The Whimsy Bookworm: A Book Blog from India

Book: Matchbox Author: Ashapurna Debi Translated By: Prasenjit Gupta Pages: 278 Read On: Paperback How Long it Took Me To Read: 4 days Plot Summary: Not applicable since this is a short-stroy collection. A stalwart among Bengali writers, Ashapurna Debi (1909–95) was one of those rare authors able to render the voice of an entire culture, to capture its nuances and most abiding traditions with startling precision and formidable insight.  Each of the twenty-one stories in Matchbox, carefully selected from Ashapurna Debi’s extensive body of work and brilliantly translated from Bengali to retain the original flavour of the language and Debi’s style, highlights the tensions inherent in a society of close-knit and interdependent families. In ‘Poddolota’s Dream’, a young girl returns to the scene of a harrowing childhood, magnanimous and victorious for reasons quite her own; in ‘Grieving for Oneself’, a midnight scare shows an ailing man precisely how he fits into th...

Book: Listening Now Author: Anjana Appachana Pages: 506 Read On: Hardback How Long it Took Me To Read: 3 days Plot Summary:   Listening Now unfolds through the intensely personal worlds of seven characters. First, there is the child Mallika, brimming with romantic fantasies and bemoaning the lack of passion in the lives of her mother, Padma, and her mother's contemporaries - women whom she nevertheless loves fiercely. Mallika renders her fantasies through a highly wrought imagination, re-creating for the reader the events that came to devastate her childhood. Then, we revisit the events Mallika has described as they are retold from the points of view of Padma and Padma's sister, mother and friends. The story that slowly emerges is not the same as the one Mallika told. For the world of these women is one where secrets grow like fungus, where guilt roots and ripens, where anger burns and smolders. Every one of them carries the burden of secrets that may or may no...

Book: Salt to the Sea Author: Ruta Sepetys Pages: 400 Read: The paperback edition pictured above Read in: 3 hours straight (it's THAT good!) Plot Summary:  It's early 1945 and a group of people trek across Germany, bound together by their desperation to reach the ship that can take them away from the war-ravaged land. Four young people, each haunted by their own dark secret, narrate their unforgettable stories. This inspirational novel is based on a true story from the Second World War. When the German ship the Wilhelm Gustloff was sunk in port in early 1945 it had over 9000 civilian refugees, including children, on board.  Review: Things I LOVED about this book:  1. First of all, Ruta Sepetys is an author that everybody needs to read. She tells stories about World War II that no history book would tell you and whilst doing that, she manages to infuse some real humane-ness to the events, characters and incidents. We have read and loved two of her pr...

Hello!  Happy Easter folks.  Hope you had a good day today.  I had a lovely Sunday..naps, seeing India win it's match against Australia and eating some delicious food. And I started reading an Ashapurna Debi book called Matchbox which I love so far.  For today's Stationery Sunday I want to share some of my newest stationery picks from Fabindia.  I love Fabindia. I might love it a little too much. I am one of those girls..the kind that wears a lot of Fabindia and handloom and handcrafted things in general.  Apart from the clothes. I also love the skincare and haircare products from Fabindia and I highly recommend those.  I've also bought some beautiful jewellery from Fabindia too.  In short there is very little I haven't sampled from this favourite store of mine.  :)  Their stationery is also sublime.  Prints and colours and charming illustrations.  All things I love.  ...

Book: Strangers on the Roof Author: Rajendra Yadav Translated By: Ruth Vanita Pages: 245 Read On: Paperback How Long it Took Me To Read: 4 days Plot Summary:   Samar, a young scholar, is married to Prabha against his will. Ego and frustration combine to make him refuse to say even a single word to his wife on the day of the marriage. They live thus, without speaking, for nearly a year. Until one moment when their suppressed emotions burst through and lead to a passionate reconciliation. Funny, affectionate and hard hitting, this is one of the most unique love stories in Indian writing. General Thoughts: I picked up this book a few months back on a whim. I intend to read more books translated from Hindi and this one seemed like a good place to start. The plot sounded intriguing and seriously that beautiful cover just drew me in :) Things I Liked:  1. Set in 1951 this book and it's writer does a fantastic job of capturing the essence of the era. The newl...

Hello!  Today's Friday Favourites is a Shop Love. Good Earth is one of those shops that have always been on my radar. Their aesthetic is sublime. Cotton. Block-print. Stunning dinnerware and cutlery.  Simple and classic styles.  I went to the store a few days back and come back with four coffee mugs, some Kama Ayurveda things- a shampoo and a bottle of hair oil. I looked around and just fell in love. Honestly, I pretty much wanted everything in the store. It was all so beautiful.  Here are some shots of the shop and the things I loved... Aren't these plates just gorgeous?!  Almost too pretty to use.  Mugs Galore!  Now for the Things I bought.. Two sides of the same floral beauty.  This mug is part of the Persian Garden collection.  This is technically a soup mug. But why only use it for the once in a blue moon soup drinking?  When I can use it ev...

Book: Daughters Author: Bharati Ray Pages: 318 Read On: Paperback How Long it Took Me To Read: 3 days Plot Summary: A chronicle of the lives of five generations of women in the author s family, this fascinating story spans over a hundred years in its narrative sweep, from the late nineteenth century to the early years of the twenty-first. It mirrors and critiques the progress of a nation, its society and its women, seamlessly blending biography with social history. Sundar-ma, Bharati Ray s great-grandmother, was married into a conservative household at twelve. Self-educated, because formal education was out of her reach, she was an intelligent, deeply thoughtful woman who witnessed some of the most tumultuous times in India s history and actively participated in India s freedom struggle. Ushabala, the author s grandmother, was the proud wife of a college lecturer and a consummate home-maker, while Kalyani, Bharati Ray's Ma, was the first woman in the family to get a...

Hello!  Time to share another bout of books with you. March has been a good month of book buying for me. And I bought these books in one day while spending some time in 2 bookshops I adore. First I went to Om Books in Phoenix Mills and had a browse and picked up 2 books and later in the same day I found myself in Kitab Khana and walked away with 3 books and a Vogue magazine.  :) My idea of a good day!  I love all of the books I've picked up and I look forward to reading all of them soon!  Let's see the books I've added to my bookshelves!  Books Bought...  Anil's Ghost by Michael Ondaatje  Kismetwali and Other Stories by Reetika Khanna Nijhawan  The Gita for Children by Roopa Pai Delhi by Khushwant Singh The Golden Son by Shilpi Somaya Gowda   &  I also picked up a little sampler for a Children's Book called The Bad Guys.  All of these books sound interes...

Hello!  And a Happy Sunday...well almost over but still.  Sundays are for resting.  For rejuvenation and for chores.  Oh! So many chores.  My Sunday included some small joys.. Reading in bed all day long- On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan which I am immensely enjoying. And which I need to finish soon. It's only 127 pages long but I've been reading it since Friday.  Cooking Spaghetti Bolognese.  Drinking Iced-Lemonade.  Talking to my Maa about many things.  Oiling my hair and trying to infuse some care into my mane.  Watching TV.  And just being relaxed and happy.  For this week's Stationery Sunday I want to talk about some of my favourites from recent days.  1. Two of our favourites Fauxdoris in the Traveler's Notebook size. In a gorgeous tan and a bright red. Also pictured, here are our beautiful floral ink pen and Washi Tape.  The notebooks on the left is from N...

Hello!  I have been a reader nearly all my life. I started reading on my own since I was 6 or 7 and it is a love that is going strong to this day. I started Book Blogging in 2013. And since then this little blog has been a place to talk about the books I read, buy and love. I review. I haul. I recommend.  But most of these books happen to be ones I've read recently. I read a book and if I have strong feelings about it- good or bad- I tend to share them on the blog. Either via a full review or a mini-review. But I've been reading for so long before this blog even started. What about all those books I have read and loved but never talked about?  I wanted to start a new series on the blog to talk specifically about old loves. Now some of these books I've read over a decade or more ago, so I might not exactly remember the finer points like character names of exact plot points, but I do remember how they made me feel. I remember LOVING the wri...

Hello!  This Friday I want to talk about some newly acquired loves, so in some sense this a little bit of a haul. :)  But also some other things that have made me happy recently.  1. Blue skies in the summer evening with clouds doing their own magic.  2. On my bed--- a smiling Little Miss Giggles, a new notebook from Fabindia and a Watermelon pouch from Accessorize that holds my camera.  3. My newest MAC Cosmetics Eyeshadow---Antique.  4. Newest Inglot Matte Nail Polish in a bright, happy orange; perfect for Spring-Summer. It's in the number 726. I adore Inglot nail polishes.  5. A darling little new book, this is just a few sample pages I picked up from Kitab Khana.  The Bad Guys by Aaron Blabey from Scholastic India.  It sounds so adorable. So glad I grabbed this sampler from the till.  Hope your Friday was lovely.  Mine included cooking, reading, journaling, talking to my ...

Hello!  I took an unexpected blog break this past week and for no real good reason.  I didn't mean to stop blogging and take a break but it just happened. Long busy days just led to blogging slow down.  But I am back now.  So let's jump right back into it.  I have been buying a few books this month and these books were all bought on Amazon at the start of the month.  I've already read 2/7 books and will share my thoughts on them soon.  Let's see what I've added to my bookshelves lately.  Books Bought.. Girl Meets Boy by Ali Smith --- I want to read some Ali Smith. I have The Accidental sitting on my shelves but I haven't gotten to it yet. This one seems like a shorter and good place to start.  The Way Home A collection of Bengali Short Fiction  Matchbox by Ashapurna Debi  Boats on Land by Janice Parihat   Ships that Pass by Shashi Deshpande --- already ...

Hello!  And a happy Friday to you.  My Friday has included... Cleaning my house. Taking pictures of my new books--haul coming soon. Drinking lemonade like my life depended on it. Making guacamole.  Getting some very old fashioned pillow cases in the mail.  &  Watching some Pretty Little Liars.  And now let's see some things I've been loving recently... All of my recent loves..  1. An owl tote from Accessorize that is too cute for words. Look at those goofy little faces.  2. A cushion that says 'Because I have a sister I'll Always have a friend'...a sweet little treat from my cousin bother on my birthday. Love the pink and, of course, love the message.  3. Strawberry...misshapen but still delicious.  4. Flip flops. These babies scream summer don't they? They are from Westside.  5. Iced coffee and cake. Things that will brighten the darkest of days. And my ne...