MOVIES:
1. EMMA: Devaki Divan:
Desperate for a good Jane Austen romance to watch? Emma (2020), with its stunning pastel sets and toe-curling chemistry, might be the perfect pick for you. The story of a spoilt heroine with a talent for matchmaking, Emma is a film filled with meddling, mischief, romance, and wit.
2. The Half of It: Shriya Bhat:
The Half Of It is a coming-of-age masterpiece of a film about love, growing up, what it means to be a good friend, what home is, and the experiences of an immigrant family in remote Squahamish, America. While the movie is primarily about the main character Ellie Chu’s journey of falling in love with the popular but mysterious Aster, it’s also so much more than that. It’s about the friendship between Ellie and Paul, about homophobia in a small town, about the conflict between desire and duty, about found family, about what it means to unconditionally love in a myriad of ways, across gender, language, and countries. Overall, The Half Of It is a bittersweet ode to the choices you make growing up and is a must-watch.
3. The Sound of Music: Shriya Bhat:
The Sound of Music is a classic movie-musical for all ages. The movie revolves around the aspiring nun Maria, who takes on a job as a governess to a large family and falls in love with the children and their father. Through her, the father (Captain Von Trapp) opens his heart up to his children again and bonds with them for the first time in years. With its budding love story amidst tensions that span across countries, The Sound of Music is a story for the ages with a strong and important moral on the values of hope, romance and family that persevere through the darkest of times.
BOOKS:
1.The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett: Shloka Sankar:
Desperate for a bit of springtime sunshine? Look no further than beyond the hidden door in the gardens of Misselthwaite Manor. The definition of an oldie but goldie, The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett follows Mary Lennox, her cousin Colin, their friend Dickon, and his assortment of critters through their adventures in the beautiful meadows of the North York Moors. Filled with a heartwarming cast of characters, childlike innocence, and lots of gardening, this book is guaranteed to make you feel warm on the inside as you wait for it to get warm outside as well.
2. Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson: Geetanjali Roy:
Caleb Azumah Nelson’s novel, Open Water is an elegant and sensuous debut about a romance between a photographer and ballet dancer intertwined with the complex themes of race, masculinity and art. Written entirely in the second person, Nelson’s experimental prose is precise yet poetic, a masterclass in emotive and impactful writing. Readers who’ve loved James Baldwin, Khaled Hosseini, Donna Tartt, Brit Bennett and Elif Shafak will resonate with this novel’s thematic interests, language and intensity.
3. The Dangers of Smoking in Bed by Mariana Enriquez: Fiza Mishra:
Mariana Enriquez writes about a world steeped in the most brutal mythologies and characters that grapple with the horror of their own bodies— where rotting babies crawl out of backyards, a woman fetishizes the human heart and a group of teenagers pay the ultimate price for their desires on a sweltering summer afternoon. The Dangers of Smoking in Bed reads like a morbid fever dream, and is well worth the discomfort you will sit in for a long, long time.