literature
Geek literature from the New York Times or the recesses of online. Our favorite stories showcase geeks.
The Scalpel and The Sword
As mentioned in a previous post I am now reviewing novels from British authors writing for Olympia Publishers. The next review is a novel entitled 'The Scalpel and The Sword' written by R. John Thorpe. 'The Scalpel and The Sword' is a novel about a character by the name of John and his growing up and off to school and the military and how his life always seemed to revolve around home and England. John has many decisions to make that will affect his living through all his days and the experiences he has lived and will be living through. This is a novel that is like a world tour from England to Africa to Asia and back to England. The time period is during the periods of many wars of the English empire of the 17th century.
By Mark Graham5 years ago in Geeks
"The Brothers" by Masha Gessen
I read this book when I was about twenty years old, so around a year after the book was actually released and honestly, this book scared the living daylights out of me. I don’t think I slept well for a long time after reading it and yet, when it was finished, I read it over and over - trying to make myself believe that it wasn’t real. But the only problem is that all of it was real. It all actually happened and not a single detail had been missed out. This is a book that is basically our generation’s answer to Truman Capote’s “In Cold Blood” and like Capote’s novel it takes two people from a very human background and sticks them in a situation that endangers them, turns them inside out and indoctrinates them. I have read this book so many times and I think that it should be required reading in high schools all over the world. It is one of those books that teaches you about how people can just turn bad because of their struggles, can commit crimes because of their problems and can hurt others purely out of the want to cause chaos and dread in every single person around them. This book is all about the two brothers that committed the horrifying Boston Marathon Bombings in April, 2013. I remember seeing it on the news and really, I don’t think I had ever seen such a horrific sight on TV since the Twin Towers came down. To think that the living brother is only a year or so older than me makes me want to be sick. He is and will always be an absolutely terrible human being.
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Geeks
"Billy Budd, Sailor" by Herman Melville
I first read this book when I was in school and it was shortly after I read Moby-Dick by the same author. The real reason that I initially picked up this shorter work by Herman Melville was initially because I recognised the author’s name and in fact, I thought stupidly that they were a part of some series. Even though I was disappointed when they weren’t a part of some series, I read it anyway and I’m going to be perfectly honest that the first time I read it, I didn’t get it. So I read it again because I thought I’d missed something - and then it hit me. This book is a religious allegory of the treatment of Jesus by the Romans. The way in which people like Clagart treat Billy Budd is a very similar situation but it is when Billy Budd reacts that he is punished and it is for this punishment that everyone else suffers greatly. I only realised later that there were many literary criticisms published on this book and honestly, they were all so interesting because I had such an extensive memory of reading and experiencing the book. I could really get lost in those articles that examined the instances of violence and punishment in so much grand detail. I have been amazed with every piece of literary criticism I have found on this book so far and hopefully, I will find more soon.
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Geeks
Freedom in the Darkness
“Somewhere there are free People: they are laughing; they are happy; they are blonde and the dark haired man is hoping at least his children will be.” In Alice Walker’s poem All the Fast Car Ads Look Crazy Now, it seems this man is unhappy due to his appearance. However, at the core of this stanza is an underlying theme: freedom lies within. While she has written about many topics over the years, this theme seems to be central to all of Walker’s works. In fact, the same theme is found in The Color Purple, her most acclaimed novel.
By Rachelle Scott5 years ago in Geeks
"Absalom, Absalom!" by William Faulkner
Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner is probably one of my favourite novels of all time, and if you remember my post on my top five favourite novels ever you would’ve noticed that Faulkner’s epic drama is at number five. Clearly one of the greatest novels ever written, Faulkner’s story tells the tale of a man called Thomas Sutpen who, with too much greed and power gathers his machiavellian self to commit to a life of the American Dream in the most Southern Gothic way ever imagined. But, as his life comes down crumbling around him like the Gardens of Babylon, this Biblical-Scaled tragedy is far darker than it first seems. I remember first reading this when I was sixteen years’ old and I immediately fell in love with Faulkner’s writing style. It was the first Faulkner I read and straight afterwards, I began “Light in August” and “As I Lay Dying” - I finished his entire bibliography only recently because for some reason I missed “Intruder in the Dust” for about six years until three months ago. But, in my re-reads of Absalom, Absalom!, I can honestly say that I have discovered far more about the Southern Gothic than I ever got from any other work of literature ever.
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Geeks
"A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini
I wouldn’t be so surprised, a lot of Asian Girls have this as one of their favourite books ever because for the first time, we get a raw insight into what life is like for the women we are in the war. I read it for the first time maybe a year or so after it was released. It was released in 2007 and I read it in 2009 - so there we go. I loved this book from the very first time I read it. I re-read the book in 2012 because we had a read of it in school and then, I re-read it again in 2015 because I just felt like it and I was in the middle of university needing some respite. It’s one of those books that no matter how many times you read it - it will never fail to move you. It moves you emotionally and psychologically to a different place and the way in which it tells this story of women during a horrid war is almost too heartbreaking to read. The ending brings it all together and makes it half worth while and also leaves us with heartache for our characters. It’s a saga and a journey and definitely Khaled Hosseini’s greatest novel.
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Geeks
"The Talented Mr. Ripley" by Patricia Highsmith
When I was about twelve or thirteen, I found this book in the school library and obviously, due to the fact that it was bright red and the book next to it was bright greenish-blue (“Strangers on a Train”) I picked them both up and took them home with me. Both of them had an equally profound impact on the way I think about literature but I seem to remember more of my experience reading “The Talented Mr. Ripley”. I was not a huge fan of the film (and I didn’t get around to watching it until I was about fifteen) but the book was something else. When I read this book I felt all of this tension wash over me and I think this book is possibly the reason for many of my trust issues when it comes to meeting new people. All in all, in every re-read of this book I can honestly say that there is a tiny bit of me that feels some sympathy for Tom Ripley, but another bit of me that wants to just simply punch him. When you read it, you figure out how easy it is to become someone else, and yet how difficult it is to keep up the ruse. It’s one of those machiavellian novels where you cannot help but think about the fact that there may be someone out there, doing this exact same thing right now and nobody will ever know.
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Geeks
Review of 'One True King'
Synopsis In this sixth and final installment in Soman Chainani's New York Times bestselling epic fantasy fairy tale series, the School for Good and Evil, Camelot's crown--and the fate of the Endless Woods--are up for grabs. Beyond Good and Evil. Beyond Ever Afters. The tale of Sophie and Agatha comes to a dramatic conclusion. Prepare yourself for the End of Ends. The first test was passed. Excalibur pulled from the stone. A new king named. But two claim the crown. The sword returns to the stone, for only one is the true king. Who? The future I have seen has many possibilities... So by my will, none shall be crowned until the Tournament is complete. The Tournament of Kings. Three trials. Three answers to find. A race to the finish. My last coronation test. Excalibur will crown the winner and take the loser's head. The first test is coming. Prepare . . . --King Arthur
By Cyn's Workshop5 years ago in Geeks
"The Beast Within" by Emile Zola
This book was one of my favourite books when I was a teen purely because I thought it was a raucous and raging event of pure irony. It really made me fall in love with Emile Zola’s works, even more than “Therese Raquin” and that’s saying something. It’s a deliciously dark book that you cannot help but love. It’s psychological, at moments it can be terrifying and in some parts it can even make you emotional. I think that this is possibly Zola’s greatest effort at the novel and has a brilliant sense of futurism to it that many fail to recognise. It is Zola’s magnum opus and I’ve read it quite a few times since. It’s a brilliant novel in which you learn a new thing about the psychological aspect every time you revisit it.
By Annie Kapur6 years ago in Geeks
Review of ‘A Touch of Gold’ (A Touch of Gold #1)
Synopsis Gold is wealth. Wealth is power. Power is a curse. This captivating fantasy adventure--the untold story of the daughter King Midas turned to gold--will dazzle you with the kind of action, adventure, twists, turns, and a bit of romance to make any fan of magic and mythology greedy for more. After King Midas's gift--or curse--almost killed his daughter, he relinquished The Touch forever. Ten years later, Princess Kora still bears the consequences of her father's wish: her skin shines golden, rumors follow her everywhere she goes, and she harbors secret powers that are getting harder to hide. Kora spends her days concealed behind gloves and veils. It isn't until a charming duke arrives that Kora believes she could indeed be loved. But their courtship is disrupted when a thief steals treasures her father needs to survive. Thanks to Kora's unique ability to sense gold, she sails off on her quest to find the missing items. Magic, mythology, fantasy, and pirate adventures charge through every page as Kora learns that not everything is what it seems--not her companions, not the thieves, and not even Kora herself.
By Cyn's Workshop6 years ago in Geeks
