Annie Kapur
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I am:
🙋🏽♀️ Annie
📚 Avid Reader
📝 Reviewer and Commentator
🎓 Post-Grad Millennial (M.A)
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I have:
📖 280K+ reads on Vocal
🫶🏼 Love for reading & research
🦋/X @AnnieWithBooks
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🏡 UK
Stories (2892)
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Book Review: "Baron Bagge" by Alexander Lernet-Holenia
I read this book in a coffee shop where I sat and drank two americanos and a bottle of sparkling water. I am still astonished that even when reading a book in a coffee shop, some people feel the need to stare. Any time I looked up to take a sip of water or coffee, there was always someone just staring at me, confused or in shock that there are people who enjoy reading instead of gawping at their phones. I have this awful habit though of pulling a ‘what are you staring at?’ expression at these people and they tend to quickly look away. It shouldn’t be controversial to enjoy yourself alone but apparently it is. Well, let’s get on with the book I was reading, it is a short novel called ‘Baron Bagge’ and deals with a man who experiences either a hallucination or a near-death experience. The frame narrative is him announcing a confession from years ago when he was a soldier in the war…
By Annie Kapur4 months ago in Geeks
Les Grand Meaulnes by Alain-Fournier
Le Grand Meaulnes, the only novel by French writer Alain-Fournier, was first published in 1913 and is known as one of the great classics of French literature. Set in a rural French village in the late 19th century, the book captures the bittersweet themes of youth, love, and the search for an unattainable ideal. It is cited that its greatest quality is its dreamlike atmosphere and I can't lie - I definitely agree.
By Annie Kapur4 months ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Saving Agnes" by Rachel Cusk
I've read some of Rachel Cusk's autobiographical novels in my time. One of the more recent and more positive ones was called Transit - you can read the 5/5 review here if you wish. I've also read books like Parade, Outline and some others. It can be a hit and miss for me if I'm in the wrong mood and so, I have to be in a very certain way to read her books. Sometimes, I will read them at the wrong moment and it will kind of let it down a bit for me. It's only proof that time of reading also matters. Let's take a look at Saving Agnes, another Rachel Cusk novel...
By Annie Kapur4 months ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Behave" by Robert Sapolsky . Top Story - September 2025.
I read this a while ago and I decided I would give it another go. I had it on my phone and one thing I found is that I was just in a terrible mood when I read it, which means of course that because it is a nonfiction book, I was trying to find holes in everything. Well, now that I'm in a better mood, I'm going to go through this book properly and comment on the things I found particularly intriguing. And yes, I do actually find it intriguing.
By Annie Kapur4 months ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Reveries of the Solitary Walker" by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
The last time I dipped into Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Reveries of the Solitary Walker I was in university. I have to admit, I didn't actually find too much enjoyment in it and that was probably because I was reading it during some examination period so I was likely stressed out. Recently, I found a copy for free on Kindle (or at least discounted, I don't remember) and I decided to give it another go. Four years' ago I did read The Confessions by Rousseau and if you want to read my ramblings about why it's important, then click here. Otherwise, let's continue...
By Annie Kapur4 months ago in Geeks
5 Songs I Despise
Well, I spent a long time thinking about this as I've known about this challenge for a while now. I won't spend too long on the introduction but I understand that the songs I dislike perhaps won't be everyone's choices and that's alright with me. I'm sure we can find a common ground somewhere else. Let's get into it...
By Annie Kapur4 months ago in Beat
Book Review: "The Collected Dorothy Parker" by Dorothy Parker
I'm not a big Dorothy Parker reader and have only read a tiny bit in my time. I am by no means a fan. I'm going to be very honest with you here. There was a deal on the online used bookstore and so, I needed a good, cheap book to add to the deal so I could get one of my books for free. I'm looking at doing the same thing but I'm not sure which book I want for free. Anyways, Dorothy Parker's stories have been more entertaining than her poetry (which I'm more on the fence about). So here we go: a review of The Collected Dorothy Parker. And let's keep it to the good stuff, shall we?
By Annie Kapur4 months ago in Geeks
Book Review: "The Scent of Dried Roses" by Tim Lott
Used bookshops are all the rage if you've got a little bit of money in your pocket. Some books are as cheap as perhaps a few pounds and of course, therefore much cheaper than Amazon - including sometimes Amazon's digital borrowing service. I recently hankered around some used online bookshops and found a few texts that were sort of random. I'm going to admit I didn't read the backs of them before buying - I just bought ones that were cheap and on sale. This is the first of the books in that realm, about family, mental illness, suicide all set against a backdrop of an ever-changing Southall, London...
By Annie Kapur4 months ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Selfish Girls" by Abigail Bergstrom
I'm shuffling around lately and that means my reading is shuffling too. I'm trying to read stuff that I probably wouldn't normally pick up and one of those books is Selfish Girls by Abigail Bergstrom. I have to say that the beginning of the novel definitely draws us in, but as it plays out, the reader can get very annoyed by the characters. I'm not sure whether that is the point, but I definitely believe that there are characters that the reader can connect with easier than others. The novel explores generational trauma and womanhood. I will have to say though, even though it does explore these themes it is still a novel that is blind to class as I did find myself thinking in more than one instance that these are very middle class issues.
By Annie Kapur4 months ago in Geeks
Pennhurst State School and Hospital
Welcome to this week's episode of 'Why It's Shifty' and today we're looking at the Pennhurst State School and Hospital. For those of you who are interested, the Pennhurst Asylum was basically one of the worst things that has happened to the mentally ill and the intellectually disabled in the history of the western world. Some of the details of what happened during the stays of people at this hospital are distressing and so, reader discretion is advised.
By Annie Kapur4 months ago in Geeks
Death in Venice by Thomas Mann
Death in Venice is a novella by the German auhor Thomas Mann (who appears somewhat on my list of greatest books with an entry titled Lotte in Weimar). It was originally published in 1912 under the name Der Tod in Venedig and it still stands as one of his most studied pieces. If you did not believe that Thomas Mann was a master of psychological insight before then you sure as hell will when reading this incredible, and slightly controversial, text. Mann had already become a big name in the literature world with the success of his novel Buddenbrooks written just over a decade before. Unlike his former novel, Death in Venice seems more like a study in decay - the decay of both the body and the spirit.
By Annie Kapur4 months ago in Geeks
