Annie Kapur
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I am:
🙋🏽♀️ Annie
📚 Avid Reader
📝 Reviewer and Commentator
🎓 Post-Grad Millennial (M.A)
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I have:
📖 300K+ reads on Vocal
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🦋/X @AnnieWithBooks
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🏡 UK
Stories (2953)
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The Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac
One of the most definitive books of the Beat Generation, The Dharma Bums, was first published in 1958 by Jack Kerouac. Yet another book about the rejection of the conformity that came with post-war America and its consumerism. The novel, like many others by Kerouac, is semi-autobiographical and most of the narrative is based within the experiences he had in the American West during the latter part of the decade. It's told from the perspective of an alter-ego named Ray Smith and chronicles the relationship he has with friend Japhy Ryder - roughly based on the poet Gary Snyder. It's this character that introduces Ray to Zen Buddhism. Kerouac's own spirituality was definitely an inspiration for the book too with philosophical exploration being the beating heart of the whole text.
By Annie Kapur2 months ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Coffee" by H.E Jacob
You guys have probably realised that I love coffee and I normally drink between 8 and 12 cups a day. My coffee of choice is either L'Or's Ristretto Pods for my Nespresso Machine, or if I'm having a cafetière then it would be Skull Crusher's French Vanilla Ground Coffee. I also enjoy Nespresso's own Istanbul blend and of course my favourite coffee shop is Costa and their double espressos are amazing. Coffee is one of the few joys in my life that I have left and so, I expect to carry on with it regardless of what others think. Money spent on coffee is never wasted. But if you put sugar and milk in my coffee then you will no longer be my friend, put it in yours if you want - just not in mine. I could only listen to Coffee by Chappell Roan whilst writing this review, there was no other way...
By Annie Kapur2 months ago in Geeks
Etsy and the £50 Scented Candle
Whilst browsing the realms of Etsy in order to find some bespoke candles, I was shocked to discover one of the candles on the site was listed for £50 (around $67 at the time of writing). I wondered why and so I clicked ahead. It was a candle, shaped like a Greek Statue, smelling of vanilla (apparently, though I know you can't smell things through a screen and an open candle smells lacklustre for those of us who know our candles) and perched on a piece of plastic. Yes, it looked quite pretty but apart from pouring candle wax into a mould and waiting for the whole thing to dry before cracking the mould off, I'm not sure what the candlemaker did to make it worth £50.
By Annie Kapur2 months ago in Psyche
Book Review: "A Day in the Life of a Smiling Woman" by Margaret Drabble
Full Title = A Day in the Life of a Smiling Woman: The Collected Stories by Margaret Drabble "Those who do not love, die, and they are forgotten, and it is of no account. But those who love as I have loved cannot perish. The body may perish, but my love could not cease to exist…"
By Annie Kapur2 months ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Escaping the Rabbit Hole" by Mick West
I am not one who usually reads books about conspiracy theories (ah, who am I kidding, I read every single Kennedy book available at one point! Though, I would rather have not seen photographs from the President's autopsy, that sort of thing is supposed to be private). Anyways, Mick West is an entirely different deal - instead of covering the theories and making them part of a huge investigation, he writes about how to get people out of what has now been dubbed the 'rabbit hole'. I think we all have to admit that we've dropped down a conspiracy rabbit hole at one time or another. For example: if any of you remember when I got lost down the Kennedy rabbit hole. I apologise for the person I was back then, it was a weird time for me.
By Annie Kapur2 months ago in Geeks
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 Kapur2 months 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 Kapur2 months ago in Feast
The Ballad of Lydia and Christopher. Runner-Up in Mismatch Challenge. Top Story - January 2026. Content Warning.
[YouTube Video Filmed in 2021] A: This castle is creepy as hell and old as shit. I swear we probably just stepped in some dirt and ruined our new shoes but that's beside the point.
By Annie Kapur2 months ago in Fiction
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 Kapur2 months 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 Kapur2 months 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 Kapur2 months 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 Kapur2 months ago in Geeks
