literature
Geek literature from the New York Times or the recesses of online. Our favorite stories showcase geeks.
Book Review: "Ghostland" by Edward Parnell
October is the time for ghost stories and Halloween tales and I always get into the spirit by trying to read something that is a bit different once in a while. Not just the MR James ghost stories or the Edgar Allan Poe, Shirley Jackson or Stephen King. I like to see new stuff that challenges what we understand to be horror fiction and ghost stories. Last year, I read a book called “The Monster Show” which is a book about Hollywood Monsters and the way in which Horror Film was made from the early ages of Hollywood all the way down to the 90s and onwards. The year before that, I really enjoyed the workings of the movie tie-in book “The Wicker Man” by Anthony Shaffer and Robin Hardy. So we can definitely tell that during the October season of spooks and ghosts, I like to delve deeply into different ideas concerning the genre, looking at different subgenres such as: speculative fiction, sci-fi horror and of course my favourite, folk horror. When it comes to Edward Parnell’s “Ghostland”, I was very excited to see this newer, more critical and more biographical take on the genre rather than simply focusing on the essence of horror fiction. It was a wildly interesting read filled with beautiful passages and an amazing plot line.
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Geeks
5 Beautiful Passages from Books
Books are filled with beauty. From short story anthologies and poetry anthologies all the way through the longest novels ever written. There is normally something that we can find that is beautiful to us. Maybe it is a character, or a theme, or something we relate to. But in this article, I want to show you how beautiful language can be and how beautifully novels can be written.
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Geeks
How Tolstoy Battled His Depression
As Leo Tolstoy turned 50, he started experiencing an existential crisis and sank into a state of depression and melancholy. Despite being one of the wealthiest and most admired men in Russia, deep inside, he felt miserable. By this time, Tolstoy had already established his literary abilities and wrote two masterpieces War and Peace (1865–68) and Anna Karenina (1874–76). But he rejected his literary success and labeled his latter novel as "an abomination that no longer exists for me."
By Kamna Kirti5 years ago in Geeks
Review of '14 Ways to Die'
ONE KILLER. THIRTEEN VICTIMS. A MILLION VIEWS. A page-turning thriller for the social media age, perfect for fans of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder and One of Us Is Lying. A decade ago, Jess lost her mother to the Magpie Man, an infamous serial killer who is still at large and planning to kill again. Now, She's going to use her new platform as the star of a YouTube reality series to catch him. That is, if he doesn't catch her first. Jess's online show means that everyone is talking about her mother's murder case. But fame comes with its downsides. The whole world is watching her every move. And it's hard to know who she can trust. Could the Magpie Man be lurking closer to her than she thought? Is he watching her right now?
By Cyn's Workshop5 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Most Secret" by Nevil Shute
I have read many books by Nevil Shute in my time and honestly, I can say that he is possibly in my top twenty favourite writers at the moment, alongside his more post-modern counterpart, Ian McEwan. Nevil Shute is probably best known for his 1950 novel “A Town Like Alice” and his 1957 novel “On the Beach”. But there are more of his novels that are worth reading than just those. I remember when I read his early 1939 novel “What Happened to the Corbetts?” And I was absolutely taken. I proceeded to read books like “Landfall” and “Beyond the Black Stump”, “The Far Country” and one of my favourites, “Requiem for a Wren”. The last Nevil Shute book I read before this one was “Trustee from the Toolroom” and though that too, was just as good - I think it is safe to say that this next one I will be talking about is definitely in my top three Nevil Shute books of all time. Nevil Shute may not just be known for his ability to write so emotionally about the war times, but he is also known for making his novels’ characters especially heartbreaking and upsetting from time to time. But wherever there is heartbreak there is also hope afterwards, and that is something I love about these books.
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Tenderness" by Alison MacLeod
I have read some pretty good books about the impact other pieces of literature have on the world and some of these include the legendary “Reading Lolita in Tehran” by Azir Nafisi all the way down to Peter Ackroyd’s biography of William Shakespeare. The one thing I have always been surprised about is the constant way in which the authors reinvent the purpose of the writer’s life and works by establishing it in a different context. For example: the banned book “Lolita” has one context, but attempting to read it in Tehran has a whole different meaning altogether. Alison MacLeod attempts to do the same for the latter works of D.H Lawrence in her seminal work: “Tenderness”. A book about the exile of an author, she attempts to piece together the character of D.H Lawrence on his way out of life whilst also showing the impact his magnum opus and downfall: “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” had on the growing world. Especially looking at different times and places, this book is basically a testament not just to Lawrence’s own work but to the very nature of banned books themselves, showing that when literature becomes contraband, it just becomes more widely read amongst the public who wonder exactly what it could possibly do to us. When it came to “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” - well let’s just say there are still places where it is not entirely acceptable to be seen reading it, probably not banned but not socially accepted.
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Geeks
Books Recommended by Joe Rogan
Joe Rogan is a popular American actor, comedian, and podcast host. He hosted a show entitled The Man Show with his friend Jimmy Kimmel. Also, they host a show together called 'Joe Rogan Experience' where he interviews famous personalities from around the world. In 2005, he became the host of Fear Factor-a reality TV show about the contestants who will perform stunts to avoid getting eliminated from the competition.
By Borba de Souza5 years ago in Geeks
NaNoWriMo is in the air!
We are just a couple weeks away from what many amateur writers call National Novel Writing Month! This is also affectionately dubbed, NaNoWriMo, and the people who choose to participate (choose! remember that!) are often called WriMos. What is NaNoWriMo, you might ask? It is only the greatest month of the year! Whether you've never written a single word of fiction in your life or you're a twenty-year writing pro, NaNoWriMo in November has something for you!
By Hannah Marie. 5 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: "The Children Act" by Ian McEwan
I have spent a lot of my time this year reading books by different authors that I personally never would have read in my teen years. For example: when I was in my mid-teens, I read Ian McEwan’s book “Atonement”. I am not going to lie to you when I say that “Atonement” was one of the most boring books I had ever read. It was mainly because to me, it just did not feel realistic. I stuck it in the pile with other books I could not find any realism in though they claimed to depict realism - books such as: “The Unbearable Lightness of Being”. However, this year I have read so many books by Ian McEwan that eighteen year old me would be mad as hell if she saw this. I did try to read “Atonement” again but I just think that I personally don’t like that book. But books such as “The Cement Garden” and “On Chesil Beach” have been great reads to get stuck into. Often dark and tragic with an underlying extended metaphor of some kind, I really grew to appreciate the writing of Ian McEwan and his attempts to make a very literary kind of fiction where the main factors are the emotions that we cannot articulate for they are so complex.
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Geeks
