The Whimsy Bookworm: A Book Blog from India

  Hello Loves!  May is over and doesn't May feel so long?  31 days felt close to 60 odd days.  May was hot and I hunkered down and read my heart out. I read 15 books and while that is not a lot, I did read some hefty little books.  This month I read a lot on my iPad, I am really enjoying spending time reading on it.  I bought a few books. Haul is up already.  Read quite a few new releases, not something I usually do a lot, so that was a good change of pace.  And I read mostly books I really, really enjoyed.  This was a good reading month and without gabbing on..let's just jump into it.  BOOKS OF MAY 2023:  1. The Greatest Marathi Stories Ever Told Edited by Ashutosh Potkar: I started my month with this collection of short stories originally written in Marathi by a wide variety of writers. I did this mainly to celebrate Maharashtra Day and generally do a deep dive into this book full of writers I hadn't read before. I read this thro...

  Book: Terminal 3  Author & Illustrator: Debasmita Dasgupta  Publisher: Penguin India  Pages: 110 How Long it Took Me To Read: Under an Hour Plot Summary:   It's August 2019 and Khwab Nazir is waiting to board the plane at Terminal 3 of New Delhi International Airport. Set to represent India at an international jiu-jitsu tournament, Khwab nervously looks towards her unknown future. She also reflects on her complicated past-of growing up against the insurmountable difficulties of life in Kashmir. Between happiness and emptiness, desire and grief, penance and peace, Khwab has endured. She has a dream that life will be a paradise, one day. Breathing against the backdrop of conflict, Terminal 3, is the story of the everyday people striving to live their dreams in the Valley. Things I Liked:  1. This is a story we really need to hear and hear more of. People living in difficult situations and somehow holding on to hope and dreams and working on turning...

 Hello Loves!  I've been so bad at documenting my book buying this year and by the grace of God I've been buying so many books!  Well, let's not let the Books of May languish anymore.  These are the books I bought in May 2023 and I've even read a few from this bunch.  So let's just jump in.  What a pretty little stack!  I am slowly but surely trying to collect all the books in the Greatest Stories Ever Told series from Aleph, this month I bought two books.  The first from Goa, which I am really looking forward to and it's something I am hoping to read through next  month. I read the Greatest Marathi Stories this month. So Maharashtra in May and then June in Goa. Sounds good to me.  Picked up this beautiful graphic novel about a young sportswoman from Kashmir and I read it and loved and reviewed it.  :)  You can find it here .  I have read and really enjoyed the author's work before and this novel, set in Assam and about a ...

 Hello, hello, It is Friday and in just a few hours, another weekend starts! WeeHee!  If you plan on staying in and being a couch potato, then we have some binge-worthy OTT show and movie recommendations for you!  1. Shabash Feluda (Zee5): Another new reboot/ new franchise for our favourite Bengali detective! This one stars Parambrata Chattopadhaya as Feluda and brings to life one of the many Feluda stories that have not hitherto been made for TV or film! This is a convoluted, fast-paced thriller and is definitely worth watching!  2. The Last Thing He Told Me (AppleTV): Based on the eponymous book, this is a fast-paced thriller about whether we really know the ones we love! When Hannah Hall's husband goes missing, she has no idea the kinds of things she would end up finding out about his past and the sacrifices they would need to make to keep his daughter- Bailey- safe. If you liked the book, you'll also like the series.  3. Kathal (Netflix): A sharp and well-ma...

  Book: Homecoming  Author: Kate Morton  Pages: 558 Read on: Kindle  Read in: 5 hours  Plot Summary:  Adelaide Hills, Christmas Eve, 1959: At the end of a scorching hot day, beside a creek on the grounds of a grand country house, a local man makes a terrible discovery. Police are called, and the small town of Tambilla becomes embroiled in one of the most baffling murder investigations in the history of South Australia.   Many years later and thousands of miles away, Jess is a journalist in search of a story. Having lived and worked in London for two decades, she now finds herself unemployed and struggling to make ends meet. A phone call out of nowhere summons her back to Sydney, where her beloved grandmother Nora, who raised Jess when her mother could not, has suffered a fall and is seriously ill in the hospital.  At Nora's house, Jess discovers a true crime book chronicling a long-buried police case: the Turner Family Tragedy of 1959. It is only ...

Book: Did You Hear About Kitty Karr? Author: Crystal Smith Paul  Pages: 416   Read on: Kindle  Read in: ~4.5 hours  Plot Summary:  When Kitty Karr Tate, a White icon of the silver screen, dies and bequeaths her multimillion-dollar estate to the St. John sisters, three young, wealthy Black women, it prompts questions. Lots of questions. A celebrity in her own right, Elise St. John would rather focus on sorting out Kitty’s affairs than deal with the press. But what she discovers in one of Kitty’s journals rocks her world harder than any other brewing scandal could—and between a cheating fiancé and the fallout from a controversial social media post, there are plenty. The truth behind Kitty's ascent to stardom from her beginnings in the segregated South threatens to expose a web of unexpected family ties, debts owed, and debatable crimes that could, with one pull, unravel the all-American fabric of the St. John sisters and those closest to them. As Elise digs deeper...

  It's another weekend and a hot one at that! Or a rainy one if you are in the path of Cyclone Mocha! Please stay safe!  So, if you are looking to stay in and binge a show, then may we suggest Dahaad on Amazon Prime Video.  We binge watched it today and here are five reasons why we think you should watch this show!  1. Loosely inspired by the notorious Cyanide Killer - a serial killer from Karnataka known for killing women with cyanide - Dahaad is, at a very basic level, a serial killer thriller show. However, it is not just that. It is a lovely, nuanced look at general misogyny, the role and place of women in society, issues of casteism and religious intolerance that are so prevalent in our society today. So, if you want to watch a great serial killer cat-and-mouse type show with some thoughtful and intelligent layers, then this is the show for you.  2. The casting is just stellar! Sonakshi Sinha, Vijay Varma, Gulshan Devaiah and Sohum Shah are pitch perfect in...

 Hello Loves!  If you live in a typical Indian home, you probably have a steel cupboard or two and usually those guys, while super useful are quite an eyesore. And they are so large and bulky. I have three steel cupboards in my bedroom. I am super grateful to them for holding all my clothes safe but I do like to dress them up a bit. I wish I could paint mine but that seems like a big job and not to mention I am very allergic to the smell of paint. The last time we got things painted at home, I nearly died.  Not even joking.  So I find other ways to jazz up my cupboards.  I use a ton of cute magnets and stickers and postcards and cards but I was getting so bored of the art I had on for a while that I was in desperate need for some change.  So a few days ago, I pulled out some of my little postcards and bookmarks and even a thank you note or two and did up one of my cupboards.  Let's see what my new jazzed up cupboard looks like.  Look, how cute!...

 Hello Loves!  Let's haul something seriously cute today, shall we?  I got some absolute adorable things from Doodle O Drama , a place I've had my eye on for a while, her art is so cute and squishy.  Let's see..  Perpetual Mood.  This one just spoke to me.  Look at his tired little face.  I cannot even with the accuracy of this feeling.  The rest of the gang.  We've put these guys on our Raskog carts, and they add so much quirk to our stationery carts.  Now for the bag.  Emotional Baggage, something we all cart around, but has it ever looked this wholesome?  I think not.  Look at these faces!  I cannot with the cuteness.  Just look at the expressions.  Miffed but cute.  The bag is huge and spacious and very well made and super sturdy.  I used it as my planner bag in March and it held all of my stuff and I think this is the perfect size for daily use and even a spot of travel.  The shop i...

 Hello Loves!  If you know me, you know I love love love things made by hand and I have a special soft spot for embroidered things. Both my Grandmothers were skilled embroiderers, so every time I buy a piece of embroidered something, I feel like it's something my Thamma and Dida would like.  :)  We've bought from Rainbow Tales and Rhichita before, a couple of time and we love her work and her artistry.  We recently bought a few pendants and two brooches and they are so lovely.  Here's a little look.  Here are the necklaces.  This is an edit of small pieces and I love them. So much more wearable and easy to just throw on.  I love the tiny florals so much. The lavender ones might be my favourite but I do love the little bee so damn much. So cute and see how neat everything is.  These are the brooches and they are so lovely.  Florals again because clearly I can't have enough.  :)  Do go check out her shop and treat yourself ...

Summer is here.  And I am making a decided effort to find the silver lining and make the most of this season and not be such a frump about the heat and dust and humidity.  So yesterday morning I made a whole list of things I love about summer. Instead of my Morning Pages, I sat and did a deep dive into things I enjoy about summer.  :)    I went all out and found matching stickers to do up my spread.  Stickers are from The Bodhi Shop, I got two kits from them recently and I am really pleased with the quality of the stickers and other paraphernalia.  Here is my motley list of summer loves.  In no particular order.  🍋🍍🌻🍉🌿🍈 Summer also means summer salads. I avoid cooking in a hot kitchen as much as I humanly can. Salads, chaats and fuss free meals is how I like to spend most of May.  I eat a plate of fruit on most days.  Watermelon, grapes and of course Mangoes or even a sweet Papaya is my lunch on most days.  The Salad I ha...

 Hello May!  Hope this brand new month has been treating you well!  This is what the first five days of May have looked like! My sister and I have been reading The Adventures of Feluda by Satyajit Ray and we've been sneaking in re-watches of some of our favourite Feluda movies (which is ALL the Feluda movies)! :)  May is also all about mangoes and we've been enjoying our Alphonsoes a little too much!  Not all of them have been 100% sweet and with those we make a little aam makha, which is a simple mango much with sugar, salt, pepper and mustard.  My current read! Loving re-reading these lovely stories!  New books galore on the iPad! Excited to read all of them!  The Bhooter Raja and his motley crew! This tote bag houses my planners this month and I love it!   Setting up my journal pages for a new month is such a meditative and fun activity for me.  Days are warm and long and I am envying those parts of the country that are experiencing ...