The Whimsy Bookworm: A Book Blog from India

 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!  2024 is nearly over and I read some incredible books from around the world.  Truly, one of the best things about reading is the ability is to read, learn and spend time with people from a different culture than mine and walk a mile or two in their shoes see a whole other side of the world.  So here's my Top 10 Books from around the World. We have books from Argentina,Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Germany, Australia, Netherlands, Iran and Palestine.  So let's jump into it.  1. Blessings by Chukwuebuka Ibeh: Set in Nigeria, this is a coming of age story of a young queer boy. We see his life unfold in the changing landscape of his country. Him being outed and the repercussions and pain and healing and finding himself and love in a world were the odds are stacked against him. I loved this book, even the parts that broke my heart. An incredibly well-written and stirring debut.  2. This Motherless Land by Nikki May: Set partially in Nigeria and in par...

 A new week and and  a new batch of Friday Faves.  Sunkissed books I read and loved in January.  My beautiful February journal.  A new crochet friend.  First book of February.  Me at 21. In Goa, with room service and a silly smile on my face.  A pool I sat by and read all afternoon, back in  2019 on my birthday holiday. Good times.  A cute little bookmark. 

Hello Loves!  Bought some books in the very beginning of the month.  This haul is a little different, because I bought two books I have already read and loved. I very rarely buy physical copies of books I have read on my Kindle but every once in a while, I read something that I love so much that I need to add the book to my shelves.  I read Days at the Morisaki Bookshop and The Covenant of Water last year and fell in love, and I needed to have these books on my shelf...you know take up some physical space.  Similarly my sister read God of Fury back in December and wanted a physical copy.  So this haul is mostly acquiring some very loved books that we will re-read and re-love and be besotted with.  So let's see what I've added to my shelves...  This book is such a warm and cozy read. Very Japanese in so many ways and just a perfect read for anyone who loves books and is going through the motions of living and breaking up and coming into themselves....

 2023 is on her way out.  A whole year and honestly felt like it went by in like 20 minutes tops.  Where does time go?  Best to measure your year in little moments and joys and of course, if you are a bookworm- in books.  I read a lot this year.  A decent amount.  Less than last year, but who cares?  I read 207 books in total.  200 according to my Goodreads, which also tells me I read over some 50,00 words.  I read some amazing books. Some less than stellar and some that were downright disappointing.  But overall, my books kept me company, helped me escape real life and took me places and on adventures and made me think, laugh and sigh and cry and feel the entire range of human emotions.  My books are my friends and companions and joy.  And since it's the last evening of the year, it's time to list my TOP 23 Reads of 2023.  So here we go, in no particular order 23 Books I Loved Best in 2023:  1. The Covenant of W...

 And here we are at the final read for 2023.  I often document my first book of the year, so I figured this year I would extend the same courtesy to my final read to the year.  Funnily, my first and last book of the year are both by Sudha Murty.  Both are picture books.  And both were utter delights.  My first read was How the Earth Got its Beauty.  And my final read for the year is How the Onion Got its Layers.  That brings my total number of books read to 207.  According to Good Reads it's 200.  Some 7 odd books I read were not on GR, but it's fine.  207 is the real number of books I read this year. 200 is what GR is counting.  Either ways, for me this is a good place to stop for 2023.  All my reading is done and I will now pick up my next read only in 2024.  Here are some glimpses of my last read for 2023.  A gorgeous little book, a simple and heart warming folklore that is perfect for kids.  I enjoyed it...

Happy Independence Day to my fellow Indians!  Here's hoping we continue to enshrine the principles on which our Republic was founded and continue to appreciate our diversity!  Sharing a list of recent Indian books that are absolute 5-star reads! Each of these is highly recommended.    1. The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese is an absolute must-read. Easily the best book we've read in years! Full review here .  2. The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy is a very relevant book to read about the lives of various characters in present-day India. Highly recommend!  3. Villainy by Upamanyu Chatterjee has been fully reviewed here and is a must-read!  4. The Blind Matriarch by Namita Gokhale is set during the early months of the pandemic in 2020 and is a wonderful, immersive read. Full review can be found here . 5. The Daughters of Madurai by Rajasree Variyar is a story of a mother-daughter duo and the trials and tribulations faced by them. A ...

 Hello Loves!  I've been so bad at documenting my book buying this year and by the grace of God I've been buying so many books!  Well, let's not let the Books of May languish anymore.  These are the books I bought in May 2023 and I've even read a few from this bunch.  So let's just jump in.  What a pretty little stack!  I am slowly but surely trying to collect all the books in the Greatest Stories Ever Told series from Aleph, this month I bought two books.  The first from Goa, which I am really looking forward to and it's something I am hoping to read through next  month. I read the Greatest Marathi Stories this month. So Maharashtra in May and then June in Goa. Sounds good to me.  Picked up this beautiful graphic novel about a young sportswoman from Kashmir and I read it and loved and reviewed it.  :)  You can find it here .  I have read and really enjoyed the author's work before and this novel, set in Assam and about a ...

  For the last time in 2022... Hello Loves!  And just like that, 2022 is over.  This was a good year. Overall, for most part this has been a decent year for me.  I spent six months with my parents in Jalpaiguri, West Bengal.  And then after 20 months away from home, I came back home, to Mumbai. To my books and my flat and set about finding my way back to my old life,  Before we get to books, let's just talk life shall we?  2022 was different.  Better, so much better than 2021.  I lived in two places.  I spent time with my parents.  Came back home.  Mostly stayed home, I haven't quite shaken off my pandemic mindset, I am hoping to step out and do more in life.  I shopped for little and big things.  Still mostly bought from small businesses.  Got an iPad Mini. A new addition to my reading step-up. I do plan on doing more with it and not just using it to read.  I cooked so much. Like a lot.  Then in April,...

  Book: A Bend in the Ganges  Author: Manohar Malgonkar  Pages: 418  Publisher: Harper Collins  Read On: Paperback Edition  How Long it Took Me To Read: 4 days  Plot Summary:  India, 1939. Gian, a Gandhian pacifist, commits a murder; Debi-dayal, an ardent revolutionary, is caught while setting fire to a British plane. Both men are sent to the Andamans penal colony. In the beehive life of the prison, they work in opposite camps-pro-British and anti-British. During World War II, when the Japanese take over the islands, all the convicts suddenly find themselves free. Gian and Debi manage to return to India only to get sucked into the violence of Partition. An epic saga of a nation in transition, A Bend in the Ganges, now available in a stunning new edition, depicts the cataclysmic events leading up to Partition and the conflict that arises between ideologies of violence and non-violence. Things I Liked:   1. I loved reading books set in In...

 Hello, hello, It is that time of the year again! The one where we revisit the books we're read and loved and share a Top 10 genre-wise list of recommendations with you!  So, without any further ado, let's get into our Top 10 Crime Thriller/ Crime Fiction Books of 2022!  1. The Christie Affair by Nine de Gramont is a wonderful mystery-in-a-mystery about the 11 days in 1926 when Agatha Christie went missing without a trace. Full review can be read here . If you enjoy historical fiction and mysteries, then this is a book you'll love. 2. The Maid by Nita Prose is a story about a neurodivergent maid, Molly, who works in a 5-star hotel and is pulled into the murder of an infamous guest. The book follows her journey to clear her name, make friends and live her best life. A off-the-beaten-track type of murder mystery with great characters as well. Read our spoiler-free review here . 3. The Appeal by Janice Hallett is an epistolary-ish book where two law students get to the ...