Annie Kapur
Bio
190K+ Reads on Vocal.
English Lecturer
🎓Literature & Writing (B.A)
🎓Film & Writing (M.A)
🎓Secondary English Education (PgDipEd)
📍Birmingham, UK
Stories (1942/0)
Book Review: "A Book of American Martyrs" by Joyce Carol Oates
I truly love reading the works of Joyce Carol Oates. Whether they are simply collated by her or whether they are actually written by her, I seem to not mind since I have put my complete and utter trust in her. I read my first Joyce Carol Oates book about ten to fifteen years' ago and ever since, it has been sort of sporadic until this year. As I have done with previous authors such as John Boyne and Ann Patchett and even Anne Tyler - I have committed myself to read everything that Joyce Carol Oates has written.
By Annie Kapurabout 23 hours ago in Geeks
Book Review: "The Night Alphabet" by Joelle Taylor
I had been meaning to read this book for a while but honestly, there has been a price increase in hardbacks that nobody is paying attention to for some reason. Eventually, I went to Manchester again and then I caved and bought it. No, I may not have had all the money in the world but I really wanted to read a book that was a) more expensive literally everywhere else and b) didn't really have much going for it on the Kindle. I had seen the format of the book from the inside before and decided that on the Kindle it would just make me annoyed with its spread. I may have mixed opinions about the book but it would be at least 50 pages shorter (and thus, cheaper) if it was not so spaced out.
By Annie Kapur2 days ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Them" by Jon Ronson
Full Title: Them: Adventures with Extremists by Jon Ronson After reading The Psychopath Test I decided that I would take some sporadic time to read (and re-read) some of Jon Ronson's works. Honestly, I forgot how much I liked them. Littered with quirky anecdotes about travelling behind certain strange individuals in our society who seek to disrupt the social order, Jon Ronson puts his journalistic instincts in his pocket and his life on the line to bring the reader an interesting story with brilliant research. Though admittedly it is not as good as The Psychopath Test, Jon Ronson really goes out of his way to make this book as enjoyable as physically possible whilst presenting the very realistic threat of people with extremist or fundamentalist views and how they will have a negative impact on our societies and ways of life.
By Annie Kapur3 days ago in Geeks
My Unpopular Movie Opinions
For those of you on here who do not know, I have some pretty strong and unpopular opinions about films. From what I thought was actually a good film and others think isn't, to the exact opposite - I have been through it when trying to explain this to people. Again, as I said with my unpopular literary opinions article, these are just opinions and in no way represent facts at all.
By Annie Kapur4 days ago in Geeks
Book Review: "My Heavenly Favourite" by Lucas Rijneveld
What a wonderful treat to see that there is yet another book by the fantastic author of the disturbing yet intriguing novel, The Discomfort of Evening. I remember when I read this author's earlier novel and I could not stop singing it praises. A wonderful book about losing a sibling, I always felt like the key to this writer's novels was the fact that something traumatic was either happening to or was caused by the protagonist. The ending was a horrifying realisation of trauma and to this day, it has stayed burnt into my literary memory. I really wish I could have said the same thing after finishing his newest novel My Heavenly Favourite. But alas, sometimes we miss the mark. Maybe it is me who didn't understand this book in its entirety. But the uncomfortable subject matter alongside the writing style does not make for a great experience.
By Annie Kapur4 days ago in Geeks
The Island of Dr Moreau by HG Wells
In my personal opinion, ‘The Island of Dr Moreau’ is HG Wells’ most perfect novel. In comparison, novels like ‘The Invisible Man’ and ‘War of the Worlds’ are close, but they do not have the scare factor, the horror qualities and the existential dread that ‘The Island of Dr Moreau’ has. Now, I know that many people have not actually read this book in comparison to his more well-known ones like ‘The Time Machine’. So I will have to ask you to read the book before you read the article as that will be the only way you will actually understand it and also, look out for spoilers. If we are breaking this book down then I am going to need all the information I can get and honestly, for such a short book, there is a lot of information there. From Edward Prendrick’s first meeting with the mysterious Dr Moreau to the rising of the creatures, there is tons of great themes to be analysed that have mystified and terrified readers for a over a century. Welcome to HG Wells’ only horror novel: ‘The Island of Dr Moreau’.
By Annie Kapur6 days ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Jonathan Abernathy You Are Kind" by Molly McGhee
Often I will skip over looking at the comedy section of the bookstore, I am not one for a laugh while I am reading and very rarely are authors actually funny in any way. (Let's also therefore, skip over how difficult it is to make me laugh - it's like getting blood from a stone). The book Jonathan Abernathy, You Are Kind was advertised to me as a dark comedy that was, according to the reviews (and I paraphrase) as if 'George Saunders had infiltrated the Severance writing room'. I was initially interested because I am one of those poor souls who became obsessed to the point of no return with the TV show Severance, and thus anything with any reference to it whatsoever gets a express-pass to the top of the 'to be read' list. So, here it goes - let's see what I really thought of this book.
By Annie Kapur7 days ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Cassandra" by Christa Wolf
The story of Cassandra is almost essential to telling the story of Troy. I have read about her many, many times over the past 15 or so years and have found her to be underwritten or ignored. Thankfully, there is now a book just about her and my gosh, it was a book. For those of you who do not know who Cassandra is, here is a bit of a background: Cassandra was a priestess of Troy, dedicated to the god, Apollo and stunningly beautiful and intelligent. She was one of the daughters of King Priam and therefore, was also a Princess of Troy. Sister to the ill-fated Hector, breaker of horses - she became known as a rhetorical device rather than a person. Versions of the myth about her state that she made a small mistake (the mistake varies from story to story) and was cursed with being able to see prophecy whilst having nobody believe her.
By Annie Kapur8 days ago in Geeks
Book Review: "A Darker Shade of Noir" ed. by Joyce Carol Oates
Joyce Carol Oates is probably one of the foremost voices on women's fiction in the modern age and is perhaps one of the most influential women writers in the 20th century. Her writing of horror in the everyday world of being a woman is amazing and in this anthology, she forms a book of some of the best writers of her own era and those after her on the same subject. It's all about the body horrors of being a woman and with each story, there is a new perspective and a new idea. These stories are often horrifyingly addictive and have a special quality of being some kind of universal experience for women whether that be literally or through the metaphor that the story presents. The narratives are dark and often reflect the writings of Joyce Carol Oates and the way she interweaves the woman's body with her dangers and horrors.
By Annie Kapur9 days ago in Geeks
Book Review: "The Cloisters" by Katy Hays
As one of the most anticipated books of its year, it is clear that The Cloisters has bookshops everywhere writing reviews, going at marketing strategies, putting the book on a two-for-one offer so that more people buy it. But without all of this aggressive marketing, would the book have done well at all? Being in the bookish world means basically seeing this book ad nauseam and not wanting to read it because of the fact it was everywhere all the time.
By Annie Kapur10 days ago in Geeks
Book Review: "The Romantic" by William Boyd
William Boyd is perhaps known as one of the greatest writers of this age and, if any of you have read “Any Human Heart” then you will know that very well. To be honest, I have only read one other book by him apart from this novel being reviewed and his magnum opus, but I am sure to read more of his novels in the future, especially after this particular experience. So without further interruption, I am simply dying to tell you all about this wonderful novel about a man named Cashel Ross. He was born in 1799 and has had the most wonderful adventures.
By Annie Kapur11 days ago in Geeks