Annie Kapur
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I am:
🙋🏽♀️ Annie
📚 Avid Reader
📝 Reviewer and Commentator
🎓 Post-Grad Millennial (M.A)
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📖 300K+ reads on Vocal
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🦋/X @AnnieWithBooks
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🏡 UK
Stories (2875)
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Book Review: "Henry VIII: King and Court" by Alison Weir (Pt. 3)
There were so many rules for manners, especially in the presence of the king. Public processions, routines and ceremonies for waking and sleeping, trumpets blaring for eating and feasting. I don't know how people kept up. Alison Weir states that practically everything was a ceremony, everything had a set of rules and regulations of what was to be done. The rigid routine was so careful that every single person in the room had a job to do and there were a lot of people there.
By Annie Kapurabout 11 hours ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Henry VIII: King and Court" by Alison Weir (Pt. 2)
There's already a lot we know about the young prince Henry and we even have a flavour of how he grew up and was basically raised to be the most entitled brat in England. Be that as it may, he had a lot of knowledge and was actually incredibly clever when it came to scholarly studies, languages and as it happens, masonry and interior design as well. Alison Weir tells us all about the way the King decorated places like Hampton Court to show off his wealth, draping the walls with fine woven textiles and making decorative glass to depict his noble lineage. This was all part of the theatre of royalty, the propaganda that Henry VIII was so good at during the time, it almost made people forget that he had two of his wives killed and one was not even 20 years' old at the time.
By Annie Kapura day ago in Geeks
Banana, Coconut and Ginger
Okay so I have to admit that I took a couple of days to process this one because I had no idea how to work in the banana. It seemed really foreign to me when it came to getting fresh banana into my biscuit. For the cake, it was quite simple to mash the fruit up and put it into the mixture. So let's just say I wasn't expecting too much out of the biscuits...
By Annie Kapur2 days ago in Feast
Terra Amata by J.M.G. Le Clézio
In 1967, J.M.G. Le Clézio published his novel Terra Amata as one of his earlier works. An experimental novel, it is part of this larger phase where the author was working with more surrealist fiction styles, often embracing fragmentations and existentialism as a philosophy of his work. Like a lot of his work though, it explores what it means to be human and how this works in relation to the natural world. It blurs those lines between the real and the cosmic, the existential and the absurdist and the way in which we understand ourselves is shrouded in the 'bigger picture'.
By Annie Kapur2 days ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Henry VIII: King and Court" by Alison Weir (Pt.1)
Popular culture has perpetuated some mythologies regarding Henry VIII, Alison Weir makes it clear that she'll address these issues but probably not entertain them. One of the myths is that Henry VIII didn't wash and thus smelt bad, in fact Weir puts to us that the King was obsessed with his hygeine. He also almost never dined in the main hall with others, which challenges many notions and amateur YouTube videos that claim the King was definitely not a great dinner guest in the main dining hall. We learn that on many instances, he preferred to dine with his wife, or by himself - a King that was more introspective than we have been led to believe does not necessarily mean he was not a complete and utter sociopath.
By Annie Kapur2 days ago in Geeks
I'm Really Starting to Hate the BBC and Their Acts of Bad Faith
It's a Friday and I'm watching the news. I don't usually choose to watch the news because I'm starting to hate the BBC. It's the BBC Breakfast Show and I'm tuning in to see what's going on in the world.
By Annie Kapur3 days ago in Writers
Book Review: "Hannibal" by Philip Freeman
This is quite fascinating. I have studied people like Napoleon and of course, there's that famous painting of him 'Crossing the Alps' by Jacques-Louis David, one of my favourite painters. If you look at where he has carved his name, it is directly above that of Hannibal. Now, I've heard of Hannibal and the Elephants before mainly because I wasn't an ignorant child but I had never actually studied him in any detail. The extent of what I knew seemed to stop at 'he fought the Roman army' and he was actually a formidable foe to them, able to hold his own. But after reading this book by Philip Freeman, I have to say I know a lot more now and it is all very interesting to me.
By Annie Kapur3 days ago in Geeks
Orange, Tarragon and Honey
Welcome back to another episode of cake vs cookie and today the flavour profile is orange, tarragon and honey. I have to admit that I've never actually had tarragon before and so, I had no idea what it was going to taste/smell like. When I bought the herbs, I found that they smelt like liquorice and had quite a strange flavour when I popped all the elements into my mouth together. The orange and tarragon together was refreshing and the honey brought a sweetness to it. Of course, I don't actually eat cakes and cookies and so this whole thing is judged by my mother who, every couple of days, I force-feed dessert items to.
By Annie Kapur4 days ago in Feast
Book Review: "Ancient Rome" by Thomas R. Martin
I have not got a single clue what drew me to this book, I have to say that the vast majority of the time, I'm not overly interested in Ancient Rome. But I think that because this book was a good length and was also free, I can honestly say that I became more interested as I went on. The book was fairly interesting, I learned about how the Ancient Roman family was structured and how it depended on class. I learned about how women (for the middle class and upwards at least) actually had some power and agency. No, it wasn't a lot but it was a hell of a lot more than you would think when you think about a society that was deeply patriarchal. Roman children of rich households would be taught rhetoric: men for a political life and women in order to make and carry great conversation. Much of this, of course, was influenced by the Greek lifestyle that came before it but there's so much more to learn here. Let's take a look at some other really interesting things I found out in this book...
By Annie Kapur4 days ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Queen Victoria" by Lucy Worsley (Pt. 6)
As we make our way towards the end of Victoria's reign, there are a number of stories about other people. We've had the story of Bertie and Alix, the story of Beatrice and Henry, we've also had stories about Albert, Benjamin Disraeli, Victoria's mother and father and more. Chapter 22 though is about a young Indian muslim named Abdul Karim who became Queen Victoria's closest friend. She needed to be helped more about the place and that is what he was for. After holding a colonial exhibition at the Royal Albert Hall, Abdul didn't return to India but stayed behind in England to help out. He climbed to become one of the most respected gentlemen (at least by the queen) in England. All of the other gentlemen around the queen were obviously disliking of him as were Victoria's children. However, he seems to have been completely devoted to her comfort and safety.
By Annie Kapur5 days ago in Geeks
Book Review: "Queen Victoria" by Lucy Worsley (Pt. 5)
We have covered up to the death of Prince Albert, but now the heir apparent is in poor health with the start of this new section. He's a married man now but Lucy Worsley makes it clear that the sight of his relatives was so horrible to him that they would sit behind a screen when they came to visit. She had not only not finished grieving for her husband, but the grief was getting considerably worse as Victoria began to "waste away". She was not nearly the woman she once was and was very clearly in a deep sense of mourning. Everything seemed unfinished, and now her son was ill as well and pretty much at death's door. Let's put it this way: this chapter begins ten years after Albert has died. That's right, she's been like this for ten years - slowly wasting away and not really living at all. She was truly lost.
By Annie Kapur6 days ago in Geeks
Raspberry, Mint and Vanilla
Welcome to another episode of 'Cake Vs. Cookie' and this, if you haven't realised, might be a sporadic series of mine in which I do this if and when. I want to start doing it now because there are so many nice spring flavours to make slightly worrying combinations out of. Two days ago I released my first part in the series where the flavour profile was lemon, basil and coconut and the cake definitely won the day there. You can read the whole ordeal below:
By Annie Kapur7 days ago in Feast
