The summer break is a perfect time to pick up productive habits like reading. Whether you’re staying in Boston or going back home, these five books are a good way to make the most of your downtime.
If you have sisters like I do, this book will absolutely make you cry. If you don’t have sisters, you’ll probably still cry, too.“Hello Beautiful” is emotional, and your heart will break alongside the Padavano sisters.
At its core, this shift isn’t about literature — it’s about looking like a reader. Books have become an accessory, a personality trait and a status symbol. As a result, people are reading more visibly than ever. The joy of getting lost in a story, of struggling with complex ideas and of truly reading seems to be fading.
Somewhere along the line, we were sold the idea that romantic love is the ultimate prize and that being single is some kind of failure. We’ve been conditioned to think that if you're not in a relationship, you're somehow incomplete. But, here’s the truth — romantic love is just one kind of love. It’s not the centerpiece of life unless you make it that way. Honestly, that’s a pretty fragile foundation to build your happiness on.
By Ruby Voge, Opinion Co-Editor
• January 30, 2025
A simple cup of black coffee may be the ultimate symbol of mundanity. Plain and pedestrian — black coffee serves as that quick hit of caffeine before a long day of work or a long night of studying. But in the reflection of the darkness of a simple cup of black coffee, Patti Smith sees a way of life — the life of an artist.
If Past Me saw Present Me I think she’d think I’m pretty cool. I think it would make her write in her little journal something similar to this piece, about the college version of herself that she is looking forward to becoming. But she’d definitely think the reading thing is crazy. She wasn’t much of a reader. But she did like to write. “She” being me. I liked to write. And I still do. I wonder if the old lady in the little coffee shop likes to write
If hunger is power, it’s nothing compared to what likeability can do for you. This was already apparent during the original Hunger Games trilogy but it’s the message that’s pushed to the front of our minds in the new cinematic addition to the universe: “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.”
“The Memory Police” by Yoko Ogawa takes the thread of forgetting and spins it into a poignant novel about memory—the story eloquently captures the reality of moving forward, continuing forward, which isn’t always rainbows and butterflies.
While maybe Jo and Friedrich did not get together in the traditional rom-com way portrayed in the movie as potential fiction — they still did end up together in my eyes. The movie is absolutely incredible no matter how one views the ending.
