The Whimsy Bookworm: A Book Blog from India

 This hasn’t been an easy week. Here are some of my silver linings:  A Bengali art inspired bookmark. Coffee and a spooky book.  Coffee with a dollop of ice-cream, blisssss! An alpona bookmark. Fluttering pages. Poirot. 

 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!  I am a big fan of all things Kid Lit. I believe that a good book that's written for kids works just as well for adults. A book that teaches a child via a story will have a similar effect on an adult or at least bring them some much needed comfort.  I read a lot of Children's Books, when I have a hard day or week, I find myself turning to the softness of a well written Children's Book. Here are my absolute favourites from 2024.  First we have two books by the same author, whose work I discovered this year and absolutely fell in love with.  1. Small Saul  &  2. Larf by Ashely Spires: These books are so wholesome and wonderful and warm and fuzzy and so so so cute. Larf is about a Big Foot looking for a friend and Small Saul is a little pirate. My heart! I love these books and made my sister read them right after I finished them. So so so good. The art is lovely too. Highly recommend.  3. Mukesh Opens a Zoo by Ruskin Bond: What li...

 Hello Loves!  December has been all about cozy and comfy reading.  Reading by my moon light.  As cozy as can be.  Reading in bed.  Match your bookmark to your book always.  I've put away all of my other, more serious books in favour of all things cozy and Christmassy.  Made a whole new shelf of Christmas reads on my iPad. I've already read two books from this edit and might read a few more. 

  Book: The God of the Woods  Author: Liz Moore  Pages: 478  Read on: Kindle  Read in: ~5 hours  Plot Summary:  Early morning, August 1975: a camp counselor discovers an empty bunk. Its occupant, Barbara Van Laar, has gone missing. Barbara isn’t just any thirteen-year-old: she’s the daughter of the family that owns the summer camp and employs most of the region’s residents. And this isn’t the first time a Van Laar child has disappeared. Barbara’s older brother similarly vanished fourteen years ago, never to be found. As a panicked search begins, a thrilling drama unfolds. Chasing down the layered secrets of the Van Laar family and the blue-collar community working in its shadow, Moore’s multi-threaded story invites readers into a rich and gripping dynasty of secrets and second chances. It is Liz Moore’s most ambitious and wide-reaching novel yet. Things I Liked:  1. This book is full of retro summer vibes! It is set in a summer camp in 1975 and ha...

  July was a bout of books, rain, comfort, sadness, surviving said sadness and finding Joy.  You were good July.  You brought me books, baarish and coziness.  This is what my July looked like: the best books I read and the moments that I loved well. 

  Book: The Return of Ellie Black  Author: Emiko Jean  Pages: ~320 Read on: Kindle  Read in: ~4 hours  Plot Summary:  It’s been twenty years since Detective Chelsey Calhoun’s sister vanished when they were teenagers, and ever since she’s been searching: for signs, for closure, for other missing girls. But happy endings are rare in Chelsey’s line of work. Then a glimmer: local teenager Ellie Black, who disappeared without a trace two years earlier, has been found alive in the woods of Washington State. But something is not right with Ellie. She won’t say where she’s been, or who she’s protecting, and it’s up to Chelsey to find the answers. She needs to get to the bottom of what happened to Ellie: for herself, and for the memory of her sister, but mostly for the next girl who could be taken—and who, unlike Ellie, might never return. The debut thriller from  New York Times  bestselling author Emiko Jean,  The Return of Ellie Black  is both ...

 Hello Loves!  Long time no Blog.  The summer heat has me beat.   All I've done is read, make simple meals, drink cold water and hiding from the sun.  Here's what May has looked like..  Gulmohar Season might redeem summer ever so slightly.  Love these fiery blooms.  Books with art and illustration have my whole heart.  Duck Duck Goose 🦆 A cute bookmark from Piko Shop.  A stack of books I've recently read and loved.  Summer Daze.  Lights ✨  Hope summer is treating you gently. 

 I've had the worst week. I have these super noisy upstairs neighbours and I've been so stressed and upset because they just won't stop banging and  clanging.  So my mood has been in the gutter.  And nothing I was reading was sticking or making me happy.  So I turned to some beautiful Picture Books to soothe myself and it worked like a charm.  Here are some beautiful books I've read lately 🌞 Five incredible and beautiful books that took my mind off my problems and made me so happy.  Now some beautiful pages from said books:  Heart warming stories and gorgeous art does wonders for my weary heart and mind.