The Whimsy Bookworm: A Book Blog from India

 Hello Loves!  This post is super duper late.  I should have had this up wayyyy back in January, seeing that these books were ordered on the 1st of Jan.  I decided to start my year with buying some books, as you do. And I also felt that it was the perfect start to my New Year. Books are always a good start and a good way to welcome newness.  I bought two beautiful books from my corner of the world- Bengal. I picked two classics and I cannot wait to read them.  Let's see the prettiness.  I have read this book before. But I wasn't the biggest fan of the translation. So when I saw that Penguin Modern Classics had a translation I had to get my hands on it. I am very happy to own this copy and read it eventually. I am thinking of reading this in April for my All Bengali Books in April.  I am hoping to read this and then binge the Ray adaptations of it.  It will break my heart but it seems like a good way to celebrate Bengaliness.  Gosh I love...

  Hello Loves!  April is over and I got to talk about some amazing books I read this month.  20 in total.  A good solid number and a mix of things I planned on reading and some I picked up when the mood struck.  I was doing my All Bengali Books in April, but not really sticking to the All Books part of my Theme.  I read a lot of Bengali books and Authors, but I also read other books and I am OK with not sticking to my theme. Reading must always, always be enjoyable and I am not going make myself stick to something and read something, if I feel like reading something else entirely.  Cool.  Now, let's do this wrap-up in two parts.  First, let's talk about the books I did read for my All Bengali Books in April and then we can talk about the rest.  Let's get started.  1. Whereabouts by Jhumpa Lahiri: Started my month with a forever favourite. Lahiri can do no wrong in my book. And this was my re-read for the month and it was just as su...

 Hello Loves!  I am a little bit of a flaky TBR maker. I make one at the start of every month and I stick to quite half-halfheartedly. I read a few books from the list and then I usually pick whatever my heart desires. I like my reading to be a little driven by my plans and a lot driven by my heart.  But I do see the merit in having a TBR list ready and raring to go. I start my month by pulling out a few books from my shelves and keeping them aside to pick up as the month goes on.  This month I am reading All Bengali Books in April.  Well, mostly all Bengali books.  So I spent some time, a delightful amount of time, picking out my Bengali books for this month. I am so happy with these beautiful books and I hope I end up reading most of these!  :)  Here are my hopefuls for April.  1. Cat People Edited by Devapriya Roy: Stories about cats and people who love cats. What's not to love?! There are pictures and poems and I am hoping this is one fu...

Hello!  Book Hauls have been pretty scant in my corner of the world and it's OK. Since September I've been buying only a handful of books here and there. And even this month, I haven't bought one physical book!  Who am I? Jokes apart, my shelves are full of books that I need to read, so I am more than OK slowing down with my incessant book buying. But..February is my birthday month and I might just throw all caution to wind and buy myself some amazing books.  Only time will tell!  For now I want to share some books I picked up in December.  This is my December/Christmas book haul and I got all of these from a Book Fair in my hometown and paid 30% off for all of these!  :)   I read this book already and I really enjoyed it. I wasn't sure of what to expect going in but it was fun and interesting to read about the man behind the legend.  Started my year with Tagore and it was a good decision. Read all the short stor...

Hello 2020.  Starting my new year with Tagore.  I thought long and hard about my first read and I couldn't think of a better option to kickstart this new year and decade than a Bengali legend Tagore.  This gorgeous book was a recent purchase from my local book fair.  It is beautiful and consists of Tagore's most popular short stories, poems, a novel- The Home and the World- Ghaire Baire and even his autobiography.  I don't think I'll be reading the whole volume at one go.  I am currently reading the short stories and will stick to just those.  I am really, really enjoying these stories.  Some of the stories I've been reading.  There is nothing quite like getting cozy under my quilt and reading the words of Tagore.  The range of these stories are pretty diverse and range from domestic concerns, to dwindling fortunes, there is even a spooky story or two.  Tagore is a staple in ...

Hello!  Today I want to share some sights and scenes from my local Boi Mela,  Boi Melas or Book Fairs are a winter staple in West Bengal. From big cities to small towns, Boi Melas pop up all over. I have always wanted to go to the Book Fair in Kolkata. My cousins have raved about it forever. Sadly, I've never managed make it there during the right time.  I used to be summer visitor in Kolkata.  So I was so happy to find out that my hometown- Jalpaiguri,  also has a Book Fair and this time I was here for it!  Yay!!!  So, on a cold winter evening, Maa, me and my sister walked to the book fair and spent over an hour browsing the many stalls and taking in the scenes and seeing people mulling over books and coming back with bags full of stories.  Most of the books, as expected were in Bengali.  These books were so beautiful. Sadly, I can't read Bengali, so I obviously didn't buy any of those.  People all bundled ...