Monday, March 28, 2011

Happy 9th birthday celebrations !



Happy Birthday !




Priyanka, Kshitija and Jahnavi




twistntales kids !




Are u happy today ?




Shama, Kshitija and Madhavi




People love us !




Flooded with good wishes !




If wishes were horses ....




Our first customer nine years back !




Gifts for tnt !




Tia and Tripuri




Spiky !




Jahnavi and Anushree




Cheers to 9 years of fun !

Saturday, March 26, 2011

An ode of thanks !

twistntales started in March 2002 with 5 lakhs capital and a small prayer on 28th of March. With the interiors then costing us 2.5 lakhs, we were left with half the amount to start and sustain our business.

As we enter our 10th year of operations, we look back at the last 9 years with an immense sense of satisfaction and pleasure.

It is a vindication of many things.

• That “good quality” will seek and find its own market.
• It is nice to be happy and spread happiness.
• “Word of mouth” is the best form of advertisement and it is free.
• And a “raving fan” gets you more raving fans.
• Folks understand difficult times.
• Relationships are nurtured through good interactions.
• “Old School” values which have stood the test of time, still has place in our lives.

All these and more. Over the years, you have given us place in your hearts and on the bookshelves. As a community bookstore, we have seen the neighbourhood children attend our workshops, grow into responsible young adults. Our monthly mails reach out to close to 3500+ persons, and an occasional hi/hullo from those beyond the far seas warms us up. Our students who are/have working/worked part-time at the Store from Tejal/ Mridula to the current Lijya/ Priyanka have grown tremendously richer in the process of their interactions with you. The pleasure that we have got in identifying good books for you to pick is incomparable. The intangibles far far outweigh the tangibles.

Will reading sustain? Will traditional independent bookstores continue to exist in a few years? If books are available as downloads, what value-add do we bring to your reading pleasure? Yes, these are questions that we need to find answers for.

We are still working this out. Based on some of your suggestions, a few opportunities are being explored. Do continue to write to us, and provide us with your feedback and suggestions.

We understand customers have a choice and respect it. And feel humbled when you choose us to buy your book. Thank you, we have survived, ridden over recessionary times and confidently look to the future - all because of you.

Do join us in our 9th anniversary celebrations tomorrow at the store, 27th Mar, Sun, 6pm onwards. To make sure your celebration is happy too, we will be offering 15% discount on all books in the Store for tomorrow (all day long).

From the team at

twistntales

Monday, March 7, 2011

Happy Anniversary Sale!!!

Hi all,

Happy Birthday to US! Yes, it is birthday time again, and this time we want to make sure that you celebrate with us!

Our Annual Anniversary Sale starts on Tuesday, 8th March and is on until Sunday, 20th of March, 2011. Discounts Galore, besides Happy Days and Happy Hours too! Make the most of it, do come by and check out new books at the Store!

Our happy birthday is on 28th of March, which this year falls on a Monday, which is our weekly off! So we shall be celebrating on 27th March, Sunday. Please join us for our party at the Store on that day. We are completing 9 years and starting our tenth year of operations. It surely is a moment of great pride and joy for us!

New Books and a few reviews at the Store:

“Faster Cheaper Better: The 9 Levers for Transforming How Work Gets Done” by Michael Hammer and Lisa W. Hershman @ Rs.960/- (pgs 302)

The guru of Re-engineering, Michael Hammer introduced us to process work flows in early 1990s. In this path breaking follow-up, the duo identifies the 9 levers for transformation in the workplace. Michael Hammer passed away in September 2008. Lisa Hershman, the CEO of Hammer and Company has finished the work of this genius. Faster, Cheaper, Better isn’t about the way work is organized, it is about how we want our work to be. Can we move out of a “worm’s eye view” to a “bird’s eye view”?

Chap. 1 talks of end to end work processes and Chap. 2 about measurement. What do we measure rather than how do we measure. Chapters 3 and 4 talks of process owners and performers, Chapters 5 and 6 about corporate culture and governance. Chapter 7 talks of the 9 levers and opens chapters 8 to 12 to discuss case studies of 5 companies that embraced end to end process with sharply different results.

This is a book to read. Re-read, think, process and apply. And to keep. Buy it. It will be treasured for the insight it adds to your work.

“50 Facts that should change the world” by Jessica Williams @ 399/-(pgs 306)

Jessica Williams’s bestseller is back in its latest, revised and updated edition with some excellently researched shocker and incredible facts from around the world. Besides surprising the reader it also offers solutions to make this world a better and brighter place! This research handbook is a must have for all children and adults alike. A debater’s essential – the juicy one liners in this book would leave the audience awestruck! It’s not surprising that this book is in its 3rd edition! A must have for every household! Jessica Williams is a journalist and television producer for the BBC.

“The Castle in the Pyrenees” by Jostein Gaarder @ Rs.295/- (pgs 250)

What would you do- when driving down home after a romantic, carefree holiday you accidentally hit an elderly woman? Would you help get her to the nearest hospital or just drive on? That’s just what they did- drive on. Two students caught up in an intensive love affair have set out on a trip into the beautiful mountains of Norway and done the unforgivable! Anxious and troubled after the incident, life goes on. They drift apart and find themselves with other partners. Yet years later they meet- although quite accidentally. Is fate giving them one of its last opportunities to undo their reckless mistake? Find out with this passionate, thought provoking story which has more than one twist in store for you! Jostein Gaarder is the author of the bestselling phenomenon “Sophie’s World”, which has been translated into 55 languages and sold over 30 million copies worldwide.

“The Bed of Procrustes” by Nassim Nicholas Taleb @ Rs.250/- (pgs 112)

For those who have loved Taleb’s earlier bestsellers (Fooled by Randomness and Black Swan), this is an absolute keepsake. Essentially a lovely collection of quotes, the wisdom packed is astounding. Each quote is a distilled essence of his genius – ity! Provocative, mentally re-charging, his idiosyncrasies bear to fruit in this compelling collection! Blink, and you have missed it! Pick it up – makes the best office gift too!

“The Urban Jungle” by Samrat @ Rs.250/- (pgs 238)

Can you speak the language of the monkeys? Jimmy can- in Samrat’s debut novel which revolves around Jimmy’s migration from small town India to the big city. Jimmy’s life is thrown off course in all possible, unimaginable ways by the big, bad city- local goons, complicated bus routes and Shamsher Khan (the kidnapper)! A fast paced thriller and an excellent contemporary interpretation of Kipling’s classic - The Jungle Book! It’s endless entertainment - from Samrat- the engineer gone astray! Take a peak!

“The Collaborator” by Mirza Waheed @ Rs.499/- (pgs 307)

Is it a Khalid Husseini in the making? Mirza Waheed in his debut novel evokes images of Kashmir as his own and the traditions of the nomadic Gujjar community that decides to grow roots in a high land Indian Kashmiri village near the LOC. Written in an extremely honest and engaging style, he tells the story of those who didn’t go across the border. Mirza Waheed spent his early years in Kashmir before completing his education in New Delhi. He is currently the Editor of BBC’s Urdu service. Of the Indian Authors new on the block, this is the one to watch …. Read Collaborator and you will see why.

“Tanzeem” by Mukul Deva @ Rs.225/- (pgs 319)

India’s military thriller writer Mukul Deva is back, with a fitting finale to the Lashkar series. As usual, a heady cocktail of warlords, the ISI, and India’s strike action team create a suspense thriller, which you are thankful is only fiction. Mukul Deva tells of jihadi terror in a style that can make you smell the gunpowder.

“The Harappa Files” by Sarnath Banerjee @ Rs.499/- (pgs 215)

The Greater Harappa Rehabilitation, Reclamation and Redevelopment Committee (GHRRRC), a clandestine think tank is in deep deliberation... but about what? The hormonal changes post liberalized India is undergoing! These changes are huge and barely comprehensible to civil society. That's why the author- Sarnath Banerjee aides us with wonderful graphic commentaries all along the way! A thoroughly fascinating read!
The Harappa Files - It's going to be legendary!

“The Naïve and the Sentimental Novelist” by Orhan Pamuk @ Rs. 450/- (pgs 200)
“Artichoke Hearts” by Sita Brahmachari @ Rs.250/- (pgs 320)
“Six Yards of Silk” by Mallika Krishnamurthy @ Rs.195/- (pgs168)
“The Sly Company of People who Care” by Rahul Bhattacharya @ Rs.495/- (pgs 281)
“Ours are the Streets” by Sunjeev Sahota @ Rs.450/- (pgs 313)
“The Vague Woman’s Handbook” by Devapriya Roy @ Rs.199/- (pgs339)
“India Calling” by Anand Giridharadas @ Rs.499/- (pgs306)
“The Siege of Warwan: a novel” by Major General G.D.Bakshi
“Rocky’s Table: Indian Menus for Fine Dining and Wines to Match” by Rocky Mohan @ Rs.1499/-
“Chicken Soup for the Indian Golden Soul” @ Rs.295/- (pgs371)
“Where is Amma?” by Nandini Nayar @ Rs.95/- (Also Available in Hindi)
“Pintoo and the Giant” by Sulabha R. Devpurkar @ Rs.135/- (Also Available in Hindi)
“Bhimayana” by Navayana @ Rs.395/- (pgs 104)
“Third Best” by Arjun Rao @ Rs.295/- (pgs 376)
“127 Hours” by Aron Ralston @ Rs.280/- (pgs 352)
“The Life’s Too Short Literary Review 01: New Writing from Pakistan” Edited by Faiza S Khan and Aysha Raja @ Rs.395/- (pgs 120)
“The Watchman’s Rattle: Thinking Our Way out Of Extinction” by Rebecca Costa @ Rs.599/- (pgs 347)
“Why Loiter? Women and risk on Mumbai streets” by Shilpa Phadke, Sameera Khan and Shilpa Ranade @ Rs.299/- (pgs 280)
“Skunk Girl” by Sheba Karim @ Rs.250/- (pgs 232)
“Ahmedabad: From Royal City to Mega City” by Achyut Yagnik and Suchitra Sheth
“The Habit of Winning” by Prakash Iyer @ Rs.299/- (pgs 248)
“The King’s Speech” by Mark Logue and Peter Conrad @ Rs.499/- (pgs 242)
“Night in Bombay” by Louis Bromfield @ Rs.399/- (pgs 366)
“The Good Muslim of Jackson Heights” by Jaysinh Birjepatil @ Rs.275/- (pgs 244)
“A Beautiful Lie” by Irfan Master @ Rs.299/- (pgs 297)
“For the Love of a Son” by Jean Sasson” @ Rs.325/- (pgs 458)
“The Nowhere Nation” by Ashok Mitra @ Rs.450/- (pgs 224)
“Inside Wikileaks: My Time with Julian Assange at the World’s Most Dangerous Website” by Daniel Domscheit-Berg with Tina Klopp @ Rs.499/- (pgs 282)
The Second Book of the Crusades Trilogy-“The Templar Knight” by Jan Guillou @ Rs.299/- (pgs 470)
The Third Book of the Crusades Trilogy-“Birth of the Kingdom” by Jan Guillou @ Rs.299/- (pgs 498)
“The Lost Relic: Some Secrets Should Stay Buried…” by Scott Mariani @ Rs.299/- (pgs 437)
“The Information: a History, a Theory, a Flood” by James Gleick @ Rs.599/- (pgs 524)
“Children of the Lion” by Carl Muller @ Rs.599/- (pgs 983)
“Sachin: 501 Things you didn’t know about the master blaster” by Suvam Pal @ Rs.175/- (Pgs 145)
“Susanna’s Seven Husbands” (Saat khoon Maaf) by Ruskin Bond @ Rs.250/- (pgs 206)
“A Book of Memory” by Sudhir Kakar @ Rs.499/- (Pgs 318)
“The Boss Is Not Your Friend: A Handbook for Indian Managers to Survive All Things Organizational” by Vijay Nair @ Rs.295/- (pgs 210)
“Playground Rangbhoomi” by Premchand @ Rs.550/- (pgs 641)

Hoping to see you in the next 10 days,

From the team at,

twistntales