook.com/sudeep.nagarkar

 

5. Audio books – This New Year could be about downloading the ‘discography’ of as many authors and poets as possible. To be able to listen to the works of artists in their voice is a completely different and new experience, everyone must be acquainted with. The way the tenor of the voice drops, picks up, trembles at different places, and completely changes one’s understanding of literary experience. So do not hesitate to listen to audiobooks by writers!

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source: cdn.images.express.co.uk

 

6. Clean the Clutter- Every book-lover has a messy book shelf, they always bookmark for cleaning later. But start this New Year by cleaning the clutter, arrange your books according to colour, or title or author. Or arrange them according to priority and need; place the books you don’t need in your life right now far behind, or in the corner, and keep the ones that cheer you up right in the middle where you can see them.

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source: memecreator.org

 

7. Collect Bookmarks – We might not have any friend writing to us and sending us postcards from exotic places, but books are our exotic places and bookmarks, our postcards. So, collect bookmarks like post cards to boast about the places you’ve been to in books.

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source: etsy.com

 

8. Read a Book A Week – Reading a book a day is not only ambitious but also the whole exercise of reading is rendered futile because we’re hardly learning anything as we are more worried about sticking to our timeline. Reading a book a week is much more productive and relaxing – pick up any book of your choice and start reading it. Don’t stick to one genre. Explore more. Read stuff that you’ve avoided all these years, the books that make you cringe and the books that make you judge others. Read everything, read a book a week, read leisurely.

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source: img1.etsystatic.com

 

9. Join a Book Club – Join a book club! For what? Well, I don’t know. And that is exactly what we have to find out. What really happens in book clubs? Do people just sit around and discuss books? Just imagine coming up with insane new theories about books you’ve read, with people pitching in. Imagine arranging for cosplay events, poetry and other fun literary events, with these people.  Book clubs can be your own literary haven, away from the overrated normal non-readers’ world.

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source: 31.media.tumblr.com

 

10. Write – Almost every obsessive reader writes. Promise yourself this New Year, to write something new or old every day. Put up sticky notes everywhere to remind yourself, write everyday about everything; the bug bites and the cold. Accompany your writing with a lot of reading and before you know it, you might even end up compiling a book!

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source: ondolady.com

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Happy 2020, readers! 🙂

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