The Whimsy Bookworm: A Book Blog from India

Book: The Butterfly Sister Author: Amy Gail Hansen Pages: 360 Time taken to read: 6 hours over a couple of days Plot Summary:  Eight months after dropping out of Tarble, an all-women's college, twenty-two-year-old Ruby Rousseau is still haunted by the memories of her senior year-a year marred by an affair with her English professor and a deep depression that not only caused her to question her own sanity but prompted a failed suicide attempt. And then a mysterious paisley print suitcase arrives, bearing Ruby's name and address on the tag. When Ruby tries to return the luggage to its rightful owner, Beth Richards, her dorm mate at Tarble, she learns that Beth disappeared two days earlier, and the suitcase is the only tangible evidence as to her whereabouts. Consumed by the mystery of the missing girl and the contents of the luggage-a tattered copy of Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own, the book on which Ruby based her senior thesis, and which she believes...

Book: Reconstructing Amelia Author: Kimberly McCreight Pages: 400 Time Taken to Read: 6-7 hours off-and-on over 2 days Plot Summary:  Litigation lawyer and harried single mother Kate Baron is stunned when her daughter's exclusive private school in Park Slope, Brooklyn, calls with disturbing news: her intelligent, high-achieving fifteen-year-old daughter, Amelia, has been caught cheating. Kate can't believe that Amelia, an ambitious, levelheaded girl who's never been in trouble would do something like that. But by the time she arrives at Grace Hall, Kate's faced with far more devastating news. Amelia is dead.  Seemingly unable to cope with what she'd done, a despondent Amelia has jumped from the school's roof in an act of "spontaneous" suicide. At least that's the story Grace Hall and the police tell Kate. And overwhelmed as she is by her own guilt and shattered by grief, it is the story that Kate believes until she gets the anonymous t...

Apart from a truck load of books I acquired on my birthday, I also ended up with some other pretties. These are some of them.  1. Two new tins of Tea! I love the Chai Time Teas. I have tried both of these teas and I love them! Soothing, perfect blends of tea and spice. Love them! I get mine from Bombay Store.  2. A grey satchel from Forever 21. A gift from the sister the day before my birthday! I love it! If you know me, you know I love me my satchels!!!  3. My Little Hedgehog friend is from Accessorize! She is pink, cute and I love her!  4. My sister's pretty planner page on my birthday. A doodle of my face and colourful Post-Its to make her daily notes and reminders.  5. The sky, trees and the glorious buildings in Fort! Ah, I love Bombay! :) 

Book: My Sister, My Love. Author: Joyce Carol Oates. Pages: 562 How Long It Took Me To Read: 4 days. Plot Summary:   Herein is the unexpurgated first-person narrative of nineteen-year-old Skyler Rampike, the only surviving child of an "infamous" American family destroyed a decade ago by the murder of Skyler’s six-year-old ice-skating champion sister, Bliss, and the media scrutiny that followed. Part investigation into the unsolved murder, part elegy for the lost Bliss and for his own lost childhood, Skyler’s narrative is an alternately harrowing and corrosively funny exposÉ of upper-middle-class American pretensions—and an unexpectedly subtle and sympathetic exploration of those who dwell in "Tabloid Hell." General Thoughts and Review: This book is the  fictionalized  re-telling (of sorts) of a real life crime. The death of a 6 year old  beauty pageant winner called  Jon-Benet  Ramsay and the media scrutiny it brought on the fami...

I went allllll out for my birthday. Hit 3 stores and bought a total of 19 books...and no guilt either. I believe in treating yourself on your birthday. Do all the things that make you happy. For me- it means buying books! For a couple of years now I've spent a part of my birthday buying books. I love that this is my birthday tradition. Here are all the books I got this year... Already read this book and will have a review up soon. It was really well-written and I want to read more Joyce Carol Oates!  This book sounds so cute and I am sure it's full of feels! Even the sweet man at Strand said this book was great!  I want to read more classic children's stories- the ones I didn't read as a child. This book sounds so sweet and has a spunky little girl in it.  I love short stories..enough said!  This book is technically something the sister picked up. It's about a sweet boy growing up in a quirky little family in the 1990s in Kerela. I a...

Another month of 2014 draws to an end. It's amazing how quickly the first two months of the year have gone by. We've been busy and lazy in equal parts, but the good thing is that we have been reading all through the busy and lazy times. Here are some of my favourite things from this past month. The days of early sunsets are now over. Caught this beautiful sunset on my way to NCPA for a play.  Less is more when it comes to everyday jewellery, though, sometimes more is more- I do love me my big chunky silver rings! :)  Re-purposed a bunch of used stamps to make tiny wall "art". I use the word "art" very loosely. These just add such a cute pop of colour to our on-going above-the-bed collage of little bits of art.  How cute are these little floral ones! A box of sweet treats that made me VERY happy. The little Nutella brownies- the ones with the hearts on them- are so good. Definitely go check out Le15 if you happen ...

February was a happy and lovely book buying month for me. Given it's my birthday month I went allllll out buying books!  All of these books are from Amazon .  2 beautiful Sherlock book with the beautiful Benedict Cumberbatch on the cover! I seriously want all of these books. I am a proud member of the CumberCollective! That man makes me very happy!  2 Penguin Modern Classics...I love these editions of books. Also I love Modern Classics. Easier to read and imminently enjoyable.  I also added to my Penguin English Library collection by getting an E.M Forster book.  And finally caved in and got another Random House Classics cover with seriously such a pretty Indian print on it!!! Love it.  Hmm...the running theme of this book haul seems to be pretty books...I promise I am not that superficial, pretty as these books might be, I am more interested in the words and the stories. But the Cumberbatch books are be...