The Whimsy Bookworm: A Book Blog from India

Hello, hello! The New Year is barely three hours away and, yes, an exciting time is being had by us as we cook something yummy and watch movies at home. So much better than trying to beat the traffic and get to any restaurant or some such, in my opinion. 2013 has been a good reading year for me. I discovered some new authors I love and I read about topics that I hadn't read about before. The latter, really, is one of my top reasons for loving to read as much as I do. I love that books can take us to a different world, open our minds to magic and that books can help us walk in someone else's shoes. Books are magical! So, without further ado, here is my list of the 13 books that I absolutely loved in 2013. I started the year by reading Elif Shafak's The Forty Rules of Love. I loved this book for its great writing, the subject- I did not know much about Rumi or Shams Tabrizi apart from their poems- and the lovely "rules" themselves. I reviewed the book

2013 has been a good reading year for me. No, a GREAT year. I read 179 new books and re-read some 10 old loves. That is a lot of books! I don't know if 2014 will be as good or whether I'll read as much. As long as I read good books I'll be happy girl.  When choosing my favourtie books of the year, I tried to think of the books I've read and pick ones that have stuck with me. I also looked at my Goodreads and saw if based on ratings I could pick my top books- figures I gave 27 books a 5/5! And a majority of the books I read were 4/5. So that rating system didn't help much. So in the end I just picked books I really enjoyed and ones I see myself going back to.  So in no particular order...of merit...here are my favourite books of the year 2013!  1. Agatha Christie Books: This was the first time in my life I started reading Agatha Christie and I cannot believe it took me this long! Seriously! I can't quite pick just one book to name as a favouri

One of my all time favourite things to do in Bombay is to take a walk on Causeway. Colaba always has a way to cheer me up. A walk on the busy stretch, littered with delightful little stalls with unexpected treasures always makes me smile. I love finding a good bargain and of course the haggling makes the shopping expedition truly special.  Recently, I spend the day with my family walking around Causeway and spent the evening sitting on Marine Drive and getting gently breezed.  A cup of chai at Hotel Olympia- a place I had seen a million times but never stepped inside. On this day, dad insisted we stepped for a quick cup of delicious tea.  The dessert counter at Cafe Leopold, I need to sample some of these goodies!  Causeway treasures.  We spent the evening sitting on Marine Drive, closer to the Nariman point bit and it was lovely. We even had 10 rupee coffee and watched the world go by.  Obligatory Queen's Necklace shot. 

These are the 13 books I got for Christmas (like I need an excuse to buy books!). A mix of classics/modern classics/horror and a truckload of Agatha Christie books!  I got all of these online for a pretty good deal.  I want to read more Fitzgerald and therefore got 2 of his books.  The Agatha Christie books just make me so happy and I got each of them fro 100 bucks or less!  All these books make me giddily happy :)  Hope you guys had a Merry Christmas and tell me if you got any books?