The Whimsy Bookworm: A Book Blog from India

 Hello Loves!  May is over and while it wasn't the best month in general, it was a stellar reading month for me.  I read some absolutely amazing books.  And I read a fair amount.  Books for were my escape this month and what a refuge they proved to be.  Let's just jump in.  1. Childhood Days by Satyajit Ray: A memoir of his childhood and his foray into films. A great way to get to know one of the brightest and most creative minds this country has ever seen. I loved reading about his childhood, the people that shaped his curiosity and his school days and him meeting some incredible people.  A treat. I started my month with all things Ray, given it was his 100th Birth Anniversary. And this book was just the perfect thing to read.  4/5  2. Sonar Kella (The Golden Fortress) by Satyajit Ray: Next I re-read and re-watched Sonar Kella one of my favourite stories from Ray, featuring Feluda. I love the film, I have loved it since I first saw it was a child and this story, a little dif

 Hello Loves!  Hope this weekend is proving to be a time of rest and joy.  I am a little worried about the health of a close relative, cooking for my family and reading to keep myself sufficiently distracted.  Here is what me and my sister are Reading this weekend.  In Plain Sight by Mohamed Thaver: This is what my sister is reading.  Mumbai. Murder.  And an investigation.  She is a little bit in and quite enjoying this book. It's a past paced and simple read. Perfect if you, like so many of us, are finding reading and focusing on things a bit much lately. It's a good book to pick up and breeze through over the weekend.  The  review for this will be up once she's done reading it.  Plot Summary:   When the rapes and murders of three minor girls remain unsolved for months, a frustrated DCP Sawant calls in Police Inspector Waghmare. Renowned as Mumbai police's 'investigation machine', Waghmare is rumoured to solve crimes in his dreams. As the investigation progres

 Hello Loves!  Another month is nearly over and it's time to focus on what were the silver linings of this month.  Aka the favourites from the month of May.  This month felt both long and never ending and yet went by in a blur.  It wasn't the happiest of months, like most months in this year from hell.  But there were a few moments of joy and happiness.  Here are some of them.  1. Reading: My reading life was kinda amazing this month. I read some incredible books this month. I read around 15 books this month and most of them were so good. The wrap-up will come on the 31st and I can't wait to talk about my reads this month.  I also bought some books this month!  Physical books and ebooks!  A good bookish month.  A blessing.  I read Jhumpa Lahiri and Murakami this month and honestly I couldn't be happier.  2. Reading & Watching Ray: This month started with Ray's 100th birthday and we spent this whole month re-watching our favourite Ray films and I spent it readin

Book: A Mirror Made of Rain  Author: Naheed Phiroze Patel  Publisher: Harper Collins  Pages: 296  How Long It Took Me To Read: 3 days  Plot Summary:  Noomi Wadia, a bright, quick-tempered young woman with a penchant for getting into trouble, struggles with the fraught relationship she has with her mother. She grows from a lonely, wild-hearted teenager to a troubled adult who finds love but not happiness. Soon, Noomi realizes that her worst fears have come to pass - she is trapped in the same cycle of self-destructiveness as her mother, and she must battle her impulses or risk losing everything. Things I Liked:  1. First and foremost I enjoyed the writing, let's just get that out of the way. The writing and the style and voice of the story telling were all enjoyable.  2. I love reading about families. Happy ones are great but man give me a dysfunctional family unit and I'll eat it right up. I don't know why I like dysfunctional families so much? Is it because I grew up i

Dear Diary,  Life seems too hard some days.  Everything feels too heavy and nothing seems to be in our control. We thought 2020 was the worst thing we had to deal with but now its actually seems pleasant compared to the hell fire this year is turning out to be.  I know all of us are struggling with, none of this is easy, none of us was built to for this level of constant stress and distress.  I wake up every morning expecting the other shoe to drop.  It feels like one thing after another.  A devastating second wave. Dead.  Illness.  Helplessness.  And now we have Mother Nature coming in with Cyclones.  Eh.  Life seems too much.  And today we learnt that several social media apps may get banned from tomorrow.  Great.  Just great.  Ugh.  Seriously, this year won't let up.  I hope wherever you are, you are safe and sound and well and finding ways to cope with this unending shit fest.  Stay strong my loves.  Here are some things that keep me happy:    Flowers.  Dreaming about being bac

 Hello, hello, It is another Friday, not that these days it matters what day of the week it is, but it still merits some kind of celebration! I'll be sharing some beautiful brooches and rings that I recently ordered from Naksha , a little woman-run enterprise on Instagram.  In the past year, we have, especially, bought only from small businesses and, more so, from women-owned small businesses. It is our way of helping these businesses survive the pandemic.  Anyhoodles, let's get to the beautiful stuff!  First up is this ring. It features a woman and a bird surrounded by frangipani blooms. Isn't it lovely?!  Next up is this Gulmohur brooch. Gulmohur, also known as The Flame of the Forest, reminds me of home as the lane leading up to our home in Bombay is lined with Gulmohur trees, which would all be in bloom right now!  This is the ubiquitous Palash. A flower that is synonymous with spring in West Bengal. It is one of the flowers offered to Goddess Saraswati (the Goddess of

  Book: Whereabouts  Author: Jhumpa Lahiri  Publisher: Penguin  Pages: 176  Read On: Kindle  How Long it Took Me To Read: 3 days  Plot Summary:   Exuberance and dread, attachment and estrangement: in this novel, Jhumpa Lahiri stretches her themes to the limit. The woman at the center wavers between stasis and movement, between the need to belong and the refusal to form lasting ties. The city she calls home, an engaging backdrop to her days, acts as a confidant: the sidewalks around her house, parks, bridges, piazzas, streets, stores, coffee bars. We follow her to the pool she frequents and to the train station that sometimes leads her to her mother, mired in a desperate solitude after her father's untimely death. In addition to colleagues at work, where she never quite feels at ease, she has girl friends, guy friends, and "him," a shadow who both consoles and unsettles her. But in the arc of a year, as one season gives way to the next, transformation awaits. One day at t

Hello Loves!  My love for pressed flowers might just be a little out of control.  :)  I can't seem to get enough.  I came across Papyrus Cotton on IG and had to get some of her creations.  Pressed flowers in bite sized bookmarks: Perfect!  These are just some of the ones I ordered, I have 11 of these beauties. I will share the rest soon.    Forever in love with bougainvillea.  Look how perfectly preserved the flowers are.  A mix of white and flowers.  Such cute packaging too.  Very on theme.  So gorgeous.  MINI-REVIEW:      1. The bookmarks are very well-made.  2. The pricing is really good too. Very reasonable.  3. I also really like the size of these bookmarks, smaller than usual but I think they'll be lovely to use in journals and A6 sized notebooks.  4. The whole ordering & shipping process was super smooth.  5. The packaging was  wonderful and I liked that she sent some seeds too.  5/5  Highly recommend.  Seeds to plant!  :) 

 Hello Loves!  This weekend both my reading choice and my watching choices take me to Kerala.  I am neck deep in all things Malayalam Crime and I couldn't be happier. My sister and I both reading the same book right now, i.e. we are buddy reading.  A true crime book, a memoir of a Police Surgeon.  Dead Men Tell Tales by Dr. B. Umadathan: This book was on my radar for a while, it sounds amazing. A retired Police Surgeon talks of his glorious career and the many interesting cases he encountered. I am a little bit in at this point, around 33% and I am quite happy with the writing and the cases and his personal reminiscing.  Will talk more about it once I am done. I should hopefully be able to finish it this weekend.  As for what I am watching, I am strictly in the same-ish league.  Forensic:   This is streaming on Netflix and is a film full of twists and turns and follows a cop and her team trying to nab a serial killer on the loose. I watched it last night and really, really enjoyed

The world around us is crumbling. There is death and heartache no matter where you look. We've lost 8 family members and family friends in the past 10 days alone. My sister has lost two colleagues. It is impossible to deal with this situation in any sane way and the only thing we can do is distract ourselves.  So, that is what we did. We watched some web series and here are the ones we liked a bit more than the others.  1. Crash Landing on You: A South Korean heiress- Yoon Se-ri- gets blown off by a tornado, whilst filming a promotional video for her new range of active wear clothing, into North Korea. There she, literally, crash lands on Captain Ri Joeng Hyoek- a North Korean army captain. The rest of this show is just full of cute, heartwarming and funny moments. Highly, highly recommend. Watch on Netflix.  2. Shey Je Holud Pakhi 2: The second season of Shey Je Holud Pakhi involves the police following a slew of leads to solve a very challenging murder case. This is a good one! D

  Book: The Henna Artist  Author: Alka Joshi  Pages: 384  Read on: Kindle  Read in: 4 hours  Plot Summary:  Escaping from an abusive marriage, seventeen-year-old Lakshmi makes her way alone to the vibrant 1950s pink city of Jaipur. There she becomes the most highly requested henna artist—and confidante—to the wealthy women of the upper class. But trusted with the secrets of the wealthy, she can never reveal her own.  Known for her original designs and sage advice, Lakshmi must tread carefully to avoid the jealous gossips who could ruin her reputation and her livelihood. As she pursues her dream of an independent life, she is startled one day when she is confronted by her husband, who has tracked her down these many years later with a high-spirited young girl in tow—a sister Lakshmi never knew she had. Suddenly the caution that she has carefully cultivated as protection is threatened. Still she perseveres, applying her talents and lifting up those that surround her as she does. Things I

  Book: The Last Thing He Told Me  Author: Laura Dave  Pages: 320  Read on: Kindle  Read in: 3-4 hours  Plot Summary:  We all have stories we never tell. Before Owen Michaels disappears, he manages to smuggle a note to his beloved wife of one year:  Protect her. Despite her confusion and fear, Hannah Hall knows exactly to whom the note refers: Owen’s sixteen-year-old daughter, Bailey. Bailey, who lost her mother tragically as a child. Bailey, who wants absolutely nothing to do with her new stepmother. As Hannah’s increasingly desperate calls to Owen go unanswered; as the FBI arrests Owen’s boss; as a US Marshal and FBI agents arrive at her Sausalito home unannounced, Hannah quickly realizes her husband isn’t who he said he was. And that Bailey just may hold the key to figuring out Owen’s true identity—and why he really disappeared. Hannah and Bailey set out to discover the truth, together. But as they start putting together the pieces of Owen’s past, they soon realize they are also bui

 Hello Loves!  This hasn't been a good week.  Hell, the last three weeks have been straight out of a horror film with no ending in sight.  Yet, we trudge on.  We help. We hold on to our sanity.  We hope.  This week I tried to find comforts in things small and big and found some happiness amidst this hell.  Here are some of my weekly favourites from this week.  1. Some happy book mail!  A Mirror Made of Rain by Naheed Phiroze Patel.  Got a book in the mail after ages and I am very excited to read it.  A story about a girl growing up in a toxic family situation, also loving, but with an unstable and self-destructive mother.  I started reading it this evening and I am loving it.  2. Journaling.  Planning.  Gratitude Journaling.  3. Simple journaling spreads using stickers, papers and sticky notes.  4. The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni: Re-read this book after ages. Over a decade later this story, this world and its layered stories and characters had me hooked and d

Hello Loves!  Today I want to share a beautiful tote we recently got from The Bicyclist.  It's the gorgeous Zaira Tote.  I love the minimalist design and gorgeous mix of leather and fabric.  A timeless design and roomy enough to hold all your essentials.    Do check them out if you'd like some of their well-made, high-quality handbags and accessories! This is our second bag from them and we are very pleased with their quality and customer service. 

  Starry Starry Nights.  This painting by Van Gogh is one of our absolute favourites.  It just makes me so happy.  So when we saw that Riddhi had recreated it on a circle bag, we were smitten and needed it in our lives.  I mean look how beautiful this is!  Can you imagine the kind of artistry it would take to make something like this?  I am glad to own this little piece of art.  Hope you and your family are doing well!  Take care of yourselves and stay safe!