The Whimsy Bookworm: A Book Blog from India

A mini- book haul. Just four books.  A pretty classic.  A Victorian setting romance.  A mystery.  A love story with a bad girl.  I was killing time at a Crossword bookstore recently and came home with these four books.  I've already read the Julia Quinn and enjoyed it. And I look forward to read the rest.  A Tale of Two Cities- Charles Dickens  10 Things I Love About You- Julia Quinn  The Dante Club- Matthew Pearl  The Bad Girl- Mario Vargas Llosa 

Book: The Collected Works of A.J. Fikry or The Stories Life of A.J. Fikry. Author: Gabrielle Zevin Pages: 260 How Long it Took Me to Read: 1 day Read On: Paperback. Plot Summary:   On the faded Island Books sign hanging over the porch of the Victorian cottage is the motto "No Man Is an Island; Every Book Is a World." A. J. Fikry, the irascible owner, is about to discover just what that truly means. A. J. Fikry's life is not at all what he expected it to be. His wife has died, his bookstore is experiencing the worst sales in its history, and now his prized possession, a rare collection of Poe poems, has been stolen. Slowly but surely, he is isolating himself from all the people of Alice Island-from Lambiase, the well-intentioned police officer who's always felt kindly toward Fikry; from Ismay, his sister-in-law who is hell-bent on saving him from his dreary self; from Amelia, the lovely and idealistic (if eccentric) Knightley Press sales rep who kee...

I bought all of these three gorgeous books in April! April was a good month of book buying.  Wildwood by Colin Melroy and Carson Ellis  Tales from Fosterganj by Ruskin Bond  The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly by Sun- Mi Hwang  I've already read and loved both Wildwood and Fosterganj.  Books are wonderful. Books with illustrations and pretty details are even more...slightly more wonderful!  I am a sucker for pretty books. I just can't not love them. I wanted Wildwood for years..but it is a slightly pricey book so I constantly talked myself out of it...till in April I finally decided to treat myself to a book I really wanted!  Pretty books just bring me so much happiness. 

Book: Since You've Been Gone. Author: Morgan Matson Pages: 449 How Long it Took Me To Read: 1 day. Read On: My Kindle Plot Summary:   The Pre-Sloane Emily didn't go to parties, she barely talked to guys, she didn't do anything crazy. Enter Sloane, social tornado and the best kind of best friend—the one who yanks you out of your shell.But right before what should have been an epic summer, Sloane just... disappears. No note. No calls. No texts. No Sloane. There’s just a random to-do list. On it, thirteen Sloane-selected-definitely-bizarre-tasks that Emily would never try... unless they could lead back to her best friend. Apple Picking at Night? Ok, easy enough.Dance until Dawn? Sure. Why not? Kiss a Stranger? Wait... what? Getting through Sloane’s list would mean a lot of firsts. But Emily has this whole unexpected summer ahead of her, and the help of Frank Porter (totally unexpected) to check things off. Who knows what she’ll find? Go Skinny Dipping? Um.. ...

Book: We Were Liars Author: E. Lockhart Pages: 240 Read On: My Kindle How Long it Took Me To Read: 2 days ( I really struggled with this book.) Plot Summary:   A beautiful and distinguished family. A private island. A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy. A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive. A revolution. An accident. A secret. Lies upon lies. True love. The truth. General Thoughts: This book was all over the internets last month. The hype was full-on. And there was this weird gimmick going on, about lying about the plot of this book. Don't let the actual plot slip out...go into this book without knowing about this book is about....Hmm... I don't know about you, but to me plot is everything. I pick allllllllll my books based on what they are about. Barring a few authors, whose work I love and admire so much, I'd read anything by them, I only look at the plot of a book before picking it up. So this whol...

 Work took me to one of India's most ancient cities this past week- Varanasi. Also known as: Kashi and Benares. Varanasi is considered one of the holiest places for the Hindus and, therefore, is home to more than 23,000 temples. For hundreds of years, people from all over the country have come to this city to seek salvation and, ultimately, moksha - release from the cycle of life-death-rebirth. It is believed that if you die in Kashi, a city believed to be founded by none other Lord Shiva himself, you attain moksha  and are free from the material world in every sense. Sharing some of my pictures from this amazing city! The river Ganges (known as Ganga in India) is the life and soul of the city. There are 85 ghats (series of stairs leading down to the river) in the city. These ghats are dotted with some very beautiful works of art, such as this one depicting Lord Shiva.  Whilst walking along almost 25 of the aforementioned 85 ghats, we came acro...

Love Story by Erich Segal: Everyone and their mother has read this book. Well, expect me...till about a month ago. I knew the story. I knew the ending. I knew the key dialogues. But then who doesn't. This book is a modern classic. It was high-time I read this book for myself! It was quick and easy read. I enjoyed it and am glad I finally read this book. This gorgeous floral book  cover is also a great addition to my personal library.  Rating: 4/5  I was on a bit of a Sudha Murthy kick in April, I read 3 books by her. A full-length novel and these two short-story collections.  How I Taught My Grandmother To Read and Other Stories.  Wise and Otherwise.  Both of these books are personal anecdotes and stories and life-experiences. I enjoyed them immensely. Simply written and full of humility and wisdom. I am definitely going to pick up more of Murthy's works.  Rating : 4/5 for both.  14 Stories That Inspired S...