literature
Geek literature from the New York Times or the recesses of online. Our favorite stories showcase geeks.
Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver (A Psychoanalysis)
Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver is a novel that follows Samantha Kingston as she repeats the same day over for a whole week. Lauren Oliver wrote this story as a way to understand teens and what influences them to behave in certain ways. During this week Sam finds out how disconnected she has become from her authentic self. Sam also finds herself in a rescue mission to save Juliet Sykes, a girl who has been constantly harassed her whole life. Sam belongs to a clique of mean girls who she psychoanalyzes through the reconstruction of the same day and significant events relived over and over again. They have sunk themselves so low that even they have no idea why they became this way. It is up to Sam to find how where everything went wrong. Oliver uses the narrator as the psychoanalyst and the patient to discover how she and her friends betrayed their true nature and the reasons for these choices.
By Marielle Sabbag7 years ago in Geeks
'Cancelled Vows'
The day of Police Chief David O’Callaghan and his to be wife Chelsea Adams’ wedding day is coming up fast. However there is a last minute snag to the happy couple's special plans for their special day. David is still technically married, he has to divorce his first wife first. David, Mac, and Gnarly rush to New York City to get a divorce for David. He has five days to divorce his old girlfriend or his wedding plans will be ruined. However a murder blocks the path between David's divorce and wedding plans. Luckily Mac Faraday and his K-9 Gnarly are there to solve the murder and get David to the church in time for his wedding.
By DIYStudent7 years ago in Geeks
Light Novels
Light novels, novels that are light; done, end of definition, thanks for reading… Well not quite. The term “light novel” is used in Japan to loosely describe a subgroup of literature that can be compared, to what in the United States would call a “young adult” (YA) novel; each targeting an audience of young people in middle school and up. The light novels of Japan, however, differ from what is considered a typical YA novel or book that are found outside of Japan.
By Mady Evans7 years ago in Geeks
Reading Journal: 'Vanity Fair'
William Makepeace Thackeray took the title Vanity Fair from a scene in John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. Vanity Fair is a never-ending fair in a fair in a town called Vanity, which represents mankind’s foolish attachment to worldly things. Bunyan uses the word “vanity” in its biblical/theological sense, meaning things of the world which are trivial and worthless compared to things of the soul. The connotation of the word “vanity” which most people would be familiar with today is an obsession with appearance. Thackeray uses this reference to Bunyan to make the implication that England is a “Vanity Fair,” a place that is preoccupied with worldly gain and superficial appearances.
By Rachel Lesch7 years ago in Geeks
Midnight Kids
The magical moment when a book is opened for the first time by a reader is by far the greatest moment for not only a book lover but by the author. The moment a story begins is not when it is written by the author but when the reader takes the story as their own. A story for an author is a memory, a dream, an alternate reality that is written down for others to experience. Since the reader is not the original all powerful creator that is the author, the only way for the non-author to take place in the author’s world is by reading the world’s written form, a book. An author wouldn’t be an author if they did not want to share their world to others and the wonders that they personally see in it. It is imperative that the author does everything in their power to make their world a great experience to the reader as possible. Though, each author is different, and how they go about creating such experience and how much of it is given to any one book/story/world is up to them.
By Mady Evans7 years ago in Geeks
'Coraline & Other Stories' by Neil Gaiman | Book Review
Coraline, an 11-year-old girl, and her family have just moved to a new house, much to Coraline’s annoyance. As she adjusts to her new home, she gets to know her strange neighbours and uncovers strange goings-on in her new home.
By Joe Harris7 years ago in Geeks
Free Falling
What does it mean to be free? Seems like a rather simple and puzzling question to ask since we are all free. Aren’t we? What it means to be free is a concept that so many feel unreachable and others take for granted. In Zora Neale Hurston's novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Janie Crawford, the granddaughter of a former slave has grown up knowing the weight of the word freedom and the painful history behind it as an African American. Growing up not only black but a woman of the 30s has shown her a form of imprisonment that was tolerated by society at that time. Having been the wife to three different men over the cause of many years has shown her dependence upon others, and her lacking experience of living life alone. That is until the death of her second husband, Joe Starks, where she has for the first time in her life chosen to be independent from others especially men. This is the first time since she was a child that Janie is free.
By Bridget Barnes7 years ago in Geeks
The Deviancy of Rural America
Even though the life and habits of different cultures seem completely, many qualities reveal themselves after time to be rather universal. There is the proverb in Swahili that roughly translates as “It takes a village to raise a child.”
By Jonathan Moore7 years ago in Geeks
The Lost Art of Reading
Bright digital light shines from all corners, projections of images filling the room like an endless flood. A once happy place filled with laughter and joy and hope now holds loneliness, disconnect and distrust. Four walls, four screens, one box with lovers who have turned to strangers. These are what Ray Bradbury called parlor walls. Television screens the size of a living room wall. Imagine living in the 1950s and welcoming this into your home. Thinking about it as a millennial in 2017 is absurd. We all know of the television and we all own one or two or maybe even three of them. Having a t.v that size is like a dream right? Having a whole room with images coming at you from every corner. News, entertainment, pop culture all presented to you whether you like it or not. No escape no way out. That is something I’m sure is not too hard to imagine. That would be because we already living like like that. That is the world we have created. This almost magical screen is what makes it possible for us to have all the gadgets in our pockets. This makes it very hard to fathom what life was like before we had all this technology. To think that instead of mindlessly keeping our eyes glued to a screen we had the power to know every wonder there ever was just by picking up a book.
By Bridget Barnes7 years ago in Geeks
Reading Journal: 'Pride and Prejudice'
Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is one of the most famous and influential romance novels ever written and established a number of the tropes found in later books and films. The formula we recognize from a number of romantic comedies (a spirited and outspoken heroine who is “not like the other girls,” an aloof hero who eventually warms up to her, and a misunderstanding which leads to dislike and then to love) find their origins in Austen’s work.
By Rachel Lesch7 years ago in Geeks
The Different Types of Nonfiction
The first thing people think of when nonfiction is mentioned is probably a biography, or maybe that textbook you spent 300 bucks on and have opened exactly twice. Neither of these things makes me excited for even the possibility of cracking open a nonfiction book, and in my heart, I'm a little bitter about it.
By M.G. Sprinkle7 years ago in Geeks
