Check Out This Week's Recommendations! (14/05)

Letters to the Lost

This book follows Juliet, who always wrote letters to her mother constantly traveling abroad. When her mother died, she started leaving the letters in her grave as a way to cope with her death. Our other protagonist, Declan, does community service at that same cemetery so he reads the letters that Juliet writes and decides to write back. They immediately have a connection, even though they are complete strangers. It’s a story about two teenagers facing personal tragedy and learning truths that might tear them apart.

This is a very light and entertaining romance novel. Its most interesting aspect is the addition of the letters at the beginning of every chapter. This gives you clues throughout the book which add a bit of mystery and make the reader feel more connected to the story. The characters are complex and dimensional, and their backstories are heartbreaking.

Even if you don’t like romance, you can still enjoy this book since it has a heavy tone and deals with grief and anger and you won’t want it to ever end.

Murder on the orient express

In this book, a snowdrift stops the Orient Express dead in the tracks. With the train full of people, the next morning someone is murdered. He was stabbed a dozen times and the door locked from the inside. World’s best detective Hercule Poirot, who happened to be on the train, has to solve the mystery of who was the one that murdered the man. Everyone has a good motive to murder him and every one is somehow tied to the murder.

This book is truly amazing. It is not only highly entertaining but it also keeps you at the edge of your seat from beginning to end. Another great aspect is that as Poirot gathers information about the passengers you can start making your own conclusions and try to solve that case. The ending of this and all her books are always surprising and satisfying so even if you don't solve it you’ll definitely enjoy it.

Rocketman

This is a movie about Reginal Dwight, who after changing his name to Elton John, becomes an iconic pop star. Starting in local pubs, he meets with John Reid, who helps him to get to the top but not without setbacks. It is also a musical about the story of Elton John’s life featuring his best songs. It explores his huge life change, from a shy piano prodigy to the pop legend he became.

This movie is incredible, and the fact that it’s a musical makes it that much better since all of his songs are wonderful. It is also eye-opening considering you might not know all the things he’s been through which also makes it emotional. Even if you don’t like Elton John, I assure you this movie will be entertaining.

Judas and the Black Messiah

This movie follows William O’Neal, who was caught robbing a car and was offered a plea deal by the FBI. This deal consists of infiltrating the Illinois Black Panther Party to gather information on Chairman Fred Hampton and the party in general. Once he manages to get inside, he befriends the party members and therefore becomes hesitant on giving information to the FBI.

This is an amazing story that maybe you didn’t even know was based on real-life events. It also teaches you about the black social movement at the time. It is an exceptional movie that completely deserved that oscar nomination, so go watch it!

Dawson's Creek

The series follows Dawson, a Spielberg-obsessed film nerd living in a WASP fantasy of a Cape Cod town. It’s about Dawson and his best friend Joey, going through different stages of adolescence together and their friendship is later tested when they both start a relationship with different people.

Even though this series is old, you can relate to the characters because they are our age. It is a very good series that has a little bit of everything, romance, funny moments, sad moments, and heartwarming scenes. The characters are amazing which is also a good reason to watch this series. So what are you waiting for? Go watch this series, I swear you won’t regret it!

Money: explained

This series explores money and its many minefields from credit cards to casinos, from scammers to student loans. All very important topics regarding money and the economy. There are 5 episodes each 20 minutes long: Scammers, credit cards, gambling, student loans, and retirement. It’s a great series that explains these topics very well with animations to make it more appealing. We highly recommend this series to anyone, it’s very good and fun at the same time. (available on Netflix)

Bibliography

Christie, A. (1934) Murder on the Orient Express [Photograph]. Kobo. https://www.kobo.com/ww/en/ebook/murder-on-the-orient-express

Giltsos, L. (2020, November 1st) Why Dawson’s Creek, in all its cringey glory, is the TV show 90s kids need right now [Photograph]. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/why-dawsons-creek-in-all-its-cringey-glory-is-the-tv-show-90s-kids-need-right-now-148539

IMDB (2019) Rocketman [Photograph] IMDB

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2066051/

IMDB (2021) Judas and the Black Messiah [Photograph]. IMDB. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9784798/

Kemmerer, B. (2017) Letters to the Lost [Photograph]. Amazon. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Letters-Lost-Brigid-Kemmerer/dp/1681190087