literature
Geek literature from the New York Times or the recesses of online. Our favorite stories showcase geeks.
Book Review: "The Demon" by Hubert Selby Jr.
The transgressive genre is basically dominated by a few great modern authors: Bret Easton Ellis (whom I was obsessed with in my teen years to the point that I carried a copy of Less Than Zero to school every single day and even based some of my coursework on it), Hunter S. Thompson, Chuck Palahniuk and Hubert Selby Jr. I think that when it comes to Hubert Selby Jr. I haven't really read enough of him to make a very informed opinion about his writing style. I've only yet read his books Last Exit to Brooklyn and Requiem for a Dream (and obviously The Demon as of now). I feel like that whatever I say about the book here needs to be taken with a pinch of salt, especially if anything I say is negative towards the book. So here we go - The Demon by Hubert Selby Jr.
By Annie Kapur4 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: "A Jest of God" by Margaret Laurence
Romantic main plots are never a good idea for a novel because romance should always act as a subplot at most - as a main plot it ends up being shallow and the amount you can do with it is incredibly limited. Romantic subplots can really enhance a storyline such as in novels like In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and of course, the book we are looking at right now: A Jest of God by Margaret Laurence. My edition has an afterword by he author of The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood who explains why this novel is pretty perfect when it looks at the unfulfilled experience of womanhood and to be perfectly honest, this novel reminded me somewhat of the book The Post-Office Girl by Stefan Zweig. Needless to say, I really enjoyed it.
By Annie Kapur4 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Darling" by Mercedes M. Yardley
Thank you to NetGalley for my copy of this book. If I have said it once, I have said it a million times - if you want to create a good horror novel with some serious fright, you have to have a simple storyline with very few characters. Why? This allows for the expansion of atmosphere, a better control of pace and a more intense amount of fright along with a nice heavy-hitting denouement due to the rush of the climax. Apart from that, you will need good character development and fleshed-out themes and symbols, these are secondary in order to help the reader make more sense of the story. What you don't want under any circumstance ever is thousands of useless characters scattering around the story making it more complicated than it has to be. Why? The reader can't get lost in the terror and nightmare of the narrative. The more you keep introducing characters and places, the less chance you have of letting your reader breathe in the atmosphere and key scenes. Unfortunately, this is exactly what happened with this book: Darling by Mercedes M. Yardley.
By Annie Kapur4 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: "A Malgudi Omnibus" by R.K Narayan
It is difficult for me to judge this writer as I do not think I have read enough by him. Prior to this, I have only read his short story collection entitled Under the Banyan Tree and Other Stories. Otherwise, I think his writing, though somewhat simplistic and not as flowery as I normally like, is somewhat readable. When it comes to Indian Literature though, there are writers who I do prefer, these include but are not limited to: Arundhati Roy, Kiran Desai, Mulk Raj Anand, Rohinton Mistry and Kunwar Narain (if you haven't read The Play of Dolls, you must do so soon). I find RK Narayan's efforts in the Malgudi Omnibus to be a good attempt at drama, but suited to a time when some behaviours was more socially accepted than our own.
By Annie Kapur4 years ago in Geeks
What to Know About the Rise in Book Bans
In the States, we are experiencing a surge in book-banning. According to The American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, over 330 distinct book challenges were reported to them between September 1 and November 30, 2021. For reference, there were only 377 challenges in the entire year of 2019.
By Kay Barrett4 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: "The Ladies of Lyndon" by Margaret Kennedy
Margaret Kennedy is one of those authors I have recently discovered and the first book I read by her was The Constant Nymph. I really enjoyed that book, containing tragedy and farce, morals, ethics and more, these books seem to be an emotional argument between what is more important - is it honour and reputation or fulfilment? When reading The Constant Nymph, I found that Margaret Kennedy's writing was filled with introspection and philosophical commentary and so, when reading The Ladies of Lyndon - I sought the same thing and got exactly what I wanted. Great amounts of introspection, great amounts of philosophical contemplation and great amounts of argument between reputation and fulfilment.
By Annie Kapur4 years ago in Geeks
A Wicked Reiew by Victoria Ward: The Novel and Musical
** Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire . Review written by Victoria Ward ** If you are under 18, I would advise you not to read the book until you are over 18! The actions in this book are not meant for children! The musical is a lot cleaner and more entertaining.
By Victoria Ward4 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Black Mamba" by William Friend
I normally don't choose a book that has either grief and loss as its underlying extended metaphor because I think it can come off as cliché, especially when the book starts off with that very same sense of loss. Now, we move on to the extended metaphor of loss and grief underlying the book Black Mamba by William Friend - which is nothing like a cliché at all. Instead, it sends you kicking and screaming into the centrepoint of fear, establishing the sense of loss and grief in parts of the story - littered around as you go. This, I have to say, was very clever and really quite intense. The reader is pulled around from childhood fear to adulthood grief, from childhood loss to adulthood trauma. It really is quite something.
By Annie Kapur4 years ago in Geeks
Ashadh Ka Ek Din
Ashadh Ka Ek Din (Hindi: आषाढ़ का एक दिन, One Day in Ashadh) is a Hindi play by Mohan Rakesh that debuted in 1958[1] and is considered the first Modern Hindi play.[2] The play received a Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for best play in 1959 and has been staged by several prominent directors to critical acclaim.[1] A feature film based on the play was directed by Mani Kaul and released in 1971,[3] and went on to win Filmfare Critics Award for Best Movie for the year.[4]
By WILLIAM DIAGO RODRIGUES4 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: "The Bell" by Iris Murdoch
Iris Murdoch is an author who is either a big hit or a huge miss for me. Some of her books are incredible with storylines woven perfectly together and other books by her are also like this but fail to capture my imagination. Ultimately, my favourite Iris Murdoch book has to be any one of the following: The Severed Head, The Sea, the Sea or The Book and the Brotherhood. I have to admit though, The Bell, is definitely going to be up there on the ones that definitely did capture my entire imagination. Starting off as a sad story, it moves into a comedic farce and then ends in absolute horror and tragedy of the human condition.
By Annie Kapur4 years ago in Geeks
Review: The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green
This is a review of The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green. Please note, there are spoilers below! First thoughts I absolutely adore John Green and his previous books (especially Turtles All the Way Down), so I expected to like this book. Even with that expectation, it blew me away.
By Jaci Schreckengost4 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Virginia Woolf" by Hermione Lee
I have always been a great fan of biographies about authors. I have read many biographies on my favourite authors such as: James Baldwin, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Boris Pasternak, Leo Tolstoy, Dante Alighieri, Charlotte Bronte, Mary Shelley and many, many more. One thing I like about author biographies as opposed to autobiographies is that the biography is normally done by someone who is absolutely in love with the author's works and so, you get these impassioned almost love-letter like passages to some of the author's seminal prose and poetry. Their lives may not be romanticised, but the very words used to describe the works they wrote make you want to read them all over again. That is especially true for Hermione Lee's book on Virginia Woolf.
By Annie Kapur4 years ago in Geeks
