The golden ages of rock and roll that bloomed in the 1960s and 70s can only be credited to the artists who expressed their passion through music– picking up their guitars and drumsticks and letting loose. Even in a historical-fiction novel like Daisy Jones & The Six (2019), written by American author Taylor Jenkins Reid, shows how music is deeply tied to personal struggles such as relationships, addiction, and self-destruction. After watching the television adaptation and fal

I recently finished reading Dark Renaissance: The Dangerous Times and Fatal Genius of Shakespeare’s Greatest Rival (2025) by Stephan Greenblatt. Greenblatt is a professor of Renaissance Studies at Harvard and is the best-selling author of Will in the World: How Shakespeare became Shakespeare (2004). He is one of the best practitioners of new historicism, and as a literature student, you can’t walk 10 feet without hearing Greenblatt’s name. His historic research sheds light on

Tommy Pickles picked up his toy screwdriver and broke out of his crib every episode because “A baby's gotta do what a baby's gotta do.” Goku trained until his body broke and then trained harder. Ash Ketchum left home at ten and chased an undefined dream for 25 years without questioning it. Commander Taggart said, “Never give up, never surrender,” and millions of young people took the phrase to heart, even though it was written as a parody. The message was everywhere. Never qu

“Without faith, there is no refuge.” Brutal, unnerving, and poignant, The Unworthy (2025) is a novel bordering the genres of speculative fiction and post-apocalyptic horror, and one which grapples with the question: is the loss of one’s humanity a worthy price for survival? The story follows the narrator—an unnamed woman in a dark and secretive convent known as the Sacred Sisterhood—as she recounts her life through a series of diary entries “...in whatever she can find—discar

The fall season began—although the parching temperature said otherwise—and so I decided to pick up a novel that I purchased secondhand a while back: Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice. After being introduced to this series through the 2022 television adaptation and becoming hooked, I wanted to see what changes the series writers had made to this venerable novel, as there was plenty of online discourse. This novel opens with the introduction of the vampire, Louis de Point

I spent the summer reading Joseph Campbell’s famous The Hero With a Thousand Faces and applying Campbell’s theoretical framework to 40 books for the English program’s Comprehensive Exam. Campbell’s book is essentially the Holy Bible for any modern author writing stories professionally or any academic studying mythological stories. Campbell’s influence pervades both modern mythological writing and classical storytelling examination as an essential foundational text. Campbell

I recently read Infocracy , by the Korean-born Philosopher Byung-Chul Han and translated by Daniel Steuer. Han writes in German and is...

A book banned in Tennessee’s curriculum for “inappropriate” details. A documentation of the Holocaust, taken from the accounts of the...

The meaning of the saying “the truth will set you free” was originally rooted in the belief that it will release you from the shackles of...

A book once said to be unadaptable. A gory look into the supposed Wild West. A tale of community, wrought to immorality and its...

This summer, Dawn Lundy Martin published "Instructions for the Lovers," a poetry collection capturing the grief inherent with having a body.

Over the last couple of months, I've spent my time thinking about what life is going to be like once I finally graduate with a Bachelor’s...

SPOILER WARNING! Jennifer Armentrout is one of the BEST authors I have ever read. Trust me when I say I have read so many books that my...

Is it really a given that the book always trumps its on-screen adaptation? Well, hold onto your reading glasses because we're about to...

Forewarning: there will be spoilers! I don’t think anything prepared me for the final pages of Sarah J. Maas’ Crescent City: A House of...

Loss can seem impossible to overcome. Grief leaves us with questions that are impossible to answer, and a longing that, one fears, will...

Released in October of this year, Lee Child’s Jack Reacher: The Secret is the 28th novel in his long-running book series. This particular...

When craving a good piece of literature, nothing quite hits the spot like a good mystery thriller. Now, imagine if this aforementioned...

Published in 2021, The Last Thing He Told Me is a work of fiction authored by Laura Dave, belonging to the genres of thriller and...

Despite the unbearable heat, summer is splendid because it’s a time for relaxation and indulging in activities one is often too busy for...