literature
Geek literature from the New York Times or the recesses of online. Our favorite stories showcase geeks.
Book Review: "The Great Shadow" by Susan Wise Bauer
There was no reason why I would choose this book to read apart from the fact it had an interesting subtitle and the cover looked quite telling. I like it when the cover to a book looks like it has been worked on to hide things within. I also ended up reading the blurb to the book only to realise it was not only nonfiction, but the topic was about to be expanded upon in a whole host of ways. From how survival instincts move us from cold to hot and back to cold environments all the way through to why children were dying at a similar rate as adults in some cases. We are taken through a look at how sickness, once treated as an individual thing, moved to a group thing and thus, came to change the way we buy things and spend our lives. The COVID pandemic may have taught us somewhat about that, but who knew our everyday consumerism is coated with a deep fear of getting sick?
By Annie Kapurabout 11 hours ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Word Watching" by Julian Burnside
There's something about words that takes me into a whole new world. I love the idea of pouring over a word's meaning, etymology and how it came to be used - the more obscure the better. Our narrator describes himself as an 'amateur philologist' and yet, goes into fanatastic depth about individual words and phrases, showing us the backstories of how they've been used socially and culturally, as idioms and in their true forms. With the insertion of the OED and Dr Samuel Johnson's dictionary plus many more, he manages to show us how words have been defined differently over time. There is a lot in language to take issue with therefore. If you've read the book then you'll understand why I wrote 'issue' in italics.
By Annie Kapura day ago in Geeks
Greek Gods Power Rankings. AI-Generated.
The world of Greek gods isn’t about fairness or mortal rules—it’s about limitless power, divine influence, and the consequences of hubris. Some gods appear mighty but falter under pressure, while others wield abilities so vast that even entire armies tremble before them.
By Top Rankeda day ago in Geeks
Bruised Autonomy: A Review of Kathleen Edwards' album FAILER (2002)
Failer, the 2002 debut by Kathleen Edwards, is a record about the psychology of romantic self-sabotage set against highways, motels, parking lots, and barstools. It belongs to the same moral weather system as Raymond Carver and Alice Munro: ordinary people making small decisions that quietly alter the trajectory of their lives. No one here delivers a Nietzschean manifesto. No one collapses in Dostoyevskian hysteria. They just fail--intimately, repeatedly, lucidly.
By ANTICHRIST SUPERSTAR2 days ago in Geeks
Book Review: "The Night Guests" by Marina Scott
When our narrator's father dies, her mother retreats into solitude and writes constant letters to him. She is mourning and sad until the family members attend a seance together where the showman in front of them looks on with a confusion as he states that the father of the house has returned and confirms he has been receiving the letters. Our cynical narrator doesn't know how this man in front of them could've known her father's nickname without even asking any questions. The question is will the events of the following story turn a cynical woman into a believer in something more, something beyond? As her mother begins to take up her hobbies again, our narrator finds it strange and odd that there is a different air to her life now. A completely different air.
By Annie Kapur2 days ago in Geeks
Rereading Review: "Against Nature" by J.K Huysmans
It's been about a decade or so since I read Against Nature by JK Huysmans and so, I wanted to dive in once again. Unfortunately, my copy with some brutish annotations in which I exclaim my dislike for the main character resembling a young Morrissey in his attitudes has since been lost to time and so, I had to buy another copy. Emile Zola would probably sum up the book in the best way as it was, in fact, a charged novel against the naturalist movement - hence the title Against Nature. But then again, it is packed full of emotions that are generally against the nature of human feeling - they are against the progressive and free-willed, against the whimsical, against the want for redemption and joy. The main character's journey to discovering this is a pained one yes, one that usually drops him into the central problem of melancholic thinking and perhaps reminds us that we don't want to shovel this novel into our mouths all in one go. It is one of those books that can really weigh one's mind down.
By Annie Kapur3 days ago in Geeks
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Background and Context: If you know me then you will probably know that I think 'Frankenstein' is one of the greatest novels ever written. I would say that since I was in my teens, this has been a really been a novel that has been close to my heart. Chapter 11 is probably the most special of these in which the Creature is discovering night and fire etc. It is simply one of the best pieces of literature ever written. I've read and taught it several times for over a decade. It gets better every single time.
By Annie Kapur3 days ago in Geeks
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Series Review (Season 1). Top Story - February 2026.
As one of the biggest properties in fantasy, A Song of Ice and Fire remains immensely popular with audiences. After reaching far into the past with House of the Dragon, a second spin-off was on the cards. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms serves up a bite-sized slice of action and drama, but it still claims a spot among the best small-screen titles.
By Robert Cain4 days ago in Geeks
The Big Book Review: "Thinking, Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman (Pt.2)
Welcome back to Part 2 of our 'Big Book Review' on Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. In the previous section, we saw that Kahneman paid close attention to the two 'systems' of our thinking - one that seemed more impulsive and quickly judgemental than the other. Now, we are also turning our attention on to why the supposedly more 'critical' system in our brain may not be all its cracked up to be and perhaps, it can even be lazy. Let's dive into what this book can tell us about 'Heuristics and Biases'...
By Annie Kapur4 days ago in Geeks
