The Whimsy Bookworm: A Book Blog from India

My book buying ban is going well..ish! But I figured ebooks don't count right?  Wellll...I am pretty excited about all these books. I've already read Dark Companion and will review it shortly.  Burial Rites sounds pretty  awesome and I will most likely read it in April.  I am really enjoying reading on my Kindle. Somehow, I tend to read a little bit faster on the Kindle..I have no idea why? Plus I love it's battery life.  March is finally over...it felt like a never ending month. I will do my March Wrap-Up next.  Have you read any of these books? 

Book: The Vanishing Author: Wendy Webb Pages: 304 I Read This In: 4 hours- in one sitting. Plot Summary:  Recently widowed and rendered penniless by her Ponzi-scheming husband, Julia Bishop is eager to start anew. So when a stranger appears on her doorstep with a job offer, she finds herself accepting the mysterious yet unique position: caretaker to his mother, Amaris Sinclair, the famous and rather eccentric horror novelist whom Julia has always admired…and who the world believes is dead. When she arrives at the Sinclairs' enormous estate on Lake Superior, Julia begins to suspect that there may be sinister undercurrents to her "too-good-to-be-true" position. As Julia delves into the reasons of why Amaris chose to abandon her successful writing career and withdraw from the public eye, her search leads to unsettling connections to her own family tree, making her wonder why she really was invited to Havenwood in the first place, and what monstrous secrets are s

1. Spring+ Summer is here and though I am not a big summer fan, I can appreciate the greenery and the splendour. The sun shining and the flowers blooming is pretty magnificent.  2. Pretty little boxes to house treasure and a purple plant to match. I love these quiet corners of my home.  3. Mint nail polish just scream summer to me. Soothing and oh-so-fresh.  4. A pretty little pendant. This one opens up, I've always wanted to keep something in these type of pendants but have never, ever figured out what! Maybe a bit of poetry folded up really small? Or a quote. There is one from Great Expectations I am loving...might do that!  5. Colourful little bugger. Erasers and lipbalm. Never used in their intended roles, I use these for decor!  Happy Weekend guys. I am looking forward to sleeping in and finally reading something I like..I've just been picking up all the wrong books! Gah! I hate not reading something and enjoying it and finishing it. I nee

Book: The Light Behind The Window aka The Lavender Garden Author: Lucinda Riley Pages: 544 I Read It In: 7 hours across 2 evenings Plot Summary:  The present: Emilie de la Martiniéres has always fought against her aristocratic background, but after the death of her glamorous, distant mother, she finds herself alone in the world and sole inheritor of her grand childhood home in the south of France.  An old notebook of poems leads her in search of the mysterious and beautiful Sophia, whose tragic love affair changed the course of her family history. As Emilie unravels the story, she too embarks on her own journey of discovery, realising that the château may provide clues to her own difficult past and finally unlock the future.  The past: London 1943. A young office clerk, Constance Carruthers, is drafted into the SOE, arriving in occupied Paris during the climax of the conflict. Separated from her contact in her very first hours in France, she stumbles into the heart of a

Book: The Fate of Mercy Alban Author: Wendy Webb Pages: 352 How Long it Took Me To Read: 2-3 hours...it was a quick read and I was gripped from the word go. Plot Summary:   Grace Alban has spent twenty years away from her childhood home, the stately Alban House, for reasons she would rather forget. But when her mother's unexpected death brings Grace and her teen-age daughter home, she finds more haunting the halls and passageways of Alban House than her own personal demons.   Long-buried family secrets, a packet of old love letters and a lost manuscript plunge Grace into a decades-old mystery about a scandalous party at Alban House, when a world-famous author took his own life and Grace's aunt disappeared without a trace. The night has been shrouded in secrecy by the powerful Alban family for all of these years, and Grace realizes her family secrets tangle and twist as darkly as the secret passages of Alban House. Her mother was intending to tell the truth abou

1. This is pretty much one of my favourite books ever. Top 3 for sure..I love this book. I read it when in first came out and I remember thinking to myself..."This is what good writing reads like!" I can't recommend this book enough. Jhumpa Lahiri in general is amazing and I love her writing to bit, but this book in particular is pretty damn fantastic. If you haven't read it yet, seriously, give this book a go. It's a great place to start reading Lahiri.  2. A print on my loved tee-shirt of mine. An old fashioned Bombay city cab. I love these little Fiat black and yellow taxis, I took them all the time when I was in college, haven't taken one in a long, long time.  3. A gorgeous little bag from Jaipur that my sister picked up, when she was Jaipur on work a couple of months back. I can't wait to go to Jaipur! See the sights and shop like a maniac. Hopefully, this year I might get to go to Jaipur! *Fingers crossed and toes crossed for good m

After my Book Buying madness in Feburary, I wanted to keep my book buying to a minimum. So I enforced a Book-Buying Ban...and I think I did quite well. I can't go cold turkey on books, it just won't happen! Also it might make me go crazy, crack and buy 30 books in retaliation! Eek! So I take my bans in moderation and with a pinch of humour.  I try to minimise my book buying. 6 books in all of this month..so far...19 days and 6 books. I don't know it seems rather impressive to me! I mean I am someone who buys 6 books in one go! So this is mighty great.  I once again bought 3 Modern Classics- I am really enjoying Modern Classics at the moment.  A short story collection by Neil Gaiman.  And of course another Sherlock book with the beautiful Benedict Cumberbatch on the cover! I mean I had to...no really...this is the how far I am in the Sherlock Holmes saga...so once I read The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, I can read the rest of the deli

Hello All!  Happy Friday and happy thoughts for the upcoming weekend. Here in India, this weekend we celebrate Holi- the festival of colours. So to those of you gearing up for Holi have a safe and happy Holi. I have never been big on Holi. As a child, the water balloons scared the crap out of me and the whole messy colour splattered-ness that Holi signifies, while pretty to think about, in reality can be quite horrid. So I will be staying indoors and dry and sans colour!  My favourites tonight are a mixed bag...starting with a delightful little Chair Print bag from People Tree. It was a Christmas present and a rather apt one considering it's very Christmas like colours! I just loveddddd the quirky print and the retro looking chairs.  This is going to be my year of Fitzgerald! I have 3 books, these two and a short story collection that I want to read this year. I also adore the covers of these books!  Mints of choice- Love the mini Altoids.

Book: The Circle  Author: Dave Eggers  Pages: Around 450 odd (on the Kindle) Plot Summary:  When Mae Holland is hired to work for the Circle, the world’s most powerful internet company, she feels she’s been given the opportunity of a lifetime. The Circle, run out of a sprawling California campus, links users’ personal emails, social media, banking, and purchasing with their universal operating system, resulting in one online identity and a new age of civility and transparency.  As Mae tours the open-plan office spaces, the towering glass dining facilities, the cozy dorms for those who spend nights at work, she is thrilled with the company’s modernity and activity. There are parties that last through the night, there are famous musicians playing on the lawn, there are athletic activities and clubs and brunches, and even an aquarium of rare fish retrieved from the Marianas Trench by the CEO.  Mae can’t believe her luck, her great fortune to work for the most i

Flipkart was having a flat 40% sale on certain books and I got me some lovely books.  3 more Penguin Modern Classics to add to my burgeoning collection. Two Indian Modern Classics for a change. I am excited to read all of these books.  A pretty copy of The Secret Garden. I can't wait to read this book!  Finally got my hands on The Graveyard Book- I want to read more Neil Gaiman and this sounds like a great read.  Maeve Binchy books always catch my eye at bookstores and at 40% off it was a good time to get it. This is collection of contemporary short stories.  I have read Jaishree Mishra before and enjoyed her writing and her stories. This one sounds really good- about a girl looking for her birth mother and how this wrecks havoc on the mother's life.  Yay! Books bought on sale are the best...books in general are the best! 

A mini book haul! Four books I got from Amazon.  The John Ajvide Lindqvist books: I have seen Let The Right One In- the movie- and loved it!! It's the creepiest movies ever! I really recommend it. So when I saw the book online, I just couldn't resist getting it. I hope this book lives up to my expectations. The other book is a collection of short stories.  I have heard amazing things about Carson McCullers and wanted to sample some of her writing. I am going a little mad for the Penguin Modern Classics. But I do love some Modern Classics.  And another Agatha Christie book for the collection. I am going to read this book this month, it's one of my favourite Christie stories.  It's nice to haul a small number of books sometimes!