literature
Geek literature from the New York Times or the recesses of online. Our favorite stories showcase geeks.
Book Review: Luckiest Girl Alive
“Moving on doesn’t mean you don’t talk about it. Or hurt about it. It’s always going to hurt.” Rating: 9/10 Synopsis: Ani FaNelli has reinvented herself from a high school social outcast into a modern day socialite worthy of everyone’s envy. With a handsome & wealthy fiance, an upscale apartment in New York City, and the wedding of her dreams right around the corner, Ani’s life is truly perfect. Isn’t it? She used to think so, she used to think this is what she wanted. Now as she realizes she can never truly escape her past, she begins to have doubts about the life she fought so hard to create for herself.
By Veronica Traggiai5 years ago in Geeks
After the Stars Appeared: A Lizard Queen Tale by H.L. Cherryholmes
Tagline: What if you knew the world surrounding you wasn’t the one you started out in? After the Stars Appeared: A Lizard Queen Tale by H.L. Cherryholmes is today's book spotlight. It is an adventure of reality and fantasy.
By Spirit Guide Communication through the Art of Divination5 years ago in Geeks
Caught: Sea Temptress Series Book One by Kimberley Cale
Tagline: She was just supposed to be a myth. He was just supposed to be a stupid pirate. Who knew? Caught : Sea Temptress Series Book One by Kimberley Cale is the book spotlight of the day.
By Spirit Guide Communication through the Art of Divination5 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: “Shuggie Bain” by Douglas Stuart
“Shuggie Bain” by Douglas Stuart is a book about the kind of life we rarely read about in literature. It’s about the lives of those trying desperately to make ends meet in the bustling life of inner-city Glasgow. Set between the years of the early 1980s and the early 1990s, this book gives us a reason to read it. It doesn’t invite us to experience the life that Shuggie is living, but instead allows us to immerse ourselves in it, feeling what he is feeling and going where he is going. We are given an apt look at his life, starting with the man we meet working at the supermarket and then, moving back over to his childhood and more importantly, his relationship with his mother. This book is a hand in teaching us that we don’t know the lives of others upon first glance. They could be anyone, serving you in the supermarket, making your coffee at the cafe or even serving you at the checkout - we have no right to judge others without truly walking in their shoes and feeling what they are feeling. This book is a brilliantly polished example of that in practice.
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Geeks
“The Wise Woman” by Philippa Gregory
I first read this book when I was fifteen years’ old and in school. I couldn’t really tell anyone that I was a Philippa Gregory fan because of two things: the first thing is that I didn’t really go to school with other children that liked to read - they were more into hair, nails etc. and the second reason is that I wasn’t very popular anyway so I wouldn’t have had anyone to tell anyway. “The Wise Woman” wasn’t the first Philippa Gregory book I read but it was definitely one of my favourites because there was a big theme of vengeance and I love it when characters take revenge on people who were not very nice to them.
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Geeks
An Anti-Racist Reading List: Highly Rated Non-fiction Books by Black Authors
Our present moment serves not only as a call to action, but a chance to teach ourselves and our society about the underlying issues that led to the unnecessary murder of George Floyd. The booklist below includes a combination of titles that educate about racism, antiracism, white fragility, and more. In that vein, we've gathered antiracist nonfiction books, memoirs, and histories on the subject of race, written by black authors. While by no means a comprehensive list, these books are a decent place to begin.
By The Bookish Elf5 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: “Throw Me to the Wolves” by Patrick McGuinness
This thriller novel may be original, yes, but there are many improvements if we want to move to the ‘groundbreaking’ realm. There are a number of improvements this novel can make, but in my opinion I have to say that the book itself is mostly well written. It does the job of making a novel entertaining to read - but when we come to deeper thought things can get a bit sticky. For example: the first few chapters of the novel up to the first encounter with the young “Danny and Ander” are incredible in terms of deep philosophy to do with estuaries and memories, everything from existential crises of great solitude to wanting to be right there, jumping to your death. When it comes to the first encounter of Danny and Ander however, I feel like the book actually falls a bit flat. As if the author is no longer using those mediums of lengthy description and internalised metaphors. These great wordings and speeches of introspection that were felt before seem to vanish. I understand that Ander is supposed to be younger and therefore, not really into thinking about such things, but seriously - it is like the writing style changes entirely. From the chapters on Gary and the investigation to the chapters on Danny and Ander - I think there is a stark difference in writing which makes the reader more and more distant from Danny and Ander and makes us less likely to care until the unthinkable actually happens.
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: “Bland Fanatics” by Pankaj Mishra
Pankaj Mishra’s book “Bland Fanatics” is basically our answer to Edward Said’s “Orientalism” - well, at least the first few essays are. Often presented as overtly pretentiously worded articles, Mishra actually fails on the key points of his argument, often skirting around the issue and addressing things that are possibly less important. However, there are things that I agree with when he does make a point and certainly, there are important arguments to be had here - I am just wondering whether Mishra has his own priorities, considering his political sway, a little bit mixed up for the time being. Sentences and paragraphs inside Mishra’s essays are often overly word-heavy and require to be broken down to understand them, which is something else I take issue with. Mixed within political jargon and inaccessible writing, Mishra has managed to create a barrier between himself and the common reader who possibly did not go to university or has not got the education required to understand the ins and outs of politics in the modern world. The real question here is: does Mishra fail to actually enforce his point as he commits himself to word-heavy sentences and paragraphs? Is this entire book just one big irony?
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Geeks
"The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe
I first read this story when I was a younger child because I used to have some tapes of the stories of Edgar Allan Poe read by the likes of Vincent Price and Christopher Lee (yes, I was a fairly odd child). Oh, and when I say ‘child’, I mean about nine years’ old, or roundabout that age. I used to play these tapes on my radio and cassette player and well, they scared the absolute crap out of me. After a while, as I grew up, I got these ‘tapes’ on a digital file and managed to put them on an MP3 player that plugged into my desktop computer. I no longer had to wind my cassette tapes with a pencil just to listen to scary accents reading my favourite gothic stories. The one story that always terrified me though was “The Cask of Amontillado” - it wasn’t “The Raven” or “The Pit and the Pendulum” and no, it wasn’t “Tell Tale Heart” or “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” - it was always “The Cask of Amontillado”.
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Geeks
