The Whimsy Bookworm: A Book Blog from India

Hello!  Purple is one of my favourite colours in the world. Pink and Purple was my colour palette of my teenage years. Now my wardrobe is made up of all kinds of colours but still I can seldom turn away from  purple.  I am so in love with my Lil Sister Backpack from The Burlap People. The perfect shade of Lavender.   Details/// Kurta Set- Sasa Jaipur  Bag- The Burlap People  Pins- Ali Express  Silver Bracelets- Amber, Colaba 

Hello!  Since I've been reading only Indian Books all of August, this reading theme seems to have spilled into my book buying as well. So all of the books I've bought in August are all in the same vein. And I am very happy about it. :)  Here some gorgeous books I've bought this month and some of them I've already read and even reviewed.  :)  I've also been doing mini-Book Hauls on my Instagram Stories and been loving it. But I couldn't not do a haul on here.  :)  Let's see what I've added to my shelves lately!    BOOKS BOUGHT////  1. The Ammuchi Puchi by Sharanya Manivannan  2. Pashmina by Nidhi Chainani  3. Getting Granny's Glasses by Ruskin Bond  4. The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani  5. Sultan of Delhi by Arnab Ray 6. Murder at the Happy Home for The Aged by Bulbul Sharma  7. Obsessed by Ruchi Kokcha 8. Hush A Bye Bab...

Book: Swear You Won't Tell?  Author: Vedashree Khambete-Sharma  Pages: 244 Read: Paperback edition  Read in: 3-4 hours  Plot Summary:  Dead body, check. Disillusioned reporter, check. Dark and sinister secrets, check.  When Mumbai Daily journalist Avantika Pandit is asked to interview her childhood nemesis Aisha Juneja, she knows it will be like an express bikini wax - painful, but quick.  Then Laxmi, her former best friend, shows up dead. And suddenly Avantika finds herself turning into the reporter she used to be - a nosy little newshound with the self-preservation instincts of a dodo.  Now, she has to meet old acquaintances she'd hoped never to run into again, try to unravel the puzzle of Laxmi's death, and ask the questions nobody seems to be asking - who is the man Laxmi was in love with? Why hasn't anybody heard of him? What does he have to do with her death?  The answers could get her kill...

Book: An Unwanted Guest  Author: Shari Lapena  Pages: 304 Read on: Kindle Read in: 3 hours  Plot Summary:  We can’t choose the strangers we meet. As the guests arrive at beautiful, remote Mitchell’s Inn, they’re all looking forward to a relaxing weekend deep in the forest, miles from anywhere. They watch their fellow guests with interest, from a polite distance.  Usually we can avoid the people who make us nervous, make us afraid. With a violent storm raging, the group finds itself completely cut off from the outside world. Nobody can get in – or out. And then the first body is found . . . and the horrifying truth comes to light. There’s a killer among them – and nowhere to run.  Until we find ourselves in a situation we can’t escape. Trapped. Things I Liked: The premise of this book is very interesting and sort of nightmare-inducing! Imagine this- you and your friend (much like Gwen and Riley) decide to t...

Book: The Ammuchi Puchi Author: Sharanya Manivannan Illustrator: Nerina Canzi Pages: 32 Publisher: Puffin Read On: Paperback How Long it Took Me To Read: Half an Hour Plot Summary:   Aditya and Anjali love listening to their grandmother's stories, particularly the scary one about the ghost in the tree. But the night their grandmother passes away, all her stories seem to lose their meaning. Then something happens that is more mysterious and magical than any story. Could their grandmother still be with them after all? Stunningly illustrated and told in gorgeous, poetic prose, this is a poignant and moving story about bereavement and healing. Review: I am partial to books about Grandmothers.So any book, in any genre about a Grandmother invariably gets added to my bookshelves. This one was on my radar for precisely this reason and the art looked stunning. Grandmothers are the best! I loved my Thamma something special and still feel lovely when people say...

Book: Bijnis Woman  Author: Tanuja Chandra  Publisher: Penguin  Pages: 141  Read On: Paperback  How Long it took me To Read: 2 days  Plot Summary:   A masaledaar mix of fact and fiction, action and emotion, drama and passion—these strange, funny, intriguing tales from small-town Uttar Pradesh have been passed orally from one generation to the next. They are likely to make one exclaim, ‘This couldn’t have happened!’ even as the narrators swear they are nothing but pure fact.   The bizarre chronicle of a lazy daughter-in-law, the court clerk who loved eating chaat, two cousins inseparable even in death, a blind teacher who fell in love with a woman with beautiful eyes and other wild tales from Bareilly, Lucknow, Hapur, Badaun, Sapnawat and Pilibhit, places big and small, in that fascinating part of India called Uttar Pradesh. General Thoughts: Short stories always have me interested. And add UP and it's ...

Hello!  Today's post is a happy one.  Is there anything better than hanging out in a bookshop.  :) I think not.  A nice quiet bookshop, rows and rows of books and leaving with a handful of books.  My recipe for a perfect day.  These pictures were taken at Wayword and Wise by my sister a few months ago. I was too busy staring at the bookshelves and trying to control my impulse to go all out and buy a shit to of books- you know usual bookworm problems!  My sister's ring resting on a bookshelf.  Ring from Silver Palace, Colaba.  Me thinking, "How many books can I take with me?"  Sister buying books for a friend's kiddo.  Decisions, decisions, decisions!  This is actually a perfect bag to take book shopping. You can wear it crossbody and so it's out of your way while you are browsing to your heart's content.  I did have a tote to hold some stuff that didn't fit in th...

Book: The Night Diary Author: Veera Hiranandani Publisher: Penguin Random House Pages: 272 Read On: Paperback Edition How Long it Took Me To Read: 2 days Plot Summary:   It's 1947, and India, newly independent of British rule, has been separated into two countries: Pakistan and India. The divide has created much tension between Hindus and Muslims, and hundreds of thousands are killed crossing borders. Half-Muslim, half-Hindu twelve-year-old Nisha doesn't know where she belongs, or what her country is anymore. When Papa decides it's too dangerous to stay in what is now Pakistan, Nisha and her family become refugees and embark first by train but later on foot to reach her new home. The journey is long, difficult, and dangerous, and after losing her mother as a baby, Nisha can't imagine losing her homeland, too. But even if her country has been ripped apart, Nisha still believes in the possibility of putting herself back together. Told through Nisha...

    Greetings and salutations!  I wanted to quickly share the set-up of my (this is Debs- Pooja's sister) teeny-tiny Passport sized Traveler's Notebook from Ali Express.  Ali Express also has some quality handmade leather, faux leather and fabric traveler's notebooks for those of you who are interested.  This burgundy passport sized TN is from the IPBEN Store on Ali Express.  I used the passport sized TNs to capture my day-to-day highlights in a bullet-journal form. I also use a monthly calendar to capture the one thing in my day that I am grateful for, so, it also sort of a gratitude journal.  Here is a nice shot of the TN with all its different colour tones! Isn't it pretty?!  A quick peek at my zipper wallet insert, which has some of my most-loved, most-used stickers. This insert is from the Traveler's Company/ Midori and I find it super useful to carry around washi samples and sticker flakes....

Book: Crazy Rich Asians Author: Kevin Kwan  Pages: 546 Read on: Kindle    Read in: 5-6 hours  Plot Summary:  When Rachel Chu agrees to spend the summer in Singapore with her boyfriend, Nicholas Young, she envisions a humble family home and quality time with the man she hopes to marry.  But Nick has failed to give his girlfriend a few key details. One, that his childhood home looks like a palace; two, that he grew up riding in more private planes than cars; and three, that he just happens to be the country's most eligible bachelor.   On Nick's arm, Rachel may as well have a target on her back the second she steps off the plane, and soon, her relaxed vacation turns into an obstacle course of old money, new money, nosy relatives, and scheming social climbers. Review: The Crazy Rich Asians movie released in the US last weekend. Even before its release, the movie generated a lot of buzz for being the first all...

Happy Independence Day, fellow Indians!  71 Years of Freedom after centuries of oppression and tyranny.  I can't thank the hundreds and thousands of people who gave their life to attain us our freedom. No amount of gratitude will ever be enough.  I love India- it's people. It's culture. It's 5000 plus years of history and heritage. There is so much to see and experience and do in this country of ours.  & The literature that comes from India is one of my biggest loves.  We have books and stories coming from each and every corner of our country. Stories written in our mother tongues and in English- our medium of education. And in both cases the stories and characters and worlds built are rich in texture and nuanced and some of the best literature the world has ever seen.  Today I want to talk about the very first Indian books I read and the books that made me fall irrevocably in love with Indian Writing. My sister was the perso...