The Whimsy Bookworm: A Book Blog from India

 Hello Loves 🌷📖📝🌻📖📝🌷 Hope you’re having a lovely New Year's Eve. 🌸 Last evening of the year and time to talk about My Year in Books and list my Top 24 reads of the year.  I’ve had a very good reading year.  I read 235 Books and a majority of them were good. There were some duds; but for the most part this was a very successful reading year.  I read loads of Indian Books. Read translations. Read books from all corners of the world.  Read some new to me authors and fell in love.  Tried new genres.  Read some delightful children’s books. Read so many beautiful picture books. Read a fair amount of nonfiction.  Bought a few books but was able to very successfully do a whole book buying ban from May to November.  Annotated some books.  Read physical books.  Read a ton on my iPad. Read very little on my Kindle (she’s getting old).  Found so much comfort and solace in my books.  I am so grateful for my books and for storie...

 Hello Loves!  You know I love and adore Indian Books. I'd say nearly 60% of the books I read in a year are Indian Books. In April and August, I read only Indian books and honestly, I could go a whole year just reading books from the Motherland. I love Indian books. And anyone who thinks Indian books are not that great or only think of those.."popular" books as Indian Fiction..well..do better. Look around and find yourself some great books  from India. Whether written in English or translated from regional languages, we have such brilliant books to offer.  Maybe this list will help you.  So let's jump into my favourite books of the year.  TOP 10 INDIAN BOOKS OF 2024 (FICTION & NON-FICTION) :  1. The Hachette Book of Indian Detective Fiction Vol. I & II: I love detective stories and this beautiful boxset with two volumes full of the best detective stories from the country was a treat. I loved the curation and collection here. We have stories ol...

 Hello Loves!  2024 is nearly over and I read some incredible books from around the world.  Truly, one of the best things about reading is the ability is to read, learn and spend time with people from a different culture than mine and walk a mile or two in their shoes see a whole other side of the world.  So here's my Top 10 Books from around the World. We have books from Argentina,Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Germany, Australia, Netherlands, Iran and Palestine.  So let's jump into it.  1. Blessings by Chukwuebuka Ibeh: Set in Nigeria, this is a coming of age story of a young queer boy. We see his life unfold in the changing landscape of his country. Him being outed and the repercussions and pain and healing and finding himself and love in a world were the odds are stacked against him. I loved this book, even the parts that broke my heart. An incredibly well-written and stirring debut.  2. This Motherless Land by Nikki May: Set partially in Nigeria and in par...

 Hello, hello! This year has been a bust as far as the Indian movie scene was concerned (for us). We watched a few good ones, though and so, are sharing those as solid recommendations to enjoy over a long weekend!  Laapataa Ladies (Lost Ladies): Hands down, the best movie of the year! Won't be writing much here because we have a whole post about it. Read it ! :) Streaming on Netflix.  Kill: A gory, thrilling, slick action flick that's made in India! Fast-paced and so, so, so thrilling. Streaming on Netflix. Watch it!  Stree 2: A sequel that is not a sophomoric disaster! Yes, please! This movie takes us back into the Stree universe, except, we have a new villain and also, some new allies. A fun, spooky watch, for sure! Streaming on Prime Video.  Munjya: A nicely made horror movie inspired by the myth/ legend of the Brahmadaitya- the belief that if a Brahmin youth days within 14 days of his sacred thread ceremony, he becomes an evil spirit/ entity. Highly recommen...

 Hello, hello, We come to you today with the very highly anticipated list of our favourite thrillers/ crime fiction books of 2024! This is what a lot of you have been waiting for, so, without any further ado, let's get into it!  The Gathering by CJ Tudor: If you are a fan of vampire fiction and enjoy thriller, then is the perfect book for you to pick up! Set in a world where vampires (called vampyrs in this book) are known to exist and, seemingly, co-exist with humans, there is a murder of a 15-year-old boy in a small town in Alaska and a cop is sent from the capital to investigate. An atmospheric, interesting and engaging thriller. Full review can be found here .  The God of the Woods by Liz Moore: One of the best books I've read this year. It is a historical crime thriller book set between 1975 and, then, the late 1980s. It is based in a summer camp where a little boy goes missing in 1975 and then, years later, his younger sister goes missing as well. A very atmospheric...

 Hello, hello, Today, we will be sharing our Top 12 documentaries of the year.  This year was a major non-fiction viewing year for us. Somehow, movies and series (fiction) across languages were so disappointing! Anyhoo, let's get to it!  1. Taken Together: Who Killed Lyric and Elizabeth? is a heartbreaking, thought-provoking and very nicely made documentary about the dual abduction of cousins- Lyric and Elizabeth from a small town in Iowa. This was a rare case of double abduction and the documentary delves into theories, possible suspects and even unearths a few interesting connections with other cases. Highly recommend. Streaming on Jio Cinema. 2. Worst Ex Ever & Worst Roommate Ever are two amazing and scary documentaries about horrible exes and terrifying roommates. This is episodic and so, there are multiple horror stories shared by those who have experienced these! Streaming on Netflix.  3. Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter is an amazing documentary and story ...

  Hello, hello, We just finished watching Laapataa Ladies on Netflix and we loved it so, so much that we simply had to get on here and recommend it to all of you!  So, without further ado, let's get into our top 5 reasons for watching this absolutely smashing movie: 1. The writing! OMG, the writing! It is funny, insightful, wise and so pitch perfect! I haven't watched an Indian movie in the past 5-6 years where the writing made me actually clap more than once! So, so good!  2. The story. A simple story of two brides getting lost because of being inside navel-length ghunghats. Phool, married to Deepak, sleeps on the train and, Deepak mistakenly takes Pushpa/ Jaya to get off with him at his station because both women are dressed in similar bridal sarees with a huge ghunghat. Chaos ensues! The story is about how both the women find their way back home and to themselves.  3. The found family in this movie so absolutely adorable! The people that Phool (Deepak's wife) find...