literature
Geek literature from the New York Times or the recesses of online. Our favorite stories showcase geeks.
Untamed
The man with the owl tattoo is staring at me intently. I try to ignore his gaze, as black and piercing as the owl peaking out of the collar of his shirt, on his chest. I wonder absently if being tattooed on your clavicle would be especially painful. It seems like it would be. My feet shift impatiently on the slightly tacky floor, wondering why the coffee line is so long today. I try to ignore the feeling of being watched intently, but it is difficult. Somehow the fact that this is our new daily routine does not make the feeling of being watched less uncomfortable.
By T. J. Hesselgesser5 years ago in Geeks
Review of ‘The Broken Raven’
In the heart-pounding second book in the Shadow Skye trilogy, unlikely heroes Agatha and Jaime must fight for their clan’s home when a new danger comes to the Isle of Skye. After their escape from Norveg, Agatha and Jaime return with their clan to the Isle of Skye to find that their enclave is now in the hands of the treacherous people of Raasay. They find tenuous shelter with another clan, but disaster soon strikes when the terrifying shadow creatures known as sgàilean escape their magical prison and wreak havoc across the island. Now Agatha and Jaime must call on old and new allies to fight this threat. In the meantime, a ship from Norveg sails for the court of King Edmund of Ingland, where a dangerous alliance is forming, and Sigrid, a girl with an extraordinary memory, works to free herself from the clutches of a cruel king. All three protagonists must summon their particular powers to save the island from the horde of dark creatures and foil the plans of two vengeful monarchs. Kirkus Reviews called The Good Hawk “a page-turning adventure” and Agatha an “original protagonist.” This second book in the Shadow Skye trilogy continues to expand the definition of hero as its neurodiverse heroine tackles ever greater challenges in a thrilling middle act to the battle over the fate of Scotia.
By Cyn's Workshop5 years ago in Geeks
Forgotten Legacy
Once upon a time, there was humanity. Humans cherish the life that unfolded before them on the Mother; a loving world, bent on providing for her children. Yet, fate had other intentions for the ever-noble race. The humans of old cherished the land and with that, the things living among it. Spirits lived as one with all of nature; helping the Mother transition from summer to fall, from day to night. Daily cycles that celebrate the ever-changing ways of the world.
By Jude Schiller5 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Mr. Palomar" by Italo Calvino
I adored this book because there was a lot I could contemplate. As you know, I love these deep, meaningful, philosophically written over-the-top descriptions of minute details on which I can muse about for ages as opposed to quick plot scenes and/or dialogue that goes on forever. I prefer the long descriptions because of their ability to unlock a certain feeling inside me that normally, I feel increasingly difficult to access. I think it might be happiness, but I honestly don’t know. It’s almost sublime to feel it. Like I can shut my eyes after reading the description and really feel it going through my body, feeling like I’m there and I’m looking directly at this thoroughly with all the philosophical contemplation this thing or person is seeking. That is exactly what I did with “Mr. Palomar” by Italo Calvino. It was one of those special books that contained these very particular, long-winded and beautifully written descriptions that I loved, blended with a deep affection for life and observation.
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Geeks
A Past Whisper
The rapid, almost non-stop pattering of the rain hitting the old barn's roof stopped at nothing in its vicious assault. Jerit paused only for a brief moment to look out his window from his small cabin to look outside as a stray crack from a not-so-distant thunderbolt lit up the night sky as bright as morning sunrise. As the crack hit the distance, he could almost swear to hear a voice, far-off and hoarse it seemed. “Remember yourself”, it seemed to say. As if the lightning was angry at the earth and each hit from the storm would elicit a curse from the ancient element. Could lightning speak? Or was it a whisper from his mind? An internal word of protest brought almost to his lips, perhaps, for the brash audacity of the thunder and rain.
By Emilio Diaz5 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Seven Gothic Tales" by Karen Blixen
I was interested in reading Gothic short stories and so, I read things like the gothic tales of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the stories written by Karen Blixen. However, I did not always find they were to my liking. I love stories with heavy atmospheric description. It was something that I enjoyed like there was no tomorrow. Reading about the atmosphere, the weather, the interior design, the various description of tons of gothic scenery was something that relaxed my mind and yet, made me think about what was coming next in the story. I was gobsmacked when I read the stories of Karen Blixen because the atmosphere was amazingly described - it was done with such greatness and poise, such amazing brilliance and noir, such death and disaster. Even though the writing of the atmosphere was amazing, brilliant and had all the things that were expected and even revered of the gothic, the story itself had no substance. I feel like the storylines did not reflect the brilliance of the atmosphere and when I was reading it for the first time around, I definitely realised this more than when I read it around for the second time, concentrating on the way in which the atmosphere influenced the way in which the audience think about the story.
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: "The Following Story" by Cees Nooteboom
This was the last book I read of 2020 and honestly, it was well worth it. It’s a fairly short book and possibly has no more than 100 or so pages. It’s about a man who has an existential crisis when he cannot figure out what he was doing the night before as he wakes up with a woman that is not his wife or girlfriend in a place he does not remember being. In most aspects, this novel starts like a lot of novels do since the main character is seen in media res and does not know what to expect later on. However, the difference is that this character here cannot seem to remember who he is underneath. On this journey, we see him search on the outside and on the inside for who he really is. Exploring everything from details about his past to the deep philosophical questions in our own searches for the meaning to our lives. In the end, do we ever really get an answer or is it just more questions? Cees Nooteboom attempts to give you an ending that will leave you wholly satisfied but keep your mind turning about possibility. In this work, there are things that we can interpret as being the answers to identity - the question of what individualism really is poses a threat to the way in which we see ourselves as a part of a group - a family for example. This man here cannot seem to find his own sense of grouping and so, it may be that very individualism, the fact he is centred on himself, that is paradoxically holding him back.
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: "On Grief and Reason" by Joseph Brodsky
Joseph Brodsky has to be one of those writers that day by day, I am discovering more information about through his books. His writing style is often filled with descriptive anecdotes of times gone by, nostalgia in the form of an inability to let go and a beauty that only few writers of his time and age had. Through his text “On Grief and Reason” he writes essays about not only his life as a writer, but the political, social and historical meaning behind some of the views he holds very close. A quite, pensive but open-minded human being, famously Brodsky rejected his native Russia in favour of Venice, Italy and since then, it has been a constant uphill battle between what is good and what is legal. With neither country being the face of political utopia in the 20th century, Joseph Brodsky makes a point that in order to believe in something better, you have to distinguish yourself away from the current forms, finding what is structurally wrong with the system and working to solve the individual problems within your own soul - put there by your environment. This is a beautiful book of both hindsight and futurism, it covers a wide array of social topics and Brodsky’s own views are woven into the fabric of the essay, sewn across the various wants for idealism and the requirement for a government that values its people for more than their output.
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Sunday's Children" by Ingmar Bergman
Ingmar Bergman directed one of my favourite films of the last decade. When I was fourteen, I watched “The Seventh Seal” for the first time and, not really understanding it I watched it again. Over the next decade, I watched it some ten to fifteen times and it still has the same impact as it did back then. It tells us that Ingmar Bergman is actually a very good storyteller, if not sometimes a little confusing and philosophically deep. This book also displays the similar aspects of his films in which it has these long moments of internalisation, long moments of introspection and long moments of just nothing physically happening in which the characters are shifted from the outside to the inside. It is something that Ingmar Bergman is very, very good at. But not only that, we get the existential concepts of human nature becoming something physical. Like death as a person in his movie, the book makes physical these strange existential and incomprehensible ideas. I love the way it is written because Ingmar Bergman has the most strange and almost celestial understanding of these concepts. “Sunday’s Children” is an incredible homage to his youth whilst displaying the knowledge he gained in his adulthood.
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Geeks
What 'The Hunting Party' by Lucy Foley Teaches us About Friendship
The Hunting Party was one of the most anticipated thrillers of 2019. During my first Christmas as a bookseller last year, I lost count of the number of copies I sold. Like everyone else, I was also drawn to the bright, yellow cover, and the intriguing story outlined in the blurb.
By Violet Daniels 5 years ago in Geeks
