The Whimsy Bookworm: A Book Blog from India

Book: The Girl in the Ice Author: Robert Bryndza Pages: 396 Read on: Kindle Read in: 4-5 hours Plot Summary:   Her eyes are wide open. Her lips parted as if to speak. Her dead body frozen in the ice…She is not the only one.   When a young boy discovers the body of a woman beneath a thick sheet of ice in a South London park, Detective Erika Foster is called in to lead the murder investigation.  The victim, a beautiful young socialite, appeared to have the perfect life. Yet when Erika begins to dig deeper, she starts to connect the dots between the murder and the killings of three prostitutes, all found strangled, hands bound and dumped in water around London.  What dark secrets is the girl in the ice hiding?  As Erika inches closer to uncovering the truth, the killer is closing in on Erika.  The last investigation Erika led went badly wrong… resulting in the death of her husband. With her career hanging by a thread, Erika must now battle her o...

Hello!  I just did a disappearing act on this little blog of mine.  My Internet was acting a little funny and truth be told I've been busy being social with family and friends in the hometown.  It's been delightfully rainy here and I've been loving it.  We've been going on day trips and little shopping excursions and eating delicious food and I've been especially loving all the lovely local snacks!  I am happy!  Reading has been a little slow...but honestly...that is just expected!  I will be back with more from my trip and some reviews of books me and my sister have read recently!  Have a lovely Sunday folks. My Sunday is sunny after a week and there is a wedding reception to attend in the evening.  :) 

Book: A Walk Across The Sun Author: Corban Addison Pages: 371 Read on: Kindle Read in: 4-5 hours Plot Summary:  When a tsunami rages through their coastal town in India, 17-year-old Ahalya Ghai and her 15-year-old sister Sita are left orphaned and homeless. With almost everyone they know suddenly erased from the face of the earth, the girls set out for the convent where they attend school. They are abducted almost immediately and sold to a Mumbai brothel owner, beginning a hellish descent into the bowels of the sex trade. Halfway across the world, Washington, D.C., attorney Thomas Clarke faces his own personal and professional crisis-and makes the fateful decision to pursue a pro bono sabbatical working in India for an NGO that prosecutes the subcontinent's human traffickers. There, his conscience awakens as he sees firsthand the horrors of the trade in human flesh, and the corrupt judicial system that fosters it. Learning of the fate of Ahalya and Sita, Clarke make...

Hello!  For this Edition of Monday Moods I thought I'd do a little love song for Coffee! I adore coffee. And the only way coffee gets better is if it's had in a place of beauty. A cozy coffee shop. A little bookstore. A corner of your home that comforts you. And of course in the hills. Actually anything is good in the hills. The cold breeze, the clean air and majestic views for miles.  In Landour every cup of coffee was a dream. Relished with love. And had in utter calm and peace.  Hope your Monday is treating you well. Mine is rainy and cloudy and lovely. I've had my cup of coffee with a side of rain and reading. Perfection really!  :) 

Driving through the forrest.  & My gorgeous little bag!  "Green fingers are an extension of a verdant heart."  I love the greenery here in North Bengal. Trees and woods. Rivers. And endlessly long roads to take you to prettier spots.  I love being home.  :)

Book: Honour Author: Elif Shafak Pages: 342 Read: The paperback edition pictured above Read in: 2 days Plot Summary:  Internationally bestselling Turkish author Elif Shafak’s new novel is a dramatic tale of families, love, and misunderstandings that follows the destinies of twin sisters born in a Kurdish village. While Jamila stays to become a midwife, Pembe follows her Turkish husband, Adem, to London, where they hope to make new lives for themselves and their children. In London, they face a choice: stay loyal to the old traditions or try their best to fit in. After Adem abandons his family, Iskender, the eldest son, must step in and become the one who will not let any shame come to the family name. And when Pembe begins a chaste affair with a man named Elias, Iskender will discover that you could love someone with all your heart and yet be ready to hurt them. Honor  is a powerful, gripping exploration of guilt and innocence, loyalty and betrayal, and the tri...

Hello!  So the last week has been all about family wedding and running around and doing things and spending time with family and taking a bunch of pictures and eating Bengali food.  There was also some unnecessary family drama but I just don't even want to think about it. Instead let's focus on the good and the happy.  Wedding Lights. Blurry yet beautiful.  Ganga Nemontonno/// An invitation is send to Ganga to bless the union and come to the wedding.  If Ganga doesn't flow close by, then any river will do.  Or a pond or any natural water body will do.  The wedding mandap.  And the Boron Dala///A set-up used to welcome the groom to the girl's house.  Most of the other pictures are of my many family members smiling and laughing away to glory. I don't feel comfortable sharing those on here.  Book related posts will be back super soon!  :)

Book: If You Could Be Mine Author: Sara Farizan Pages: 247 Read On: iPad How Long it Took Me To Read: 2 days Plot Summary:  I n this stunning debut, a young Iranian American writer pulls back the curtain on one of the most hidden corners of a much-talked-about culture. Seventeen-year-old Sahar has been in love with her best friend, Nasrin, since they were six. They’ve shared stolen kisses and romantic promises. But Iran is a dangerous place for two girls in love—Sahar and Nasrin could be beaten, imprisoned, even executed if their relationship came to light. So they carry on in secret—until Nasrin’s parents announce that they’ve arranged for her marriage. Nasrin tries to persuade Sahar that they can go on as they have been, only now with new comforts provided by the decent, well-to-do doctor Nasrin will marry. But Sahar dreams of loving Nasrin exclusively—and openly. Then Sahar discovers what seems like the perfect solution. In Iran, homosexuality may be a cri...

Book: Three Souls Author: Janie Chung Pages: 439 Read On: My Kindle How Long it Took Me To Read: 3 days Plot Summary:  An absorbing novel of romance and revolution, loyalty and family, sacrifice and undying love We have three souls, or so I'd been told. But only in death could I confirm this ...  So begins the haunting and captivating tale, set in 1935 China, of the ghost of a young woman named Leiyin, who watches her own funeral from above and wonders why she is being denied entry to the afterlife. Beside her are three souls—stern and scholarly yang; impulsive, romantic yin; and wise, shining hun—who will guide her toward understanding. She must, they tell her, make amends. As Leiyin delves back in time with the three souls to review her life, she sees the spoiled and privileged teenager she once was, a girl who is concerned with her own desires while China is fractured by civil war and social upheaval. At a party, she meets Hanchin, a captivating left-wing po...

Book: Kismetwali and Other Stories Author: Reetika Khanna Nijhawan Pages: 300 Read On: Paperback How Long it Took Me To Read: 2 days Plot Summary:  Set against the backdrop of modern-day India, Kismetwali and Other Stories places the reader amidst circumstances that transcend place, purse and prestige. This octet of novellas offers a rare glimpse into the parallel lives of the privileged and penniless, converging on those astonishing moments when free will intercepts fate and the rigid divide between social classes is rendered insignificant. Each narrative showcases walas and walis of the working class - the common yet essential purveyors of goods and providers of service - as empowered individuals who take centre stage. The shavewala, a humble barber, becomes an intimate collaborator in a love story that spans the seven seas; the malishwali, a long-serving masseuse, conceals her mistress’s shocking secret while offering a gift of revelation to another; the kisme...

Book: The Girl You Lost Author: Kathryn Croft Pages: 318 Read on: Kindle Read in: 4 hours Plot Summary:  Eighteen years ago, Simone Porter's six-month-old daughter, Helena, was abducted. Simone and husband, Matt, have slowly rebuilt their shattered lives, but the pain at losing their child has never left them. Then a young woman, Grace, appears out of the blue and tells Simone she has information about her stolen baby. But just who is Grace - and can Simone trust her? When Grace herself disappears, Simone becomes embroiled in a desperate search for her baby and the woman who has vital clues about her whereabouts. Simone is inching closer to the truth but it'll take her into dangerous and disturbing territory. Simone lost her baby. Will she lose her life trying to find her? Review: The interesting premise of this book is what made me pick it up on Amazon. However, this was a, largely, disappointing read because this premise did not live up to its potential at all...

Hello!  Time to see all the things I've loved in May. May was a funny month. Long and hot. But good. It was a month spend planning our trip to the hometown. So lots of list making and deciding on wedding outfits and the like.  And I read a decent amount too. Had my first Mango of the year. Watched a ton of movies--English, Hindi and Bengali.  Cooked a lot of delicious meals. Shopped for pretty things. May you were utterly lovely.  :)  Let's see my favourites from the month of May.  1. Paints & Art/// My sister finally caved in and bought the Gansai Tambi 36 colour palette in May and while she is smitten and has done some beautiful little art with her new colours. I have stuck to doing dinky little swirls. It makes me happy and this palette is truly wonderful and worth every penny.  Journaling was also a big love of mine this month. I love making lists and writing my daily thoughts in this journal o...

Hello June!  Hello Monsoons! Hello Hometown! Hello Travel! Hello Family! Hello Family Weddings!  This June finds me in my hometown in West Bengal. A little town called Jalpaiguri in North Bengal. This is the place my family comes from.  My dad's entire extended family lives in the same gated compound as us. My mother's maternal side of the family lives a 3 minute walk away. So there is no dearth of loved ones here. :) I am here to attend my cousin brother's wedding. So this holiday will be a little different from my other holidays here. There will still be a lot of resting and relaxing and chilling and hopefully reading. But there will also be loads of family time and lots of wedding related shenanigans.  :) I've been here almost a week now and I am loving the weather.  It's such a welcome change after Bombay's humid weather. It rains here almost every night and it gets chilly after it. Bliss!  ...