Malgudi Days

R K Narayan was an Indian writer known for his works set in the fictional South Indian town of Malgudi. He was a leading author of early Indian literature in English along with Mulk Raj Anand and Raja Rao.

The fictional town of Malgudi was first introduced in Swami and Friends. Narayan’s The Financial Expert was hailed as one of the most original works of 1951 and Sahitya Akademi Award winner The Guide was adapted for film and for Broadway.

Narayan highlights the social context and everyday life of his characters. In a career that spanned over sixty years Narayan received many awards and honours including the AC Benson Medal from the Royal Society of Literature, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan, India's third and second highest civilian awards. He was also nominated to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of India's parliament.

The book Malgudi Days includes 32 stories, all set in the fictional town of Malgudi. Each of the stories portrays a facet of life in Malgudi. The New York Times described the virtue of the book as "everyone in the book seems to have a capacity for responding to the quality of his particular hour. It's an art we need to study and revive."

Animal Farm

George Orwell, was an English novelist and essayist, journalist and critic, whose work is characterized by lucid prose, awareness of social injustice, opposition to totalitarianism, and outspoken support of democratic socialism. In addition to Animal Farm, he has written books like Nineteen Eighty-Four, Coming up for air, Homage to Catalonia and other books.

Animal Farm is an allegorical novel by George Orwell. The fable reflects events leading up to the Russian Revolution of 1917 and then on into the Stalinist era of the Soviet Union. Orwell believed that the Soviet Union had become a brutal dictatorship, built upon a cult of personality and enforced by a reign of terror.

Orwell wrote the book between November 1943 and February 1944, when the UK was in its wartime alliance with the Soviet Union against Nazi Germany and the British people and intelligentsia held Stalin in high esteem, a phenomenon Orwell hated.

The Gift of the Magi and other stories

O. Henry is the pen name of William Sidney Porter, the American writer who worked on a Texas ranch, then as a bank teller in Austin, then as a reporter for the Houston "Post." Adversity struck, however, when he was indicted for embezzlement of bank funds. Porter was tried, convicted and imprisoned for the crime. In prison he began writing stories of Central America and the American Southwest that soon became popular with magazine readers. After his release Porter moved to New York City, where he continued writing stories under the pen name O.Henry.

The work of O. Henry has delighted readers with its humor, irony and colorful, real-life settings. This is a collection of sixteen of his best stories. It includes classics of the genre such as "The Gift of the Magi," "The Last Leaf," "The Ransom of Red Chief," "The Voice of the City" and "The Cop and the Anthem".

Turning Points – A journey through challenges

APJ Abdul Kalam was an aerospace scientist who served as the 11th President of India from 2002 to 2007. He was born and raised in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu and studied Physics and Aerospace Engineering. He spent the next four decades as a scientist and science administrator, mainly at the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and was intimately involved in India's civilian space programme and military missile development efforts.

Kalam has written many books - Wings of Fire, Ignited Minds, India 2020, You are born to blossom, Inspiring Thoughts, Forge Your Future, Advantage India, Turning Points and many more.

In Turning Points - A journey through Challenges, Kalam writes about his stint in Rashtrapati Bhavan, with details of his meetings with Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other political leaders on many occasions.

Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare

Edith Nesbit was an English author and poet; she published her books for children under the name of E. Nesbit. She wrote or collaborated on more than 60 books of children's literature. Among Nesbit's best-known books are The Story of the Treasure Seekers (1899) and The Wouldbegoods (1901), which both recount stories about the Bastables, a middle-class family that has fallen on (relatively) hard times. She created an innovative body of work that combined realistic, contemporary children in real-world settings with magical objects – what would now be classed as contemporary fantasy – and adventures and sometimes travel to fantastic worlds.

Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare is a 1907 collection published by E. Nesbit with the intention of entertaining young readers and telling William Shakespeare's plays in a way they could be easily understood. She included a brief Shakespeare biography, a pronunciation guide to some of the more difficult names and a list of famous quotations, arranged by subject. Some of the plays are A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Tempest, As You Like It, Romeo and Juliet, The Merchant of Venice, All's Well That Ends Well.

Coma

Robin Cook is an American physician and novelist who writes about medicine and topics affecting public health. Many of his books have been bestsellers on The New York Times Best Seller List. Cooks novels combine medical fact with fantasy. His medical thrillers are designed, in part, to keep the public aware of both the technological possibilities of modern medicine and the ensuing socio-ethical problems which come along with it.

Coma is Robin Cook's first commercially successful novel, published by Signet Book in 1977. Coma's literary awards and acclaims include a long tenure on the New York Times best seller list (reaching its highest position "Number 6" in the fiction category.The novel was included in the Fiction category of "The New York Times Outstanding Book of the Year" listing from which the "Best Book of the Year" is selected. The New York Times Book Review also called Coma 1977's "number one thriller of the year".

Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less

Jeffrey Archer is an English novelist, former politician, and peer of the realm. Before becoming an author, Archer was a Member of Parliament (1969–74),but did not seek re-election after a financial scandal that left him almost bankrupt. Archer wrote his first book, Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less, in the autumn of 1974. His best-selling novels include Kane and Abel, The Prodigal Daughter, Shall We Tell the President, First Among Equals, False Impression. Recently, he was written a series of 7 books under the collection Clifton’s Chronicles. He has also written many short stories.

In the book, Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less, Harvey Metcalfe, over 40 years, has mastered the shady deal in advancing from messenger boy to mogul. But by selling inflated oil stock, he has cheated the wrong men - Stephen Bradley, an American professor at the University of Oxford, Dr Robin Oakley, a Harley Street doctor, Jean-Pierre Lamanns, a French art dealer with a gallery in London, and James Brigsley, heir to an earldom. Each has bought stock and suffered when it failed. Bradley learns of Metcalfe's responsibility, and organizes the other three to get their money back. They come up with respective plans. Read on to know whether they are successful.

Malgudi Days

R K Narayan was an Indian writer known for his works set in the fictional South Indian town of Malgudi. He was a leading author of early Indian literature in English along with Mulk Raj Anand and Raja Rao.

The fictional town of Malgudi was first introduced in Swami and Friends. Narayan’s The Financial Expert was hailed as one of the most original works of 1951 and Sahitya Akademi Award winner The Guide was adapted for film and for Broadway.

Narayan highlights the social context and everyday life of his characters. In a career that spanned over sixty years Narayan received many awards and honours including the AC Benson Medal from the Royal Society of Literature, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan, India's third and second highest civilian awards. He was also nominated to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of India's parliament.

The book Malgudi Days includes 32 stories, all set in the fictional town of Malgudi. Each of the stories portrays a facet of life in Malgudi. The New York Times described the virtue of the book as "everyone in the book seems to have a capacity for responding to the quality of his particular hour. It's an art we need to study and revive."

Who Moved My Cheese

Dr Spencer Johnson was an American physician and author, popular for his 1998 self-help or motivational book Who Moved My Cheese?, which recurred on the New York Times Bestseller list for almost 5 years, and on the Publishers Weekly Hardcover nonfiction list for over 200 weeks.

Who Moved My Cheese? An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life, is a motivational business fable. The text describes change in one's work and life, and four typical reactions to those changes by two mice and two "little people", during their hunt for cheese. They live in a maze, a representation of one's environment, and look for cheese, representative of happiness and success.

Johnson also wrote the book "Yes" or "No": The Guide to Better Decisions (1992). He co-authored the One Minute Manager series of books with management writer Ken Blanchard. His latest book is Peaks And Valleys.

The Alchemist

Paolo Coelho is a Brazilian novelist, writer and lyricist. He is widely known for “The Alchemist”, which was originally written in Portuguese. It has been translated and published in English in 1993.

The Alchemist follows the journey of a shepherd boy named Santiago who dreams that he will discover a treasure at the Egyptian pyramids. The book is about his adventures as he goes about in search of the treasure.

Santiago’s journey teaches us about the wisdom of listening to our hearts, learning to read the signs along life’s path, and following our dreams.

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Robert Louis Stevenson was a British novelist, poet, essayist, musician and travel writer. Some of his most famous works are Treasure Island, Kidnapped, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, published in 1886 by Robert Louis Stevenson, is about a man who transforms between two personae: Dr. Henry Jekyll and Mr. Edward Hyde. The novel has some horror elements of persona-changing potions, murders, and eventual suicide. The novel is frequently interpreted as an examination of the duality of human nature, usually expressed as an inner struggle between good and evil. It shows how the thoughts and desires banished to the unconscious mind motivate the behaviour of the conscious mind. The novel had a major impact on the English language, with the phrase "Jekyll and Hyde" referring to people with an unpredictably dual nature: usually very good, but sometimes shockingly evil instead.

How to Win Friends and Influence People

Dale Carnegie began his career not as a writer, but as a teacher of public speaking. He started out teaching night classes at a YMCA in New York and his classes became wildly popular and highly attended. After achieving great success, Carnegie decided to begin teaching the courses on his own at hotels in London, Paris, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. Because he could not find any satisfactory handbook already in publication, Carnegie originally began writing small booklets to go along with his courses. Leon Shimkin of the publishing house Simon & Schuster urged Carnegie to write a book, but he was not initially persuaded. Shimkin then hired a stenographer to type up what he heard in one of Carnegie's long lectures and presented the transcript to Carnegie. Dale Carnegie liked the transcript so much he decided to edit and revise it into a final form. He wanted it to be extremely practical and interesting to read.

Originally published in November 1936, the book reached the New York Times best-seller list by the end of the year, and did not fall off for the next two years.In 1981, a revised edition containing updated language and anecdotes was released. In 2011, it was number 19 on Time Magazine's list of the 100 most influential books. According to the author, eight things this book will help you achieve:

• 1. Get out of a mental rut, think new thoughts, acquire new visions, discover new ambitions.
• 2. Make friends quickly and easily.
• 3. Increase your popularity.
• 4. Win people to your way of thinking.
• 5. Increase your influence, your prestige, your ability to get things done.
• 6. Handle complaints, avoid arguments, keep your human contacts smooth and pleasant.
• 7. Become a better speaker, a more entertaining conversationalist.
• 8. Arouse enthusiasm among your associates.

The Time Machine

H G Wells was an English writer, popularly known as “Father of Science Fiction”. His other popular science fiction works include “The Island of Doctor Moreau”, “The Invisible Man” and “The War of the Worlds”. He has written books in multiple genres like short stories, novels, social commentary, biography, satire.

The Time Machine is based on the concept of “time travel” where the operator uses a vehicle to travel purposefully into a time in the future and return. The term “time machine” coined by H G Wells is now commonly used to describe this concept. This novel describes the time travel and the adventurous experiences of a scientist and inventor who has invented such a machine. He comes across some imaginary characters that will transport the reader to a world of fantasy.

The mysterious affair at Styles

Agatha Christie was an English writer, well-known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around her fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. In 1971 she was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) for her contribution to literature.

'The Mysterious Affair at Styles' is a murder mystery and Agatha Christie introduces the detective Hercule Poirot, Inspector Japp and Arthur Hastings in this book. Murder occurs in a country house and the potential suspects are limited by the circumstances and they are all concealing secrets. Death occurs due to poison, and the detective gathers all the suspects together one final time to unveil the solution to the mystery.