The Whimsy Bookworm: A Book Blog from India

Hello!  I've read quite a few short-story collections in this past month.  Personally I am a big fan of short stories. They are a perfect read for a busy days and busy lives. Stories to dip in and out of. Read all in one go or read one and re-visit the rest of the stories later. Perfect for busy days. And I find short-stories are great to read along with other books as well.  Since there isn't always much to say about each short story collection, I figured I'd group of a few books together in this post.  Book: Excess, The Tehelka Book of Stories  Edited by: Jai Arjun Singh and Nisha Susan  Review: I had picked this book up on a random whim while browsing books on Amazon and thought I'd give this anthology a chance.  Sadly this was an overall disappointment. The collection boasts of quite a few up and coming writers, some I've read and others I read for the first time here. I liked that I could try and sample the writing of people I

So, I received my first ever leather Field Notes sized (5.5x3.5 inches) Traveler's Notebook! I ordered this from an Etsy seller called ' Naked Cow Leather '. As you can see, it is a gorgeous camel brown leather and is super soft! I asked for the edges to be stitched and for a pen loop to be added. You get these extras by paying a small additional fee. Now, not that one needs an excuse to buy more stationery, but I do have a fair amount of travel coming up and so, I want to try using the Field Notes size to plan, journal and use as my on-the-go doodle book whilst I am on the road. I think this little TN will be just the thing! In terms of set-up, I just did the basic- I added in a dashboard- that's just some pretty paper that has been laminated- to hold post-its/ sticky notes and other page flags and such that I can quickly reach when I am on-the-move. I have added two little pocket-sized notebooks- one to do my daily journaling in and the other to act a

Book: The Weight Loss Club Author: Devapriya Roy Pages: 304 How Long it Took Me To Read: 3 days Read On: Paperback Plot Summary: Set in a middle-class housing colony, this is the story of stay-at-home mum Monalisa, who cannot clean the kitchen counter enough times; Meera, who is bullied constantly by her traditional mother-in-law; college-going Abeer, who isnt sure how to impress the glamorous Mandy; academic Aparajita, who has no takers on the marriage mart; philosopher Ananda, whom no one takes seriously; and Treeza, a former school secretary now sunk in gloom. Into their midst arrives Oxford-returned Sandhya: half hippie, half saadhvi, full spiritual guru. Under her aegis is formed The Weight Loss Club, throwing the lives of our heroes and heroines into utter and delightful disarray. But while chemistry brews and equations change, one question remains: who is Brahmacharini Sandhya, and why on earth has she moved into Nancy Housing Cooperative? General

Book: The Martian Author: Andy Weir Pages: 396 I Read: On my Kindle Read in: Across 3 days Plot Summary:  Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars. Now, he's sure he'll be the first person to die there.  After a dust storm nearly kills him & forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded & completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive—& even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive.  Chances are, though, he won't have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment or plain-old "human error" are much more likely to kill him first. But Mark isn't ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills—& a relentless, dogged refusal to quit—he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enoug

Hello!  And a super duper happy Friday to you!  I am bringing my Friday Favourites a little early to you today(pretty much at the stroke at midnight in my time zone)...my Thursday was a bit glum...spent mostly in bed trying to feel better. And then I spent most of my evening watching the News and being  equal parts horrified and scandalised by the tragic Sheena Bora murder case! People can be so awful sometimes!  Moving on to cheerful things...my favourite things to focus on this week!  1. Super cute Fox cards/journaling cards from Happie Scrappie! I am in love with all things Fox and these cuties are perfection!  2. A tiny little gorgeous bag that my sister picked up from Jaipur. So lovely. Handmade and so vibrant.  3. A colourful bookmark that we recently found again tucked into an old book.  4. #Pani meaning #Water...cool details and design sensibility we saw at Colaba Social.  5. And the best dang chicken burger ever...well at least

Hello!  Exactly a week ago today I went on a road-trip to Shirdi with my family.  Shirdi is best known as being the home of Sai Baba - a religious and spiritual guru. A man who lived very simply and preached love, helping others, forgiveness and charity. My family deeply believes in Sai Baba and whenever my parents are in Bombay, they make a trip to Shirdi.  So off we went...we left early in the morning at 5:00 am and it was smooth sailing for a while. Quiet early morning scenes. Pitch darkness and then the quiet sunrise. Cloudy skies and open roads. It was all good. We drove through Igatpuri, a place I've only seen through the windows of a train or while driving by. I really want to visit it and spent some time there. It looks beautiful and serene.  We hit a spot of trouble half way there, dog ran into our car (the dog was fine) and damaged our radiator and compressor and soon enough our AC stopped working and our horn sounded like a whimper

Hello!  Hope this Monday is treating you well.  My week is off to a funny start--- my poor sister is down with bronchitis and fever. :( And my ear feels funny...that pre-cold feeling.  Gah!  So lots of tea is being had and I am reading some Feluda stories to keep me happy.  I had some warm, fluffy idlis and vaada and I am much happier.:)  For today's Monday Moods post I want to show you guys some of my older books. Books I've had for 7-8 years and books that live under my little bench thingie. A storage spot of some of my precious books! :)  I clean these books out once a year. Dust them. Air them out. Re-org them and dig out old loves I want to read.  These are some pictures I snapped during the latest cleaning spree of my old books.  I wish I had a proper library for my books. A room just for my loves.  But for now this works...a wooden chest to hold my treasures.  :)  Happy Reading guys!  I'll be back with some

Hello!  On today's edition of Stationery Sunday, I am going to talk to you about the uber-cute world of 'fabric doris'. Just like you have Traveler's Notebooks (TNs) in all kinds of leather, you also get them in a variety of cute fabrics! One of the first fabric doris that we ordered was from Love Neen over on Etsy. Neen has a very cute, slightly Kawai inspired, collection of fabrics and her work is of a very high quality. Let me show you how I set up my Neendori. I am using regular sized Neendori to jot down thoughts about my currents reads. This helps me later when I sit down to review a book and generally I like having a space to keep track of my thoughts as I am reading a book.  So let's see how I've set up my Neendori.  Isn't the floral print just lovely?!  I am mad for all things floral and when it came to picking out my first ever fabric dori I obviously went for a floral number.  I also chose a mint coloured macaroon sticker

Hello!  Weekend is here and I am so glad for this week to be over!  My plans for this weekend are simple..Read and watch a TV show I've been loving!    My current read//// Another Man's Wife by Manjul Bajaj. A collection of short stories set in India and by an author I've never read from before. So I am excited to read this book. I am only a few pages in but I do like the writing style and the stories all seem interesting. Next Read/// It's time to delve back into the world of Feluda again. I love Feluda and Ray's stories are always delightful  to read and re-visit. It's been a little over 6 years since I read this and I am excited to get back to this. :) Weekend Watching/// UnReal---I discovered this show this week and I am so in love and obsessed with this show. It's based on the behind the scenes of a reality TV show which is supposed to be like The Bachelor. It shows the contestants and their struggles and politics and a

Hello!  Happy Friday.  Boy am I happy this week is nearly over and done with. :)  What a week this has been!  This is a flashback sort of post.  About a place I loved dearly.  A Spoonful of Sugar a little cafe in Bangalore was a place very close to our flat and a place we ate at all the time. Most of the time we picked up our food and ate at home but some days we ate at beautiful cafe itself. Simple, indie and pretty and so welcoming and charming.  We loved pretty much everything they had on their menu. The food was fantastic and the desserts were out of this world. You have got to try them.  I clearly remember this evening...we had been out all day and came to the cafe at near closing time. We ordered our food, got coffee and had a lovely meal. Also these pictures reminded me to find this floral backpack of mine and use it soon.  And I think...this was a Friday as well! :)  Have a lovely weekend guys.  All I plan on doin

Hello!  Happy Thursday folks!  And all I did this Thursday was sleep, eat fruits and rest.  Yesterday, I took a roadtrip with my family to Shirdi-- a temple town. The trip was full of bumps.  A dog ran into our car---the dog is fine---but the car was a mess. Busted radiator and compressor and a nasty dent in front. First out AC went out. And then the horn went kaput.  Long story short we spent nearly 10 hours getting our poor car fixed. God bless, seriously bless the great dudes of the Honda dealership in Nasik for helping us out!  We got home at 12:30 am having left at five in the morning!  A long, long day!  So let's talk about something happy instead.  Like.. 1. A favourite necklace. Elephants and other happy shiny bits.  2. A lovely pink tinged sunset.  3.  My spice box full of everyday essential Indian spices.  4. Printed leggings and super comfy flats.  5. A lilac satchel.  6. Coffee I love!  To