Annie Kapur
Film and Writing (M.A)
British Born Punjabi Girl.
Focus in Film: Adaptation from Literature, Horror Filmmaking Styles and Auteur Cinema
Twitter: @AnnieApprox
IG: @AnnieApproximately
Book Review: "Salt Slow" by Julia Armfield
I originally heard of this book when it was featured on the Belletrist Book Club and if I am going to be honest, because I had so much on my TBR at the time, I did not give it a read. Instead, I waited until now for some reason when I really should have read it before. Why? because it is brilliantly written, dark and twisted with a key element of psychological horror which kind of makes you uncomfortable in the best of ways. Only a few times have I ever found a novel or a set of short stories has made me truly uncomfortable and this one is definitely within that realm.
Annie KapurPublished 15 days ago in Geeks
Book Review: "The Fall of the House of Byron" by Emily Brand
Lord Byron is one of my favourite authors ever and is actually my favourite poet. I have spent years pouring over Byron's poetry ever since I was thirteen and discovered the "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage". When I was twenty years' old, I got to see a handwritten letter by Lord Byron and famously burst into tears in front of my friends. One of the most beautiful things I have witnessed to date and honestly, I would not trade it for the world. Lord Byron was a miraculous human being, capable of great achievements. He died whilst in Greece, fighting for the country's independence and living out the heroism he had always written about once again. But George Gordon, the 6th Baron Byron, better known as the poet Lord Byron - was the 6th in his lineage, so there were some that came before him. As we look into this well-researched book by Emily Brand, we get to see the extent of the family that is, in my opinion after reading the book, 'mad, bad and dangerous to know...'
Annie KapurPublished 17 days ago in Poets
Book Review: "The Splendid and the Vile" by Erik Larson
When I think of Erik Larson, I normally think about the book he wrote on the world's fair entitled "The Devil in the White City" and honestly - that stands to be one of my favourite books of the 21st century. Erik Larson is a great writer and can write history in a way that is inviting for all to read and not just the scholars who have studied the topic. One thing I noticed about his writing style is that it is not usual for nonfiction as it contains moments of very full, very overwhelming pieces of emotion. It is something that I adore about his writing because you can really feel each and every move being made over so many years ago that you might as well be standing there with them. "The Splendid and the Vile" is no exception to that. It is a brilliantly written book that illuminates war-time London in its darkness and its glory. It has a way of drawing you into the stories of not just the war, but of the characters surrounding you: Winston Churchill, the politicians etc. all these people were real people and you are drawn to each and every single one's experience of life, love, war and death.
Annie KapurPublished 20 days ago in Geeks5 Great Books I Read in March '21
It has been one whole year since lockdown started here in the UK and now, I feel like everyone has really found their special books. Whether it be the realms of fantasy, classic literature, dining with Dracula in the gothic or even in the helpful images of the comic book - there are books out there for everyone and I believe a lot of people have tried to find their own interests when it comes to literature.
Annie KapurPublished 21 days ago in Geeks
Book Review: "The Hotel Years" by Joseph Roth
Joseph Roth is probably best known for his book "The Radetzsky March" - which is a brilliant family saga about 20th Century Europe and its money woes, depression, problems and war divisions. But, this book entitled "The Hotel Years" is far more autobiographical, with Joseph Roth writing about his stays in various hotels all over Europe in between World War One and World War Two. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, Joseph Roth meets some incredibly interesting people and observes some unusual situations, it gives rise to the independence of the day and the class differentiation with the rich being overwhelming wealthy and the poor being practically forgotten. But it also paints a picture of the time in between the wars being one of a sort of hope: the hope that another war will not come and the hope for reconciliation with others. A blessing, this book is short stories, written through diary entries, composed over travels in complete over a decade. It is beauty, it is personality and it is time and space all at once.
Annie KapurPublished 23 days ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Let the Lord Sort Them" by Maurice Chammah
We can shout "abolish the death penalty" all we like here in England, we do not actually have it. In my opinion, it is completely inhumane for the government and the judicial system to take someone's life into their own hands - especially when there are still violent prejudices which run rampant through the system itself. This book by Maurice Chammah makes the perfect case against the death penalty, going from the falsely accused to the racial implications all the way down to every statistic you can think of. All of them show us that death row either is not right, or is being used in the entirely wrong way.
Annie KapurPublished 24 days ago in Criminal
Book Review: "Bogart" by A.M Sperber and Eric Lax
The first thing that this book points out in its opening is that the two writers have never met each other in person. However, the seek to write a biography about one of the greatest figures of 20th Century Cinema - Humphrey Bogart. It is going to be an interesting experience to say the least because after reading that they had never met, I was initially holding some cynicism about the book being any good. But it not only subverted my expectations, but it wholeheartedly made me disagree with my initial opinion. I personally adore Humphrey Bogart's movies and when reading something about him, I want it to be incredibly informative. This was exactly that. From his parents to his upbringing, from his early failures to his great successes and even afterwards up to his death - this book covers everything that could possibly be researched about Humphrey Bogart's interesting and often turbulent life.
Annie KapurPublished 25 days ago in GeeksHow is Modern Society Damaging Our Mental Health?
Modern Society, the society we live in, is often deemed to be the one that is the best, the most advanced and the most efficient. But did not every single society throughout history think that of itself? Exactly who is our society 'efficient' and 'advanced' for and why are we, average people, not really seeing the benefits?
Annie KapurPublished 26 days ago in Psyche
