literature
Geek literature from the New York Times or the recesses of online. Our favorite stories showcase geeks.
Book Review: "To Cook a Bear" by Mikael Niemi
I have read many crime novels and a lot of them involving the strange beliefs of people whether they be supernatural or idealistic. Guillermo Del Toro’s “The Hollow Ones” was one of them where the masses believe in a supernatural entity. Another one could be “Devil’s Day” by Andrew Michael Hurley and “Starve Acre” by the same author. But this one was something a lot different to the previous ones I have read, it is slightly more confusing and if you enjoyed the movie “The Devil All the Time” then you will definitely enjoy this book.
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Geeks
Reason Behind Harry Potter’s Magical Wizardry And Popularity
We have been through a lot of books and series throughout our life. But why is Harry Potter being magically popular than any other? Among millions of famous and experienced writers, how come Rowling made her debut book a best-seller of all ages? Is it really possible to make your first writing worldwide? Or was that luck or something else?
By Rakshit Shah5 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Machines Like Me" by Ian McEwan
When it comes to Ian McEwan, I become divided. Normally, he is a great author with some brilliantly dark stories about the human psyche. Other times, he can be a good author with stories that involve love that is, more than often, unrealistic. And a lot of times, he is an awful author with some outlandish stories which you simply cannot connect to. I find that “Machines Like Me” tends to fall into one of the two latter categories. First of all, we have the unrealistic nature of love, nobody thinks about another person that much that they cannot possibly focus on day-to-day tasks unless they are insane and require medical attention. Then we have the story of the machine or “Adam” that is outlandish and impossible to connect to. Personally, I found this to be one of the worst books I have read by Ian McEwan and it almost turned me off reading him - but I remembered that I also read “Cement Garden” - which was brilliant, and carried on reading his novels. Obviously, if you know me, you know I don’t like namby-pamby romantic storylines, which this has to an extent. You know that I like a hell of a lot of atmosphere, which is not really provided in this book. You also know that I enjoy well fleshed-out characters who have a moral compass that is often questionable - not characters who try to reason sexual assault, like in this book. I found this book to be a bit tasteless. But anyway, here is what is it about.
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Untouched by Human Hands" by Robert Sheckley
I am not one to read that much Sci-Fi and even though that is the case, I am still fascinated by the new collection of Penguin Sci-Fi Classics as they seem to involve things far beyond the norms of the genre. For example: I read the book “Hair Carpet Weavers” and honestly, it wasn’t really like any other Sci-Fi book I had ever read. My problem with Sci-Fi is that I kind of roll my eyes at the thought of aliens coming to attack our planet and the likes of that. But, the new collection of Sci-Fi Classics by Penguin Books has taught me that there is so much range to this genre and that I probably shouldn’t pigeon-hole it as being about one particular thing. This book I read is called “Untouched by Human Hands” by Robert Sheckley and it is a group of short stories. Each story today could be called speculative fiction instead of just Sci-Fi seeing as a lot of the messages underlying the texts still prevail today. The writing is dark and often fast-paced with the stories themselves being no more than a maximum of about twenty or so pages each. Though the stories are short, they still convey their message with a strange vigour that puts the reader in a state of awe at the extended metaphor lying beneath.
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Geeks
The sources of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer undoubtedly comprise the earliest work of literature in English of lasting merit. However, their author was a well-read man who sourced his tales from many places, some being of foreign origin.
By John Welford5 years ago in Geeks
The Importance of Reading "The Confessions" by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was one of the father’s of the European Enlightenment. Born, like Victor Frankenstein, in Geneva - Rousseau’s own ideas would come back to haunt him after he expressed free-thinking and individualism to the extent that he may have accidentally started the ball rolling towards the first leg of the French Revolution and whatever it was that led to Robespierre’s ‘Reign of Terror’ during the years 1789-1799. In the book “Confessions” he tells his life story only a few years before his death. He begins even before the beginning as he starts with the lovely romance of his parents and the fact that his birth caused the death of his dreamy, romantic mother. This therefore crushed his father and instead of becoming averse to the child, he seems to have done the opposite - instead showering praise and attention on him since this was the last memory of his wife that he had. Rousseau tells the story of how he was his father’s favourite, how he was nursed by the adults around him as he was born a sickly child who could’ve died. The importance of this is for Rousseau to tell us the real story - he was not an underprivileged child, in fact he was adored, taught, nursed and praised by all of the adults around him. He tells us that there is no ‘sob story’ apart from his mother’s death to which he did not actually experience. However, it is still an important story because it also teaches us how Rousseau became Rousseau. The man who started the European Enlightenment.
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Geeks
The Well of Ascension Review
Synopsis: The impossible has been accomplished. The Lord Ruler—the man who claimed to be god incarnate and brutally ruled the world for a thousand years—has been vanquished. But Kelsier, the hero who masterminded that triumph, is dead too, and now the awesome task of building a new world has been left to his young protégé, Vin, the former street urchin who is now the most powerful Mistborn in the land, and to the idealistic young nobleman she loves.
By Nathan Charles5 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: "The Adolescent" by Fyodor Dostoevsky
In my time I have read and enjoyed many works by Fyodor Dostoevsky. One of my all time favourite novels is “The Brothers Karamazov” which I read at about sixteen and I’m not going to lie when I said it took me some time, but I have read it a few times since and it never fails to amaze me. I have read the brutal and yearning “Crime and Punishment” and his dark “Notes from Underground” - I have enjoyed “The Idiot” and now, I have just finished a book quite different to any Dostoevsky novel I have ever read - I had never even heard of it before I started reading it. It is called “The Adolescent”.
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Geeks
Irvine Welsh and the Trainspotting-verse
Whenever anyone mentions Irvine Welsh, the first thing that probably springs to mind is Trainspotting, followed by Ewan McGregor crawling out of a dank dirty toilet bowl along with a pulsing pounding beat of ‘Lust for Life’ by Iggy Pop (fun fact also features backing vocals, and was co-written by David Bowie) followed by people sprinting down a high street. This imagery is striking, and even the mention of Trainspotting to anyone who has seen it will have them think of a ton of imagery audio or dialogue that comes from the movie. However, like all great movies (in my opinion) they are based on books.
By Gary Packer5 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: "The Night She Disappeared" by Lisa Jewell
In my time, I have read an awful lot of crime and thriller novels. Being a person to shovel through the paperback bin in the WH Smith or the Asda, I have never turned away from those cheesy ‘chick-flick’ thrillers you find in the store for one or two pounds. I have also never turned away from an author’s next big novel. In the case of Lisa Jewell, the first novel I read by her was “The Family Upstairs” and I think it was a Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club Pick but don’t quote me on that. “The Family Upstairs” was one of those books where I thought I would never find out what was actually going on because of the way the story kept spinning around. However, with “The Night She Disappeared” I did not quite feel the same way. There are advantages and disadvantages to this book (but mainly advantages to be perfectly honest) and I won’t be taking away points for personal preference because that is not entirely fair. Lisa Jewell’s newest novel made me feel different, but not bad and with its very “Gone Girl” and “Girl on the Train” atmosphere, she is already establishing herself to be the new superpower of crime/thriller novels.
By Annie Kapur5 years ago in Geeks
