The Whimsy Bookworm: A Book Blog from India

Book: Swimming at Night Author: Lucy Clarke Pages: 384 I Read It On: My iPad I Read it in:   5 hours Plot Summary:  People go traveling for two reasons: because they are searching for something, or they are running from something.   Katie’s world is shattered by the news that her headstrong and bohemian younger sister, Mia, has been found dead at the bottom of a cliff in Bali. The authorities say that Mia jumped—that her death was a suicide.  Although they’d hardly spoken to each other since Mia suddenly left on an around-the-world trip six months earlier, Katie refuses to accept that her sister would have taken her own life. Distraught that they never made peace, Katie leaves her orderly, sheltered life in London behind and embarks on a journey to find out the truth. With only the entries in Mia’s travel journal as her guide, Katie retraces the last few months of her sister’s life and—page by page, country by country—begins to uncover the mystery surrounding her death. 

Book: The Shock of The Fall Author: Nathan Filer Pages: 310 Read On: Paperback How Long it Took Me To Read: 2 days Plot Summary:   I’ll tell you what happened because it will be a good way to introduce my brother. His name’s Simon. I think you’re going to like him. I really do. But in a couple of pages he’ll be dead. And he was never the same after that.’ There are books you can’t stop reading, which keep you up all night. There are books which let us into the hidden parts of life and make them vividly real. There are books which, because of the sheer skill with which every word is chosen, linger in your mind for days. The Shock of the Fall  is all of these books. The Shock of the Fall  is an extraordinary portrait of one man’s descent into mental illness.  General Thoughts: This book always caught my eye in bookstores and I've picked it up and put it down numerous times. Till I finally bought it a few months ago. I am always interested in reading book

Book: Norwegian Wood Author: Haruki Murakami Pages: 296 I Read: The paperback copy pictured above I Read It In: 6 hours (This was a re-read for me and I was savouring every line!) Plot Summary:  Toru, a quiet and preternaturally serious young college student in Tokyo, is devoted to Naoko, a beautiful and introspective young woman, but their mutual passion is marked by the tragic death of their best friend years before.  Toru begins to adapt to campus life and the loneliness and isolation he faces there, but Naoko finds the pressures and responsibilities of life unbearable.  As she retreats further into her own world, Toru finds himself reaching out to others and drawn to a fiercely independent and sexually liberated young woman. A poignant story of one college student's romantic coming-of-age, Norwegian Wood  takes us to that distant place of a young man's first, hopeless, and heroic love. Everything I LOVE about Norwegian Wood:  Let's get this out of th

I was so good in the month of July, I only bought these 7 books! Seven. 7. I have never been this good about my book buying. Never. Ever!  It feels good to be a little controlled now and again.  I love all the books I've acquired this month.  The Woman in White- Wilkie Collins  The Portrait of a Lady- Henry James  Middlemarch- George Eliot  Suite Scarlett- Maureen Johnson  Tuck Everlasting- Natalie Babitt  The Teller of Tales- Bhaskar Ghose  Aerogrammes- Tania James  Three glorious Penguin English Library books. A children's classic. A YA novel and a short-story collection.  A mixed bag of goodies! 

Book: Sorta Like A Rockstar Author: Matthew Quick Pages: 355 Read On: My Kindle How Long It Took Me To Read: 3 hours or so with frequent breaks for laughing and crying. Plot Summary:  Amber Appleton lives in a bus. Ever since her mom's boyfriend kicked them out, Amber, her mom, and her totally loyal dog, Bobby Big Boy (aka Thrice B) have been camped out in the back of Hello Yellow (the school bus her mom drives). Still, Amber, the self-proclaimed princess of hope and girl of unyielding optimism, refuses to sweat the bad stuff. But when a fatal tragedy threatens Amber's optimism—and her way of life, can Amber continue to be the rock star of hope? With an oddball cast of characters, and a heartwarming, inspiring story, this novel unveils a beautifully beaten-up world of laughs, loyalty, and hard-earned hope. General Thoughts: I got this book randomly because this sounded really good. The plot sounded interesting and I have heard only great things Matthew Quic

Book: Hopeless Author: Colleen Hoover Pages: 430 I Read: On my iPad I Read it in: 5 hours Plot Summary:  Sometimes discovering the truth can leave you more hopeless than believing the lies… That’s what seventeen-year-old Sky realizes after she meets Dean Holder. A guy with a reputation that rivals her own and an uncanny ability to invoke feelings in her she’s never had before. He terrifies her and captivates her all in the span of just one encounter, and something about the way he makes her feel sparks buried memories from a past that she wishes could just stay buried. Sky struggles to keep him at a distance knowing he’s nothing but trouble, but Holder insists on learning everything about her. After finally caving to his unwavering pursuit, Sky soon finds that Holder isn’t at all who he’s been claiming to be. When the secrets he’s been keeping are finally revealed, every single facet of Sky’s life will change forever. What I Liked: Colleen Hoover is an excellent New A

Our garden is full of colourful summer flowers. The humble, and often under-appreciated, bougainvillea are one of my favourites!  I am a sucker for any kind of stationery! I love pretty iPad covers, phone cases, notebooks, planners and whathaveyous! The iPad case (bottom most) is from Forever New and is rose gold and blush coloured. The day planner (in the middle) is also from Forever New in a similar colour scheme. I added some gold polka dots to my Moleskine for fun!  A glass of 'cutting chai' (commonly available street vendor tea) is just the perfect cure for super-rainy and overcast days.  I have been writing a lot this year, which is such an achievement for me! I am inconsistent, at best, when it comes to documenting events or even writing down my thoughts. I have been loving my Moleskine and my Midori Traveler's Notebook.  Finally, my favourite tasseled necklace. Brightens up any outfit and is so fun!  Have a lov

Book: Finding Claire Fletcher Author: Lisa Regan Pages: 430 I Read: The Kindle Edition I Read it in: 4 hours (in one sitting) Plot Summary:  Newly divorced and with his career in jeopardy, Detective Connor Parks takes solace in the arms of a beautiful woman he meets at a bar. The next morning, Claire Fletcher is gone, leaving nothing behind but an address and a decade-old mystery.  The address leads to the Fletcher family home where Claire's siblings inform Connor that their fifteen-year-old sister was abducted from a city street ten years ago and is presumed dead.  During those ten years, Claire endured the cruel torture and depravity of the man who abducted her. Paralyzed by fear and too ashamed to return to her family, Claire is resigned to her life as Lynn, the identity her abductor forced upon her.  Every time she attempts escape or betrays him in the smallest way, someone dies. Even now, her clandestine run-in with Connor Parks may have put his life at risk,

Book: Love Letters to the Dead Author: Ava Dellaira Pages: 327   I Read it on: My iPad I Read it in: 6 hours Plot Summary:  It begins as an assignment for English class: Write a letter to a dead person. Laurel chooses Kurt Cobain because her sister, May, loved him. And he died young, just like May did.  Soon, Laurel has a notebook full of letters to people like Janis Joplin, Amy Winehouse, Amelia Earhart, Heath Ledger, and more; though she never gives a single one of them to her teacher.  She writes about starting high school, navigating new friendships, falling in love for the first time, learning to live with her splintering family. And, finally, about the abuse she suffered while May was supposed to be looking out for her.  Only then, once Laurel has written down the truth about what happened to herself, can she truly begin to accept what happened to May. And only when Laurel has begun to see her sister as the person she was; lovely and amazing and deeply flawed; ca

I am feeling super-bored (yes, this is a legitimate feeling!) and felt like doing a fun tag post. I simply Googled Book-Tag and found a list of questions that make-up the Reading Habit Tag. I am a avid reader and I have a few reading habits...let's see what they are! 1. Do you have a certain place at home to read?  Yes, I read on my sofa. Or on a big comfy chair in my living room. I also loveeeee reading in bed. Sofa- full of cushions, a good place to read!  My bed, also full of cushions..also a great place to read.  2. Bookmark or random piece of paper.   Bookmark, as a general rule. I always have a bookmark or two lying about being super handy. But if I don't find a bookmark..which is rare, I don't mind using Post-Its or a pretty piece of paper, but it is very, very rare that I don't find a bookmark.  Bookmarks! The ones above are ones we made ourselves and the one below is a bookmark I love!  3. Can you stop reading at an

Book: The Merciless  Author: Danielle Vega Pages: 278 Read On: My Kindle How Long It Took Me To Read: 1 day Plot Summary:   Forgive us, Father, for we have sinned Brooklyn Stevens sits in a pool of her own blood, tied up and gagged. No one outside of these dank basement walls knows she’s here. No one can hear her scream.   Sofia Flores knows she shouldn’t have gotten involved. When she befriended Riley, Grace, and Alexis on her first day at school, she admired them, with their perfect hair and their good-girl ways. They said they wanted to save Brooklyn. They wanted to help her. Sofia didn’t realize they believed Brooklyn was possessed.   Now, Riley and the girls are performing an exorcism on Brooklyn—but their idea of an exorcism is closer to torture than salvation. All Sofia wants is to get out of this house. But there is no way out. Sofia can’t go against the other girls . . . unless she wants to be next. . . . General Thoughts: I wanted to read this book becaus

Book: On The Island Author: Tracey Garvis-Graves Pages: 347 Read On: My iPad How Long it Took Me To Read: 3 hours (I read it in one sitting!) Plot Summary:   When thirty-year-old English teacher Anna Emerson is offered a job tutoring T.J. Callahan at his family's summer rental in the Maldives, she accepts without hesitation; a working vacation on a tropical island trumps the library any day. T.J. Callahan has no desire to leave town, not that anyone asked him. He's almost seventeen and if having cancer wasn't bad enough, now he has to spend his first summer in remission with his family - and a stack of overdue assignments -- instead of his friends.  Anna and T.J. are en route to join T.J.'s family in the Maldives when the pilot of their seaplane suffers a fatal heart attack and crash-lands in the Indian Ocean. Adrift in shark-infested waters, their life jackets keep them afloat until they make it to the shore of an uninhabited island. Now Anna and

Book: How I Life Now Author: Meg Rosoff Pages: 224 How Long it Took Me To Read: 2 days. Read On: Paperback Plot Summary:   “Every war has turning points and every person too.” Fifteen-year-old Daisy is sent from Manhattan to England to visit her aunt and cousins she’s never met: three boys near her age, and their little sister. Her aunt goes away on business soon after Daisy arrives. The next day bombs go off as London is attacked and occupied by an unnamed enemy. As power fails, and systems fail, the farm becomes more isolated. Despite the war, it’s a kind of Eden, with no adults in charge and no rules, a place where Daisy’s uncanny bond with her cousins grows into something rare and extraordinary. But the war is everywhere, and Daisy and her cousins must lead each other into a world that is unknown in the scariest, most elemental way. A riveting and astonishing story. General Thoughts: This is a dystopian novel. I am very over all things dystopian. So very over.

1. Pink Punch by Rimmel London. A perfect happy pink nail-paint to contrast the grey skies in Bombay at the moment.  2. An armful of cloth-covered bangles. These babies add a dash of colour to any outfit.  3. A total favourite bag of mine, small but it surprisingly fits a whole lot. Handmade and embroidered and lovely. The colours look especially bright and alive against the black.  4. A tiny flower print shirt and a strawberry pendant. Things that pair well and make me happy.  5. The newest addition to my wallet collection. I love the pretty colour and the birds all over it. So freaking cute.  The wallet is from India Circus. 

I had nearly forgotten I had this bunch of books to haul. I bought all of these books during Flipkart' s Clearance Sale. I got each of these books for 75% off! I couldn't say no to such a good deal.  Most of these books I chanced upon the sale and they sounded interesting and I bought them. The House of Lost Souls though I've wanted for years..OK 2 yrs but it was always too expensive to buy but I got it for only Rs. 110 during the sale!!! Yay!  Also the Granta was such a steal. Love it!  Blood Rose- Margie Orford  Britain Granta  The House of Lost Souls- F.G. Cottam  The Alchemist's Daughter- Katherine McMahon Footsteps-  " The Return of Captain John Emmett- Elizabeth Speller Books for cheaper just make my day! :)  Happy Reading guys :)