literature
Geek literature from the New York Times or the recesses of online. Our favorite stories showcase geeks.
Rebel Without a Book
Prohibited books have always been my # 1 topic. Some have been banned because of current circumstances, for example, Alice's ban on Wonderland in China's Hunan region (about 1931) "to show human beings with limited human potential with the same power as humans." Censor General Ho Chien acknowledged, at the time, that it would teach young people to see creatures and people at the same level, with "negative" consequences. Others, like Anne Frank's Diary of the Daily Girl, have been banned for hostile reasons (banned in Lebanon to turn Jewish people into "excellent light").
By George Joe5 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Empire of the Vampire" by Jay Kristoff
My favourite book series of all time has to be Anne Rice’s “Vampire Chronicles”. As an early teen, I read “Interview with the Vampire” and I was hooked on to each one until the last one came out. Gothic and beautifully written, they really immerse you in the time period that housed some of the most wonderful vampires ever to grace the page. Whether it be the Romantic era of Louis and Lestat or the more Medieval and Renaissance era of Armand. The vampires were each incredible products of romance, gothic violence, fire and fury. In Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” - vampires are vile and horrid creatures of the night in which they feed on prey and again, the book is written with such elegance and grace that you feel conflicted about whether you really do hate them or not. Stephen King’s “Salem’s Lot” is abhorrently terrifying with its Nosferatu looking vampires that have zero mercy whatsoever and are there only to scare the hell out of you. Again, the book is brilliantly written with each of our inclusions honing the atmosphere carefully, curating every step that the vampire makes and giving a narrative that has pretty much been unrivalled in their field. I really wish I could say the same for this disappointment of a book. “Empire of the Vampire” was a book that someone recommended to me online and only after we had both finished it, I thought that it was a complete waste of time. Here is why…
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: "First Person Singular" by Haruki Murakami
In my time on this planet, I have read a hell of a lot of Haruki Murakami from his older books all the way down to keeping up with his newer books that have since been released. The first Murakami novel I ever read was “Kafka on the Shore” when I was sixteen. After that, I read the book that I consider to be my favourite Murakami novel: “After Dark” (don’t worry, I know a lot of people don’t like that one but I thought it was so cool, I even based a piece of coursework on it that I did when I was eighteen). I have since read “1Q84” and “Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World”. I read “Colourless Tskuru Tazaki” when it was first released and after that, I learnt that “Norwegian Wood” had existed for years and years without my knowledge. “Wind Up Bird Chronicle” and “Sptunik Sweetheart” were also among my favourites but I think that my favourite short story collection by him so far has been “The Elephant Vanishes”. I remember feeling almost empty after finishing that book, as if it had some sort of profound effect on me. The final novel before this one that I read was “Killing Commendatore” - which again, I bought on the day it was released.
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Geeks
Carol Dweck's Mindset
In recent years, I have always been proud of the fact that I am trying out different ways to improve myself. I can tick off almost all the things that self-help gurus preach about and it had made such a huge impact on my life. I am hooked on that learning path. It has made me believe that our talents are not given away by birth and we can cultivate whatever skills we want to if we put our mind to it. This is the growth mindset as per Dr Dweck and a fixed mindset is believing that our talents are innate and cannot be improved beyond a point.
By chembarathi5 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Pet Sematary" by Stephen King
I have read so much Stephen King in my time. I think the very first Stephen King novel I read was when I was about thirteen and it was “Carrie”. After that, I read books like “Christine” and the terrifyingly good “Salem’s Lot”. Then came books like “From a Buick 8” and “Gerald’s Game”. I have, of course enjoyed books such as “It” and “The Green Mile” (after obviously, watching the movies and before you ask, the movie I watched to “It” was the Tim Curry version). We have books such as “Misery” (which is one of my favourites) and “The Shining” (which I remember thoroughly frightening me) - I read “Under the Dome” a year or so after it came out and then “Cujo” in the following summer. But, unfortunately, after all this and so much more - I never actually got around to finishing “Pet Sematary”. I had read it in parts, but I realised I had never actually completed the book. This amazed me and I proceeded to get a copy and read it immediately. I now understand why, at only fifteen, I never actually ended up completing the book at all. Not only did it upset me, but it seriously scares the life out of you.
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Geeks
The Guide for the Novice Grant Writer Revised Ebook
Tired of "theory" of grants and not practicality? I am Brittnei C. Leon and I hear you. I am the author of three comprehensive ebooks, The Guide for the Novice Grant Writer, The Guide for the Novice Grant Writer Revised and From Grant Writer to Business Owner that help explains the grant process. I can't wait to share it with you, but let me introduce myself.
By Brittnei C. Leon5 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: "The Bird Eater" by Ania Ahlborn
After you have read as many horror novels and watched as many horror films as I have, there are definitely going to be things that you are looking for when it comes to a worthy horror novel or film. There are things I want to experience: I am waiting to be thoroughly disgusted, I am waiting to be frightened and I am also waiting for something new and exciting to happen in the storyline where I did not think it was going to take a turn in that direction. However, sometimes, when it comes to horror novels, they can be satisfying with there endings and also be disappointing. Satisfying endings have a ton of potential to become something more than just a ‘happy ending’ and to be perfectly honest, the most satisfying endings in horror are the ones that contain a good and equal mixture between something we expect and something we do not expect.
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: "The Sallow Scourge" by E. Stuart Marlowe
I would like to thank 'Voracious Readers Only' for my review copy of this book When writing a fiction novel, the one thing you must do is transport the reader away from themselves. When I get transported to another world the one thing I hate is lots and lots of ‘here is this…’ and ‘here is that…’ - “Lord of the Rings”, for example does not do that. All of the exposition is carefully woven into the fabric of the story. “Game of Thrones” weaves everything into everything else, the books are written beautifully. “The Night Circus” - a more modern fantasy text, also weaves its exposition into the story, not expecting you to take everything in during one breath. A good story always tries hard to keep you reading in order to learn about the rules, customs and ways of this faraway land you have travelled to.
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Geeks
Cracking the Spine
I had an epiphany the other day, as I studied my small library of masterpieces, each book sitting neatly in a row on my bookshelf; upright, smart and proud (much like a young Scout achieving another worthless badge in ‘knot-tying’, as he beams brightly towards his parent’s who stand in the crowd reflecting back at him).
By Lloyd Blunden5 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Out" by Natsuo Kirino
The world of the Japanese mundane is something that is being explored more and more in the post-modern fiction that is now coming out of there. Alongside this mundane, there will always be another part of the story where the mundane is turned around and the people inhabiting the mundane are forced to come to terms with the fact that their lives are not exactly that ordinary after all. The authors of these works go all the way back to Yukio Mishima and then, move into our own day in which Yoko Ogawa inhabits the literary landscape of Japan. One of the books that I have read regarding the mundane by an author I have not heard of before this is “Out” by Natsuo Kirino. Told in frightening precision, there are a number of incidents and things that make the characters seem like they are a part of a world that is formed against them, to keep them in a loop of the rat-race, to keep them working like dogs until they die even though they cannot pay for very much anything. However, these characters are ultimately flung into another part of this very same world where they are all forced to become another person because now, they cannot go back to the way things were before.
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Geeks
