The Whimsy Bookworm: A Book Blog from India

Hello Loves!  Here we are at the very end of 2020 and I think most of us are happy to see the end of this year. It's  been one hell of a ride hasn't it? Yet, here we are.  We survived what this year threw at us. If a year ago someone told me that come March the whole world would be forced indoors and sanitisers would be our new best friend and I'd buy so many masks, I'd ask you what you had been smoking?!  Yet we were thrown a curve ball and we survived.  It sucked.  We complained.  Worried.  Cried.  Found comfort in food and books and sleep and TV shows.  MY YEAR IN BOOKS  When it came to books I had a mixed bag of a year.  I honestly thought I'd read so much more, since we were going to be home but the stress and anxiety about this pandemic made reading harder on some days and overall I think read quite less this year.  But honestly I am not going to be hard on myself for my not-so-stellar reading.   It was goo...

 Hello Loves!  I have a huge thing for beautiful bookmarks. I may be slightly obsessed and this year I allowed myself to buy a ton of absolutely gorgeous bookmarks from a ton of artists and illustrators and they've made me so happy.  So freaking happy.  So I figured I would share my most loved bookmarks of the year.  So here goes, in no particular order!  1. Books and Teacups Shop: The first-is bookmarks I acquired this year were from Books and Teacups Shop that has some of the most darling illustrations ever! Ever!!! Everything in her shop is warm and cozy and lovely and I can't wait to go back and get more from this beautiful shop!  2. Sparrow Official: This indie brand mostly does clothing but they upcycle their leftover fabric to make these adorable embroidered bookmarks. I got 4 bookmarks from them and I love how pretty they are. You can find their bookmarks here.   4. The Spring Palette: I fell in love with The Spring Palette 's aesthetic...

 Hello, hello! Today I will be sharing my favourite crime/ mystery/ thriller books of 2020!  This year we (sister and I) read a lot of Thrillers and a fair amount of Horror too. I guess this year was a horror it felt nice and oddly comforting to visit and for a brief period of time be immersed in the world of someone else's horror and worry. It makes for a perfect escape. My sister, especially, read a lot of thrillers and read them in quick succession. So this list is mostly her top reads of 2020.  This a collection of books that range from the classic murder mystery to a few nice little experiments and departures from the classic formats of the genre. All of these will, however, keep you engaged, engrossed and guessing! Let's get into it, then!  1. Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling): Full review can be found here . This was the first cold case for Cormoran Strike and Robin and, boy, was it a complicated one! 40 years ago, a young GP leaves her prac...

Hello Loves!  Today I want to talk about my favourite non-fiction reads of 2020.  If you know me or have followed me for any amount of time, you'd probably have noticed that I am not a big non-fiction reader.  I would much rather read a work of fiction.  But ever now and then I read a bit of non-fiction and find myself very, very taken by it.  Here are my favourite Non-Fiction Reads for 2020. 1. Remnants of a Separation by Aanchal Malhotra: This book should be an essential read for people in our subcontinent. Seriously, everyone should read this book. It's brilliant and fantastic and I loved it so much. It is definitely something I'll re-read over and and over again and one that I will always recommend.   A full review can be found HERE.  2. Good Talk by Mira Jacob: A graphic memoir of what it means to be brown or black in today's America. It's a book about race, racism- both overt and micro-aggressions and identity. A mother's conversations with her...

 Hello Loves!  Hope you've had a Merry Christmas and I hope it involved good food, family, love and laughs and cake..definitely cake.  Mine was a good and slow and happy one.  For my last Blogmas Post I want to share one of my favourite Christmas gifts of this year.  I first chanced upon Aarti's shop: Dairy of a Flower Girl,  sometime this year and I kid you not it was love at first sight. Her art just makes me happy and makes me smile. Its so darling and sweet and full of such joy, I knew I had to get some of it in my life. And come Christmas I did just that. I ordered a set of six prints from her shop and she sent across 4 Christmas prints and a little bookmark.   I am so in love and I know I will go back to her for more!  First we have the special Christmas freebie prints that are so darling.  These bunnies just make my heart happy.  Hello Santa!  My heart is merry as can be.  This bookmark is so perfect.  This li...

 Hello Loves!  Happy Christmas Eve folks!  Today's blooms post is just a little glimpse into what life has looked like today in my corner of the world.  Our pumpkin plant has sprouted flowers and looks mighty cute. Some gifts under our Christmas tree.  I am so proud that this year, for the first time since 2014 I managed to keep my gifts unopened till Christmas!  Our tree went up this evening, super duper late but its up and its tiny and its cute.  Today is also my Dad's birthday. This year for various reasons, he didn't want to celebrate his birthday in a big way.  One of my Dad's closest friends passed away two days ago and he wanted a quiet birthday.  So we just had cake and ate some good food and watched a web-series.  This Motichoor cake was a thing of joy.  Another look at our yellow beauties.  Today was a quiet but good day.  I've been crazy busy finishing up a new story and editing it and doing all sorts of last mi...

Hello Loves!  Today I am here to list some of my favourite Indian Fiction Reads of 2020. I read a lot of Indian books, they are certainly my favourite kinds of books to read, there is so much talent in our country and so many incredible writers. So picking just a few faves is a little bit of a struggle.  Oh, not all of these books were released in 2020, some are older gems that I Read this year.  Cool.  Chalo let's jump in.    1. The Greatest Works of Rabindranath Tagore: This was my first read of 2020 and it was a good way to kickstart my reading year. Tagore is a Bengali home staple. I have always been surrounded by his work, whether songs or poetry or his stories. I haven't read a lot of his work. But over the last few years I've tried to fix that. I loved this collection of stories, I picked it up at my local book fair and read it in the first week of January. I really enjoyed it and I highly recommend it.  2. The House of a Thousand Stories by Ar...

 Hello Loves!  How is your weekend going?  Mine is off to a slow and soothing start, one that included a lot of sleep, some fruit cake and coffee and luchi and aloor torkari made by Maa.  I am trying to slow down, read a little and write my little butt off in these day few days of the year.  Here are some things that have brought me joy in the last few days... Flowers that are blooming around my home.  Happy yellow blooms that have come to life in the front of my house.  And these dark genda phools that have shown up on the roof.  The promise and excitement of a new planner.  I am so excited for 2021 and using my new planner.  Cake for no reason.  Well, to celebrate a Sunday.  This was a Dutch Trfuffle and it was delicious.  My planning and journaling supplies, siting pretty.  A book sleeve from Fitoor Company that holds all my stickers and washi tape and Kitta stickers. 

  Hello, hello!  2020 has been the year of staying home and binging on web series and movies! So, like every year, I have rounded up the Top 10 Indian fiction OTT shows for 2020. These are, mostly, Hindi language shows with two Bengali shows also making it into this list.  Let's get into it!  Pataal Lok streaming on Amazon Prime Video was, in my opinion, the breakthrough series of 2020! We've reviewed it in detail here and highly recommend you watch the show, if you haven't already! It is not just a crime thriller but a full blown, searing social commentary on today's India and its many uncomfortable truths.  Panchayat   also streaming on Amazon Prime Video is a funny and entertaining show about a young man from a big city, who moves to a tiny village when he takes up a job as the Secretary of the local village panchayat. The quirky characters, their shenanigans and the adjustment process our protagonist goes through makes this show a must-watch.  Asu...

 Hello Loves!  Today I want to share some beautifullllll brooches I recently got from Vastriyan.  I have bought from Bidisha before, I got some gorgeous earrings from her and I love her work. It's so stunning and neat and precise. She is crazy talented.  This time I got some lovely floral brooches from her and just look how freaking pretty they are:  This floral wreath is a thing of beauty.  A bouquet of lavender.  I honestly cannot pick a favourite.  They are all so beautiful.  Such happy blooms.  Also notice the lovely illustration on her packaging.  Bidisha should really start making bookmarks, I'll be first in line to get my hands on them.  This is the first one I picked up.  Yellow happy blooms for life.  A pink pineapple.  So cute!  REVIEW:  1. Everything is immaculately made and such good quality.  2. The whole ordering process is smooth as can be and Bidisha keeps in loop throughout the shi...