The Whimsy Bookworm: A Book Blog from India

Another haul of books! June has been a good book buying month. Or bad...if you see it from the bank balance perspective :) I choose to see it as a good thing!  I got these books mostly from online bookstores and got most of them at pretty great deals. The last book I got at an indie bookstore and it promises to be a sweet little children's book...sometimes I am just in the mood for a sweet story and to be reminded of a simpler time.  I've already read 4 books out of this pile. :)  There will be another book haul of the June books in the near future. I received 10 books in the mail today and another one is on it's way. I don't even want to think about the total number of books I've acquired in June! Also don't tell my parents! They will not be amused!

Book: Embroideries Author: Marjane Satrapi Pages: 145 How long it took me to read : Under an hour.  Plot Summary: There really isn't any, this is graphic novel about an afternoon session of tea and gossip amongst a group of women in Tehran, Iran. An afternoon of tea, laughter, gossip and stories. Characters: There is Marji herself, if you've read Persepolis you know her and her family pretty well already. There is also Marji's grandmother (whom I love!) and her mother and a host of other women who have very funny stories to share. What I liked: Everything!!!! The stories. The art. The camaraderie. The laughter and the very spirit of gossip. It made me crave both tea and the company of these women. What I didn't: 145 pages?!! That's it? I needed more! General Thoughts: I wanted this book the minute I read Persepolis. In another slightly creepy note, I had seen this book in a movie and didn't know what this book was for a long, long time...

Book: The Name of the Star Author: Maureen Johnson Pages: 372 How Long it took me to read: A day or two. But I read the first 165 odd pages in one sitting in 3 hours or so. Plot Summary: Rory Deveaux moves to London for her senior year of high school from Louisiana, For Rory it's a new beginning and hopefully an exciting time in her life. But the day she moves to London, all of London is abuzz with the gruesome crime that has just occurred. A maniac is mimicking the horrific Jack the Ripper murders from more than a century ago. And Rory's new boarding school is smack in the middle of Ripper's playground. But for Rory, the Rippermania is nothing more than background noise, she is busy adjusting to her new life and schedule and trying to keep up with the demands of a British curriculum. The police are trying to find the new serial killer but have no leads. Till one night, Rory spots the man whom the police believe to be their main suspect. But she is the onl...

Book: Gone Girl Author: Gillian Flynn Pages: 432 How long it took me to read: 2 days Plot Summary: Amy and Nick Dunne, both out-of-work journalists/writers, who used to live in New York, are making a fresh go of their marriage in Nick's hometown of North Carthage, Missouri.  Things seem alright in their marriage- to an outsider- but then one summer morning- on the day of Nick and Amy's fifth wedding anniversary, Amy Dunne vanishes. As the cops and the media start hounding Nick and suspecting him of doing away with Amy, the true story of their marriage unfolds via Amy's diary and Nick's recollections. So, basically, this book has all the makings of a great psychological thriller- evasive husband who is having an affair with a younger woman, beautiful, rich and intelligent wife who is missing under suspicious circumstances and a small town that is agog with curiosity and excitement and are all but openly blaming Nick for doing away with Amy. But is Amy really...

Oh the joys of buying books! Fewer things make me as happy. The feeling I get as I walk into a bookstore is simply the best. As much as I like ordering books online and getting a good deal on them, I just adore buying books in their natural habitat- a bookstore.  I bought all of these books this week in one evening. Yay! 2 bookstores and 9 books and 4 little book-babies- the Little Miss and Little Mr. books. They were too cute to leave behind. Plus, they have the sweetest art work.  I am especially excited about the last 3 books, all Penguin Library Classics. I LOVE these gorgeous covers and I cannot wait to read them. Pretty covers makes reading even more fun.  I am also excited to read Freedom, I've heard nothing but great things. Also The Orphan Master's Son sounds incredible, I am very curious about North Korea and reading about it should be enlightening.  But all this book buying means I really need to im...

I am a resolution maker/taker. And once I put it down in writing I am pretty good at keeping said resolutions.  At least I try my level best to keep my resolutions. I also make weekend goals and week goals- about things I need to get done and things I want to try and do. Making a list keeps me on track. In the beginning of the year with the zeal of the new year and a chance of starting something new upon me, I wanted to make some reading related resolutions. With half the year nearly over (where does time fly?) I thought its a good time as any to revisit my Reading Resolutions and see how I am doing. 1. Read more classics. /// I pretty much have this on my list every single year. And I am really bad I keeping it. Reading classics is amazing. But it takes some time. And effort. Reading contemporary books makes switching to classics take some time. This year I am happy to report things are a little better. I've read 2 classics already. I also want to read different kinds of classi...

Book: The Forty Rules of Love Author: Elif Shafak Pages: 368 How long it took me to read: 1.5 days Plot Summary: Moving seamlessly between 13th century Turkey and present-day United States, The Forty Rules of Love, tells two stories. The first is of the renowned poet-philosopher Rumi and how he met his soulmate, mentor and spiritual guide- the enigmatic and deeply spiritual Shams of Tabrizi (Shams). The second story is about Ella Rubenstein, who is 40 years old and unhappily married. Her kids no longer need her and her marriage is cold. She has started working as a reader with a literary agency and her first assignment is to evaluate a new manuscript by a man called Azia Zahara. As Ella reads Aziz's story about Rumi and Shams and the forty rules of love, she realizes that life is about more than what she has experienced or the rut that she is gotten into and that this novel and its mysterious writer will change her life and thinking just like Shams did for Rumi all thos...

Book: Oleander Girl Author: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni Pages : 304 How Long it took me to read: 2-3 days. (I had some issues with this book.) Plot Summary: This is the story of Korobi Roy, a 17 year old who has lived a sheltered life with her maternal grandparents following the death of her mother at birth and the death of her father even before. Korobi, Bengali for Oleander, has gone to a boarding school since she was five and has only recently returned to her family home in Calcutta for college. The Roys are a distinguished family and Korobi is the apple of her grandparents' eye. Korobi is set to get engaged to Rajat Bose, a suave young man she has recently met and fallen madly in love with. Her strict grandfather has surprised Korobi and said yes to this love match. But on the evening of her engagement, tragedy befalls the Roys. Korobi's grandfather dies suddenly, leaving Korobi heartbroken. But the worst is yet to come, Korobi soon finds out that her belov...

Hello, hello! This is Debs- the sister- back with a Sunday feature called 'Sister Sundays' where I talk about some of the recent books that I enjoyed reading. :) Hope you enjoy and find a new book/author to read! :) Book: The Sense of an Ending Author: Julian Barnes Pages: 150 How long it took me to read: 2-3 hours. Would have taken me even less time but this book makes you think and so, I set it down a few times to do just that. Plot Summary: Tony Webster and his clique first met Adrian Finn at high school. Sex-hungry and book-hungry, the boys navigated the final year at high school together, trading in affectations, in-jokes, rumour and wit. Adrian Finn was a little too serious compared to the rest of them, but they were close friends nevertheless. At the end of high school, the boys decided to stay friends for life... The book is set several years later, when Tony is almost retired, divorced and leads a relatively quiet and peaceful life. He is at peace with ...

1. My beautiful, burgeoning collection of the Penguin English Library Edition books. I just love, love, love how lovely these books look. I intend on adding to my collection and reading one of these beauties per month. I read The Picture of Dorian Grey last month and really enjoyed it.  2. Re-organising my bookshelves. I keep doing this, to accommodate my new books and  put the read books behind ones I need to read. 3. Cups of cold coffee in pretty mugs and a pretty book in hardback.  4. Owls.  5. Books in the mail. I received quite a few packages full of books this week and it made me a very happy girl.  6. Cute little things. Stationery- pencils like these. They were a random present from my sister. I love these so much!  Tell me what random things make you happy??? 

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin is the story of Mara who wakes up in a hospital with no memory of the fatal accident that killed her best friend, her boyfriend and his sister. What is stranger still that she comes out unharmed in this accident. Unable to deal with this loss in memory and the loss of people she cared for Mara and her family move states to help Mara have a normal life. But things keep getting stranger..people start dying around her and Mara can't help but wonder if she is responsible? The only silver lining in this mess Noah- the one person she can count on.  This book is pretty dark and mysterious and perfect for a rainy day read. There is a hint of mystery, supernatural and also romance. I read this book a few months ago and really enjoyed it and have it's sequel that I just might read on a rainy day. :)   Choker by Elizabeth Woods is the story of 16 year old Cara Lange who is a sad and lonely girl with no friends. She h...

Book: Afterlife: Ghost stories from Goa Author: Jessica Faleiro Pages: 158 How long it took me to read: A couple of hours. Plot Summary: As the title suggests this is a book of ghost stories. The Foncesca family- father Savio, mother Lillian and daughters Carol and Joanna have gathered in Goa to celebrate Savio's 75th birthday. The night before the big party, the family has a visit from Savio's cousin brother Eduardo and his wife Maria and kids Susheela and Jason come and as the rain pours outside and the power goes out the Foncescas start telling ghost stories- about things that they've experienced or the extended family members have experienced. Characters: Apart from the people mentioned above, the ones telling the actual stories, the book is full of Foncescas of the past and deceased and present- all of whom sound super fun. What I liked: I loved the basic premise, a family sitting in the dark with the rain lashing the house and ghost stories. I l...

Book: Persepolis I and II Author: Marjane Satrapi Pages: 341 How long it took me to read: A day or less...it's a graphic novel and you could possible read it in 2 hours. Plot Summary: This book is a autobiographical graphic novel about the author's childhood in Tehran, Iran during the Islamic Revolution and during the Iraq-Iran war. The second book continues into the author's adulthood and return to Iran (after a stint in Austria) and her life in a very conservative Iran. That being said that book is so much more than just this glib summary. The book is also about her family- my favourite aspect about this book- and about a country in chaos. The changing world and people holding on to normal lives the best they can and basically about the human spirit surviving in troubled times. Characters: There is Marji herself, our protagonist, who we see from a 9 year old who wants to be the next prophet to a young woman studying art in college. ...