Set against the backdrop of the Hindi film industry, Trust Me is a comic story about love, heart-break and friendship. The protagonist, Parvati, decides to go off men when she is dumped by her boyfriend. She concludes that her girlfriends are right: all men are bastards. Her boss, the fatherly Mr Bose, is the one shoulder she can cry on. He is also the one man she never expects a pass from. She stands corrected: all men ARE bastards. Her girlfriends manage to keep their I-told-you-so’s to themselves. Parvati quits her job, and joins the unit of Jambuwant (‘Call me Jumbo!’) Sinha, assisting him in making his latest Hindi feature film. ‘Jumbo’ is a Bombay film-maker archetype: he believes in white shoes, black money and the casting couch. Manoj, the chief assistant, makes a pass at every woman he meets because he doesn’t want anybody to feel unwanted. And Rahul, an actor, claims to have fallen in love with her. Parvati hopes she is older now, and smarter - but perhaps not smart enough, because, very inconveniently, she finds herself liking Rahul far too much.

Trust Me

Jenkins returns to his old university library during the vacation in the Winter of 1945/6 to undertake research for a book about Robert Burton. He goes to see Sillery, who has a new secretary, Ada Leintwardine. Quiggin is starting a literary magazine called Fission, which is to be funded by Erridge ... except that Erridge dies suddenly. Erridge''s funeral at Thrubworth is disturbed by the late arrival of the Widmerpools, Quiggin, Sir Howard & Lady Craggs (née Gypsy Jones). Pamela Widmerpool causes a disturbance by leaving during the service. Later at Thrubworth Park, Jenkins is invited by Quiggin to join the staff of Fission; Pamela causes further trouble, and on leaving is noisily sick into a large Chinese urn. At the party to launch Fission, Nick first meets the importunate novelist X Trapnel (based on the real-life Bohemian dandy, Julian MacLaren-Ross); Trapnel eventually takes a fancy to Pamela. Early the following year there are problems at Fission''s publishers, Quiggin & Craggs. Trapnel has become infatuated with Pamela. Jenkins, dining with MP Roddy Cutts (husband of Susan Tolland) at the House of Commons, meets Widmerpool (now also a Member of Parliament). All three go to Widmerpool''s flat where it becomes apparent that Pamela has absconded with Trapnel. Some time later Jenkins visits Trapnel and Pamela at their seedy flat, and while there Widmerpool arrives to confront the adulterers. Later in the year Pamela leaves Trapnel, and in doing so throws the precious manuscript of his novel into the nearby canal. On a visit to his old school, Jenkins meets Le Bas, and the reunited Widmerpools. *Adapted in part from material published by the Anthony Powell Society with consent

Books Do Furnish a Room

The story centers on Mona Lisa Figg Newton, a teenage girl living in the fictional town of Pineapple with her eccentric family, including: her tap dancing mother, Sister Figg Newton; her uncles, Truman the Human Pretzel, Romulus the Walking Book of Knowledge, Remus the Talking Adding Machine, and Kadota with his Nine Performing Kanines; and her cousin Fido the Second. The only family member Mona gets along with is her uncle Florence, a book dealer. A main concern of the characters is Capri, the Figg family heaven, which involves a ritual passed down through the Figg family for generations. Uncle Florence''s greatest wish is to find his Capri. Mona''s greatest fear is that her uncle will succeed and leave her alone. One of the novel''s unusual characteristics is its interactive status. The opening pages classify it as a "mysterious romance or a romantic mystery," but the book never mentions the mystery again. Rather, to unravel the truth about some of the novel''s most mysterious happenings, readers must follow the trail of literature, history and music that Florence leaves behind him, by investigating the writings of Joseph Conrad, William Blake and Gilbert and Sullivan. While the book can be read on its own as a surrealistic journey, solving the mystery leads to greater insight into the truth about Florence.

Figgs & Phantoms

After the destruction of the second Death Star and the death of the Emperor, the Empire is left without a true leader. The Supreme Prophet Kadann prophesied that the next leader of the Empire would wear the indestructible right hand Glove of Darth Vader, so Imperial senator Timothy Barclay sends Captain Dunwell to find the glove. The Rebel Alliance and the Senate''s Planetary Intelligence Network known as SPIN, hoping to find information on the new emperor, send C-3PO and R2-D2 disguised to the planet Kessel. There they discover Grand Moff Hissa introducing Trioculus, who claims to be Palpatine''s son, as the heir to Empire. Although he manages to trick his followers by seemingly producing Force lightning, he demands that his advisors find the glove so he can cement his power. After much searching and no clues on the glove''s whereabouts, Captain Dunwell, the head of the Whaladon Processing Center on Mon Calamari, contacts him to inform him that he has found the glove, deep in the oceans of Mon Calamari. By chance, Luke Skywalker and Admiral Ackbar, after picking up the droids from Kessel, bring them to Mon Calamari to download the information that R2-D2 found. Although the whaling ship is destroyed and Captain Dunwell killed, Luke is unable to stop Trioculus from obtaining the glove and becoming the new Emperor. As he parts ways with Luke, Trioculus swears he will destroy him.

The Glove of Darth Vader

Bill Dawson is a broke young Brit sitting in the waiting room of a lawyer''s office in New York City. He overhears Larry Hurst and his girlfriend Joy Tennant discussing with the lawyer the prospect of Larry becoming sole heir to the large estate of his uncle Gaylord Hurst, providing that Larry returns to England immediately and visits his uncle at least once a week. Larry, however, is convinced that his uncle wants to murder him. Larry and Joy ask Bill to witness Larry''s signature, invite him for a drink, and propose that Bill impersonates Larry for six months for the sum of ten thousand dollars. Bill agrees; Larry is almost immediately poisoned. Bill escapes and takes the next flight to England to complete his end of the agreement. Upon arrival at Gaylord''s flat, Bill soon learns that Hurst and his manservant Hatto are both practised sadists whose plans certainly included the psychological torture of Larry; however, Bill is soon found out. Hurst, not to be cheated of prey, offers Bill a bargain; continue to meet once weekly for three months and keep the ten thousand dollars he has already received. Bill agrees, and almost immediately there is an attempt on his life with a clever trap—then another, that lands him in the hospital. Finally, after another death, Bill confronts the villain in a dramatic conclusion that takes place in a reconstruction of the sitting room of Sherlock Holmes and that reveals a very surprising tenth answer to the book''s events. it:Nove risposte per nove problemi

The Nine Wrong Answers

In South Africa under apartheid, Mehring is a rich white businessman who is not satisfied with his life. His ex-wife has gone to America, his liberal son (who is probably gay) criticizes his conservative/capitalist ways and his lovers and colleagues do not seem actually interested in him. Out of a whim he buys a farm outside the city, afterwards trying to explain this purchase to himself as the search for a higher meaning in life. But it is clear that he knows next to nothing to farming, and that black workers run it - Mehring is simply an outsider, an intruder on the daily life of "his" farm. One day the black foreman, Jacobus, finds an unidentified dead body on the farm. Since the dead man is black, the police find no urgency to look into the case and simply bury the body on the spot where it was found. The idea of an unknown black man buried on his land begins to "haunt" Mehring. This has been interpreted as the influence of apartheid on the class of privileged white people who profit from it while ignoring its victims. A flood brings the body back to the surface; although the farm workers do not know the stranger, they now give him a proper burial as if he were a family member. There are hints that Mehring''s own burial will be less emotional than this burial of a stranger. This can be interpreted to symbolize the white man''s position in South Africa: although he "owns" the land on a piece of paper, the black natives have the actual claim on the land. it:Il conservatore

The Conservationist

Married to Indihar, though from his perspective in name only, Marîd Audran gets invited to a reception at the palace of the amir of the city. Shaykh Mahali, the amir, thus wishes to end the rivalry between Friedlander Bey and Reda Abu Adil, two of the most powerful men in the city. Both Audran and Bey, or "Papa" as he''s known in the Budayeen, become suspicious when their sworn enemy Abu Adil designates Audran as an officer of the "Jaish", an unofficial right-wing outfit working for Abu Adil. However, it is not until after the party that Abu Adil''s scheme unfolds: Audran and Bey are put under arrest by Lieutenant Hajjar and charged with the murder of a police officer named Khalid Maxwell. They''re sentenced on-the-spot into exile, never to return to the city under pain of death. Left to die amongst the burning sands of a vast desert, their luck finally turns as they are rescued by a Bedouin tribe of Bani Salim, allowing them to start planning the vengeance they''d exact upon Abu Adil and prove their innocence— if they ever make it back to the city alive.

The Exile Kiss

Already known as a critic of affirmative action or race-based hiring and promotion, Sowell, himself African-American, analyzes the specific effects of such policies on India, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and Nigeria, four countries with longer multiethnic histories and then compares them with the recent history of the United States in this regard. He finds that "Such programs have at best a negligible impact on the groups they are intended to assist." A sample of his thinking about the danger of perpetual racial preferences is this passage from p. 7: "People differ - and have for centuries.... Any ''temporary'' policy whose duration is defined by the goal of achieving something that has never been achieved before, anywhere in the world, could more fittingly be characterized as eternal." According to Dutch Martin''s review of this book: :Among the common consequences of preference policies in the five-country sample are: *They encourage non-preferred groups to redesignate themselves as members of preferred groups (1) to take advantage of group preference policies; *They tend to benefit primarily the most fortunate among the preferred group (e.g. Black millionaires), often to the detriment of the least fortunate among the non-preferred groups (e.g., poor Whites); *They reduce the incentives of both the preferred and non-preferred to perform at their best &mdash; the former because doing so is unnecessary and the latter because it can prove futile &mdash; thereby resulting in net losses for society as a whole. Sowell concludes: "Despite sweeping claims made for affirmative action programs, an examination of their actual consequences makes it hard to support those claims, or even to say that these programs have been beneficial on net balance."

Affirmative Action Around the World

The story follows the life of an adolescent named Tighe (pronounced, roughly, Tig-Hee). Tighe''s village is built on the ledges and crags of an enormous cliff-face, called the Wall or the World-wall. Every morning, the sun rises from the bottom of the wall, and every evening it sets at the top. The first part of the novel introduces Tighe and the hardness of life in his village, the abuse Tighe receives from his family members, and the unusual (to us) state of his world. Partway through this part of the book, Tighe''s parents mysteriously disappear, and his grandfather takes care of him. Tighe concludes that his parents must have fallen off the wall. Eventually Tighe himself falls off, falls over 10 miles, and lands in the midst of an army preparing for war. He survives. While recovering from his injuries, he learns the local language, and that the army will soon attack the Otre, a nearby civilisation. Tighe is drafted into the army, but the campaign goes badly, and Tighe''s entire platoon is lost. Tighe himself is captured by the Otre and sold as a slave. During the battle, he sees a silvery flying object that he takes as an enemy balloon, and that calls his name. However, he is forced to run from Otre troops before he can react. The slave trader who buys Tighe takes him on a long journey across the wall, intending to sell him in a large city. Before arriving at the city, they again encounter the silvery flying object. The pilot is a man who speaks Tighe''s native language, and looks very like his grandfather. He kills the slave trader and takes Tighe on board his craft. Tighe''s mother is on board, but in a nonresponsive mental state. The pilot, who Tighe calls Wizard, is in control of technology that is highly advanced by our standard, almost incomprehensibly so for Tighe. He tries to explain that gravity once pointed towards the centre of the earth, but catastrophically changed due to mankind''s over-dependence on Zero Point Energy as an energy source. He explains that he had implanted machinery in Tighe''s and his mother''s brain when they were young, but he avoids Tighe''s questions about his identity, or where Tighe''s father is. Tighe grows to mistrust the Wizard, and after his mother dies, he shoots the Wizard in the eye with a firearm. This only blinds and irritates the Wizard, but it gives Tighe the opportunity to escape from the Wizard''s craft. The environment outside the craft is inhospitable, but Tighe is rescued by others with similar technology to the Wizard''s. They question him, and release him. The last two chapters describe how Tighe makes his way slowly back in the direction of his village. The story ends with Tighe rounding a corner on a shelf, and suddenly re-encountering the Wizard, whose plans for Tighe have apparently not changed. According to the author''s website, this ending received some criticism, but seemed to the author to be the only possible way the story could end.

Strange Fruit takes place in a Georgia town in the 1920s and focuses on the relationship between Tracy Deen, son of some prominent white townspeople, and Nonnie, a beautiful and intelligent young black woman that he once rescued from being attacked by a group of white boys. The two had been holding a secret affair, with Nonnie becoming pregnant with Tracy''s child, only for Tracy to at one point plan for her to marry ''Big Henry'', a man she despises. Tracy himself had originally planned to marry another white townsperson, but changed his mind after a conversation with one of the local preachers and intends on making his relationship with Nonnie public. He instead goes to Nonnie''s house and tells her of his original intent to have her wed to Big Henry, having paid him money to do so. Despite this change of heart, Nonnie''s brother overhears Big Henry telling of Tracy''s payment and Big Henry''s impending wedding to Nonnie and why. This prompts Nonnie''s brother to go after Tracy and when Tracy''s body is discovered later by Big Henry, Big Henry is accused of murdering a white man and is lynched.

Strange Fruit

The events of In the King''s Service span a period of nine years, from 1082 to November 1091. The novel begins as members of the Camberian Council congratulate Lord Sief MacAthan on the birth of his son, Krispin. However, when Sief returns to Rhemuth later that night, he discovers that the child is actually the bastard son of King Donal Blaine Haldane, who fathered the child on Sief''s wife, Lady Jessamy MacAthan, in an attempt to breed a Deryni protector for his sons and heirs. When Sief angrily attacks the king with his powers, Donal is forced to kill the Deryni lord with his own arcane abilities. The Camberian Council later investigates Sief''s death, but they are unable to confirm their suspicions regarding the paternity of Jessamy''s son. In August of the following year, Jessamy welcomes Alyce and Marie de Corwyn, the daughters of Earl Keryell of Lendour to the royal court. Alyce and Marie spend several months in the service of Queen Richeldis before leaving Rhemuth to continue their education at Notre Dame d''Arc-en-Ciel, a royal convent where they meet Lady Zoë Morgan, the daughter of one of Donal''s military aides, Sir Kenneth Morgan. Over the next several years, Alyce, Marie, and Zoë remain at the convent and pursue the common studies of ladies of noble birth. In October 1086, rebellious Mearans attempt to assassinate Price Richard Haldane, the king''s younger half-brother. Although the plot is unsuccessful, Earl Keryell is slain and his eldest son and heir, Lord Ahern, is seriously wounded. Alyce and Marie return to Rhemuth to tend to their injured brother, and the three siblings escort their father''s body back to Cynfyn shortly thereafter. While Ahern adjusts to his new role as Earl of Lendour, Lady Vera Howard reveals to the sisters that she is actually Alyce''s twin sister. Alyce and Marie return to Rhemuth in February and soon secure a place for Vera in the royal household. Torenthi raiders strike across the border into Corwyn in the summer of 1088, and Ahern, as hereditary Duke of Corwyn, travels to Coroth to deal with the situation. Donal joins Ahern several weeks later, and the young earl impresses the king with his natural leadership skills. Meanwhile, in Rhemuth, Marie is poisoned and killed by Lady Muriella, a lady-in-waiting to the queen who is jealous of Marie''s developing relationship with Sir Sé Trelawney. Alyce escorts her sister''s body to Coroth, and later returns to Rhemuth after the funeral. Several months later, Ahern is summoned to court to advise the king on the increasingly tense situation in Meara. In April 1089, Ahern accompanies Donal when the king mounts a military campaign to put down a growing rebellion in Meara. Ahern further distinguishes himself during the campaign, but he becomes seriously ill while returning to Rhemuth in June. Kenneth rushes to fetch Alyce and Zoë, but Ahern soon dies, shortly after marrying Zoë. With Ahern''s death, Alyce is now the sole heiress to the Duchy of Corwyn. An assassination attempt on the king in November fails, but Kenneth is badly wounded in the attack. After Alyce nurses Kenneth back to health, Donal decides to marry the two and announces the betrothal in January 1090. The following day, tragedy strikes the castle when Krispin''s dead body is discovered in a well. Donal commands Alyce to probe the dead boy''s mind, and she succeeds in identifying the murderers, one of whom is a priest and the brother of a bishop. Although Donal executes the murderers, the fact that he does so without the consent of the Church results in excommunication for both the king and Alyce. Donal eventually resolves the rift, and Alyce and Kenneth are married in June. Donal decides to once again attempt to father a Deryni protector for his sons, and convinces Jessamy to assist him after he chooses Alyce as his next target. Donal keeps Kenneth away from Rhemuth for much of the summer and autumn, but Jessamy''s death in November creates an additional delay in the king''s plan. Prior to her death, Jessamy reveals the details of the plan to Lord Siesyll Arilan, a member of Donal''s council who is also a member of the Camberian Council. Donal finally attempts to bed Alyce in late January of 1090, but Alyce stops him. Alyce and Kenneth inform the king that Alyce is already pregnant, and the pledge their son to the king''s service, promising that their child will be raised to be the Deryni protector Donal has sought. In September, Alyce gives birth to her first child, Alaric Anthony Morgan. Several weeks later, Siesyll covertly confirms that the child is not Donal''s.

In the King''s Service

Campion asks his sister, fashion designer Valentine Ferris, to introduce him to her best friend and most important client, Georgia Wells, a famous actress. Campion has been investigating the disappearance of Georgia''s former fiance, barrister Richard Portland-Smith, three years previously. Now Campion has found Portland-Smith''s skeleton. Campion meets Georgia and her entourage, including her unpleasant, possibly dangerous husband Raymond Ramillies, at the unveiling of the costumes Val has made for Georgia''s new play. He also meets Alan Dell, the man Val is in love with, who admits to an admiration for Georgia. The event ends in a fashion disaster when it emerges that the design for the main dress has been leaked and copied. The house model Caroline Adamson, chosen for her resemblance to Georgia, is responsible. Georgia knows about Portland-Smith''s death but she is shocked when Campion tells her it was suicide, not murder - she asks Dell to drive her home instead of her husband Ramillies. Several weeks later, Val tells Campion that Georgia has stolen Dell from her. Besides admitting that she wants Georgia dead, she is worried that Ramillies has been behaving unpredictably and might attack Dell. Then Lady Amanda Fitton (Sweet Danger), who now works as an engineer at Dell''s aircraft factory, asks for Campion''s help to find out why Dell is neglecting his work. Campion takes her to a restaurant where they see Dell with Georgia. Ramillies arrives with Caroline Adamson, dressed up exactly like Georgia, to provoke a confrontation. But the situation is miraculously defused by various friends of those concerned - stage-managed by Georgia''s manager, Ferdie Paul. To distract Dell from the embarrassing situation, Amanda tells him she is engaged to Campion - to Campion''s surprise. Ramillies is due to return to Ulangi, the African colony of which he is governor, in a gold-painted plane, a gift to a local ruler. He is leaving from Caesar''s Court, a luxury resort outside London, run by Gaiogi Laminoff. Ramilies disappears after an official dinner and does not return until the afternoon of the next day - he says he has been drinking all night. When the flight is due to take off, he cannot be found - he is eventually found dead in the plane. The officials attempt to smooth over his death and a doctor is ready to give a certificate that he died of natural causes, but then Georgia mentions that she gave him a painkiller to take which Val had given her for herself. When a post mortem is carried out there is no evidence of unnatural death. However, the rumor that Val tried to poison Georgia because they fell out over Alan Dell becomes widespread society gossip. Caroline Adamson contacts Campion with information but fails to turn up for their appointment. Then Stanislaus Oates calls Campion in to Scotland Yard - Caroline has been stabbed and her body dumped in the countryside. Sinclair, Georgia''s young son, tells Campion and Amanda that Ramillies was actually terrified of flying, but that he knew of an injection which would make him feel ill for four hours, then feel fine for the flight. Campion thinks this is how he was killed. As the police close in on Val because of the painkiller story, Campion tracks down the men who dumped Caroline''s body. They run a restaurant which provides accommodation for various criminal activities - they are not saying who killed Caroline and they have destroyed all the evidence. Amanda gives a party to celebrate breaking off her engagement to Campion - she is calm about it, but he seems upset. Campion tells everybody what he has found out - that Portland-Smith was blackmailed by Caroline and an accomplice until he killed himself, that Ramillies was given an unknown drug which killed him, and that Caroline was murdered when she tried to blackmail her former accomplice. Then he argues with Amanda, throws her in the river, and leaves. Alan Dell apologises to Val and asks her to marry him - she accepts. Campion visits Ferdie Paul and explains that the crimes were carried out for Georgia''s sake. Ferdie Paul leaves for Caesar''s Court to confront Gaiogi Laminoff, who he says is Georgia''s father. A message asks Campion to follow, but on the way he is knocked out and taken to Amanda''s cottage where he is placed with his head in the gas oven to fake his suicide. But at the vital moment, the police burst in - Campion has arranged in advance for them to follow him. Ferdie Paul is revealed as the man who tried to kill him, and he was also responsible for the other deaths. Campion recovers. Now that the fake engagement is over, Amanda asks for her ring back - Campion says he will marry her if she wants.

Over 8000 Takeaways For Your Brain!

Read - Listen - Learn

Trust Me

By Rajashree

Books Do Furnish a Room

By Anthony Powell

Figgs & Phantoms

By Ellen Raskin

The Glove of Darth Vader

By Paul Davids

The Nine Wrong Answers

By John Dickson Carr

The Conservationist

By Nadine Gordimer

The Exile Kiss

By George Alec Effinger

Affirmative Action Around the World

By Thomas Sowell

On

By Adam Roberts

Strange Fruit

No Author Listed

In the King's Service

By Katherine Kurtz

The Fashion in Shrouds

By Margery Allingham