Showing results by narrator "Soneela Nankani" in All Categories

From James Beard Leadership Award winner Saru Jayaraman, Forked is an enlightening examination of what we don't talk about when we talk about restaurants: Is the line cook working through a case of stomach flu because he doesn't get paid sick days? Is the busser not being promoted because he speaks with an accent? Is the server tolerating sexual harassment because tips are her only income?

Differences are the spice of life! But cultural differences can also be the source of embarrassing gaffes and miscommunication for business and social travelers alike. No one wants to make a cross-cultural blunder--especially one that could have consequences for crucial partnerships or even your entire organization. But when you seek to understand the origins of these cultural distinctions and develop strategies to cope with them, you'll find that you can navigate any culture--whether virtually or in person--with ease.

After dealing with killer whales, evil scientists, the return of her long-lost mother, and, certainly not least of all, the challenges of breastfeeding, Elvie Nara has just about had it. And then the Jin'Kai (along with the aforementioned estranged mom) kidnap her baby. And before she knows it, another Jin'Kai attack puts her on the run again, but not before discovering that Olivia was implanted with a genetic tracking device.

What if a society banished its worst nightmare to the far edge of the solar system, destined to sip dregs of light and struggle for the barest living? What if that life thrived, grew, learned, and became far more than anyone ever expected, yearning to return to the sun? What if it didn't share your moral compass in any way? The Glittering Edge duology describes the clash of forces when an advanced society that has filled a solar system with flesh-and-blood life meets the near-AIs it banished long ago.

Faerie, a novel for young people, is the fierce yet gently unfolding story of a hyperimaginative girl who is on a collision course to womanhood. She likens herself to a half-human fairy creature who does not belong in the earthly world; but in the cold light of day, she is a psychiatric patient at a hospital where she is being treated for anorexia - her sickness driven by the irrational need to undo nature and thwart the passage of time.

When the posthuman Next suddenly reappear in a solar system that banished them, humans are threatened. Their reactions vary from disgust and anger to yearning to live forever like the powerful Next, who are casually building a new city out of starships in the heart of the rewilded planet Lym. The first families of Lym must deal with invasion while they grapple with their own inner fears.

What is the first thought that comes to your mind when you see a differently abled person? Pity? Sympathy? The real-life success stories of 15 differently abled people charted in Because Life Is a Gift will make you think otherwise.

Based on true events, Hannah Assadi's fierce and raging debut novel tracks the shattered, illuminated psyche of a young woman seizing her own adulthood. Ahlam, the daughter of a Palestinian refugee and his Israeli wife, grows up in the arid lands of desert suburbia outside of Phoenix. In a stark landscape where coyotes prowl and mysterious lights occasionally pass through the nighttime sky, Ahlam's imagination reigns.

For fans of The Red Tent and The Dovekeepers, India Edghill breathes new life into the biblical story of Vashti and Esther with her signature historical richness, epic scope, and sweeping romance. You may know part of the story already, but you only know what history has passed along. The story of how Vashti, queen of queens, the most beautiful woman in all the empire, defied the king, her husband, and so lost her crown.

Generation Y faces the bleakest economic landscape in modern history. The recent spikes in unemployment and debt, alongside a drop in marriage, home-buying, and childbearing rates, will have long-term consequences for a group that had no hand in creating the financial crisis. For these young adults, the American Dream is moving farther out of reach. Worse still, leaders aren't doing anything about it.

Gone Feral is Novella Carpenter's search for her father. Back-to-the-land homesteader, gifted classical guitarist, Korean War vet, hermit, curmudgeon, George Carpenter has been absent for most of his daughter's life. But when he officially goes missing - only to be found in a fleabag Arizona motel, escaping the brutal Idaho winter - his daughter is forced to confront the truth: Her time with her dad, now seventy-three years old, is limited, and the moment to restore their relationship is now.

"Aren't you a terrorist?" "There are no roles for people who look like you." "That's a sin." "No girls allowed." They've heard it all. Actress Alia Shawkat reflects on all the parts she was told she was too "ethnic" to play. Former NFL player Wade Davis recalls his bullying of gay classmates in an attempt to hide his own sexuality. Holocaust survivor Fanny Starr tells of her harrowing time in Aushwitz, where she watched her family disappear, one by one. What made them rise up through the hate? What made them overcome the obstacles of their childhood to achieve extraordinary success?

Take on the world and make some serious change with this handbook to everything activism, social justice, and resistance. With in-depth guides to everything from picking a cause, planning a protest, and raising money to running dispute-free meetings, promoting awareness on social media, and being an effective ally, Girls Resist! will tell you how to go from "mad as heck about the way the world is going" to "effective leader who gets stuff done".

Jessop has proven herself to be an unstoppable force from Aranthol to Azgul, inarguably the fiercest warrior the Hunters have ever seen. And her abilities only seem to strengthen as her rage grows. With the two men she holds dear by her side - one good-souled, one with a treacherous past, and both deadly with a sword - she prepares to enter the most important fight of her life, with the most personal stakes yet....

Maya Rao has made her own dreams come true: She’s the owner of a bustling café and bakery in New York and the mother of a beautiful teenage daughter, Samantha. But when Samantha lands in legal trouble over a misdemeanor she didn’t commit, Maya is desperate. Desperate enough to call Samantha’s dad, Sam Hutcherson, whom Maya left abruptly many years ago, and who is now a successful lawyer. The problem? Sam doesn’t know he has a daughter.

Cassie and the rest of the crew have found themselves in the middle of a conflict between two alien civilizations hell-bent on destroying each other...and anyone else who gets in their way. What was supposed to be a reconnaissance mission soon becomes a fight for their lives. But Cassie knows it isn’t enough to simply survive. The war is coming to Earth, and only she has the information that can possibly stop the devastation it will bring. With humanity’s fate in the balance, Cassie must decide who she can trust and who she's willing to sacrifice in order to complete her mission.

Bobby N. Kowen is living his life to the fullest. He’s making friends, he’s learning new things all the time, he’s falling in love, he’s having adventures. He’s doing more in a single week than most of us experience in a lifetime. But that’s the thing. That one week is all that Bobby has. Birth to death...in just seven days. Bobby’s life is truly a race against time. No one who meets him will ever be the same. And they will each wonder: Do we live too long to really appreciate how precious life is?

Vivid, vibrant, and unwaveringly affecting, The Best Possible Experience brings us intimate, impeccably realized accounts of individuals living in one of the most populous countries in the world, and its American diaspora, all haunted, in every sense of the word, by a loss of home. Classically elegant in prose and consistently modern in outlook, Injam’s stories question what it means to have a home, to return home, and show, above all, that home is not a place so much as a people ready to accept you as you are.

Emma has always lived her life according to a plan. But after turning down her boyfriend’s proposal, everything starts to crumble. In an effort to save the one thing she cares about - her job - she must recruit her colleague, Rishi, to be on her development team...only she may or may not have received the position he was promised. (She did.)

The Serpent King is the most eligible bachelor in the land: a monster with dark and terrible magic and the ruler of the last free kingdom. Riches and power await his future bride—but also a life forever trapped in the games of court. That fate is eighteen-year-old Saphira's worst nightmare. Ever since the Empire made her an orphan, she’s found freedom in being invisible. So, despite her rare gift for harnessing the magic in gemstones, she lets an unscrupulous jewelsmith take credit for her increasingly sought-after work.