Annie Kapur
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I am:
🙋🏽♀️ Annie
📚 Avid Reader
📝 Reviewer and Commentator
🎓 Post-Grad Millennial (M.A)
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📖 280K+ reads on Vocal
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🦋/X @AnnieWithBooks
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🏡 UK
Stories (2912)
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Book Review: "All the Fear of the Fair" ed. by Edward Parnell
Full Title: All the Fear of the Fair: Uncanny Tales of Circus and Sideshow edited by Edward Parnell When I was in university, I did a ton of research into the periodicals regarding freak shows. Basically it was all to do with writing about Victorian carnivals and the way in which nowadays, for some reason, it has become a frightening prospect for some. We have books like Nightmare Alley by William Lindsay Graham that pay testament to that fact. In this British Library Tales of the Weird anthology - we see how time has changed the idea around the freak show and the carnival and of course, how the whole idea of the funfair came about. Let's take a look at how that atmosphere is translated to some of the stories within...
By Annie Kapur26 days ago in Geeks
Hummus and Flatbread
Okay, yes baking is my thing but a while ago I used to make a lot of hummus and the story behind it is simply this: I love the idea of hummus I just hate the one that comes from the shops so I made my own. I always found the one from the shops tastes like sludge and doesn't have a great texture to it. I'd like a little bit more flexibility in my hummus and so - I give you my secret recipe for creating great tasting, spicy hummus with very little effort.
By Annie Kapur27 days ago in Feast
Book Review: "Paris Stories" by Mavis Gallant
I like cheap books, but I love free books. This book was a free one and so, I couldn't help myself. For a long while, I have been recommended Mavis Gallant by fellow readers. After stating that I often like to read description and atmosphere more than dialogue and conversation, many stated I should read Mavis Gallant because of the way she formed sentences and imagery. Having read this book of Paris Stories, with an introduction by the writer of The English Patient I can honestly say that all of them were correct. Mavis Gallant is a writer you all need in your lives. She just has such a way with words. I can't even describe it. You can simply get endlessly lost in them.
By Annie Kapur27 days ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Skippy Dies" by Paul Murray
At the moment I'm working on some stuff for 2026 and yet, I'm not too hopeful for the new year. I don't know, there doesn't seem to be the same buzz of excitement that met this year - absolutely nobody is saying '2026 will be my year' because we've all learned over the last couple of years that its been pretty terrible and we shouldn't get our hopes up. You probably know that the last year or two have been the worst (by far the worst) years of my life and yet, I'm still going and I've just finished this book which is packed full of all different emotions... here's a review of Skippy Dies by Paul Murray...
By Annie Kapur28 days ago in Geeks
Book Review: "City of Girls" by Elizabeth Gilbert
I've read Eat, Pray, Love but I have to admit that was a while ago now. Actually it was probably less than five years after the book was released, so there. City of Girls was one I had never heard of for some reason. Currently, I am nursing a cut on my finger because a book betrayed me. I'm also running on about five cups of coffee, no food and about two hours of sleep. I exist in the twilight zone but I can appreciate a good book when I read it. City of Girls was a wonderful book. Let's take a look at what it was about...
By Annie Kapur29 days ago in Geeks
The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
First published in 1930, this book was originally a serial in a magazine called Black Mask. Written by Dashiell Hammett, it's now considered one of the greatest books of the modern detective genre - particularly when it comes to the sub-genre: hardboiled crime. It introduces us to the disillusioned Sam Spade, a cynical private detective who becomes an archetype overall, for the detectives we tend to meet in this genre. It proved to be a grand influence on the books that came after it.
By Annie Kapurabout a month ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Humboldt's Gift" by Saul Bellow
Saul Bellow is an interesting writer because he really is growing on me. I've often said that I'm not a huge fan of his novel The Adventures of Augie March mainly because it goes on for much longer than it needs to. However, novels like Ravelstein, Herzog and The Dangling Man are among some great works of Bellow's and I'm still reading around. Humboldt's Gift is my latest one and if I've said one thing it's that Saul Bellow writes better when he makes an attempt at conciseness. Though, this book is a longer one...
By Annie Kapurabout a month ago in Geeks
Everyone's Pro-Mental Health Until... . Content Warning.
Welcome to the unpopular opinions realm of my articles. As I've said, I'm going to try and keep these short but of course, if it's something I've been researching then be prepared for me to go on a bit. I won't keep you here for too long. Remember: there's no set schedule for these, they'll pop up if and when I'm into writing one.
By Annie Kapurabout a month ago in Psyche
Book Review: "Nightmare at 20'000 Feet: The Horror Stories" by Richard Matheson
Richard Matheson is perhaps one of the best horror writers that has been in modern times. I find he very rarely gets mentioned and yet, he is one of the people at the centre of contemporary thriller and shows like The Twilight Zone. I think many of us who read him later in our lives probably remember his Nightmare at 20'000 Feet being parodied by The Simpsons when Bart sees a creature on the side of the school bus. Currently, I am sitting here drinking a cup of Costa Coffee and wondering how to tell you about some of my favourite stories within this killer anthology - introduced of course, by Stephen King. Horror really is the rock and roll of the literary world - as he states.
By Annie Kapurabout a month ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Sorrow and Bliss" by Meg Mason
So I'm trying to read books that are funny as well as everything else I'm reading. I've read a couple by Sally Rooney including Beautiful World, Where Are You? and Conversations with Friends. I've read Dolly Alderton's Ghosts and the lesser Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan. There are probably more but I can't remember them all off the top of my head right now. Sorrow and Bliss is a book that I have heard about quite a bit even before I started reading what is normally dubbed 'women's writing'. There were some issues with this book but I think on the whole, this probably isn't the best one I've read of the bunch and yet it is definitely not the very worst of it.
By Annie Kapurabout a month ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Exciting Times" by Naoise Dolan
I have been buying some uplifting books such as Sally Rooney comedies and of course, the brilliant Really Good, Actually by Monica Heisey. As you probably know, I've also been baking, making candles and just doing things to pep myself up a bit - yeah, I'm not doing too well even though it's close to Christmas. My mind is always against me. I thought that this was going to be one of those books - I got it for free on a 'buy three get one free' deal on a used bookshop website and so, I wasn't too concerned if it turned out not so great. But I really didn't expect it to be this bad.
By Annie Kapurabout a month ago in Geeks
