Ads #15 HOT NEW RELEASES IN BOOKS TO BUY ON AMAZON

1. Boys Don't Cry

Author: Meghna Pant

Publisher: Penguin eBury Press

Print Length: 256 pages

Release Date: 17 January 2022

Price: ₹225.00

Review

When Maneka Pataudi is arrested as the prime suspect for the murder of her ex-husband, she reveals a chilling tale of marital abuse and neglect. But is her confession the truth or a lie? Is she telling the story as a victim or a perpetrator? And, is it better for women to kill for love or be killed for it? Based on a true story (mostly), Boys Don't Cry is a gripping, compelling and courageous novel that takes you behind the closed doors of a modern Indian marriage.

About the Author

Meghna Pant is an award-winning author, journalist, feminist and speaker. Her books-The Terrible, Horrible, Very Bad Good News, How to Get Published in India, Feminist Rani, The Trouble with Women, Happy Birthday and One and a Half Wife-have been published to commercial and critical acclaim. Pant has been felicitated with various honours and her works have been shortlisted for distinguished contribution to literature, gender issues and journalism. She has won the Bharat Nirman Award, Laadli Media Award, FICCI Young Achiever's Award, The Lifestyle Journalist Women Achievers' Award, FON South Asia Short Story Award, Muse India Young Writer Award, Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, Frank O'Connor International Award and the Commonwealth Short Story Prize.

Pant has been invited as a speaker for the nation's biggest literary festivals and conferences, and has appeared as a panellist on primetime news and international channels to discuss gender issues. She has written articles for and been quoted in leading national and international media. She has worked as a business news anchor for Times Now, NDTV and Bloomberg-UTV in New York and Mumbai. Pant currently lives in Mumbai with her husband and two daughters.

2. To Paradise

Author: Hanya Yanagihara

Publisher: Picador

Print Length: 720 pages

Release Date: 11 January 2022

Price: ₹610.00

Review

'After the painfully affecting [A Little Life] To Paradise gives us three stories far apart in space and time but each unique in their power to summon the joy and complexity of love, the pain of loss. I’m not sure I’ve ever missed the world of a book as much as I miss To Paradise now I’ve left it . . . It’s rare that you get the opportunity to review a masterpiece, but To Paradise, definitively, is one.' – Observer

'Awe-inspiring . . . The characters are so well drawn and the plot so well paced, I couldn’t put it down.' – Daily Telegraph

From Hanya Yanagihara, author of the modern classic A Little Life, To Paradise is a bold, brilliant novel spanning three centuries and three different versions of the American experiment, about lovers, family, loss and the elusive promise of utopia.

In an alternate version of 1893 America, New York is part of the Free States, where people may live and love whomever they please (or so it seems). The fragile young scion of a distinguished family resists betrothal to a worthy suitor, drawn to a charming music teacher of no means. In a 1993 Manhattan besieged by the AIDS epidemic, a young Hawaiian man lives with his much older, wealthier partner, hiding his troubled childhood and the fate of his father. And in 2093, in a world riven by plagues and governed by totalitarian rule, a powerful scientist’s damaged granddaughter tries to navigate life without him – and solve the mystery of her husband’s disappearances.

These three sections are joined in an enthralling and ingenious symphony, as recurring notes and themes deepen and enrich one another: A townhouse in Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village; illness, and treatments that come at a terrible cost; wealth and squalor; the weak and the strong; race; the definition of family, and of nationhood; the dangerous righteousness of the powerful, and of revolutionaries; the longing to find a place in an earthly paradise, and the gradual realization that it can’t exist. What unites not just the characters, but these Americas, are their reckonings with the qualities that make us human: Fear. Love. Shame. Need. Loneliness.

To Paradise is a fin-de-siecle novel of marvellous literary effect, but above all it is a work of emotional genius. The great power of this remarkable novel is driven by Yanagihara’s understanding of the aching desire to protect those we love – partners, lovers, children, friends, family and even our fellow citizens – and the pain that ensues when we cannot.

About the Author

Hanya Yanagihara is the author of the internationally bestselling A Little Life. She lives in New York City.

3. The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity

Author: David Graeber (Author),David Wengrow (Author)

Publisher: Allen Lane

Print Length: 704 pages

Release Date: 20 January 2022

Price: ₹789.00

Review

For generations, our remote ancestors have been cast as primitive and childlike - either free and equal, or thuggish and warlike. Civilization, we are told, could be achieved only by sacrificing those original freedoms or, alternatively, by taming our baser instincts. David Graeber and David Wengrow show how such theories first emerged in the eighteenth century as a reaction to indigenous critiques of European society, and why they are wrong. In doing so, they overturn our view of human history, including the origins of farming, property, cities, democracy, slavery and civilization itself.

Drawing on path-breaking research in archaeology and anthropology, the authors show how history becomes a far more interesting place once we begin to see what's really there. If humans did not spend 95 per cent of their evolutionary past in tiny bands of hunter-gatherers, what were they doing all that time? If agriculture, and cities, did not mean a plunge into hierarchy and domination, then what kinds of social and economic organization did they lead to? The answers are often unexpected, and suggest that the course of history may be less set in stone, and more full of playful possibilities than we tend to assume.

The Dawn of Everything fundamentally transforms our understanding of the human past and offers a path toward imagining new forms of freedom, new ways of organizing society. This is a monumental book of formidable intellectual range, animated by curiosity, moral vision and faith in the power of direct action.

About the Author

David Graeber was a professor of anthropology at the London School of Economics. He is the author of Debt: The First 5,000 Years and Bullshit Jobs: A Theory, and was a contributor to Harper's Magazine, The Guardian, and The Baffler. An iconic thinker and renowned activist, his early efforts helped to make Occupy Wall Street an era-defining movement. He died on 2 September 2020.

David Wengrow is a professor of comparative archaeology at the Institute of Archaeology, University College London, and has been a visiting professor at New York University. He is the author of three books, including What Makes Civilization?. Wengrow conducts archaeological fieldwork in various parts of Africa and the Middle East.

4. Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention

Author: Johann Hari

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Print Length: 352 pages

Release Date: 24 January 2022

Price: ₹390.00

Review

For Stolen Focus, internationally bestselling author Johann Hari went on a three-year journey to uncover the reasons why our teenagers now focus on one task for only 65 seconds, and why office workers on average manage only three minutes. He interviewed the leading experts in the world on attention, and learned that everything we think about this subject is wrong.

We think our inability to focus is a personal failing - a flaw in each one of us. It is not. This has been done to all of us by powerful external forces. Our focus has been stolen. Johann discovered there are twelve deep cases of this crisis, all of which have robbed some of our attention. He shows us how in a thrilling journey that ranges from Silicon Valley dissidents, to a favela in Rio where attention vanished, to an office in New Zealand that found a remarkable way to restore our attention.

Crucially, he learned how - as individuals, and as a society - we can get our focus back, if we are determined to fight for it.

About the Author

Johann Hari is a writer and journalist. He has written for the New York Times, Le Monde, the Guardian and other newspapers. His TED talks have been viewed over 70 million times, and his work has been praised by a broad range of people, from Oprah to Noam Chomsky to Joe Rogan. He lives in London.

5. The Girl in the Glass Case: Keep your girls safe. Boys safer.

Author: Devashish Sardana

Publisher: Penguin eBury Press

Print Length: 344 pages

Release Date: 10 January 2022

Price: ₹234.00

Review

Simone Singh, assistant superintendent of police, would rather spend her days locking up criminals than apologizing for her lack of social skills. And she refuses to let anyone stand in the way of her pursuit of the Doll Maker, a ruthless serial killer who dresses up little kids as Barbie dolls and displays their bodies in glass cases. But Simone knows that time is running out to piece together the clues as the Doll Maker has made it clear that the killings have only just begun . . .

Another serial killer, the Clipper, who enjoyed nine years of infamy as India's most notorious butcher, erupts into an all-consuming rage when he is cast aside by the media in favour of the sick new slayer-the Doll Maker. The Clipper turns his fury into blood-soaked revenge to capture the top spot. As corpses start to pile up, Simone fights to maneuver the Doll Maker into a clever trap. But the Clipper is hell-bent on striking first and regaining the crown with his most grisly murder yet.

Can Simone take down the two serial killers and stop the psychotic competition before it gets out of hand?

The Girl in the Glass Case is a jaw-dropping psychological crime thriller. If you like determined heroines, nail-biting twists and chilling serial murderers, then you'll love this rollercoaster ride.

About the Author

Devashish Sardana is the author of the bestselling The Apple, which won the second prize among 5000 entries at the Amazon India Pen-to-Publish Literary Award 2019. He also writes 100-word thrillers on 10x10 Thrills, a blog on both Facebook and Instagram with 1.6 lakh followers. The blog reached over 1.2 crore readers in 2020.

Devashish is a small-town boy from India, who grew up with big dreams and an even bigger imagination. After graduating from IIM Ahmedabad, he sharpened his storytelling skills as a brand builder in a Fortune 100 company for over ten years. Devashish lives in Singapore with his wife and college sweetheart, Megha. He flits across the globe selling hope in a jar (beauty creams).

6. The Maid: A gripping read in mystery books

Author: Nita Prose

Publisher: HarperCollins

Print Length: 352 pages

Release Date: 20 January 2022

Price: ₹397.00

Review

Molly the maid is all alone in the world. A nobody. She’s used to being invisible in her job at the Regency Grand Hotel, plumping pillows and wiping away the grime, dust and secrets of the guests passing through. She’s just a maid – why should anyone take notice?

But Molly is thrown into the spotlight when she discovers an infamous guest, Mr Black, very dead in his bed. This isn’t a mess that can be easily cleaned up. And as Molly becomes embroiled in the hunt for the truth, following the clues whispering in the hallways of the Regency Grand, she discovers a power she never knew was there. She’s just a maid – but what can she see that others overlook?

Escapist, charming and introducing a truly original heroine, The Maid is a story about how the truth isn’t always black and white – it’s found in the dirtier, grey areas in between . . .

*RIGHTS SOLD IN 29 TERRITORIES*

‘With The Maid comes an exciting and formidable new voice’ SANTA MONTEFIORE

‘Gripping, deftly written, and led by a truly unforgettable protagonist in Molly. I'm recommending it to everyone I know' EMMA STONEX

‘Beautiful writing, an intriguing mystery, and a colourful cast of friends and sleuths ensure The Maid sparkles with wit and tension’ LUCY CLARKE

‘Fresh, fiendish and darkly beguiling. The Maid is so thrillingly original, and clever, and joyous. I just adored every page’ CHRIS WHITAKER

About the Author

NITA PROSE is a long-time editor, serving many bestselling authors and their books. She lives in Toronto, Canada, in a house that is only moderately clean.

7. Icons of Grace: Twenty-one Lives that Defined Indian Spirituality

Author: Swami Nityanand Charan Das

Publisher: Westland

Print Length: 360 pages

Release Date: 10 January 2022

Price: ₹249.00

Review

The path to spiritual understanding can be a confusing one. The manic pace of the present age has loosened the threads that tied our ancestors to prayer and faith. But role models could still help us find our way back. In Icons of Grace, respected ISKCON monk Nityanand Charan Das introduces readers to the lives of twenty-one extraordinary people who served as spiritual guides, through their teachings and through personal example.

At one level, the lives of these great souls—from Mirabai and Ramanujacharya to Sant Tukaram and Adi Shankaracharya—are a practical demonstration of the most essential spiritual principles. In relating them, though, Nityanand Charan Das aims not just to record the richness of their cultural and spiritual legacies but also to convey to readers the lessons one can learn through their daily actions and choices. Icons of Grace is inspiring. It also offers hope: however imperfect our journey has been thus far, spiritual redemption is accessible to us all.

About the Author

Nityanand Charan Das is a practising monk at the Sri Sri Radha Gopinath Temple, ISKCON Chowpatty, Mumbai, and a visionary who wishes to revolutionise the current urban scenario by aiding people to lead a life of purpose, fulfillment, and satisfaction. He also specialises in guiding today’s youth to reconnect with their roots and lead a simple yet happy life.

Coming from an army background, Nityanand Charan Das’s childhood desire was to become an army officer. However, Krishna had other plans for him and orchestrated his life beautifully. Life led him to fail the NDA interview, despite being one of the best in the group; he took up engineering instead, and eventually became a monk when he was just twenty-four years old.

Nityanand Charan Das focuses on making the sacred teachings of our holy scriptures simple so they that resonate with anyone and everyone. His message is simple: ‘Spiritual life is not a life of rejection. It is a life of connection.’ He says, we do not have to give up anything, we simply have to add this valuable dimension to our life.

His divine radiance can be felt far and wide: his discourses are heard in every major city of India and in more than fifty countries across the globe.

8. PIGGY BANK TO PORTFOLIO : How to Raise Financially Smart Kids

Author: Binal Gandhi (Author), Soneera Sanghvi (Author)

Publisher: Juggernaut

Print Length: 200 pages

Release Date: 10 January 2022

Price: ₹274.48

Review

Can you buy me a new Lego set? Why do you work? Why is that man poor? Are we rich? Do these questions seem familiar? Written by two moms (a senior banker and a writer), Piggy Bank to Portfolio helps you teach your child about money, no matter what your income level.

About the Author

Binal Gandhi was a senior banker and currently CEO of The Learning Curve Academy. Soneera Sanghvi is a lawyer and writer.

9. Indomitable: A Working Woman's Notes on Work, Life and Leadership

Author: Arundhati Bhattacharya

Publisher: HarperBusiness

Print Length: 312 pages

Release Date: 12 January 2022

Price: ₹549.00

Review

Growing up in the sleepy towns of Bhilai and Bokaro, Arundhati Bhattacharya never imagined that one day she would go on to chair India's largest bank. It was sheer chance that she came to know of the bank probationary officers' entrance examination through a friend. She applied, was selected and went on to have a glorious banking career spanning four decades.

Indomitable is the story of Arundhati's life as a banker and the challenges she faced in a male-dominated bastion. She takes the reader through her childhood and early education in the 1960s, getting to Kolkata for her college education and then into the State Bank of India(SBI), where she started her career.

The life of a woman banker with a family in a frequently transferrable job isn't easy. In Arundhati's life, too, there were breaking points when she almost thought of quitting her career to balance her personal aspirations with her family's needs. But she didn't give up. Instead, she faced her challenges with humour and positivity and took up every assignment as a new chapter in learning and adapting.

In her role as the chairman of SBI, she steered the bank through some of its worst phases. She inspired confidence in the banking sector when the NPA crises led to a significant public-trust deficit. Under her leadership, SBI metamorphosed into a customer-centric and digitally advanced bank while playing a pivotal role in national development. Some of her human resources initiatives included industry-first practices that were appreciated and later adopted by other banks.

Candid, lucid and humble, Indomitable is a story that will galvanize you to embrace challenges, break barriers, push forward and achieve greater heights.

About the Author

Arundhati Bhattacharya is the first woman to chair the State Bank of India (SBI), a 210-year-old institution, India's largest bank and a Fortune 500 company. Currently, she is the chairperson and CEO of Salesforce India, a cloud-based SaaS company, listed in the USA and headquartered in San Francisco.

10. What The Heck Do I Do With My Life? How To Flourish In Our Turbulent Times

   

Author: Ravi Venkatesan

Publisher: Rupa Publications India

Print Length: 208 pages

Release Date: 5 January 2022

Price: ₹281.00

Review

Our world will change more in this century than in all of human history, driven by many factors including technology, climate change, demographics and inequality. Such extreme change is throwing up unprecedented opportunities and creating an ‘adaptive challenge’ for individuals, organizations and societies. Those who can adapt to a fast-flowing, complex, volatile and uncertain world will flourish. Those who cannot will suffer greatly.

There are clear signs everywhere that we need new ways to think about the world and our place in it. Our old ideas about education, lifestyle, success and happiness no longer work. How is work changing? How can you know what skills will be useful when jobs of the future are still being invented? Will ‘jobs’ even exist or are we moving to a world of projects and gig work? How do you make sense of all this and more?

In What the Heck Do I Do With My Life? Ravi Venkatesan makes the case that successful adaptation in the new century requires a ‘paradigm shift’, a different mindset, new skills and new strategies. Ravi also reflects on how we will need to live life more intentionally, making deliberate choices about who we are, what we do and how we live rather than simply being carried along like a piece of driftwood.

About the Author

Ravi Venkatesan is a business leader, author and social entrepreneur. He is currently UNICEF’s Special Representative for Young People and Innovation, the founder of the Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship (GAME) and serves on the boards of Hitachi Ltd and Rockefeller Foundation. Ravi was the chairman of Microsoft India, Bank of Baroda and Cummins India. He has a B.Tech from IIT Bombay, an MS from Purdue University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Ravi is the author of Conquering the Chaos: Win in India, Win Everywhere. He was voted as one of India’s best management thinkers by Thinkers50 and as Microsoft’s Alumni Hero 2020.