The Whimsy Bookworm: A Book Blog from India

 Hello!  &  Happy Halloween!  Whether you celebrate Halloween or not, I think this a good time to read some good old horror novels and watch some scary films and get scared good and proper. So I figured I'd share some good spooky books I've read this year.  Some are thrillers. Some are horror.  And others have a clear spooky vibe but aren't exactly scary.  So I am hoping there is something for everyone here.  Cool, let's get started.  1. My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix: This is one of my more recent reads, I read this in the very beginning of the month and it was everything it promised to be. Scary. 80s. Female friendships. And what I loved best about it was how realistic it felt, like the reactions of the characters and how they handled certain situations was just spot on.  Pick it up if you enjoy some 80s pop-cult references and if possessions are your jam.  I really enjoyed it and I enjoyed that this book was pepp...

1. Beautiful bookmarks from KartikeyShrutii that I've been loving so much.  Such gorgeous works of art.  2. The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham: My read for this Halloween. How gorgeous is this book cover?  And it's creepy and strange and odd and spooky.  3. A Man Called One by Fredrik Bachman: My sister recently read this book and fell in love, I knew she would, it's just the thing that she is drawn to. It's heart-warming and kind and sad and lovely.  :)  Full review coming soon. But do pick it up, if you need something full of kindness and goodness.    4. Ringa Ringa Roses by Neil D'Silva: My current read, a collection of three horror short stories which is fun and spooky enough.  I am reading this for free via Kindle Unlimited. 

Hello!  Subho Navami.  Today has been so gorgeously rainy here in my small town.  It's been raining allllll day and it's properly cold and lovely. I've spent most of my day on the terrace watching the rain and soaking up the joy of a blissful rainy day.  Today for Stationery Sunday I want to share some beautiful bookmarks I bought a while back from this Instagram shop called Rimjhim Artopia. These are gorgeous works of art and each bookmark is stunning and painted with so much love and brilliance.  :)  I was so happy when these arrived.  Uff, so beautiful.   Love these winter cottage scene bookmarks. Makes me long for winter days and nights and being in the middle of nowhere with a fire burning and a book to keep me company.  And now some absolute floral beauties.  These guys were love at first sight.  This peach one might just be my favourite. I think I used to own a Fabdindia kurta in the same print. So this reminds of happy summ...

Hello!  Subho Ashtami!  Today is supposed to be the biggest day of the festival. The day we reserve our best outfits for. The day we eat the best food. Offer Anjoli to the Goddess. It's basically the highpoint of the festival.  Of course, this was before.  Today was dramatically different. For one, I have stayed home. Didn't dress up.  But...I ate yum Ma made food.  The weather has been a thing of beauty.  I am home with my family and that is celebration enough.  :)  My local Pujo Pandal from two years ago.  Quiet afternoons in my small town by a pond.  Little balcony gardens.  I love that my parent's home has a terrace and its full of plants and a perfect spot to see the world go by. This whole isolation situation is made infinitely better by having a terrace and a small window to the rest of the world.  Evening coffee to sip while watching Pujo pandals on the News and some very strange Bengali TV shows.  As for what...

 Hello!  Subho Shoshti to my fellow Bengali readers.  Today is the sort of official beginning to Pujo.  We wear new clothes.  Welcome Maa Durga.  And get ready for a whirlwind 4 days that follow. Of course, all this was in the before times.  This year is whole other ball game.  I am still not sure if I'll be able to go to a pandal at all this year. Might just go to my local Pujo pandal on Ashtami, but for most part, I am staying home and away from the crowds.  Today has been slow and quietly festive.  All morning, I've seen people going by my home in brand new, bright and shiny clothes.  I wore something new too, at home, but still.  And I unboxed a package that has made me so happy.  Something handmade and absolutely gorgeous.  From Renaisa Official, an Instagram Shop that I found recently and I fell in love with her art and jewellery,  I cannot even with how utterly beautiful this is.  This is the Savitri...

  Book: The Exiles Author: Christina Baker Kline  Pages: 370 Read on: Kindle  Read in: 3.5 hours Plot Summary:  Seduced by her employer’s son, Evangeline, a naïve young governess in early nineteenth-century London, is discharged when her pregnancy is discovered and sent to the notorious Newgate Prison. After months in the fetid, overcrowded jail, she learns she is sentenced to “the land beyond the seas,” Van Diemen’s Land, a penal colony in Australia. Though uncertain of what awaits, Evangeline knows one thing: the child she carries will be born on the months-long voyage to this distant land. During the journey on a repurposed slave ship, the  Medea , Evangeline strikes up a friendship with Hazel, a girl little older than her former pupils who was sentenced to seven years transport for stealing a silver spoon. Canny where Evangeline is guileless, Hazel -- a skilled midwife and herbalist – is soon offering home remedies to both prisoners and sailors in return for...

  Book: Remnants of a Separation  Author: Aanchal Malhotra  Pages: 456 Publisher: Harper Collins  Read On: Hardback Edition  How Long it Took Me to Read: 3 days  Plot Summary:   Remnants of a Separation  is a unique attempt to revisit the Partition through objects that refugees carried with them across the border. These belongings absorbed the memory of a time and place, remaining latent and undisturbed for generations. They now speak of their owner's pasts as they emerge as testaments to the struggle, sacrifice, pain and belonging at an unparalleled moment in history.  A string of pearls gifted by a maharaja, carried from Dalhousie to Lahore, reveals the grandeur of a life that once was. A notebook of poems, brought from Lahore to Kalyan, shows one woman's determination to pursue the written word despite the turmoil around her. A refugee certificate created in Calcutta evokes in a daughter the feelings of displacement her father had ex...

 Hello!  Since I've been home, since the beginning of the month, I've spent most of my time watching things with my Dad. Web-series for most part and I figured I'd share some of my recommendations.  Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story  If you grew up in the 90s, Harshad Mehta is a name that was all over the headlines. He was a stock broker credited with the largest bull runs in the Bombay Stock Exchange. His antics brought the term 'scam' into the Indian lexicon. This show tells the story of Harshad Mehta's rise and fall and it is so richly nuanced and wonderfully directed and acted!  Highly recommend! This show is streaming on Sony Liv.  Bad Boy Billionaires- India  Apart from my objection to the term 'boys' used to describe these men and their calculated, greedy and heinous acts, everything about this Netflix documentary is just FABULOUS!  Over three episodes we see some of the biggest scams, cons and thefts committed by three (they took off...

  Hello!  How is this weekend treating you?  My reading for this weekend is all wrapped up in this collection of short stories.  Best Indian Short Stories Volume-I Selected by Khushwant Singh: I have had this book for over a year now and I got it along with me to read while I am in the hometown.  I started reading it a couple of days ago and I've been dipping in and out of these stories written by a host of writers. Many of whom, I've never read before, so this has been a treat. It also features some of favourites too.  Here is a list of the writers in the collection.  I am a few stories down and I'm having a really having a good time with this book.  Apart from reading this has, so far been a slow and lazy. I've honestly, spend most of today sleeping, I didn't get to bed till after 4:00 AM and didn't get out of bed till after 1:00 PM.  Oh well!  Since then I watched a web-series on Sony Liv called Avrodh, based on the Uri attack and th...

  1. Pouch from Pitaara: I am currently using this as a my journal pouch.  It stores my traveller's notebook, a spare journal insert, stickers and my pens.  Roomy and so pretty, it's the perfect size.  2. Notebook from The Ink Bucket: My current journal insert. Floral and field notes sized, it is quite lovely.  3.  A Kindle Sleeve from Label Mira: Well, it was meant to be a Kindle Sleeve but it's a bit small, so now it holds some A6 notebooks and some sticker sheets. It's too pretty to not be used. I love the colours and the gorgeous embroidery.  4.  Book Marks from Karubasona: Tintin and Feluda. Both in Calcutta being fabulous.  These bookmarks are a thing of joy and I use them as decor in my Bombay flat.  5.  Stationery Filled corners of home and this customised pouch of mine.  6.  Hufflepuff House Colours!  Such a happy colour and for some reason the Hufflepuff editions are cheaper than the other houses. Go fig...

  Book: Breathless  Author: Jennifer Niven  Publisher: Penguin  Pages: 390  Read On: Kindle  How Long it Took Me To Read: 2 days  Plot Summary:   You were my first. Not just sex, although that was part of it, but the first to look past everything else into me. Some of the names and places have been changed, but the story is true.  Before:  With graduation on the horizon, budding writer Claudine Henry is making plans: college in the fall, become a famous author, and maybe--finally--have sex. She doesn't even need to be in love. Then her dad drops a bombshell: he's leaving Claude's mother. Suddenly, Claude's entire world feels like a lie, and her future anything but under control. After:  Claude's mom whisks them away to the last place Claude could imagine nursing a broken heart: a remote, mosquito-infested island off the coast of Georgia. But then Jeremiah Crew happens. Miah is a local trail guide with a passion for photography...