The Whimsy Bookworm: A Book Blog from India: Reading Wrap-Up: October 2022.

Hello Loves!

October is over and now we step into the weekend of the year.

Time just keeps on running on by.

October was a busy month.

It started with a festival- Durga Pujo and ended with another- Diwali.

In the middle there was Lokkhi Pujo and this whole month has been doing things for the home and just letting the festivity wash over you.

It's a been a good month.

And when a month is busy, reading takes a little bit of a backseat, as in, it's not something I do a lot of and it's not what I am constantly thinking of.

I read a lot this month.

A LOT.

33 books in total.

And frankly I am surprised by it.

But..but but...most of these books were steamy romance books.

What have I become?! My 14 year old self again?!

I read a romance novel a night for 15 days straight.

Straight!!

I think life got busy and I just escaped into my romances, it also helped that I read them so darn fast. I made the most of my Kindle Unlimited subscription and read allll of these books from them.

Oh, in other reading related and book news, I got an iPad Mini as a Diwali gift from my sister. So I am reading on that as well and loving it so much.

And I actually bought some books for Diwali too.

Haul coming super soon.

My reading Goals for October were quite simple, I wanted to read as many spooky books as I could.

And I wanted to read some Bengali books in the start of the month, for Durga Pujo.

I think I did well on both these goals.

OK, now let's just jump into the books shall we?

BOOKS OF OCTOBER.

1. What Really Happened by Banaphool, Translated by Arunava Sinha: I started my month with a little Bengali classic. A re-read for me. Short stories and super short stories by a master of the snappy short stories. I really enjoyed this book, I did when I first read the book back in 2014 and I loved it just as much this time around. I will say though that I enjoyed the super short stories more than the slightly longer ones.

4/5

2. The Bookstore Sisters by Alice Hoffman: Another short story for my next read and my first foray into Alice Hoffman, who I've heard some amazing things about. This was such a comfort read, a bookstore, estranged sisters and a small-town that sounds soooo good. It was so warm and cozy and something I enjoyed very much.

4/5

3. Best of Friends by Kamila Shamsie: I love Kamila Shamsie's books. I have read a few of her books. And I really loved them. So every time her new book comes out, I am quite excited to read them. This one sounded so good. So good, a close female friendship and how it changes over the decades. This started so well, it kicks off in Karachi in 1988, in a country on the verge on change. Two close friends and are growing up and their worlds are changing and they are figuring out their place in the world. This first section, which made up for 33% of the book and I loved it. It was vintage Shamsie. Then the book jumps to 2019 in London and that's where the book lost me. I found this whole part was just lackluster and I didn't like it. From this point on my book just fell so flat for me. This is not Shamsie's best, by a long shot and overall this was not good. Something was just off when the action moves into the 21st century. Just off.

2/5

4. The Tidal Zone by Sarah Moss: I have been meaning to read Moss for years now. This book has sat on my shelf since 2016 and I am so glad I finally read it. This book is such a striking portrait of parental anxiety and a modern nuclear family. A child has a health scare and we see this family deal with it. It talks of family and health and how unpredictable life can be. So well written and so sharp with it's observations about home and gender roles and life in today's world. I enjoyed this book and I can't wait to read more from Moss.

3.5/5

5. The Living Mountain by Amitav Ghosh: A super short read from one of my favourites. Ghosh is always a good idea. A fable about climate change and our relation with the natural world. Short but so good and so layered.

3/5

6. Pretty Dead Queens by Alexa Donne: Some Halloween appropriate reading. A YA thriller about a young girl who moves in with her estranged grandmother, who is an uber famous crime novelist. In this small coastal town, she falls into a mystery that resembles her grandmother's first book. A beauty queen is found dead and she must solve her murder and reveal some old long buried secrets.

This was fun...easy to guess, but a good time read.

3/5

7. Taranath Tantrik by Bibhutibhushan, Translated by Devalina Mookerjee: This was my Bhoot Chaturdashi read. I wanted something spooky and something a little desi as my Diwali read and this one was just the ticket. Seven short stories about black magic, ghouls, ghosts, demons and things that go boo in the night. The first two stories are about Taranath Tantrik and the rest are independent stories and I kinda enjoyed the others a little better. I guess I just prefer stories about ghosts over stories about black magic and tantra. I am glad I finally read this book, I've wanted to get my hands on this since it came out earlier in the year.

Fun and gnarly.

4/5

8. The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson: This is my third book by the author I am a fan. This one is an out and out ode to all things Stephen King and Carrie in particular. You could call it a modern day Carrie re-telling. Only here our protagonist also had the added burden of trying to pass as white, even though she is biracial.

The book is told via a podcast that's done after the events of meltdown our girl suffers after a dance, ala Carrie. So it's interspersed with things happening and escalating and the Podcast trying to understand what happened and why and explain the supernatural aspects of the situation. This book had my attention from start to finish, it will keep you hooked.

I liked it, however I found the ending a little less than satisfying. We don't get a lot of answers. A lot is left unsaid and open ended, which in general is not my favourite thing in the world...so I wish it had ended a lot less abruptly.

3/5

9. The Dance of Faith by R. Seshasayee: A book about a young Muslim boy and his unending passion for dance and how it goes against every prescribed gender role and religious dikkat. This book shines a light on how constricting and stifling gender roles are in our society. Boys can't and don't dance, like dancing somehow makes you less of a man. Ugh. We need more stories like these, reminders like these.

3.5/5

10. Double Exposure by Ava Barry: Another thriller, about an heiress who is the only survivor of her family massacre. Hmm...this one just wasn't it. Kinda obvious. Very far fetched and just very unbelievable.

2/5

11. The Books of Indian Ghosts by Riksunder Banerjee: This is what I am reading today, for Halloween, a book about alllll kinds of ghosts found in the length and breath of our country. And I am loving it, so so much. What I love best is how it's a mix between fiction and non-fiction, so you get a little story and then some info about said ghost. Fun. A perfect Halloween read.

4/5

OK, those were all the regular books I read, as in non-romance books.

Now lets get to the smutty books I read this month.

There were very many, many many...

OK let's go.

I don't have a whole lot to say about these books, I mean nothing to pull apart and critique. They did what they do, they are full of love, romance and so much sexy times.

I read a lot of books by this author called Rina Kent who has a lot of interconnected books and books set in the same setting, a school, college and even one law practice, it's quite a multiverse.

12. God of Pain by Rina Kent

13. God of Malice "

14. Cruel King "

15. Deviant King "

16. Steel Princes "

17. Twisted Kingdom "

18. Black Knight "

19. Ruthless Empire "

20. Empire of Sin "

21. Empire of Desire "

22. Empire of Hate "

23. Reign of a King "