Every fortnight the Tharunka editorial team compiles the best media we’ve been avoiding and/or complementing our studies with. Have fun!
Books
Axel: Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo (2019) is a bobbydazzler. It’s a New Adult novel set at Yale University, but rather than just boring old fraternities and sororities there’s magic and cults. If you’re missing being on a campus, you will get campus vibes galore, along with a wonderfully nuanced protagonist with complex PTSD; a thorough, engaging storyworld and theory of magic; and some excellent reflections on social status within elite universities. It gets explicit in a few different ways, so do beware, but would recommend. It’s the first of a series, the second of which comes out next year, so if you don’t like waiting between books, be warned.
Henry: So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson. No further comment.
Jack: Karl Marx, Early Writings – a neat collection of Marx’s Hegel fan-fic and stuff before he went interminably on about the price of a tonne of linen. Also one of his most important works: Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts tells us why we’re all dead inside under capitalism.
Jo: Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg. I have been complimenting my honours research by reading and critiquing this holy text for wealthy white women in the workplace seeking to achieve equal opportunities to the wealthy white men in the workplace. It has been…an interesting experience.
Saafiyah: 9 years later and I’m finally getting around to reading The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.
Movies/TV shows
Jo: I am… still watching Glee. I am now on to season 6 and the quality has been declining at a remarkable rate. Have also been enjoying the new season of The Bold Type, even if I am only in it to hate-watch Jane’s character arc, as she is consistently The Worst.
Jack: Rewatching La Dolce Vita by Fellini; like stepping into a different world with how stylishly exuberant the outdoor and nightclub scenes are.
Axel: I’ve been living on vintage/costuming YouTubers recently. The mix of nerdy, arty, making life beautiful even when it’s hard, and just generally Good Vibes is so lovely. Would particularly recommend Rachel Maksy (big hobbit vibes; super lovely; massive nerd; makes the world seems beautiful and magical just by the way she engages with it), Bernadette Banner (historical costuming nerd, big on research; immensely talented seamstress and tailor; extraordinarily logical and extraordinarily creative in equal measures; makes history seem touchable and understandable), and Jessica Kellgren-Fozard (and her frequent guest star and wife, Claudia. Super lovely, super nerdy on history – particularly disability and LGBTQ+ history and how they’ve progressed to the modern day). All of them have beautiful visual and aural design, and lovely voices, so whether you want neutral background content or full engagement, they’re all excellent choices.
Podcasts/Music
Jo: Sister duo Chloe x Halle’s new R&B album has just dropped and it is… SO good. The 20 and 21 year old sisters (who were famously discovered and signed by Beyonce after making Youtube covers), are on track to a meteoric and well deserved rise to fame.
If you don’t know who they are already, you will know them soon, with the youngest, Halle, due to star as Ariel in the upcoming live action Little Mermaid remake.