The Phantom of the Opera without the Opera by Juliana Kifus

A malformed, masked entity lurks in the shadows of a Parisian Opera house. His presence had only haunted the house until an aspiring opera singer, Christine Daaé, stepped onto the stage. However, then the so-called “Phantom” develops a desire to help Christine in her career and become the lead performer–but at what cost?

Gladiator II: I Swear It’s Not About the Sharks by Mo Halasey

Watching Gladiator II without first watching its predecessor for beat-by-beat comparison or borderline masturbatory indulgence in nostalgia is a bizarre exercise in interpretation. It is watching shadows on the wall of a cave, an astute audience perhaps faintly aware that these shapes cannot possibly exist in a vacuum, that their movements and patterns are too strange, too specific, and too divorced from their context to belong solely to the wall, but with nothing else to draw from they are forced to accept these as a complete reality.

My Lady Jane: Reframing History by Josie Green (’25)

The life of the former Queen of England, Lady Jane Grey, was anything but a comedy. Her life was certainly not a story most would make the center of a historical, fantastical, romantic comedy. But a 2016 novel, My Lady Jane, by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows did just that – and eight years later the Amazon Prime television show My Lady Jane was born.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy: Lessons in Hope, Love, & Pursuing Goodness by Josie Blosser (’27)

(Note: This review is not spoiler-free)

In times of political unease, it is important to remember the value of books, the lessons and the values that they contain.  Given the current political climate, one of the greatest examples of a book with such values and lessons is the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy, first published in 2006. 

Josie Blosser (’27): For the Love of a Book

If someone were to ask why I chose to become an English Literature major, at first the question might make me laugh. When I think back on my life, it feels obvious, it’s hard to imagine myself ever choosing a different path. I’ve loved reading my whole life, after all. And yet, I realize that I really didn’t decide to become an English Literature major until my freshman year of high school.