Hidden away in the Record Department of the sprawling Ministry of Truth, Winston Smith skilfully rewrites the past to suit the needs of the Party. Yet, he inwardly rebels against the totalitarian world he lives in, which demands absolute obedience and controls him through the all-seeing telescreens and the watchful eye of Big Brother, the symbolic head of the Party. Longing for truth and liberty, Smith begins a secret love affair with fellow worker Julia, but soon discovers that the true price of freedom is betrayal. More relevant than ever before, 1984 exposes the worst crimes imaginable-the destruction of truth, freedom and individuality.
Archives: Books
Animal Farm
Mr Jones of Manor Farm is so lazy and drunken that one day he forgets to feed his livestock. The ensuing rebellion under the leadership of the pigs Napoleon and Snowball leads to the animals taking over the farm. Vowing to eliminate the terrible inequities of the farmyard, the renamed Animal Farm is organized to benefit all those who walk on four legs. But as time passes, the ideals of the rebellion are corrupted, then forgotten. And then something new and unexpected emerges . . .
Animal Farm: A Fairy Story by George Orwell-author of 1984, one of Britain’s most popular novels-is a brilliant political satire and a powerful, affecting story of revolutions and idealism, power and corruption.
Mina’s Magic Malong
Ella is finding it difficult to cope with her nanny, Mina, going home. She tries hard, in her six-year-old way, to stop Mina from leaving. But Mina has to go. A present from Mina forms a magical bond between them. While Mina goes back to tending to her children, her affection and love for Ella flows through the malong.
Mina’s Magic Malong stirs a magical wonder in reminding readers of a universal human emotion that resides in all of us, no matter how diverse we are: Love.
Summer Blast: Getting Ready for Grade 3
No summer learning loss for your child! Keep important skills learned during the recently completed school year fresh in your child’s mind as he or she practices skills from preschool and is introduced to new skills coming up in kindergarten. The fun and challenging activities include independent practice as well as games for the whole family to enjoy!
This book includes practice with the following skills:
• grammar
• reading comprehension
• writing
• math facts
• word problems
• critical thinking
• creative thinking
• collaboration
Summer Blast: Getting Ready for Grade 4
No summer learning loss for your child! Keep important skills learned during the recently completed school year fresh in your child’s mind as he or she practices skills from preschool and is introduced to new skills coming up in kindergarten. The fun and challenging activities include independent practice as well as games for the whole family to enjoy!
This book includes practice with the following skills:
• grammar
• reading comprehension
• writing
• math facts
• word problems
• critical thinking
• creative thinking
• collaboration
Summer Blast: Getting Ready for Grade 5
No summer learning loss for your child! Keep important skills learned during the recently completed school year fresh in your child’s mind as he or she practices skills from preschool and is introduced to new skills coming up in kindergarten. The fun and challenging activities include independent practice as well as games for the whole family to enjoy!
This book includes practice with the following skills:
• grammar
• reading comprehension
• writing
• math facts
• word problems
• critical thinking
• creative thinking
• collaboration
Scream to the Shadows
Unconfined to a single theme, this new collection of twenty short stories by Halim offers five distinct worlds – the paranormal mysteries from ‘The occult world’, with its dark settings reveal supernatural existences in the characteristic Halim style. ‘Fragmented Minds’ open doors to the tales of the horrors of some twisted human minds driven by madness. Without the theme of supernatural, these instances of the human rationality falling apart evoke fear of a different nature. The third set of horrors is a reflection of our vulnerability, with its tales of how the technology can be destructive at times. ‘Graveyard Voices’ makes you align your thoughts with the author who wonders who all are watching is when we walk by a graveyard and what thrilling rides they could take us on. The final set unearths stories that are influenced by the richness of Malay myths and legends, dark beliefs that may go back hundreds if not thousands of years ago into primeval past.
Some are fastpaced, roller-coaster like even. Some are more leisurely. Some maybe scary like a haunted house ride while others less so, but in all the five different themes, you are guaranteed to Scream to the Shadows!
Tap: Unlocking the Mobile Economy
How the smartphone can become a personal concierge (not a stalker) in the mobile marketing revolution of
smarter companies, value-seeking consumers, and curated offers.
Consumers create a data trail by tapping their phones; businesses can tap into this trail to harness the power
of the more than three trillion dollar mobile economy. According to Anindya Ghose, a global authority on the
mobile economy, this two-way exchange can benefit both customers and businesses. In Tap, Ghose welcomes us
to the mobile economy of smartphones, smarter companies, and value-seeking consumers.
Drawing on his extensive research in the United States, Europe, and Asia, and on a variety of real-world
examples from companies including Alibaba, China Mobile, Coke, Facebook, SK Telecom, Telefonica, and
Travelocity, Ghose describes some intriguingly contradictory consumer behavior: people seek spontaneity, but
they are predictable; they find advertising annoying, but they fear missing out; they value their privacy, but they
increasingly use personal data as currency. When mobile advertising is done well, Ghose argues, the smartphone
plays the role of a personal concierge–a butler, not a stalker.
Crying Mountain
A moving tale of courage and love, set against the Zamboanga crisis in the Southern Philippines in the
1970s.
In Below the Crying Mountain, the Moro Rebellion that broke out in the Sulu archipelago in the 1970s, and that continues to wound the nation, is seen vividly through the lives of the mestiza Rosy Wright, the Tausug girl Nahla, the rebel leader Prof. Hassan, the soldier Capt. Rodolfo as well as in the quest of the book’s narrator. The personal is political as war fuels the clash of emotions, histories and cultures. The story traces the lives of Jolo residents Rosy France Wright, a half-American girl who elopes with a Muslim professor from Christian Zamboanga to Muslim Jolo, leaving behind her husband-without-ceremony, Omar Hassan, her best friend, Nahla, a Tausug girl and Jolo local, Captain Rodolfo, who becomes Nahla’s lover. The events take place against the backdrop of the escalation of communal and other tensions during the 70’s and 80’s. Through the eyes of the narrator the reader is able to follow the transformation of Jolo—from its former glory days of prestigious parties to the ushering in of a new era of more zealous religious observance.
The Great Flowing River: A Memoir of China, from Manchuria to Taiwan
Heralded as a literary masterpiece and a bestseller in the Chinese-speaking world, The Great Flowing River is a personal account of the history of modern China and Taiwan unlike any other. In this eloquent autobiography, the scholar, writer, and teacher Chi Pang-yuan recounts her youth in mainland China and adulthood in Taiwan. Chi’s remarkable life, told in rich and striking detail, humanizes the eventful and turbulent times in which she lived.
The Great Flowing River begins as a coming-of-age story set against the backdrop of China’s war with Japan. Chi depicts her childhood in pre-occupation Manchuria and gives an eyewitness account of life in China during the war with Japan. The book describes the deepening political divide in China. Chi details her growth as an educator, scholar, and promoter of Chinese literature in translation and her realization that despite her roots in China, she has found a home in Taiwan, giving an immersive account of the postwar history of Taiwan from a mainlander’s perspective. A novelistic, epoch-defining narrative, The Great Flowing River unites the personal and intimate with the grand sweep of history.