PHOTO: Chloe Burgess
MOJO News is an independent student publication. Read the Charter of Independence here. MOJO News is an independent student publication.
Read the Charter of Independence here.
Read the Charter of Independence here.
WORDS BY ILANA COHEN, DORIAN STUC AND CHLOE BURGESS
Winter, spring, winter, spring. This Melbourne weather is more dizzying than those famous teacup rides at Disneyland. Instead of making your head spin from weather or rides, kick back, relax, and enjoy a gripping novel or memoir that can make you laugh-cry or cry-cry. Either way, mid-semester break is the perfect time to let off some steam, and why not let out some emotion via a novel?
Here’s a list of what three MOJO writers think you might enjoy over your much-needed break:
A celebrity wedding of a hot actor and a girl boss in the publishing world who gather their closest friends and family on a secluded island off the shore of Ireland. History - both personal and geographical, secrets, lies, and motion sickness take you on a storm-filled mystery. The blood, sweat, and tears will leave you gasping at plot twists out loud, more than once.
This is not your ordinary rom-com (but it is in the title). Instead of the unrealistic meet-up of cute strangers making eye contact across the plane only to run into each other a week later at a bar while traveling in Italy, Sittenfeld takes on a Covid-19 love story that is particularly relatable (even if you never work on the cast of a late-night comedy show and meet celebrities every night).
Picture this: a struggling artist meets a corporate man in New York City. A student visa and a speedy marriage kind of love. Will it last? Can they make the age gap work? What are the laws for owning weird pets in a seven-storey walk-up apartment? Impulsivity may be fun, but its consequences can leave deep scars. If you like this novel, check out her latest book ‘Blue Sisters’ about three siblings navigating the death of their other sister.
Growing up lesbian in a male-dominated industry, or world, is not easy. Intelligently written and witty, the reader goes on the adventures with the main character, Molly, as she navigates her identity, career, and The Big Apple.
One of Blake’s only non-fantasy books, but the writing is so rhythmic and melodic it feels fantastical. Set in the windy city of Chicago, two people meet in an art gallery by chance. Aldo, methodical and compulsive, is obsessed with maths, time and the wonders of life. Charlotte, is bipolar and struggling to find a balance in life. The two begin to get to know each other and come to understand what it means to love, even with all the broken parts.
If you want to hyperventilate and cry-cry like nobody’s business, this is the book for you. A profound and touching book that everyone must read at some point in their life. Interweaving death, science and medicine with literature and comedic themes with love makes this memoir timeless. It will make you think and reflect on your life and loved ones in ways you didn’t know you could and more importantly, didn't know you needed to.
Similarly, reflecting on themes of love and life, Alderton is like a younger millennial version of Carrie Bradshaw but in the digital age and in London. Serving up universal yet thought-provoking ways of how to navigate a wandering person in their twenties and early thirties, this book is relatable for those unsure of what their next step in life might be (and that’s okay!).
In this Hollywood-adapted classic, main character Raoul Duke and his attorney find themselves searching for the American dream in the beating heart of Las Vegas, Nevada. Naturally, this means they descend into a drug binge, drag race down the iconic Strip, and commit felonies at nearly every turn. Oh, and don’t forget they are also journalists on assignment to cover a motorcycle race and a police convention. If you’re a fan of degeneracy and misfits, this book is for you.
Set to be released on September 24th in Australia, early readers have claimed it's Rooney’s best work yet. It follows two brothers, Peter and Ivan, each with their own romantic encounters making up the book's plot. The brothers are also living with the grief of losing their father and realising how it impacts every aspect of life. If you like Rooney’s ‘realness’ and effortlessly poetic writing, and you’re a fan of any of her other works, it seems like this one will be no exception.
White Heat is a manifesto that disguises itself as a cookbook. The kitchen king himself says that if you want to become a great chef, do not buy his book, but instead he said to “Save your money. Go and buy a saucepan.” Written by one of the greatest dictators in the world of gastronomy, a man who brought Gordon Ramsay to tears, you’d have better luck drinking from a broken glass than following his recipe for pigeon en vessie. However, that is not the point. You buy this book not to learn how to cook, but to learn what true fanaticism really looks like.
