literature
Geek literature from the New York Times or the recesses of online. Our favorite stories showcase geeks.
Book Review: "This Other Eden" by Paul Harding
“Eha had been bewildered by the woods. He was used to the openness of the island and the ocean and the sky. The huge quiet still trees seemed alive and as if they were conferring, about lofty old secrets a hundred feet above, secrets they’d been discussing for ages before he intruded and would continue to ponder for ages after he’d long been gone. Like the sea, the woods felt older than he could possibly imagine. Whereas he knew the sea, though, he knew nothing about the woods and felt his presence register with them as that of a stranger, trespassing.” - This Other Eden by Paul Harding
By Annie Kapur2 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: "The Shadows on the Wall" ed. by Mike Ashley
Full Title = The Shadows on the Wall: Dark Tales by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman edited by Mike Ashley Suddenly he began hastening hither and thither about the room. He moved the furniture with fierce jerks, turning ever to see the effect upon the shadow on the wall. Not a line of its terrible outlines wavered.
By Annie Kapur2 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Spectral Sounds" ed. by Manon Burz-Labrande
Full Title = Spectral Sounds: Unquiet Tales of the Acoustic Weird edited by Manon Burz-Labrande British Library Tales of the Weird is an excellent anthology of stories to read in the winter months. Often filled with creepy and sometimes obscure stories on a theme, these books are collections of short fiction that is both famed for its spooky writing or, has often been lost to time. This particular anthology is called Spectral Sounds in which we have ghosts communicating with the real world through audio. From footsteps up the stairs on a quiet night to rousing and sudden noises, this anthology has a great amount of tales that won't make you want to sit at home in silence as that is where things go 'bump' in the night. Including stories by Algernon Blackwood and Sheridan Le Fanu, I think this is possibly one of the better compilations of scary stories by the British Library.
By Annie Kapur2 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Treacle Walker" by Alan Garner
‘What’s amiss?’ said Joe. ‘I’ll tell you what’s amiss. I shall. I shall that. You come here, you and your box and your pots and your donkey stone, and fetch in enough to make me frit to death. You’re on about bones and all sorts; and then you’re off, some road or other, and I can’t tell where I am. I’ve got a pain in my eye. I can’t see proper. And I go down the bog and get stuck; and this chap with no clothes on and a daft silly hat, he sits up in the water and he makes no more sense than you do. He says I’ve got glammeritis, and then Stonehenge Kit, he’s gone, and so’s my best dobber; and Whizzy’s with a Brit Basher and they’re after Kit and the mirror’s all wrong then he’s back in the picture.
By Annie Kapur2 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Then She Was Gone" by Lisa Jewell
Lisa Jewell was an author I was introduced to through a book club as the read of the month was her novel The Family Upstairs. Deciding to participate less out of the fact that I wanted to read the particular book and more out of the fact that I needed something different to read - I ended up really enjoying it quite a bit. I was actually surprised how addicted I became to that particular book. It would be another year or so before I would read another book by Lisa Jewell, this time entitled The Night She Disappeared. I am not going to lie, but Lisa Jewell books never disappoint. I can definitely say the same about this one. A blend of psychological thriller, horror and domestic tragedy, Lisa Jewell explores the deep intricacies of what makes us human - whether we are good or bad.
By Annie Kapur2 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Mutiny on the Bounty" by John Boyne
"April 28, 1789: The real-life mutiny that inspired John Boyne's novel, Mutiny on the Bounty, took place aboard the HMS Bounty 224 years ago today. Half the ship's crew, seduced by several months of good life on Tahiti, rose up against Captain William Bligh. Some of the mutineers' descendants still live on Pitcairn Island”
By Annie Kapur2 years ago in Geeks
My Top 50 Books of 2023
As we step into 2024, I would like to say one thing - I have had a great time reading over the course of 2023 and though I have only been back here since around July, I would still like to share all of the great books I have been reading over the course of the entire year. It has been a tough year for me and the following year is not about to get any easier. Stressful, upsetting in some cases and horrific in others - I often escape into books because well, let's just say I'm not a people person, or a reality person, in fact by this point I'm not even sure I'm a person. 2023 has given me some really good books to get me through some really horrid times and here are the 50 that I think have been the best this year.
By Annie Kapur2 years ago in Geeks
Top 5 Marvel's Female Characters
Hey there, fellow comic geeks! We are going to discover the top five leading ladies of Marvel Heroes, a company that has many amazing heroines. Let us then travel on a journey to discover these unruly female characters that provide energy and show-time in the Marvel world!
By Alexandra Karson2 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: "The Mysterious Mr Badman" by W.F Harvey
As of yet, The British Library is still undergoing a massive reset over their recent cyberattack. Their services have been breached and the data stolen. It is as of yet, unresolved and continues to leave an uncertain future about the culture surrounding hacktavism. However, thankfully the books have been left untouched and therefore, my avid reading of The British Library Crime Classics and its horrific sister The British Library Tales of the Weird can continue. The British Library Crime Classics publication of this relatively unknown piece of British Crime Golden Again literature comes as a surprise as I have neither heard of the book nor the author.
By Annie Kapur2 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Politics on the Edge" by Rory Stewart
Britain was now, perhaps had always been, a place in hectic motion. A country that we were told had closed its industries and gone big into banking. A place that was now gambling on a new existence outside the European Union, and a closer relationship with China, at a time when the old political orders seemed ever more fragile, and energy security and food security ever less secure. An economy 80 per cent based on elusive intangible services; buoyed by an improbable housing bubble, and entirely dependent for its health and care on immigrants, whom citizens seemed to wish to exclude
By Annie Kapur2 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: "The Covenant of Water" by Abraham Verghese
“Ammachi, when I come to the end of a book and I look up, just four days have passed. But in that time I’ve lived through three generations and learned more about the world and about myself than I do during a year in school. Ahab, Queequeg, Ophelia, and other characters die on the page so that we might live better lives.”
By Annie Kapur2 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Beneath the Earth" by John Boyne
John Boyne is, as I have said before, one of this century's greatest writers. His ability to transform a situaiton from being two-dimensional to being three-dimensional is astounding. In one of my recently read books by him called Water, we encounter a woman who has moved to an island and changed her name in order to escape a past life where at first we think she is completely the victim - as the story moves along though we realise that it is much more complicated than that. In another one of his books I recently read entitled Crippen, we meet a flock of people sailing from Antwerp on a luxury ship - one of them on board is a murderer, another is in disguise and not everyone is who we think they are. As we delve into the past, the situation becomes even more complex when we meet a woman named Cora and her friend, Mrs Smythson. In this text called Beneath the Earth, we encounter something even weirder - John Boyne's short fiction. I am very much looking forward to this.
By Annie Kapur2 years ago in Geeks
