The Whimsy Bookworm: A Book Blog from India

 Hello, hello, I hope your long weekend has gotten off to a great start!  After a busy week, mine has been slow and lazy, exactly as I wanted it to be!  In case you are planning to be home this long weekend, here are a few series and movie recommendations for you!  1. Destined With You is a Korean series that is a romance but with elements like reincarnation, mystery and magic. It is funny and sweet and totally worth bingeing this weekend. Streaming on Netflix. 2. Wilderness is a suspense/ thriller domestic drama about a woman, who decides to kill her cheating husband during a road trip through the US West Coast National Parks. It is gripping and worth watching. Streaming on Prime Video.  3. Athidhi (The Guest) is a Telugu (dubbed in 7 languages) horror/ suspense series about a man living with his wife in a beautiful home when random strangers start showing up on a stormy night. Streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.  4. No Hard Feelings is a comedy movie about supe...

  Book: The Christmas Guest  Author: Peter Swanson  Pages: 111 Read on: Kindle  Read in: ~1 hour  Plot Summary:  When Ashley Smith - a bright-eyed but lonely American studying in London - is invited to spend Christmas with her classmate's family at their Cotswolds manor house, it seems like a perfect country idyll. And for Ashley - who records it all in her diary - there's the added romantic potential of her friend's twin brother, Adam, who she thinks could be her wildest dream come true. But is there something strange about the old house, both stately and rundown? What could the motives of the mysterious Chapman family be? And what holiday horrors might be lying in wait? Things I Liked: 1. The premise of this novella was very interesting. A lonely American girl in London being  invited to a friend's home in the country for Christmas. When she gets there, she finds the family and home strange and even stranger when  she learns that she resembles a...

Book: Bright Young Women  Author: Jessica Knoll  Pages: 384 Read on: Kindle  Read in: ~4 hours  Plot Summary:  January 1978. A serial killer has terrorized women across the Pacific Northwest, but his existence couldn’t be further from the minds of the vibrant young women at the top sorority on Florida State University’s campus in Tallahassee. Tonight is a night of promise, excitement, and desire, but Pamela Schumacher, president of the sorority, makes the unpopular decision to stay home—a decision that unwittingly saves her life. Startled awake at 3 a.m. by a strange sound, she makes the fateful decision to investigate. What she finds behind the door is a scene of implausible violence—two of her sisters dead; two others, maimed. Over the next few days, Pamela is thrust into a terrifying mystery inspired by the crime that’s captivated public interest for more than four decades. On the other side of the country, Tina Cannon has found peace in Seattle after years o...

  Book: Devotion of Suspect X Author: Keigo Higashono  Pages: 448 Read on: Kindle and Paperback  Read in: ~4 hours  Plot Summary:  Yasuko Hanaoka accidentally kills her ex-husband, when circumstances rose to an unendurable level of ghastly behaviour from him. What follows is an elongated and witty brain-game between the investigator and her accomplice, Ishigami, who aided Yasuko in covering up the murder.  The Devotion Of Suspect X is the story about an ingenious plotter, and clever Dr Manabu Yukawa, who helps in solving the case. Yasuko Hanaoka works in a restaurant. She is divorced, and is a single mother to Misato. Her ex-husband, Togashi, was an abusive man, stalking and extorting money from her. With similar intentions, he showed up at Yasuko’s home, this time threatening to kill her and her daughter if she refused to lend him money. What started from denial, reached to a heated argument, and within a short span of time, turned to a nasty fight. In the...

  Book: The Last Devil to Die  Author: Richard Osman  Pages: 432 Read on: Kindle  Read in: ~4 hours  Plot Summary:  Shocking news reaches the Thursday Murder Club. An old friend in the antiques business has been killed, and a dangerous package he was protecting has gone missing. As the gang springs into action they encounter art forgers, online fraudsters and drug dealers, as well as heartache close to home. With the body count rising, the package still missing and trouble firmly on their tail, has their luck finally run out? And who will be the last devil to die? Things I Liked:  1. It was so good to be reunited with the four octogenarians and their cop friends! The Thursday Murder Club series of books has been an annual favourite and it is always nice to visit with the fun and fearless senior citizens as they poke their noses into police matters to solve a murder or two. Previous books in the series have been reviewed - The Thursday Murder Club , The...

 Why does September feel like the year is nearly over already?  Like life ought to slow down and amble towards end of year festivity?  September always reminds me of dhol and music and lights all over my city.  The time for Ganesh Chaturthi and festive season officially arriving here in India.  Ganpu is here today. And all morning I've heard music, dhol and merriment and chants.  The light looks festive too. Brighter and warmer somehow.  :)  I hope you are having a lovely day.  And I hope these ten days are happy and wonderful for everyone celebrating.  I am so happy to see Mumbai come out and celebrate.  Our little celebration at home this morning.  🪔🪔🪔🪔🪔🪔🪔🪔 I am so desperately manifesting some remotely autumn like weather. Sadly, it's been so dry and hot and just not remotely cozy here and it's driving me insane.  Alas, I look at everyone else, in the West, enjoying the beginnings of cozy days and slipping into f...

  Hello, hello, I hope your Monday has been good.  If you are looking for something to watch tonight or maybe something nice this week, I have Five Things to Watch.  So let's just jump in.  Friday Night Plan: This teen, coming-of-age and shenanigans-filled film on Netflix was such good fun. It was sweet, funny and has its heart in the right place. I liked how school life and different cliques are shown in a believable way. The popular kids aren't some monsters and relentlessly evil. It shows friendships in schools in a way that seemed so real. I had such a fun time watching this and if you need something short and fun and nostalgic watch this.  It's streaming on Netflix.  The After Party: This is a suspense-whodunnit-comedy. The second season recently wrapped up and if you are looking for something to binge, I highly recommend both seasons of this quirky show and the mystery is also decent. Both seasons are solid and fun and you can watch this over the we...

Hello, hello, It is September and all of the Western hemisphere is getting excited for fall/ colder days! Now, for us in India, we have two more hot months to endure before it starts getting cooler but we can already start getting into a cozy state of mind via books!  With that in mind, here are some recommendations of three 'cozy' murder mysteries by Meri Allen.  Book 1: The Rocky Road to Ruin by Meri Allen  Plot Summary:  Riley Rhodes, travel food blogger and librarian at the CIA, makes a bittersweet return to her childhood home of Penniman, Connecticut - land of dairy farms and covered bridges - for a funeral. Despite the circumstances, Riley's trip home is sprinkled with reunions with old friends, visits to her father's cozy bookshop on the town green, and joyful hours behind the counter at the beloved Udderly Delicious Ice Cream Shop. It feels like a time to help her friend Caroline rebuild after her mother's death, and for Riley to do a bit of her own reflecti...

 Hello Loves!  August was a month of more reading and very little book buying. I went nearly all month without buying a single book, because my reading for the month was more than sorted. I hate a basket full of books waiting for me and I had no real need for books.  But then I spent an afternoon bookshop hopping and of course didn't leave empty handed.  I bought a total of 7 books and here is a little haul.  I went to Granth Books in Juhu and went to the iconic Prithvi Theatre and browsed at their bookshop Paperback and picked some books.  Here they are.  A Korean historical fiction, that I mainly picked up for my sister who immediately picked it up and read it. A review will come soon. This is set in Korean and Hawaii and is about Picture Brides, basically a kind of arranged marriage between Korean girls and Korean men that were immigrants in the US. I was drawn in by the cover and I am so glad the book is beautiful inside as well.  This book wa...

  I begin every month setting up my monthly pages.  It's a little ritual.  It sets my tone for the month to come.  I don't do a whole lot but I like to go in and put stickers and decor bits.  My journal especially is set up and  have my monthly goals set.  The front page of my Atelier Neorah planner, which I am enjoying very much.  My Journal page for September.  I have used some fall-ish colours to infuse some cozy vibes for my month.  This is my September page in my planner, we don't get a whole page at the start of the month, so I end up using the first day of the month to decorate and set the tone for the month to come.  A page to set some Weekend Goals. And since I plan on watching a film or two, the girl with a popcorn tub sticker was perfect!  Some more pages for the first week of the month.  Sticker supply.  And my tin full of stickers and ephemera.  :) 

Hello September!  Hello Festivity!  Hello Fall (not here) vibes!  Hello Spooky Books!  Hello my Favourite Quarter of the Year!   I hope this month is kind and gentle and wonderful for all of us.  I am so excited for Janmashthami and Ganesh Chaturthi.  :)  And figuring out my plans for Durga Puja.  And I am happy to read from all over the world, now that my India only month is over.  I am working on my TBR and I think this is going to be a month of reading some Lit Fic and a ton of thrillers because it's been raining thrillers all over.  I have already started my month with two books.  One thriller, The Last Girls Standing by Jennifer Dugan - this is about two girls who survive a massacre at a Camp and after this near brush with death, things are not as they seemed to be. What happened that night? Were the killings that straight forward?  This book will remind you of several cult classic horror films, slashers mostly a...