The Whimsy Bookworm: A Book Blog from India

Hello Loves!  My favourite month is over already and it's time for my reading wrap-up.  February was a good month in my life. Reading-wise it was a little bit of a mixed bag. I read some good books and then, for about a week or so, I didn't really read anything. I had a lull of sorts and had a lot of starts and stops. Just nothing was clicking. I took a bit of break from reading. I started and stopped on some of my faves too- Ruskin Bond and Ray. So you know I was in a weird mood, plus I was sick and in pain. So books weren't my way to self-soothe.  So, I only managed to read some 10 books and two delightful Champaks.  I am happy with the reading. Some months you just consume other kinds of stories and this month I definitely found myself watching more films and TV shows and reading a little less, it's OK. It happens.  FEBRUARY READING WRAP-UP:   1. Mahabharata for Children by Upendra Kishore Roy Chowdhury: I, finally, read a version of the Mahabharata that a lot of my

 Hey everyone! Wanted to quickly share some really cute stuff that we ordered from Peach by Vishnu .  We ordered a set of pocket notebooks, which are in the classic Field Notes size and a set of 3 sticky notepads from this store and are very happy with the quality of everything! Let's take a look into it, shall we?  The items came with a sweet note!  These are the 3 notebooks. One is lined and two are blank. Aren't they cute? Below is a closer look at each of the covers. Love the colours used on them!  These are the 3 sticky notes. The blank one feels like vellum paper and is transparent. Love all of them!  Love the cute stickers that were sent as a freebie. Thank you, Peach by Vishnu for these stickers!  Hope you have a good week ahead! 

 Hello Loves!  Another weekend and another set of our Weekend Reads.  Here is what me and my sister are reading this weekend.  Let's start with me.  Sapiens The Birth of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari: I think everyone and their second cousin have read this phenomenon of a book. Well, I haven't but I had been meaning to for ages. I will someday get the OG book and read it but for now I am so happy to be experiencing this book in it's graphic novel avataar. I bought this beast of a book for Christmas and I started reading it yesterday and I am really, really enjoying it.  I can't wait to soak it up over the weekend and maybe then get it's second volume.  So glad I finally made my way to it.  I think I'll probably finish it soon enough and then I might go looking for my next read. I am not sure what I am reading next. I have been reading Devil House by John Darnielle, which is giving me massive Sinister (2012) vibes but I am not sure if I am fully into it. Also i

 Hello Loves!  The last Friday of the month means it's time for my Monthly Favourites.  And this time it's a favourites for my favourite month ever. My birthday month. While I don't exactly do a lot for my birthday itself, I do like celebrate all month long. I eat good food. I cook. I buy little things. And it's the one time in the whole year when I buy books without too much guilt. And I try to be as happy as I can. This month was rather good for me. Nothing major, just littered with little joys.  Here are some of my favourite things/moments.  FEBRUARY 2022 FAVOURITES:  1. Rainy Days:   The early days of the month we were blessed with some rains and thunder and clouds. If you know me, you know how happy it makes me. Winter rains brought out the chills and I spent a few days under quilts watching spooky films and honestly living my best life. It honestly felt like a gift from the Gods.  2. Birthday:   Turning a year older and hopefully wiser was another highlight of thi

  Book: The Appeal  Author: Janice Hallett  Pages: 432  Read on: Kindle  Read in: ~5.5 hours  Plot Summary:  ONE MURDER. FIFTEEN SUSPECTS. CAN YOU UNCOVER THE TRUTH? There is a mystery to solve in the sleepy town of Lower Lockwood. It starts with the arrival of two secretive newcomers, and ends with a tragic death. Roderick Tanner QC has assigned law students Charlotte and Femi to the case. Someone has already been sent to prison for murder, but he suspects that they are innocent. And that far darker secrets have yet to be revealed... Throughout the amateur dramatics society's disastrous staging of  All My Sons  and the shady charity appeal for a little girl's medical treatment, the murderer hid in plain sight. The evidence is all there, waiting to be found. But will Charlotte and Femi solve the case? Will you? Things I Liked:  1. I really enjoy reading about (and observing) group dynamics. How do people interact in groups? Who is the Alpha? How do the others behave vis-à-vis t

 Hello, hello, February 21st is celebrated as International Mother Language Day .   a day to celebrate and honour diversity in languages.  Bengali is my mother language.  The language of love and lullabies and my first stories.  And not to be biased but man my people have written some of the best stories in the world. I mean I am proud of being a Bengali for multiple reasons and it's outstanding literature is pretty much at the tippy top of this list.  Sadly, I can't read Bengali (the fallout of growing up outside Bengal) but I have, over the years, made a concentrated effort to read some our best works and it's been some of my favourite things I have ever read.  Here are my Top 10 Books Originally Written in Bengali.  Books I 100% Recommend with my whole heart.  TOP 10 BENGALI BOOKS:  1. The Adventure of Feluda Vol I and II by Satyajit Ray: Mysteries. Crimes. And a Bengali Super Sleuth! Feluda is the kind of cousin we'd all like to have. Smart, intelligent and good at

 Hey guys! Uni-ball One Gel pens have taken the planner and stationery world by storm! These are multi-surface, richly pigmented pens and when we found them on Amazon , we decided to buy a set for ourselves! I was seriously seeing them alllll over IG and my planner and stationery loving needed these in my life.  Here are some writing samples and our first impressions!  These pens are available in a pack of 8. The colours are similar to other Uniball gel ink offerings and are colours we've had before.  Here are the writing samples. The ink is pigmented and the pens are really smooth. These are all 0.38 mm in thickness. These are, basically, fine nibs.  The colours are a good mix of basic sober, everyday writing ones and some fun colours like pink, aqua and orange.  These pens write easily on vellum paper and other semi-glossy and transparent papers, which make them very good for journaling.  I have been using these for a week and I am very happy with the smoothness and how well thes

 Hey all, Sharing some decent and recent Indian OTT content- series and a movie- that we quite liked watching.  A Thursday on Disney+ Hotstar is the spiritual prequel of the cult movie ' A Wednesday '. It centres around a play school teacher- Yami Gautam- holding 16 of her little students hostage. As the movie unfolds we learn about the reason behind her actions and her extreme demands (wanting to speak face-to-face with the Prime Minister).  A decent enough movie. Quite taut. But requires loads of suspension of disbelief.  Rawkto Bilaap on Hoichoi is a Bengali wegseries that is a horror-thriller. A group of seven friends get together for a reunion at a reclusive friend's home. One by one they start dying. Is it a deranged killer? Or something supernatural?  This show is a little try-hard but quite spooky and atmospheric. A lot has been left up to the viewers' interpretation and so, if you like that kind of a take in fiction, then you'll enjoy this one.  Mithya on

 So your girl turned a year older today.  Wiser too...hopefully.  Had yet another quiet birthday this year.  Read.  Had so much love and wishes come my way.  Opened a few gifts.  Ate cake.  Played Scrabble with my family after agesss...years in fact and I won!  :)  It was a good day.  A very, very good day.  Oh and there was amazing food involved too.  Basanti pulao and chingir malaicurry and Chinese grubs for dinner.  I am so grateful for this life and everyone who made me feel special.  :)  Here are some snippets of my day.  Just some things I am manifesting for myself this year.  My cake.  I cut 3 birthday cakes this year!  *feeling most spoilt* Did a tiny bit of journaling today.  Wrote some goals and hopes for the coming year.  Took pictures of my birthday book haul.  And took an Instax of it, it's a little bit of tradition of mine.  Haul coming soon!  No birthday of mine is complete without a bit of reading.  This is what I am reading this birthday weekend.  Ruskin Bond  &

  I started February by pulling out these books from my shelves and telling myself I'd read most of them.  With good intentions and hopes I started this month like a good girl hoping to read so much.  And since it's mid-month, I am doing quite good.  I mean I didn't quite stick to my TBR, but then when do I ever?  But I have stuck to this pile more or less.  Kinda.  I figured I'd do a reading update today.  So I had pulled out 8 books to read.  So far I've read 2 books from this pile.  Just 2 and a half maybe.  But I have read a few books on my Kindle and some other books that caught my fancy. And that's just how life goes.  See TBRs are great. You mull over what to read. Set a goal. Make a list and maybe you even stick to it. Or you don't.  I like having a pile ready to dive into and I am equally OK with completely abandoning said list.  Life happens.  Read what you want to.  I mean you are doing this for fun no?  Make a list. Stick to it or not.  Some of t

  Book: How To Tell The Story of an Insurgency  Edited: Aruni Kashyap  Publisher: Harper Collins India  Read On: Kindle  How Long it Took Me To Read: 2 days  Plot Summary:   A former militant is unable to reconcile his tranquil domesticity with his brutal past. A mother walks an emotional tightrope, for her two sons—a police officer and an underground rebel—fight on opposite sides of the Assam insurgency. A deaf and mute child who sells locally brewed alcohol ventures into dangerous territory through his interaction with members of the local militant outfit. How to Tell the Story of an Insurgency is an unflinching account of a war India has been fighting in the margins. Written originally in Assamese, Bodo and English, the fifteen stories in this book attempt to humanize the longstanding, bloody conflict that the rest of India knows of only through facts and figures or reports in newspapers and on television channels.   Review: I have been reading stories from Assam for a few yea

  Book: Wahala  Author: Nikki May   Pages: 384  Read On: Kindle  How Long it Took Me To Read: 2 Days  Plot Summary:   Ronke wants happily ever after and 2.2. kids. She’s dating Kayode and wants him to be “the one” (perfect, like her dead father). Her friends think he’s just another in a long line of dodgy Nigerian boyfriends. Boo has everything Ronke wants—a kind husband, gorgeous child. But she’s frustrated, unfulfilled, plagued by guilt, and desperate to remember who she used to be. Simi is the golden one with the perfect lifestyle. No one knows she’s crippled by impostor syndrome and tempted to pack it all in each time her boss mentions her “urban vibe.” Her husband thinks they’re trying for a baby. She’s not. When the high-flying, charismatic Isobel explodes into the group, it seems at first she’s bringing out the best in each woman. (She gets Simi an interview in Hong Kong! Goes jogging with Boo!) But the more Isobel intervenes, the more chaos she sows, and Ronke, Simi, and B

 Hello Loves!  And a Happy Valentine's Day to You.  Hope your heart is full of love and warmth and you always, always find love for yourself!  I spent my day doing some of my favourite things!  First up, I woke up at 5:40 AM!   A complete rarity in my life and then I went on to have myself a good day.  Fixed breakfast in two parts~ first some chocolate, banana and peanut butter oats.  A cup of coffee.  And then some desi French Toast.  Then I went to the terrace and pretty much spent my day there.  Reading.  People Watching.  Water plants.  And coming down to get some happy mail!  :)  A good day.  Full of gentle joys and guavas and brownies too!  :)  What else can I ask for?  A sun kissed book and a beautiful bookmark.  This one is from Debdyuti Creates over on IG.  A tote to carry my books, Kindle, phone and water bottle to the terrace.  This one is from Jonakir Haat on IG.  Love the gamcha trim so much. She makes some beautiful things out of gamchas.  Perfect sunny days.  Lost