Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn

Ella Minnow Pea
Mark Dunn
AED 55
ISBN 9780413772954

Description

Ella Minnow Pea is an epistolary novel set in the fictional island of Nollop situated off the coast of South Carolina and home to the inventor the pangram The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over The Lazy Dog. Now deceased, the islanders have erected a monument to honor their hero, but one day a tile with the letter “z” falls from the statue. The leaders interpret the falling tile as a message from beyond the grave and the letter is banned from use. On an island where the residents pride themselves on their love of language, this is seen as a tragedy. They are still reeling from the shock, when another tile falls and then another.... Mark Dunn takes us on a journey against time through the eyes of Ella Minnow Pea and her family as they race to find another phrase containing all the letters of the alphabet to save them from being unable to communicate. Eventually, the only letters remaining are LMNOP, when Ella finally discovers the phrase that will save their language.

About the Author

Mark Dunn is the author of more than twenty-five full-length plays. Belles and Five Tellers Dancing in the Rain have together received over 150 productions throughout the world and he has been the recipient of several national playwriting awards. He is currently playwright-in-residence with the New Jersey Repertory Company and the Community League in Williamsport, PA.

His screenplay Judy Garland Slept Here will be released as a feature length film this year by WhiteWolf Productions.

Originally from Memphis, he now lives in Greenwich Village with his wife Mary and two cats. Ella Minnow Pea is his first novel.

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Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut

Slaughterhouse 5
Kurt Vonnegut
AED 42
ISBN 9780099800200 

Description

Centring on the infamous fire-bombing of Dresden in the Second World War, Billy Pilgrim's odyssey through time reflects the journey of our own fractured lives as we search for meaning in what we are afraid to know.

About the Author

Kurt Vonnegut’s black humor, satiric voice, and incomparable imagination first captured America’s attention in The Sirens of Titan in 1959 and established him as “a true artist” (The New York Times) with Cat’s Cradle in 1963. He was, as Graham Greene declared, “one of the best living American writers.” Mr. Vonnegut passed away in April 2007.

Excerpt

Chapter One

All this happened, more or less. The war parts, anyway, are pretty much true. One guy I knew really was shot in Dresden for taking a teapot that wasn't his. Another guy I knew really did threaten to have his personal enemies killed by hired gunmen after the war. And so on. I've changed all the names. 

I really did go back to Dresden with Guggenheim money (God love it) in 1967. It looked a lot like Dayton, Ohio, more open spaces than Dayton has. There must be tons of human bone meal in the ground. 

I went back there with an old war buddy, Bernard V. O'Hare, and we made friends with a cab driver, who took us to the slaughterhouse where we had been locked up at night as prisoners of war. His name was Gerhard Müller. He told us that he was a prisoner of the Americans for a while. We asked him how it was to live under Communism, and he said that it was terrible at first, because everybody had to work so hard, and because there wasn't much shelter or food or clothing. But things were much better now. He had a pleasant little apartment, and his daughter was getting an excellent education. His mother was incinerated in the Dresden fire-storm. So it goes. [...]

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The Uses and Abuses of History by Margaret MacMillan

The Uses and Abuses of History
Margaret MacMillan
AED 55
ISBN 9781846682100

Description

History is useful when it is used responsibly, to understand why we think and react in certain ways. But it is also susceptible to manipulation and distortion. Nationalists tell false or one-sided stories about their past, whilst dictators suppress history because it undermines their claims to omniscience and authority. Taking lessons from the past is problematic - there are too many examples, enough to suit every need.

Margaret MacMillan is concerned that the history profession appears to be turning inwards, retreating fro the big issues at a time when it is urgently needed to increase our understanding of the past.The Uses and Abuses of History is a powerful and vital call to arms for us all to use history - and it's lessons - with care and respect.

About the Author

Margaret MacMillan was educated at the University of Toronto and at Oxford, where she obtained a B. Phil. in politics and a D. Phil. for a thesis on the British in India between 1880 and 1920. She is the editor of Canada and NATO and the author of Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World, which won the 2003 Governor General's Award, the Samuel Johnson Prize, the PEN Hessell Tiltman Prize, the Duff Cooper Prize and was a New York Times Editors' Choice for 2002. Currently, MacMillan lives in Toronto, and is provost of Trinity College and professor of history at the University of Toronto. In 2007, she will become the Warden of St. Anthony’s College, Oxford University. Visit her site: www.margaretmacmillan.com

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Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler

Darkness at Noon
Arthur Koestler
AED 44
ISBN 9780099424918

Description

Darkness At Noon stands as an unequaled fictional portrayal of the nightmare politics of our time. Its hero is an aging revolutionary, imprisoned and psychologically tortured by the Party to which he has dedicated his life. As the pressure to confess preposterous crimes increases, he re-lives a career that embodies the terrible ironies and human betrayals of a totalitarian movement masking itself as an instrument of deliverance. Almost unbearably vivid in its depiction of one man's solitary agony, Darkness At Noon asks questions about ends and means that have relevance not only for the past but for the perilous present. It is--as the Times Literary Supplement has declared--"A remarkable book, a grimly fascinating interpretation of the logic of the Russian Revolution, indeed of all revolutionary dictatorships, and at the same time a tense and subtly intellectualized drama..." 

A Case of Exploding Mangoes by Mohammed Hanif

A Case of Exploding Mangoes
Mohammed Hanif
AED 38
ISBN 9780099516743

Description

There is an ancient saying that when lovers fall out, a plane goes down. This is the story of one such plane.

Why did a Hercules C130, the world's sturdiest plane, carrying Pakistan's military dictator General Zia ul Haq, go down on 17 August, 1988? Was it because of: mechanical failure, human error, the CIA's impatience, a blind woman's curse, generals not happy with their pension plans, the mango season or could it be your narrator, Ali Shigri?

Teasing, provocative, and very, very funny, Mohammed Hanif's debut novel takes one of the subcontinent's enduring mysteries and out if it spins a tale as rich and colourful as a beggar's dream.

One Night @ the Call Centre by Chetan Bhagat

One Night @ The Call Centre
Chetan Bhagat
AED 16
ISBN 9788129108180

Description

Six friends work nights at a call center in India, providing technical support for a major U.S. appliance corporation. Skilled in patience–and accent management–they help American consumers keep their lives running. Yet behind the headsets, everybody’s heart is on the line. 

Shyam (Sam to his callers) has lost his self-confidence after being dumped by the girl who just so happens to be sitting next to him. Priyanka’s domineering mother has arranged for her daughter’s upscale marriage to an Indian man in Seattle. Esha longs to be a model but discovers it’s a horizontal romp to the runway. Lost, dissatisfied Vroom has high ideals, but compromises them by talking on the phone to idiots each night. Traditional Radhika has just found out that her husband is sleeping with his secretary. And Military Uncle (nobody knows his real name) sits alone working the online chat. 

They all try to make it through their shifts–and maintain their sanity–under the eagle eye of a boss whose ego rivals his incompetence. But tonight is no ordinary night. Tonight is Thanksgiving in America: Appliances are going haywire, and the phones are ringing off their hooks. Then one call, from one very special caller, changes everything. 

About the Author

Chetan Bhagat is the author of three blockbuster novels, Five Point Someone (2004), One Night @ the Call Center (2005) and The 3 Mistakes of life (2008). All the three books have remained bestsellers since their release and have inspired major Bollywood films. The New York Times called Chetan the ‘the biggest selling English language novelist in India’s history.’ Seen more as a youth icon than just an author, this IIT D/ IIMA graduate is making India read like never before.

Chetan also writes op-ed columns for leading English and Hindi newspapers, focusing on youth and national development based issues. Many of the issues raised by Chetan’s columns have been discussed in Parliament and among the top leadership of the country.

Chetan quit his international investment banking career in 2009, to devote his entire time to writing and make change happen in the country. He lives in Mumbai with his wife  Anusha, an ex-classmate from IIMA and his twin boys Shyam and Ishaan.

Lipstick Jungle by Candace Bushnell

Lipstick Jungle
Candace Bushnell
AED 37
ISBN 9780786893966

Description

The new novel that fans of the bestselling author have been waiting for, about three sexy, powerful career women who will do anything to stay at the top of their fieldsVictory Ford is the darling of the fashion world. Single, attractive, and iconoclastic, she has worked for years to create her own signature line. As Victory struggles to keep her company afloat, she learns crucial lessons about what she really wants in a relationship.Nico O+Neilly is the glamorous, brilliant editor of Bonfire Magazine-the pop-culture bible for fashion, show business, and politics. Considered one of the most powerful women in publishing, she seems to have it all. But in a mid-life crisis, she suddenly realizes this isn+t enough. Wendy Healy+s chutzpah has propelled her to the very top of the cut-throat movie industry. When it becomes clear that a competitor is trying to oust her, something has to give-and Wendy must decide between her career and her marriage.In Lipstick Jungle, Bushnell once again delivers an addictive page-turner of sex and scandal that will keep readers enthralled and guessing to the very last page.

About the Author

Candace Bushnell is the author of three bestsellers, Sex and the City, Four Blondes, and Trading Up. She has been a columnist for the New York Observer and a contributing editor to Vogue. She lives in New York City.

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The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom

The Five People You Meet in Heaven
Mitch Albom
AED 35
ISBN 9780751536140

Description

THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN is a wonderfully moving fable that addresses the meaning of life, and life after death, in the poignant way that made TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE such an astonishing book. The novel's protagonist is an elderly amusement park maintenance worker named Eddie who, while operating a ride called the 'Free Fall', dies while trying to save a young girl who gets in the way of a falling cart that hurtles to earth. Eddie goes to heaven, where he meets five people who were unexpectedly instrumental in some way in his life. While each guide takes him through heaven, Eddie learns a little bit more about what his time on earth meant, what he was supposed to have learned, and what his true purpose on earth was. Throughout there are dramatic flashbacks where we see scenes from his troubled childhood, his years in the army in the Philippines jungle, and with his first and only love, his wife Marguerite. THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN is the perfect book to follow TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE. Its compellingly affecting themes and lyrical writing will fascinate Mitch Albom's huge readership. 

About the Author

An internationally renowned best-selling author of nine books, Mitch Albom is a journalist, screenwriter, playwright, radio and television broadcaster and musician.

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Lord of the Flies
William Golding
AED 49
ISBN 978571191475

Description

Lord of the Flies , William Golding's classic tale about a group of English schoolboys who are plane-wrecked on a deserted island, is just as chilling and relevant today as when it was first published in 1954. At first, the stranded boys cooperate, attempting to gather food, make shelters, and maintain signal fires. Overseeing their efforts are Ralph, "the boy with fair hair," and Piggy, Ralph's chubby, wisdom-dispensing sidekick whose thick spectacles come in handy for lighting fires. Although Ralph tries to impose order and delegate responsibility, there are many in their number who would rather swim, play, or hunt the island's wild pig population. Soon Ralph's rules are being ignored or challenged outright. His fiercest antagonist is Jack, the redheaded leader of the pig hunters, who manages to lure away many of the boys to join his band of painted savages. The situation deteriorates as the trappings of civilization continue to fall away, until Ralph discovers that instead of being hunters, he and Piggy have become the hunted: "He forgot his words, his hunger and thirst, and became fear; hopeless fear on flying feet." Golding's gripping novel explores the boundary between human reason and animal instinct, all on the brutal playing field of adolescent competition. 

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Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Life of Pi
Yann Martel
AED 49
ISBN 9781841954257

Description

After the tragic sinking of a cargo ship, a solitary lifeboat remains bobbing on the wild, blue Pacific. The only survivors from the wreck are a sixteen year-old boy named Pi, a hyena, a zebra (with a broken leg), a female orang-utan and a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger. The scene is set for one of the most extraordinary and best-loved works of fiction in recent years.

Life of Pi was first published in 2001. In 2002 it won the Man Booker Prize and since then has gone on to become the bestselling Man Booker-prize winner of recent years. A story to make you believe the impossible, it is a novel that has captured hearts and minds like no other.