The Whimsy Bookworm: A Book Blog from India

 Hello, hello, Since it is raining summer thrillers instead of actual rain (at least where I am), I thought I'd come over and review a few thrillers that I read and enjoyed recently. Let's get into it.  Book: Don't Let Him In  Author: Lisa Jewell  Pages: 368 Read on: Kindle  Read in: ~3 hours  Plot Summary:  He’s the perfect man. It’s a perfect lie. Nina Swann is intrigued when she received a condolence card from Nick Radcliffe, an old friend of her late husband, who is looking to connect after her husband’s unexpected death. Nick is a man of substance and good taste. He has a smile that could melt the coldest heart and a knack for putting others at ease. But to Nina’s adult daughter, Ash, Nick seems too slick, too polished, too good to be true. Without telling her mother, Ash begins digging into Nick’s past. What she finds is more than unsettling… Martha is a florist living in a neighboring town with her infant daughter and her devoted husband, Alista...

 Hello my loves!  Happy Day of Love to you and yours.  Whether you love Valentine's Day or not, it's a good excuse as any to indulge in some reading and finding something that works for you.  Here are some book recommendations for Valentine's Day...Books to read if you love Love or books to read if you want a good crying session.  There's something for everyone.  1. Parineeta by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay: This one is a family favourite. This was my Thamma's favourite story in the whole wide world. Because this story was sorta like her love story with my grandfather. She found a lot of similarities between her love story and that of Lalita and Shekhar. A timeless, simple and enduring story about childhood sweethearts, misunderstandings and love.  2. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows: Juliet- a budding writer/ journalist receives a letter from a pig farmer called Dawsey from the island of Guernsey...

 Today I woke up feeling a little sick.  So I just read, lay down and felt a little better. It's this darn weather, cold one day and hot the next.  Ugh.  Here are some glimmers from my day..  Coffee. Always bringing me comfort.  &  Finishing up my current read: Thorns in the Crown by Tanushree Poddar, which I enjoyed quite a bit. It's historical fiction set in India starting off in the 1920s till the 70s. Three people from very different backgrounds and how their lives and destinies are shaped in this tumultuous time.  I am planning on eating a simple salad for dinner and watching a spooky film.  Here's hoping tomorrow is better ♥

 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, 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...

 Happy Halloween🎃👻🍬  You know I love all things Spooky and every year for Halloween, I try to read some spooky and mystery books.  Here are five books I read this year in honour of Halloween.  Happy Halloween my Spooky 👻🐈‍⬛👽🎃👻 Pals.  Five books I read leading up to Halloween.                🎃👻🍬🎃👻🍬🎃👻🍬 Finally read Dracula and since it's such a big part of our cultural Zeitgeist, I feel like I knew this story through osmosis. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it immensely and was surprised how easy it was to read and accessible the writing was. Also watched two film adaptations. One made in 1992 by Fransis Ford Coppola (which was so campy and weird). The other produced by Wes Craven (who I love) which was fun but very, very not true to text. Both films are available on YouTube.  Mariana Enriquez was a revelation. I cannot believe it took me this long to finally find my way to her work. She writes like a dream abo...

Hello, hello, Another weekend and another 'what to watch' post on this blog :)  Today's recommendations are a nice mixed bag of true crime, horror and romance! So, let's get into it, shall we?  Nobody Wants This is a rom-com that is an instant throwback to the mid-2000s! Not only because it stars millennial heartthrobs Adam Brody and Kristen Bell but also it is, basically, a classic rom-com. Has several laugh out loud moments and all the formulaic, trope-heavy things that defined the rom-coms in the early to mid-2000s.  Messed up, commitment-averse heroine- check.  Stable, nice-boy hero- check.  He falls first- check.  She falls harder- check.   And, like I said, lots of LOL-worthy moments, mostly stemming from the hero's extremely Jewish family and the heroine's messy-chaotic family.  This is not a perfect show but it is one of the better rom-coms one has seen in a while. Plus it has six very short episodes which I like. I am so over 50 minute lo...

 Hello Loves 🪻🩷🪻 These July days have been a blur of books (mostly good), tea and rains and binging the X Men movies, which I forgot how much I love. I've also been watching some seriously weird (not good) Hindi films from the early aughts.. they might not be the best films but being back in that era makes me feel nostalgic and warm and fuzzy.  Anyhoo..  Here is what my days have looked like:  More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop was read slowly over the week. I re-read the first book before jumping into the sequel. I love this cozy little world and it's gentle and bookish people. I love books about books and this one about a second hand bookshop just makes me happy.  I will say that I preferred and enjoyed the first book a little bit more than the second one. But both these books are an enjoyable ride.  Poirot is perfect for rainy days.  Flowers and Kafka.  Read Earth by John Boyne in pretty much one sitting and really enjoyed it. This is the se...

 The last few days have been just morose. My upstairs neighbours are loud and rude and gross (they throw garbage out their window) and I had to go up and give them a piece of my mind. Ugh. For someone who is painfully non-confrontational, this wasn't fun.  Since then we've lodged a formal complaint with the building and they've been issued a warning. And today was loads quieter.  I am just so sick of them and the urge to move out and run away from my life is so high.  I've been feeling out of sorts, so this morning my sister ordered me some new treats, a set of Camel brush pens and some glitter pens and a set of Nataraj Gel pens. We were getting some groceries and she added these things to the cart.  So I spent my morning drinking coffee, colouring and reading some adorable graphic novels.  Here's what Self-Care looked like today:  Coffee always helps turn a frown around.  A mindful colouring book.  Kindle & iPad full of books.  A re...

 Hello Loves!  Time for another batch of Friday Faves from my corner of the world.  Here's everything I loved this week.  Rainy pages in my gratitude journal.  The Lion Women of Tehran by  Marjan Kamali, finished reading this amazing book earlier this morning and I loved it.  It's full of heart and incredible women.  So good.  Do pick it up.  I also adored The Stationery Shop by the same author back when I read it, so this one I knew I had to read and I knew I would love.  Chai and Chai themed bookmarks.  I have been loving my gratitude journal lately and I've been lowkey using this as my daily journal as well.  Quite enjoyed Kakuda, a horror comedy now streaming on Zee 5. It was funny, spooky and sweet in parts.  Washed these two plushies and they are as good as new.