literature
Geek literature from the New York Times or the recesses of online. Our favorite stories showcase geeks.
Review of ‘We Were Restless Things’
Synopsis Last summer, Link Miller drowned on dry land in the woods, miles from the nearest body of water. His death was ruled a weird accident, but Noemi Amato knows the truth: Link was killed. He told her so himself, because he's been texting her from beyond the grave, warning her to keep away from the forest. Amberlyn, Link's sister, can't shake the feeling that Noemi is hiding something, and Jonas, Noemi's new housemate, can't get past the walls that she has constructed around herself. Because Noemi has a dangerous secret even bigger than Link's ghost... Link drowned in an impossible lake that only she can find. Now, if the three don't work together to unravel the truth about what is happening in the woods, someone else may wind up dead. Set over the course of one heartbreaking, mystifying, and ultimately hopeful year, this remarkable debut heralds the arrival of an incredible new voice in young adult literature.
By Cyn's Workshop6 years ago in Geeks
Review of 'Watermark' (The Broken Bell Series, #1)
Synopsis The oldest child in a troubled Philadelphia family, Angel Ferente struggles to care for her three sisters while pursuing her goal of attending college on a swimming scholarship. She has a problematic relationship with her mother, Pic, who uses alcohol and drugs to self-medicate and at one point lost custody for a year, and an outright hostile relationship with her stepfather, the only father figure in her life. Angel is the center of stability in the household--making sure the younger girls get to school, ensuring that holidays are observed, doing the family's laundry at her part-time job at a Laundromat, and even taking care of Pic when she is sick or depressed. It's 1993, the midst of the crack epidemic, and Angel and her sisters are witness to the everyday events of life in a community beset by poverty and drugs: dealers on the corner, shoot-outs that kill bystanders, prostitutes on the job, and more. Then Angel goes to a team party on New Year's Eve--and doesn't come home afterward. In the wake of her disappearance, her teammates, her coach's church, and her family search the city for her. The result changes their lives forever.
By Cyn's Workshop6 years ago in Geeks
Review 'The Last Wish: Introducing the Witcher' (The Witcher #0.5)
Synopsis Geralt the Witcher -- revered and hated -- holds the line against the monsters plaguing humanity in this collection of adventures in the New York Times bestselling series that inspired the Netflix show and the hit video games. Geralt is a Witcher, a man whose magic powers, enhanced by long training and a mysterious elixir, have made him a brilliant fighter and a merciless assassin. Yet he is no ordinary murderer: his targets are the multifarious monsters and vile fiends that ravage the land and attack the innocent. But not everything monstrous-looking is evil and not everything fair is good...and in every fairy tale there is a grain of truth. The Last Wish story collection is the perfect introduction to a one of a kind fantasy world.
By Cyn's Workshop6 years ago in Geeks
"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain
It has been a long, long time since I have first read Huckleberry Finn. When I was a little girl of about seven or eight, there was an illustrated version that was written for very small children, a simplification of the story that I would read. When I was about eleven, I sought out the real thing and pretty much skipped Tom Sawyer because I heard it wasn’t very good. I only read it when I was thirteen and managed to slip my fingertips into Don Quixote. I really don’t remember how that happened at all, I just remember having the book. No idea where i got it from. Huckleberry Finn managed to change my opinions of the possibilities for children’s literature. Apparently, children’s literature could be sophisticated and hyper-realistic even though it was written in a dialect and contained some questionable language uses. It was one of those books that when you first read it, it moves you in its sheer realism, its heartbreaking emotion and the way it takes you away on one of the greatest journeys the Mississippi River has ever seen.
By Annie Kapur6 years ago in Geeks
Review of ‘The Dark Tide’ (The Dark Tide #1)
Synopsis The Wicked Deep meets A Curse So Dark and Lonely in this gripping, dark fairy-tale fantasy about two girls who must choose between saving themselves, each other, or their sinking island city. Every year on St. Walpurga's Eve, Caldella's Witch Queen lures a boy back to her palace. An innocent life to be sacrificed on the full moon to keep the island city from sinking. Lina Kirk is convinced her brother is going to be taken this year. To save him, she enlists the help of Thomas Lin, the boy she secretly loves, and the only person to ever escape from the palace. But they draw the queen's attention, and Thomas is chosen as the sacrifice. Queen Eva watched her sister die to save the boy she loved. Now as queen, she won't make the same mistake. She's willing to sacrifice anyone if it means saving herself and her city. When Lina offers herself to the queen in exchange for Thomas's freedom, the two girls await the full moon together. But Lina is not at all what Eva expected, and the queen is nothing like Lina envisioned. Against their will, they find themselves falling for each other. As water floods Caldella's streets and the dark tide demands its sacrifice, they must choose who to save: themselves, each other, or the island city relying on them both.
By Cyn's Workshop6 years ago in Geeks
Review of ‘Wicked Saints’ (Something Dark and Holy #1)
Synopsis "Prepare for a snow-frosted, blood-drenched fairy tale where the monsters steal your heart and love ends up being the nightmare." - Roshani Chokshi, New York Times bestselling author of The Gilded Wolves and The Star-Touched Queen A girl who can speak to gods must save her people without destroying herself. A prince in danger must decide who to trust. A boy with a monstrous secret waits in the wings. Together, they must assassinate the king and stop the war. In a centuries-long war where beauty and brutality meet, their three paths entwine in a shadowy world of spilled blood and mysterious saints, where a forbidden romance threatens to tip the scales between dark and light. Wicked Saints is the thrilling start to Emily A. Duncan's devastatingly Gothic Something Dark and Holy trilogy. "This book destroyed me and I adored it."- Stephanie Garber, New York Times bestselling author of Caraval
By Cyn's Workshop6 years ago in Geeks
Review of ‘We Set the Dark on Fire’ (We Set the Dark on Fire #1)
Synopsis At the Medio School for Girls, distinguished young women are trained for one of two roles in their polarized society. Depending on her specialization, a graduate will one day run a husband's household or raise his children. Both paths promise a life of comfort and luxury, far from the frequent political uprisings of the lower class. Daniela Vargas is the school's top student, but her pedigree is a lie. She must keep the truth hidden or be sent back to the fringes of society. And school couldn't prepare her for the difficult choices she must make after graduation, especially when she is asked to spy for a resistance group desperately fighting to bring equality to Medio. Will Dani cling to the privilege her parents fought to win for her, or will she give up everything she's strived for in pursuit of a free Medio--and a chance at a forbidden love?
By Cyn's Workshop6 years ago in Geeks
Review of ‘The Hazel Wood’ (The Hazel Wood #1)
Synopsis Welcome to Melissa Albert's The Hazel Wood--the fiercely stunning New York Times bestseller everyone is raving about! Seventeen-year-old Alice and her mother have spent most of Alice's life on the road, always a step ahead of the uncanny bad luck biting at their heels. But when Alice's grandmother, the reclusive author of a cult-classic book of pitch-dark fairy tales, dies alone on her estate, the Hazel Wood, Alice learns how bad her luck can really get: Her mother is stolen away--by a figure who claims to come from the Hinterland, the cruel supernatural world where her grandmother's stories are set. Alice's only lead is the message her mother left behind: "Stay away from the Hazel Wood." Alice has long steered clear of her grandmother's cultish fans. But now she has no choice but to ally with classmate Ellery Finch, a Hinterland superfan who may have his own reasons for wanting to help her. To retrieve her mother, Alice must venture first to the Hazel Wood, then into the world where her grandmother's tales began--and where she might find out how her own story went so wrong. Don't miss the New York Times bestselling sequel to The Hazel Wood, The Night Country, out now!
By Cyn's Workshop6 years ago in Geeks
Review of ‘Beyond the Shadowed Earth’ (Beneath the Haunting Sea #2)
Synopsis It has always been Eda's dream to become empress, no matter the cost. Haunted by her ambition and selfishness, she's convinced that the only way to achieve her goal is to barter with the gods. But all requests come with a price and Eda bargains away the soul of her best friend in exchange for the crown. Years later, her hold on the empire begins to crumble and her best friend unexpectedly grows sick and dies. Gnawed by guilt and betrayal, Eda embarks on a harrowing journey to confront the very god who gave her the kingdom in the first place. However, she soon discovers that he's trapped at the center of an otherworldly labyrinth and that her bargain with him is more complex than she ever could have imagined. Set in the same universe as Joanna's debut, Beneath the Haunting Sea, Beyond the Shadowed Earth combines her incredible world building and lush prose with a new, villainous lead.
By Cyn's Workshop6 years ago in Geeks
Review of ‘We Unleash the Merciless Storm’ (We Set the Dark on Fire #2)
Synopsis In this nail-biting sequel to Tehlor Kay Mejia's critically acclaimed fantasy novel We Set the Dark on Fire, La Voz operative Carmen is forced to choose between the girl she loves and the success of the rebellion she's devoted her life to. Perfect for fans of The Handmaid's Tale and Anna-Marie McLemore. Being a part of the resistance group La Voz is an act of devotion and desperation. On the other side of Medio's border wall, the oppressed class fights for freedom and liberty, sacrificing what little they have to become defenders of the cause. Carmen Santos is one of La Voz's best soldiers. She spent years undercover, but now, with her identity exposed and the island on the brink of a civil war, Carmen returns to the only real home she's ever known: La Voz's headquarters. There she must reckon with her beloved leader, who is under the influence of an aggressive new recruit, and with the devastating news that her true love might be the target of an assassination plot. Will Carmen break with her community and save the girl who stole her heart--or fully embrace the ruthless rebel she was always meant to be?
By Cyn's Workshop6 years ago in Geeks
A White Writer Stands with Black Voices
Learning I opened my history textbook and saw a divided past. I saw death by colour. I saw privilege by whiteness. Not just in individuals, not just in communities but in institutions. In the holders of the power to decide what is right and what is wrong – who is right and who is wrong. In the implementers of safety and punishers of violation. In the law makers and law takers. Justice was not colour-blind. She was ruling in full colour. I wrote essays on the emancipation. I wrote essays on desegregation. I wrote essays on the success of the freedom fighters, the moves of presidents and school children. I wrote essays on what had been and I closed my textbook. I closed the pages of history and looked out the window to the streets. The history book was not closed afterall.
By Rebecca Clark6 years ago in Geeks
