Annie Kapur
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🙋🏽♀️ Annie
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🎓 Post-Grad Millennial (M.A)
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🏡 UK
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"Jane Austen at Home" by Lucy Worsley (Pt.3)
This review covers chapters 19 through to 26. *** As we continue through the story of Jane, Lucy Worsley gives us something to chew on. We get the story of the first writing of my personal favourite Austen novel, Northanger Abbey - originally entitled Susan. The 'chewing' is to decide exactly when it was being forged. There are known bursts of it in 1798 and 1799, but as the author states, there is certain inspiration from another book that wasn't published until 1801. It is a direct representation that though we may know much about Jane Austen's life from her letters, her everyday mapped out for us, her dislikes and likes seen clearly - we still don't really have the minutae of her writings. It is a bit here and there. Again, maybe this was done on purpose. Jane Austen was clever enough to keep those who didn't need to know in the dark about her actual intentions for the writings and when they were held out.
By Annie Kapur17 days ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Jane Austen at Home" by Lucy Worsley (Pt.2)
This review covers chapters 10 through to 18. *** Chapter 10, entitled 'Novels' covers Jane's written beginnings. We get to see inside the first formations of the novel that would become Sense and Sensibility and how, in installments, she would read it per evening to her family. These were novels written in letters, which were not in fashion and had not been for decades. I'm quite surprised and filled with joy that such an incredible woman existed in a place where more than often, extra-curricular activities outside that of being a wife and mother were not considered very important. However, her father thought them important enough to buy his daughter a writing desk with many drawers. This single act of encouragement was definitely a play to make sure his daughter continued to show her passions - a man clearly ahead of his time and fond of his daughters.
By Annie Kapur18 days ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Cranford" by Elizabeth Gaskell
"I could perceive she was in a tremor at the thought of seeing the place which might have been her home, and round which it is probable that many of her innocent girlish imaginations had clustered" - "Cranford" by Elizabeth Gaskell
By Annie Kapur19 days ago in Geeks
Book Review: "The Defence" by Steve Cavanagh
This book was recommended to me by Twitter and I’m seriously reconsidering taking recommendations from that hellscape. The first novel in a series is supposed to be the one that hooks you in, makes you fall in love with characters and themes and establish real in-depth parts of the backstory to you. This book does none of those things and yet, is so confident about itself that it completely fails to give the reader a coherent story that they can get lost in. I would say the audience of this book is basically people who don’t like to read - why? There’s no atmosphere, there are no in-depth concepts, there is no real story and the characters are hollow as hell. I was quite underwhelmed after reading this, it just felt so forgettable.
By Annie Kapur21 days ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Modern Man in Search of a Soul" by Carl Jung
What happens when we strip human life of meaning? Well, according to Jung, everything begins to go wrong for us. From the moment we started to have control over nature, we start to descend in meaning and value. Rationalism may have brought us comfort in understanding, but it has also brought us less meaning in our soul. I'm not going to lie, if a book doesn't define what a 'soul' or a 'spirit' is, then I have no interest in the argument. The issue is that Jung takes us on a journey in which we start to understand what the soul is - or at least, what it is meant to consist of. So even though I don't agree with all of it, I understand where he is coming from when he talks about the subject of a 'soul'. Science can provide us with understanding but cannot answer the larger, more existential questions regarding ourselves.
By Annie Kapur22 days ago in Geeks
Book Review: "The Road Less Travelled" by M. Scott Peck
This book sort of details the same ideas The Marshmallow Test states but with a spiritual flair to it. Whenever someone mentions the 'human spirit' I usually ask for a definition as you'll probably see in that, they can't actually define what it is. With all the 'spiritual' stuff and the illogical thinking which roots itself in clearly, some sort of religious lexicon, I definitely went into the book telling myself I probably wouldn't be agreeing with many of the points put forward and thus, was cynical about the 'spirit' perspective that the book was pushing. However, it did make some interesting arguments regarding everything from delayed gratification to how incredibly important parenting is.
By Annie Kapur23 days ago in Geeks
The Ballad of Peckham Rye by Muriel Spark
A dark-comic novel which is often regarded as 'sharp', The Ballad of Peckham Rye (1960) displays all of the notes regularly associated with the author Muriel Spark. Set in post-war London, the novel follows the arrival of Dougal Douglas, an enigmatic and manipulative Scottish outsider who disrupts the mundane lives of the working-class community in Peckham. The layered narrative, the explorations of human weakness and the wit are all part and parcel of what makes the novel what it is.
By Annie Kapur24 days ago in Geeks
Book Review: "A Voyage for Madmen" by Peter Nichols
"They were neither sportsmen nor yachtsmen. Only one of the nine crossed the finishing line after ten months at sea. The rest encountered despair, sublimity, madness and death". - "A Voyage for Madmen" by Peter Nichols
By Annie Kapur24 days ago in Geeks
Book Review: "The Beats: A Very Short Introduction" by David Sterritt
The series of A Very Short Introduction books are always great for learning new things, but they are also great for checking out things you already knew as well. In this one, I investigated the beat poets, a group of people I have met and met again over the course of the last decade and a half (at least). I read my first ever beat poetry book in my late teens and yet, ever since - I have never really been able to get enough of them. I have often fallen in love with the works of Kerouac whilst not really falling as hard for William S. Burroughs' novels.
By Annie Kapur25 days ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Dear Dolly" by Dolly Alderton
"...learn to be with yourself now. your future self will thank you..." - Dear Dolly by Dolly Alderton One thing I'm beginning to notice about Dolly Alderton is that she should very quickly make her shift over to fiction in a very Sally Rooney style, because she could do quite well. When I read her book Ghosts - I was impressed at how darkly comical it was. Yet, I found myself a little more underwhelmed when I finished her book Everything I Know About Love. I think that the writing in the latter for me fell emotionally flat and sounded more like the rambling diary of a teenage girl rather than an adult trying to make a point. Dear Dolly though, has a slightly different problem - again it is Dolly Alderton centring herself instead of exploring ideas. It's alright - it is just a bit of a tired gig at this point.
By Annie Kapur26 days ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Hungerstone" by Kat Dunn
"I have made so many mistakes. I grieve so deeply for myself." - "Hungerstone" by Kat Dunn When it comes to books concerning female rage, there is something incredible about devouring them whole. Recently, I read the book Sugar by Mia Ballard and I have noticed something that I need to make clear in this review as well - just because the first half of a book is well-written and incredible, doesn't mean the whole thing will be. Hungerstone is another case of this happening. The first perhaps 60% of the book is insanely good to read and yet, the denouement and the ending is so deeply disappointing that it very nearly ruins the whole reading experience. A book maybe only as captivating as its beginning, but it is only as memorable as its ending.
By Annie Kapur27 days ago in Geeks
