The Whimsy Bookworm: A Book Blog from India

 Hello Loves!  Here we are on the very last day of 2021.  What a year it's been, huh? What a beastly little year! Good thing is I am happy to see it leave and I am happy to have survived it. Literally, I am grateful to be alive and grateful to have kicked Corona Kameeni to the curb. Uff! This year was zeher in parts and sukoon in bits.  Let's talk about something good:  aka my reading in 2021.  Reading my one solace in every situation and every year!  This year I read 200 books.  A neat little number no?! I got to 200 a few days ago..a little before Christmas and then just took time off from reading. I took a holiday from reading and just focussed on other things and spent time blogging and making a ton of lists and cooking and being.  200 is a good solid number and more than that I feel very at peace with everything I read this year.  So let's look at my annual  YEAR IN BOOKS  200 BOOKS.  I read a mix of ebooks and physic...

 Hello Loves!  Today let's look at some amazing literary fiction reads of mine from 2021. Some amazing books you need to read! And all of these books, in spite of being Literary Fiction they are all very, very accessible and very easy to read and love.  Let's just jump in shall we?  1. The Mountains Sing by Nguyen Phan Que Mai: This book just...broke my heart and these people, these characters just held my heart and will always stay with me. So so good. Seriously this might be the best thing I read all year.  Set in Vietnam  for nearly a century this powerful novel is a family saga and a swift lesson in Vietnamese history and everything they've had to survive. I am so so so happy I read this book and  I implore you to pick it up if you haven't already. This is something I will definitely re-read in the future. Absolutely luminous and amazing! But go in knowing there will be tears involved.  2. Whereabouts by Jhumpa Lahiri: I mean..of course Lahi...

 Hello, hello, I am for most part a fiction reader and a fiction lover. I have always been drawn to fiction more than any other genre under the sun. Lately, in the last few years I've tried to branch out and read and incorporate more non-fiction in my life. I don't think there will ever be a time when the scales will dip towards non-fiction in my life but I would like to read more from this varied genre.  Non-fiction books are interesting because they tell real stories about people from different walks of life. This year, I read some really interesting ones across sub-genres and I thought I'd share my favourites here.  Let's get to it, shall we?  1. Childhood Days by Satyajit Ray: This year was Ray's Centenary and a lot of things went Ray themed. I started my reading year with Ray and read a lot of his work. So of course I read his childhood memoir too. Full of stories from his earliest years, some memories of his father and his childhood home up to his early years ...

 Hello Loves!  I feel like 2021 has been the year of the short story for me. I read a LOT of short story collections this year. Which in itself is not out of the ordinary, I have always enjoyed short stories but this year I have found more comfort in short stories than before. Maybe some of it has to do with after Covid effects, when my attention was easily muddled and I preferred reading a short story instead of diving into a full length novel.  So here are my absolute favourite short story collections from 2021.  1. Immoderate Men by Shikhandin: I picked this book on such a whim. I thought to myself, well you only seem to read about women and their stories, won't it be nice to read about men for a change? I am glad I had this fleeting thought and that lead to this book and I am so glad I read this little gem. The stories here are about men in all sorts of shapes and forms. Good, creepy, sad, lost and so incredibly real and flawed and beautifully written. I loved th...

 Hello, hello, Today we bring to you the Top 10 thriller books of 2021.  As a genre, thriller/ crime/ murder mysteries is a big favourite of ours and today we will be sharing some of our absolute favourites of 2021! Let's get into it, shall we?  1. 56 Days by Catherine Ryan Howard is the perfect thriller for 2021! It tells the story of a couple that meets at the beginning of the lockdown in 2020 and move in. At the end of the lockdown, after 56 days, one of them is found dead. A twisty, gripping book this one! The full review can be found here . 2. The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave is an interesting story about a woman whose husband just takes off one day leaving her a cryptic message to "protect her". Her being his sixteen-year-old daughter. Why did he take off? What does the daughter need protecting from? The full review can be found here .  3. The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood is a fun and interesting, nicely done murder mystery. A 77-year-old woman...

 Hello Loves!  How is this Monday treating you? Can you believe this is the last full week of 2021! Where does time go?!  Well, let's kickstart this week with a list of my favourite kidlit of 2021.  I love reading Children's Books. They are my idea of comfort, joy and something to read when life seems a little too sad, when I want to read something simple yet profound and comforting I turn to Children's Books. A hallmark a good Children's Book is that it works for both kids and grown-ups.  :)  Here are some of my favourite Children's Books from 2021.  1. The Railway Gang by Ruskin Bond: Of course we kick things off with Ruskin Bond who is a forever favourite. This little book was a thing of joy. Stray dogs living in a railway station and the kind people they interact with. Sweet, wholesome and a great way to show kids how life is for strays animals in our country and teach them how to be kind to the animals on the street.  4/5  A quick little...

 Hello Loves!  Historical fiction is one of our favourite genres to read and an easy way to travel back in time. This year we read a wide variety of books set across various periods of time. Apart from literary historical fiction, another historical sub-genre we indulged in this year were historical thrillers.  A crime caper set in the world from long, long ago.  We are doing this as a separate list because we had enough books to merit a Top 5 list and if you like thrillers but maybe haven't delved into historical fiction, these books might just be the ticket to get you interested and, hopefully, be a gateway to read more books from this genre.  So here are our TOP 5 Historical Thrillers of 2021 .  1. The Bombay Prince by Sujata Massey: Perveen Mistry is a woman we've grown to love. It's always a delight to step back in time and visit her in a Bombay very different from the one I live in. Her stories have been a favourite since the first book in the series...

  Book: The Shadows of Men  Author: Abir Mukherjee  Pages: 341 Read on: Kindle  Read in: ~3 hours  Plot Summary:  Calcutta, 1923.  When a Hindu theologian is found murdered in his home, the city is on the brink of all-out religious war. Can officers of the Imperial Police Force, Captain Sam Wyndham and Sergeant Surendranath Banerjee track down those responsible in time to stop a bloodbath?  Set at a time of heightened political tension, beginning in atmospheric Calcutta and taking the detectives all the way to bustling Bombay, the latest instalment in this 'unmissable'  (The Times)  series presents Wyndham and Banerjee with an unprecedented challenge. Will this be the case that finally drives them apart? General Thoughts: This is the fifth book in Abir Mukherjee's Sam Wyndham and Surendranath Banerjee series. This is a  series  of historical crime fiction books set in India in the 1920s wherein Wyndham- a detective with the Imp...

  Book: Still Life Author: Sarah Winman  Pages: 464 Publiser: PenguinRandomHouse  Read in: ~5 hours Read on: Kindle  Plot Summary:  1944, in the ruined wine cellar of a Tuscan villa, as bombs fall around them, two strangers meet and share an extraordinary evening. Ulysses Temper is a young British soldier, Evelyn Skinner is a sexagenarian art historian and possible spy. She has come to Italy to salvage paintings from the wreckage and relive memories of the time she encountered EM Forster and had her heart stolen by an Italian maid in a particular Florentine room with a view. Evelyn’s talk of truth and beauty plants a seed in Ulysses’ mind that will shape the trajectory of his life – and of those who love him – for the next four decades. Moving from the Tuscan Hills and piazzas of Florence, to the smog of London’s East End,  Still Life  is a sweeping, joyful novel about beauty, love, family and fate. Things I Liked:  1. I enjoy well written histori...

  Book: Murder at the Mushaira  Author: Raza Mir  Publisher: Aleph Books  Pages: 358  Read on: Kindle  Read in: ~5 hours  Plot Summary:  3 May 1857. India stands on the brink of war. Everywhere in its cities, towns, and villages, rebels and revolutionaries are massing to overthrow the ruthless and corrupt British East India Company which has taken over the country and laid it to waste. In Delhi, the capital, even as the plot to get rid of the hated foreigners gathers intensity, the busy social life of the city hums along. Nautch girls entertain clients, nawabs host mushairas or poetry soirees in which the finest poets of the realm congregate to recite their latest verse and intrigue, the wealthy roister in magnificent havelis, and the drinking dens of the city continue to pack in customers.   One morning, Kallu, a retainer at a Delhi haveli, cleaning up after a grand mushaira, discovers a poet stabbed to death with a polished agate dagger. Gr...

  Book: Spooky Stories  Author: Tanushree Podder  Illustrated By: Kaveri Gopalakrishnan  Pages: 133 Read on: Kindle  Read in: 2 hours  Plot Summary:  A writer's journey turns into a nightmare when he disembarks from the train to catch a thief and misses the train. Anirudh is forced to spend the night in a tiny railway station with barely anyone in sight. A power failure adds to his woes.  Guided by the flashlight on his phone, he finds his way to the waiting room. There, he finds thirteen chairs and a dozen passengers seated in the room. The next train is due at dawn, so they decide to pass time by swapping ghost stories... Uncover the mysteries of an ancient Egyptian tomb, travel to the ruins of an old fort and meet the ghosts of China's Forbidden City in this unusual set of eerie, spine-tingling SPOOKY STORIES! Things I Liked:  1. A group of strangers sitting around in a derelict railway station's Waiting Room swapping ghost stories. Did I ...

 Hello Loves! Hope your Monday is going well.  Let's start this week with a little look at what I read this psst weekend.  Greenlight by Kalpana Swaminathan: I recently, very recently, as in earlier this month, I discovered a new sleuth to read and love. I read the newest book in the Lalli Mysteries a few weeks ago, and I was so chuffed to learn that there are so many older books in the series that I want to read. I  promptly ordered 3 of her older titles from Book Chor and this one I read first.  This book is sort of inspired by the Nithari killings (very loosely) and is set in a slum in Mumbai where little girls are being abducted, brutalised and their bodies returned home. Gruesome and gory (please avoid if these things trigger you). Lalli  is on the case and determined to get to the bottom of this sordid affair.  I read this book over two days and the second half is better than the first half which is pretty slow and languid and a little too inves...

  Book: Name Place Animal Thing  Author: Daribha Lyndem  Publisher: Zubaan Books  Pages: 208  How Long it Took Me To Read: 2 days  Read On: Kindle  Plot Summary:   In this novella, Daribha Lyndem gently lifts the curtain on the coming of age of a young Khasi woman and the politically charged city of Shillong in which she lives. Like the beloved school game from which it takes its name, the book meanders through ages, lives and places. The interconnected stories build on each other to cover the breadth of a childhood, and move into the precarious awareness of adulthood. A shining debut,  Name Place Animal Thing  is an elegant examination of the porous boundaries between the adult world and that of a child’s. Review: This book had been on my radar since it first came out. For the longest time I was holding out for the hardback edition (very bookish issues) and then I decided to be good and just read it already. And I am so so so gla...