literature
Geek literature from the New York Times or the recesses of online. Our favorite stories showcase geeks.
Book Review: "Mercies" by Anne Sexton
I have not read anything by Anne Sexton for a few years now and yet, this book has become one of my quick go-to collections by her since it was released by Penguin. When I first got around to reading this book I wanted to focus on the way in which I remembered Anne Sexton - descriptive situations about the contemplation of pain and death, suffering and depression. When I read poetry, I normally read things like Lord Byron, Arthur Rimbaud, Paul Verlaine, W.H Auden, Oscar Wilde and John Keats. When I read these poets I love to feel all the emotions that are possible within the human spectrum. When Anne Sexton writes, I feel a lot of these emotions come to life again through not only her writing style and not only her descriptions but even as far as the sentence structure and the lengths of the poems. Some of the shorter ones being more immediate to the feeling and the drawn out, long and everlasting sentences becoming a part of some bigger system of life. Her poetry is some of the greatest poetry to ever be written in the English Language.
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Geeks
The Book Dragon's Lair
Hello all, Katie here. Today, I am going to talk about my mega-ultra-super dream! The "have your cake and eat it too" dream (I'll have carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, please). What would I do to make money if I could wave a magic wand and make it happen? I would want a website/ blog that was my personal nerd queendom. A collection of blogs, I guess you could say. Where I could write about books, comic books, share my writing (poetry and short stories mostly), post some of my photos (maybe even sell some prints), and share my thoughts on life. A place where I could do it all.
By Katie L. Oswald (BookDragon)5 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: "What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Fat" by Aubrey Gordon
I love to read essays by people who have actually experienced the things that they write about. It is normally very difficult to empathise with a person who is writing a book of essays about something they have never or will never experience. For example: a white woman writes a book about third and fourth wave feminism and includes an essay about the experience of woman of colour. It is very difficult and near-impossible to empathise with the white woman and even very easy to dismiss her writing since she has never had to deal with the experiences of women of colour from the inside. She is merely an observer if even an observer at all. When it comes to essays as well, there are a number of things that I like to see done: I like to see facts. I have noticed in the 21st century that most of these self-proclaimed ‘essay’ collections have zero factual bases. I like statistics. Again, there are very few statistics in these ‘essay’ collections. I also like anecdotes. Not just anecdotes that are relative to the book but ones that support the argument being made in that particular paragraph and/or essay at the time.
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Geeks
#Books4Babes Book Club~Week 1
Hey babes! Welcome back to the #Books4Babes #BookClub! 😇 BUT FIRST~~~~What is BOOKS 4 BABES? Who are the babes? A babe is anyone who wants to learn more about the world, have a good time, meet new friends, and engage with some interesting books. Babes can be anyone, anywhere. #bookbabes4lyfe. If you wonder for even a single second if you're a #bookbabe then.... you are. 👏 BABE. Gals, gays, queerdoes, straight boys, dogs wearing glasses, aliens~~~~join us as we read new books and I share my thoughts each Monday here on Vocal. If you're interested, message me at [email protected] to chime in with your thoughts! You might even be featured in a future post.
By Joe Nasta | Seattle foodie poet5 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: "House of Hollow" by Krystal Sutherland
I’ve read a lot of dark novels in my time. I have also had the pleasure of reading a lot of dark young adult (YA) fiction. From the novels of Oscar de Muriel to the books of V.E Schwab - Y.A dark fantasy is almost always a pleasure to read. Christina Henry and Danielle Paige and even the books of Gregory Maguire have always managed to put a smile on my face with their clever use of tropes from literature and fairytales from before their own time. The concepts too, suit the language use of the dark but sometimes funny and slightly modern teen-esque writing of dialogue and description. The first person narratives being pretty immersive if you ask me. This book, with its subversive concept and folklorish take upon the modernist fantasy and nightmare, is really no exception.
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Think, Write, Speak" by Vladimir Nabokov
It is finally official, I have completed reading all of the published works of the great Russian-American writer and poet, Vladimir Nabokov. My favourite book by him being “Invitation to a Beheading” - the social stigma around police corruption and political sway has been explored in depth in every novel but in that one, it has to be the very best he has ever written. The morality critique of “Lolita” is one that has haunted readers ever since it was first published and then subsequently banned in several countries. It has since created a questionable sub-culture of the gothic entitled “Lolita Culture” embraced from Japan to Lana Del Rey. It, in my opinion, has misunderstood the original content entirely. His poetry has constantly been under scrutiny by scholars with some calling it some of his weakest work. In my opinion, it is not but I do think he holds some animosity towards the writer of “Dr. Zhivago” - Boris Pasternak because of his succession with poetry, Nabokov noted his prose as sub-par. With his books “Pale Fire”, “Ada or Ardor” and even “King, Queen, Knave” Nabokov shows his more intense side, whereas, in “Pnin” (another one of my personal favourites by him) he shows a side that is allowed to have a laugh and even seeks to make fun of his own personal achievements in literature.
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Homesick for Another World" by Ottessa Moshfegh
When we think of the modern short story, something makes us think of the stories of Hemingway down to the post-modern writings of Japanese Writers concerned with the quickening difference in technology from around twenty years before. Short stories are not for every writer and can be tricky for the ones who intend on creating amounts of atmosphere that are more typical of a full length novel. Ottessa Moshfegh is one of these writers who has a brilliance for creating atmosphere without overtly and overly using adverbs. There is no stronger way to write a modernist, realist atmosphere than to be as precise and concise with your wording as possible. For example, instead of describing the romanticised difference between happiness and sadness, she gives a comparison set in the everyday which may be short, but adds to the atmosphere as it is directly representative of that realism which has made modern life so ‘dull’ and emotionless:
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: "The New Me" by Halle Butler
When I talk about modern day satire, I will often talk about writers such as Anne Tyler with her books that I used to read at university and one of her more recent ones entitled “The Redhead By the Side of the Road” which I thought was a fantastic look at modern day responsibility and how we see the difference between ‘living’ and ‘existing’. I could mention a few authors such as: Bret Easton Ellis if it were the late 20th century, Chuck Palahniuk, Matt Haig and his clever wit on the themes and metaphors of loneliness and disconnection and there are recent Man Booker Prize Winners such as Paul Beatty’s “The Sellout” (which actually won the prize whilst I was in university, I remember wholeheartedly opposing it. It was nowhere near as good as the other shortlisted novels) and obviously, the brilliance of the international Man Booker Prize winner, Han Kang’s “The Vegetarian”. Modern Day satire has been around for as long as realism has been around, since the days of Virginia Woolf and her contemporaries - the 20th and 21st centuries seem to be filled with things that are ‘fair game’ to make fun of in the darkest ways possible.
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Geeks
What Everyone Gets Wrong About Harper Lee
This is something I've been wanting to write about for a long time and recently I've seen things that have made me decide to really make an effort and write it. I was looking for stuff to watch and saw that during lockdown a show called ‘Lovecraft country’ had been popular. I saw Jordan Peele was involved and I enjoyed 'Get Out' and although I don't think I've ever read anything by HP Lovecraft, I've heard of him and his work sounds interesting. This led me to be linked an article in Vox about the show. I was soon informed, via the article, that, among other things, Lovecraft was a huge racist with absolutely no argument, something that the show explores in what sounds like a creative and interesting manner. However, the article then started talking about 'complex literary legacies' in relation to racism, specifically referring to the fact that the central character in the show is named 'Atticus,' which the article claims 'saddles him with a complicated relationship to the flawed white saviour of 'To Kill a Mockingbird.''
By Matty Long5 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Girl in Pieces" by Kathleen Glasgow
There are not many books in the world that I would call ‘boring’ necessarily. But that does not mean the book is badly written and neither does it mean that you should not read it. The term ‘boring’ simply means that it did not appeal to me and it did not conjure any emotions or thoughts afterwards within myself. Apart from that, it does not mean anything about how well-written or how badly written the book is. I will give you an example or two. The first example is James Joyce’s “Finnegan’s Wake” which is obviously, brilliantly written but, I have to say that I find it intensely boring. However, the book “Men Who Hate Women” by Laura Bates is the opposite; I found the concepts interesting and the arguments well thought out. But, I found the writing itself a bit all over the place and reductive for a nonfiction book on its particular topic of misogyny. So the term ‘boring’ does not apply to either of these situations but instead is purely my own opinion. I would actually encourage you, reader of this review, to read the book for yourself and offer your own view. I would love to read about what you think of this book.
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Geeks
