The Whimsy Bookworm: A Book Blog from India

 Hello Loves!  I really let the ball drop on my Monthly Reading Wrap-Ups!  I read so many books in September that by the end of the month I felt lazy or overwhelmed to sit down and talk about all the books and then as October ended..that feeling just got worse! Procrastination is my number one nemesis.  :(  And now here we are.  At the end of November and I have three whole months to write about.  And I know, if I don't play catch-up now I'll feel terrible later.  So today I am going to sit down with my Reading Journal (thank God I make notes and keep up with my book journaling) and write down all my thoughts about allll the books I've read in the last three months.  So grab a cup of coffee or chai and get cozy and let's talk books.  Let's Begin.  BOOKS OF SEPTEMBER 2023:   I stepped out of Indian Books in August and all I wanted to do in September was read from around the world and maybe take a break from Indian Lit. I was als...

  Guys, I don't even how but July just got away from me. I skipped my June reading wrap-up on the 30th of June, thinking I'd do it in the first week of July. But before I knew it, I was in the last week of July wondering what the hell even happened to this month?  I blame these gorgeous rainy days and the urge to just sit and spend my time reading one thriller after another and before you know it the month is over.  Well, so today you get not one but two months worth of books and reviews and recommendations.  :)  So grab a drink and get cozy.  Let's do this.  I have 42 books to talk about, so let's begin.  BOOKS OF JUNE 2023:  1. The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese: OK, this is pretty much the best book I've read so far in the year. It's brilliant and you have to read it now.  I have a full review, which you can see HERE .  5/5  Love it.  2. Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto: This book had been on my radar for ages, I ha...

We watched Adhura early this morning. The skies were dark, it was quiet all around with the only sound being the gentle pitter-patter of rains. Just the perfect mood/ vibe to watch a horror show set in a boarding school exploring themes like revenge, past sins, secrets and such!  Here are 5 reasons why you should definitely watch Adhura this rainy weekend!  1. The setting is absolutely gorgeous and perfect! The show is set on the beautiful campus of The Lawrence School, Lovedale, Ooty and the misty greens, the darker-than-dark nights and the beautiful, regal old buildings amp up the spooky atmosphere of the show!   2. The story, as I mentioned earlier, is set in a boarding school in the hills. The batch of 2007 is back on campus for a reunion and a little 10-year-old boy, called Vedant, is acting strangely and scaring the beejeejus out of his bullies. Is Vedant's metamorphosis somehow connected to the return of the batch of 2007? What connects whatever entity is possessin...

  Book: The Drowning Kind  Author: Jennifer McMahon   Pages: 336  Publisher: Scout Press  Read On: Kindle  How Long it Took Me To Read: 3 days  Plot Summary:   Be careful what you wish for. When Jax receives nine missed calls from her older sister, Lexie, she assumes that it’s just another one of her sister’s episodes. Manic and increasingly out of touch with reality, Lexie has pushed Jax away for over a year. But the next day, Lexie is dead: drowned in the pool at their grandmother’s estate. When Jax arrives at the house to go through her sister’s things, she learns that Lexie was researching the history of their family and the property. And as she dives deeper into the research herself, she discovers that the land holds a far darker past than she could have ever imagined. In 1929, thirty-seven-year-old newlywed Ethel Monroe hopes desperately for a baby. In an effort to distract her, her husband whisks her away on a trip to Vermont, where a...

  Spooky Season is upon us, friends! If you are a fan of horror or noir-ish crime fiction, then this is the time to binge on this type of content!  I recently finished watching The Chestnut Man on Netflix and thought I'd do a quick review.  Adapted from the eponymous best-selling Nordic Noir crime thriller novel, The Chestnut Man follows a team of two cops in Copenhagen as they solve a series of gruesome serial killings. Thulin, a star investigator and a single mother, wants to leave her highly demanding job as a homicide detective to make more time for Le, her young daughter. Hess, reeling from a personal tragedy, is on a break from Europol and back in his hometown for a few weeks. When the brutalised body of a young mother is found in her own backyard, along with a small chestnut man (little stick-figure creatures made from chestnuts by children) bearing the fingerprints of a minister's daughter, who was abducted and killed one year ago, Thulin and Hess have to rush aga...

  Hello October! Hello Durga Pujo!  Hello Festivity!  &  Hello Spooky Season!  I am happy you are back!  :)  October is a little bit of magic.  The festive seasons in India kicks off in all it's glory and Durga Pujo lights up my Bengali heart.  This year, I am hopeful and excited to actually step outside and see some of the pandals and Maa Durga.  I even have a few new clothes all lined up for Pujo.  :)  My reading too is shaped by both Durga Puja and Halloween.  So for the first half of the month and certainly during Pujo, I read some Bengali books and then its time to bring all the thriller and horror reads and going allll out with the Spooks.  I am so excited.  To kickstart my reading this month I've already started reading a creepy horror book.  This one.  The Girls are Never Gone:   The Conjuring  meets  Sadie  when seventeen-year-old podcaster Dare takes an internship in a ...

  Book: The Burning Girls  Author: C.J. Tudor  Pages: 400 Publisher: Penguin  Read On: Kindle  How Long it Took Me To Read: 2 days  Plot Summary:   500 years ago: eight martyrs were burnt to death 30 years ago: two teenagers vanished without trace Two months ago: the vicar committed suicide Welcome to Chapel Croft. For Rev Jack Brooks and teenage daughter Flo it's supposed to be a fresh start. New job, new home. But, as Jack knows, the past isn't easily forgotten. And in a close-knit community where the residents seem as proud as they are haunted by Chapel Croft's history, Jack must tread carefully. Ancient superstitions as well as a mistrust of outsiders will be hard to overcome. Yet right away Jack has more frightening concerns. Why is Flo plagued by visions of burning girls? Who's sending them sinister, threatening messages? And why did no one mention that the last vicar killed himself? Chapel Croft's secrets lie deep and dark as the tomb. Jac...