The Whimsy Bookworm: A Book Blog from India

 Here are my goals for October.  Keep it simple.  Make it good. 

  Hello Loves!  Can you even believe November is here?  November always feels like it's time to wind down and rest and get ready for the slower and brighter months of the year. We prepare for Diwali and get our homes in order and then celebrate the festival of lights.  I am always happy when November rolls around. It's always a month for joy and love. It's my sister's birthday and we try to do little things we enjoy all month long.  Eat good food.  Go to her favourite places.  Watch her favourite films.  Read some good books.  I am so happy November is here again.  This November I am participating in NaNoWriMo. Which is a month long writing challenge, the goal is to write a novel in a month. Now it could be something you are already working on or it could be an entirely new thing. I do have some half-written projects that I could work on but I am choosing to focus something new and flesh out and work on an idea that I've had since 2021. ...

  Hello December!  Helo Festivity!  Hello Joy!  Hello Happiness!  Hello Blogmas!  & Vlogmas (which I am hoping to do over on IG) There's something about December that makes you want to slowdown and enjoy these mellow days with a cup of cocoa and look back on the year.  I love this month.  I love this feeling of goodness and merriment.  I am hoping this month is going to be all that I hope for.  I hope there's light, joy, celebration and kindness.  Be Good December.  Be Kind.  Be Gentle.  And Be Wonderful!  I am so happy you are here.  Our little tree is already up, the earliest it's been up. We normally get the tree up by the 10th but we needed a little pick me up last night, so even before the clock struck 12, our tree our up and lit.  And it just makes the home so happy.  I love waking up to it and I love spending my evening by it's side.  GOALS FOR DECEMBER:   1. Be happy as can be...

  Hello November!  Hello Fall!  Hello Scorpio Season!  Hello Sister's Birthday Month!  :)  I am happy you are here November.  I started my month with doing the things I usually do on the first day of the month.  I set up my Bujo pages, did up my journal and even set up my Book Journal for the month.  A very stationery heavy morning and the kind of thing I love.  November Page in my Bujo.  Added some autumnal colours and a little doggo in a sweater!  Too cute.  Of course I did a little bit of reading.  I am still reading my Halloween Read but I also started on a new book in honour of Non-Fiction November.  I adore this little Niffler dude on my bookmark. He's most cute.  The Book of Indian Ghosts by Riksunder Banerjee: I started reading this for Halloween and I am still reading this and loving this deep dive into all kinds of ghosts found in India. Such a good read.  Cultish by Amanda Montell: My first...

  Hello October!  Hello Pujo!  Hello Fall! Hello Spooky Season!  I am sooooo happy you are here October.  Soooo happy to be in the last three months of the year aka my favourite months of the whole year.  I started my month doing little things in the house to cozy up for the festive season.  Changed bedding.  Changed out our cushion covers.  Brought out my favourite plushies.  Picked out my reading for Pujo.  And in the evening we put up lights in our home mandir.  A perfect little day to start my month.  Bobesh is here.  Looking handsome as always.  Put out some new sheets from Chumbak.  Lights and Flowers.  I hope and pray October is good and kind and gentle and wonderful for all of us.  OCTOBER GOALS:   1. Have a happy Pujo. Do something fun everyday.  2. Put up lights in the house.  3. Make home pretty and cozy for fall.  4. Read some spooky books.  5. Watch some spooky...

 Hello Loves!  It's a drizzly and rainy Monday in my part of the world, so I am making the most of it and reading something thriller-y and drinking lemon tea.  Here some moments of joy to brighten up your Monday morning.  Sunshine and these beautiful blooms.  These pictures were clicked on a crisp and cold November morning.  Up close and lovely.  Art lighting up corners of my home.  Pages and Bookmarks.  Journaling in bed.  A second favourite, close after reading in bed. Have a good week ahead folks.  My plans this week include~  Reading a whole lot. Making more progress on The Idiot, which I am reading very slowly the month.  Read some Christie, I've been in such a mood for Christie all of last week and most of this past weekend was spent re-watching some Marple episodes. They are streaming on Sony Liv.  Clean the house and prep for Pujo.  Enjoy the rains.  Eat Waffles. I haven't had waffles in over two yea...

 September feels like hope.  Like stepping into gentler times.  Like festivity and cheer.  This year it feels like return to times we lived in before.  Time of celebration.  Time to welcome new seasons and new things.  To me, fall feels like a fresh new beginning.  Even though in a tropical country like ours and my city in particular, fall isn't really a thing.  At all.  In Bombay September is rainy, muggy and rainy.  And since August wasn't particularly rainy, I have a feeling we are about to have a very wet September.  I am not complaining.  I love rainy days.  And I am quite excited about September being here.  We are starting off this month with Ganpu in our homes and hearts, and honestly, I cannot think of a better way to begin a month. And to think in exactly a month we'll be starting October with Maa Durga.  I am excited.  So Hello September!  Be Good and Gentle and Fun and Kind. Be full of ...

 Hello Loves!  I know I am a little (a lot) late talking about my Resolutions this year. I don't even know why! I guess I wanted to let this year begin and get a feel for it before latching any expectations and hopes on it. You know let's see where 2022 was going and then set my expectations accordingly.  :) So here are my little Reading Resolutions and Goals for 2022.  From my Book Journal.  Made a list and hope to stick to it.  :)  I have largely kept things simple and do-able.  Low-key love how this layout turned out.  My Resolutions.  My main goals are to:  Read what I love.  Don't force myself to read.  Read more Literary Fiction.  Buy books I want to read immediately.  DNF books without guilt.  Read a few chonky books.  :)  Read what makes me happy.  What are some of your reading goals for 2022?  And have you been sticking to them?  Me, I think so far I've done well with the go...

  Hello August!  I am so happy you are here!  August used to be a pretty ordinary month in my corner of the world. Apart Independence Day, it held no real importance in my life.  Till 2013!  When I decided to celebrate Independence Day allllll month instead of just on the 15th.  I started my annual Indian Books in August and have never looked back.  I also include some subcontinental reads, because this month holds a lot of value for all of us. So I try to include some reads from Pakistan and Bangladesh. It is one of my favourite reading months of the whole year and I read books I am anyways drawn to the most.  I am so happy to kickstart my reading this month!  I have a tentative TBR for this month. Something I've been brewing for the last few months. Keeping books aside to read this month.   I am tres tres excited.  Here's my TBR for this years Indian Books in August:  1. Home and The World by Tagore (or some of his short...

  Happy New Year my Loves.  I hope 2021 is perfect, happy, magical and wonderful for all of us.  And I hope more than ever that it's Kind.  Gentle.  Healing.  Good.  Fun.  &  Peaceful!  We all deserve a brilliant new year.  💛💛💛💛💛💛 I am stepping into this year with ZERO EXPECTATIONS.  ZERO.  I honestly don't want to put too much hope and heart into the unknown and walk into this new year and new decade hoping for the best but not expecting much.  I hope to Read Write Dream Go to the Hills  &  Find Joy in the Little Things.  2021 GOALS///  1. Read good books.  2. Eat well.  3. Shop sensibly.  4. Sell some of the things I no longer use and let them find new homes.  5. Buy books without guilt.  6. Write a story a month at least.  7. Finish my detective novel and release it soon.  8. Go out more.  9. Be kind to my mind.  10. Go to the mountains ...

  Hello December!  Hello Blogsmas!  I am so excited to Blog everyday this month. Especially, given that this year my blogging has been largely hit and miss, I've gone days, sometimes weeks without getting a blogpost up thanks to the malice that has been 2020.  So this month I am sooooo kicked to get my blogging on.  So expect a lot of year end lists of all sorts of favourites from 2020.  Especially all of my reading favourites!  :)  I am happy you are here December.  One of my favourite months of the year.  I am determined to have a happy month!  :)  Here's to new months and new beginnings.  I am looking forward to see winter gardens blooming all over town.  DECEMBER GOALS///  1. Blog everyday.  2. Treat myself to little things.  3. Get my Christmas tree up and decorated soon!  4. Bake a Christmas Cake.  5. Go out...maybe....I haven't left home since October 2nd. And I think I am getting a lit...

Hello June!  Be good. Be Kind. Be Rainy. Very, very rainy. Please! Be Healthy.  It has been so unbearably hot in Bombay this past week and my heart is craving rains and everything else that comes along with it- pakoras, cosy days spent at home, being curled up under a blanket with chai and a good book! Ah!  Our plans for June are to stay home!  The Lockdown has been eased in various parts of the country, but not in Bombay (for very good reasons), given it is, unfortunately, the Covid-19 capital of India! So, it is best to stay in and not go out anywhere unless we absolutely have to! I reckon it is good to minimise outings and not go anywhere that is too crowded.  As far as reading goals go, the two types of books/genres that I want to read this month are diametrically different from each other- fully cozy ones or intense psychological thrillers/ murder mysteries. No in-between for me! *grin*  So, here's hoping June 2020 ...

Hello May!  May you be the answer to our problems.  May you be full of goodness.  May you grant us the strength to live through these trying times.  Be magical May!  May is not my favourite month of the year. It's too hot.  Too muggy.  Too humid.  My way of coping with May is usually hiding indoors and reading myself into slumber. So in some ways this May won't be all that different...almost.  I started my month with little comforts.  Milkshake.  Chaat.  And I've spend most of today comforting myself with an absolute favourite film of mine- Karz.  A way to remember Rishi Kapoor and lose myself in film that has my heart.  Simi looked so gorgeous!  I don't remember when I first saw Karz, I must have been a little over 6 or 7, and it was love at first viewing. Something about this film, it's theme of reincarnation just spoke to me. And ever since it's b...