MUST READ
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
Klara and the Sun, the first novel by Kazuo Ishiguro since he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, tells the story of Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, who, from her place in the store, watches carefully the behavior of those who come in to browse, and of those who pass on the street outside. She remains hopeful that a customer will soon choose her. Klara and the Sun is a thrilling book that offers a look at our changing world through the eyes of an unforgettable narrator, and one that explores the fundamental question: what does it mean to love?
The Committed by Viet Thanh Nguyen
The long-awaited new novel from one of America's most highly regarded contemporary writers, The Committed follows the Sympathizer as he arrives in Paris as a refugee. There he and his blood brother Bon try to escape their pasts and prepare for their futures by turning their hands to capitalism in one of its purest forms: drug dealing. No longer in physical danger, but still inwardly tortured by his reeducation at the hands of his former best friend, and struggling to assimilate into a dominant culture, the Sympathizer is both charmed and disturbed by Paris. Both literary thriller and brilliant novel of ideas, The Committed is a blistering portrayal of commitment and betrayal that will cement Viet Thanh Nguyen's position in the firmament of American letters.
Gods and Ends by Lindsay Pereira
Life is unyielding for the tenants of the rundown Obrigado Mansion in Orlem, a Roman Catholic parish in suburban Bombay. They grapple with love, loss and sin, surrounded by abused wives and repressed widows, alcoholic husbands and dubious evangelists, angry teenagers and ambivalent priests, all struggling to make sense of circumstances they have no control over. Gods and Ends takes up multiple threads of individual stories to create a larger picture of darkness beneath a seemingly placid surface. It is about intersecting lives struggling to accept change as homes turn into prisons. This is a book about invisible people in a city of millions, and the claustrophobia they rarely manage to escape from.
Of Women and Salt by Gabriela Garcia
From 19th-century cigar factories to present-day detention centers, from Cuba to Mexico, Gabriela Garcia's Of Women and Salt is a kaleidoscopic portrait of betrayals―personal and political, self-inflicted and those done by others―that have shaped the lives of these extraordinary women. A haunting meditation on the choices of mothers, the legacy of the memories they carry, and the tenacity of women who choose to tell their stories despite those who wish to silence them, this is more than a diaspora story; it is a story of America’s most tangled, honest, human roots.
Spilt Milk: Memoirs by Courtney Zoffness
In her literary debut, award-winning writer Courtney Zoffness considers what we inherit from generations past biologically, culturally, spiritually and what we pass on to our children. Spilt Milk is an intimate, bracing, and beautiful exploration of vulnerability and culpability. Zoffness relives her childhood anxiety disorder as she witnesses it manifest in her firstborn; endures brazen sexual advances by a student in her class; grapples with the implications of her young sons cop obsession; and challenges her Jewish faith. What role does a mother play, she asks, in raising thoughtful, generous children? Where is the line between privacy and secrecy? And how do the stories we tell inform who we become? These powerful, dynamic essays herald a vital new voice.
MUST WATCH
Bombay Begums
Pooja Bhatt, Shahana Goswami, Amruta Subhash, Aadhya Anand, and Plabita Borthakur lead this generational tale of five women who ‘wrestle with desire, ethics, personal crises, and vulnerabilities to own their ambition, in contemporary urban India. As glass ceilings are shattered, and hearts are broken, difficult choices have to be made. And as each woman strives to find her own truth, they find in each other an unexpected understanding and the sliver of a bond.’ Alankrita Shrivastava is the showrunner and co-director of the show that is set to release on Netflix this month.
Cherry
The next movie from Avengers: Endgame directors Anthony and Joe Russo is very unlike their previous one. Spider-Man star Tom Holland is still around, but he's playing a college dropout and Iraq War veteran medic who suffers from PTSD and an opioid addiction after returning to the US. To help pay for the medication, he turns to robbing banks. Ciara Bravo, Jack Reynor, Michael Rispoli, Jeff Wahlberg, Forrest Goodluck, and Michael Gandolfini also star in this film, set to release on Apple TV+ this month.
Sky Rojo
Money Heist creator Álex Pina delivers a half-hour action crime drama that tells the story of three sex workers (Verónica Sánchez, Yany Prado, and Lali Espósito) on the run from their pimp (Asier Etxeandia) and his henchmen (Miguel Ángel Silvestre and Enric Auquer), which pushes them closer together and into a live-like-it's-your-last-day philosophy. All Sky Rojo episodes will release this month on Netflix.
Coming 2 America
Over three decades since the rom-com original became a surprise box office hit, Eddie Murphy's now-King Akeem Joffer of the fictional African nation of Zamunda sets out to the United State of America once again — this time to find and connect with the son he never knew he had, a street-savvy native of Queens, New York called Lavelle (Jermaine Fowler). The film is set to release on Amazon Prime this month.
MUST LISTEN
Sting’s Duets
Sting’s collaborations have become nothing short of cornerstones in the canon of popular music. To celebrate some of these joint-works, he has compiled a special collection to include some of his most beloved duets with collaborators such as Mary J. Blige, Herbie Hancock, Eric Clapton, Annie Lennox, Charles Aznavour, Mylène Farmer, Shaggy, Melody Gardot, Gashi and more. The Duets album will also include the brand new, never-before-released song, ‘September’ with Italian icon Zucchero, produced by Sting himself and mixed by four-time Grammy Award winner Robert Orton.
Selena Gomez’s Revelación
Revelación is the first Spanish language EP by Selena Gomez. It is set to be released on March 12, 2021, through Interscope Records.