The Whimsy Bookworm: A Book Blog from India

 Hello Loves!  You know I love and adore Indian Books. I'd say nearly 60% of the books I read in a year are Indian Books. In April and August, I read only Indian books and honestly, I could go a whole year just reading books from the Motherland. I love Indian books. And anyone who thinks Indian books are not that great or only think of those.."popular" books as Indian Fiction..well..do better. Look around and find yourself some great books  from India. Whether written in English or translated from regional languages, we have such brilliant books to offer.  Maybe this list will help you.  So let's jump into my favourite books of the year.  TOP 10 INDIAN BOOKS OF 2024 (FICTION & NON-FICTION) :  1. The Hachette Book of Indian Detective Fiction Vol. I & II: I love detective stories and this beautiful boxset with two volumes full of the best detective stories from the country was a treat. I loved the curation and collection here. We have stories ol...

 Hello Loves!  2024 is nearly over and I read some incredible books from around the world.  Truly, one of the best things about reading is the ability is to read, learn and spend time with people from a different culture than mine and walk a mile or two in their shoes see a whole other side of the world.  So here's my Top 10 Books from around the World. We have books from Argentina,Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Germany, Australia, Netherlands, Iran and Palestine.  So let's jump into it.  1. Blessings by Chukwuebuka Ibeh: Set in Nigeria, this is a coming of age story of a young queer boy. We see his life unfold in the changing landscape of his country. Him being outed and the repercussions and pain and healing and finding himself and love in a world were the odds are stacked against him. I loved this book, even the parts that broke my heart. An incredibly well-written and stirring debut.  2. This Motherless Land by Nikki May: Set partially in Nigeria and in par...

 Hello Loves!  I am a big fan of all things Kid Lit. I believe that a good book that's written for kids works just as well for adults. A book that teaches a child via a story will have a similar effect on an adult or at least bring them some much needed comfort.  I read a lot of Children's Books, when I have a hard day or week, I find myself turning to the softness of a well written Children's Book. Here are my absolute favourites from 2024.  First we have two books by the same author, whose work I discovered this year and absolutely fell in love with.  1. Small Saul  &  2. Larf by Ashely Spires: These books are so wholesome and wonderful and warm and fuzzy and so so so cute. Larf is about a Big Foot looking for a friend and Small Saul is a little pirate. My heart! I love these books and made my sister read them right after I finished them. So so so good. The art is lovely too. Highly recommend.  3. Mukesh Opens a Zoo by Ruskin Bond: What li...

 Hello Loves!  Here are some of my favourite pages of my Reading Journal.  I’ve loved this version of my Reading Journal but in 2025, I’m moving into a smaller sized journal. A more petite setup that I can’t wait to share with you.  For now here’s my 2024 Reading Journal. 

 Hello Loves 🎄 Today was a largely good day.  Finished reading Mother India by Prayaag Akbar and really loved it. It's a short read and if you want to read something quick and poignant before the year ends, you can pick it up.  Picked a new book.  Rested. Because I have some swollen gums and headache and toothache. So a nap was taken.  Here's what my day looked like:  Have some strawberry ice-cream to soothe my toothache 🍓 

 Hello Loves!  Today was a good day.  Started a new book and read more than half of it and I am really enjoying myself.  Put some soft red velvet bows on my Kindle and my sister's as well. Just festive cheery vibes all around.  Here's what today looked like:  Mother India by Prayaag Akbar is a novella about two young Indians, a man and a woman who live and work in Delhi.  It's a story set firmly in India today, the plague of social media echo chambers and how the powerful and corrosive these carefully worded and manipulated videos/words and content can be.  I  am half way through and really enjoying and appreciating this book.  A cheerful bookmark to keep me company in an often melancholic book.  I read and absolutely loved Leila by the same author and I knew I would enjoy this one as well.  Now for some cutesy things:  We recently got a roll of red velvet ribbon and I wanted to add some festive cheer to my Kindle cover....

  So grateful that I get to live in a home overrun by books.  Seriously, my greatest joy. 

 Hello Loves!  I recently picked up my old digicam and have been clicking pictures on it. It's over 12 years old and on it's last legs.  But she's small and fits in the palm of my hand and I love her and all the adventures and memories that she reminds me of always makes me smile.  Here are some snapshots I've captured using her.  A favourite page from my journal. Sunshiny Days.  Blooming pink flowers outside my window.  Journal Pages and Covers.  Pinteresting.  I am currently looking for some planner and journal inspo.  Current Read- The Anthropologists  Future Read- The new Murakami. I want the physical copy but boy oh boy is it expensive!  So an ebook will do for now but I will get my hands on the beautiful copy soon.  I made a dinky cover for my sister's phone.  Used some stickers from my stash.  My little frog friend.  My reading companion.  A book filled corner of home.  From earlier this mor...

 Reading has been kinda off lately.  I am not exactly in a reading slump, but nothing I've read in a long time that made me all kinds of happy. Plus, I think I've been watching more things than reading and I really want to change that and get back to my reading like a maniac avatar.  This weekend I am reading something really good that I am excited about.  This Motherless Land by Nikki May: A story of two cousins and several family secrets and drama. Set in Nigeria and UK in the 80s, I am 25% in so far and really loving it.  Our two main characters, Funke and Liv are both extremely likable and real.  I am so happy to spend my weekend reading this book. And spending some time in the 80s.  A little friend keeping me company as I read in bed. 

 Happy Halloween🎃👻🍬  You know I love all things Spooky and every year for Halloween, I try to read some spooky and mystery books.  Here are five books I read this year in honour of Halloween.  Happy Halloween my Spooky 👻🐈‍⬛👽🎃👻 Pals.  Five books I read leading up to Halloween.                🎃👻🍬🎃👻🍬🎃👻🍬 Finally read Dracula and since it's such a big part of our cultural Zeitgeist, I feel like I knew this story through osmosis. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it immensely and was surprised how easy it was to read and accessible the writing was. Also watched two film adaptations. One made in 1992 by Fransis Ford Coppola (which was so campy and weird). The other produced by Wes Craven (who I love) which was fun but very, very not true to text. Both films are available on YouTube.  Mariana Enriquez was a revelation. I cannot believe it took me this long to finally find my way to her work. She writes like a dream abo...