literature
Geek literature from the New York Times or the recesses of online. Our favorite stories showcase geeks.
“Life and Fate” by Vasily Grossman
Vasily Grossman’s “Life and Fate” has normally been called the 20th century’s answer to “War and Peace” by Leo Tolstoy. Set in the midst of Russia’s turmoil at the battle of Stalingrad. The book goes through the various characters’ lives and grieves as they live through not only great turmoil but also great loss. The question of whether death is really glorious at war is one of the things it differs from when it comes to “War and Peace”. In comparison to when people die in death camps to Prince Andrei dying in his home after listening to how Natasha was being unfaithful towards him but forgives her on his deathbed. “Life and Fate” though not as great as its 19th century counterpart by Tolstoy. Throughout the book, there are many quotations, chapters and small speeches by characters that relate to the violence and wrongs of war, the way in which the characters deal with death and how the battle sends many, many people to their demise. But the real question is in this novel is how the lives of the everyday person can survive when the only means for having that life, in this novel, are through violence. It is a very poignant aspect of the novel since the first page states “if you attempt to erase the peculiarities and individuality of life by violence then life itself must suffocate” (p.3). The main message of this book, I believe, is that battle keeps people in fear of dying and in fear of their loved ones dying and so, nobody can really live their lives to the full since they are so focused on how this is all going to end and whether it is going to end at all.
By Annie Kapur6 years ago in Geeks
20 Books of 2020 (Pt.28)
I have been fairly sick recently. For days I was unable to eat, drink or speak until finally, I began to get ever so slightly better. It's a slow recovery but it's getting there still. Throughout those days, I had been reading in order to keep my mind occupied. I was re-reading favourites of mine like "The Picture of Dorian Gray" and newly found favourites like James Shapiro's "Shakespeare in a Divided America" (which continues to wow me even now!). When it comes to comfort reading and re-reading favourites, I have absolutely no problem with whatever it is you like to 'comfort read' as long as it is comfortable.
By Annie Kapur6 years ago in Geeks
"The Odyssey" by Homer
It’s been about ten years since I first attempted my read of both the Iliad and the Odyssey. I would like to admit that I preferred the latter to the former because I was far more interested in the grand adventures of trying to get back to his beloved Ithaca rather than a bloody and brutal war in which I already knew the outcome before reading the book. The first reading experience I had of the Odyssey completely changed my entire view on the adventure genre. It changed my perception on what was possible for literature and it definitely made me believe in the fact that adventures could all grand, depressing, dangerous and purposeful at once. There was a great amount that I had to write down. I made a flow chart of each adventure Odysseus encountered on his ten-year journey back home and even rated them out of five on how dangerous I believed them to be. The most dangerous, in my fourteen-year-old opinion, was the cyclops. Even though I read this book about ten years ago, I have read it a few times since and I cannot help but losing myself in the rhythm of the seas every time I read it.
By Annie Kapur6 years ago in Geeks
"The Diamond as Big as the Ritz" by F. Scott Fitzgerald
I first read “The Diamond as Big as the Ritz” by F. Scott Fitzgerald when I was fourteen years’ old. I discovered it whilst searching for short stories about money and wealth in the early American 0th Century and the reason being was I wanted something to counteract my views of how it all worked based on the fact I’d just finished O.Henry’s “Gift of the Magi”. By this point, I had already read “The Great Gatsby” and wasn’t all too impressed. I found Gatsby a bit too short in its explanations and descriptions. I wasn’t all impressed because of the fact that Gatsby was attempting to explain these deep philosophical workings of how wealth can absolutely corrupt even when the intentions are, in the eyes of those carrying out the intentions, particularly good. But I was determined that I wouldn’t give up on Fitzgerald. I hardly ever give the author only one chance and normally read two or three books by them in order to make an informed decision of whether I will continue reading their books. My first reading experience of this particular story though was intensely good. It was amazing. I was completely consumed with all the pomp and decadence of the story and the way it worked so cleverly and so symbolically. There are certain parts of the story that I have simply not been able to forget - including the extremely famous ‘bribing god’ scene. This book completely changed my opinion of Fitzgerald and even though to this day, I’m still not entirely won over by Gatsby, I am however won over by Fitzgerald’s other novels.
By Annie Kapur6 years ago in Geeks
Red Queen Review
SYNOPSIS In a world divided by the blood of silver super human beings, and reds meant to serve them, there lies some red blooded beings, who can control mighty powers. Some more dangerous then those of the silvers. In the midst of this chaos we find a young, daring Mare Burrow. Who moves to the silver society, in a desperate attempt to blend in. Our young heroin in this tale, can control lightning, well, all things electricity actually. Every day she is there, she risks exposure. Should they find out, the silvers would surely rip her apart. Can Mare make it through?
By That Bookish Kat6 years ago in Geeks
Review of ‘The Scapegracers’ (Scapegracers #1)
Synopsis An outcast teenage lesbian witch finds her coven hidden amongst the popular girls in her school, and performs some seriously badass magic in the process. Skulking near the bottom of West High’s social pyramid, Sideways Pike lurks under the bleachers doing magic tricks for Coke bottles. As a witch, lesbian, and lifelong outsider, she’s had a hard time making friends. But when the three most popular girls pay her $40 to cast a spell at their Halloween party, Sideways gets swept into a new clique. The unholy trinity are dangerous angels, sugar-coated rattlesnakes, and now–unbelievably–Sideways’ best friends. Together, the four bond to form a ferocious and powerful coven. They plan parties, cast curses on dudebros, try to find Sideways a girlfriend, and elude the fundamentalist witch hunters hellbent on stealing their magic. But for Sideways, the hardest part is the whole ‘having friends’ thing. Who knew that balancing human interaction with supernatural peril could be so complicated? Rich with the urgency of feral youth, The Scapegracers explores growing up and complex female friendship with all the rage of a teenage girl. It subverts the trope of competitive mean girls and instead portrays a mercilessly supportive clique of diverse and vivid characters. It is an atmospheric, voice-driven novel of the occult, and the first of a three-book series.
By Cyn's Workshop6 years ago in Geeks
"Brideshead Revisited" by Evelyn Waugh
“Brideshead Revisited” by Evelyn Waugh is one of those books you read and you just don’t forget. You don’t just put it away after one read, you don’t just leave it out of your life. After you’ve read it, like a spell it will keep pulling you back into its charm. I read it for the first time when I was fifteen. I remember it very well because it just so happens I wrote that day down in my diary. Apparently, I was in a moving car and it was the bleak midwinter. My mother was driving and kept telling me to put the book down because apparently it would give me a headache (which to this day I do not understand, I have never had a headache from reading in a moving car, train, bus etc.).
By Annie Kapur6 years ago in Geeks
Review of 'Winterwood'
Synopsis Be careful of the dark, dark wood… Especially the woods surrounding the town of Fir Haven. Some say these woods are magical. Haunted, even. Rumored to be a witch, only Nora Walker knows the truth. She and the Walker women before her have always shared a special connection with the woods. And it’s this special connection that leads Nora to Oliver Huntsman—the same boy who disappeared from the Camp for Wayward Boys weeks ago—and in the middle of the worst snowstorm in years. He should be dead, but here he is alive, and left in the woods with no memory of the time he’d been missing. But Nora can feel an uneasy shift in the woods at Oliver’s presence. And it’s not too long after that Nora realizes she has no choice but to unearth the truth behind how the boy she has come to care so deeply about survived his time in the forest, and what led him there in the first place. What Nora doesn’t know, though, is that Oliver has secrets of his own—secrets he’ll do anything to keep buried, because as it turns out, he wasn’t the only one to have gone missing on that fateful night all those weeks ago. For as long as there have been fairy tales, we have been warned to fear what lies within the dark, dark woods and in Winterwood, New York Times bestselling author Shea Ernshaw, shows us why.
By Cyn's Workshop6 years ago in Geeks
20 Books of 2020 (Pt.27)
Books are a wonderful thing and I've been reading a lot of them of course. One thing I wanted to discuss shortly was the fact that there are lots of good websites on which you can get really good book recommendations apart from just going on GoodReads.
By Annie Kapur6 years ago in Geeks
