Any of David Sedaris’s essay collections. They are hilarious but also very touching. They often deal with themes of being lost and unsure and uncomfortable. Their main lessons, I think, are often to not take yourself too seriously, which may sound trite, but I think it’s often an overlooked but admirable quality.

I would also highly recommend listening to David Foster Wallace’s commencement speech “This is Water”. It’s about 20 minutes long and it’s probably the only advice you’ll ever need to hear about how to live well.

I hardly understood what was happening in these books and I still loved them so much.

Big same. Several people I know were hyping up name of the wind so much and I found it so boring and I didn’t care for any of the characters and found the writing annoying. It still annoys me how little it lived up to my expectations.

Just relisten to Balance!!

I played so much animal crossing!!! Honestly probably not a game I would normally play either but it really hit the spot when things were super locked down.

Agreed! I couldn’t finish girl on the train it was so bad.

Came here to say this! Villette is more down to earth than Jane Eyre and I found it a bit slower but I loved it all the same.

Game of Thrones if you haven’t read it yet! Just listened to it on audiobook for a 12 hour flight. Found it soothing and entertaining.

I was going to recommend Bloodborne but I’ve never played any other souls games so I’m not sure which one is best to start with. I will say that I just started Bloodborne a few weeks ago and am really enjoying it. At first it felt overwhelming and I had no idea what I was doing but I very quickly got into a rhythm with it and now even find it almost soothing to play. I would recommend reading a bit about it (there’s a great article on kotaku that outlines steps for beginners that’s easy to read and doesn’t really provide spoilers) or watching a few YouTube videos for the first bit to help you along though because the game doesn’t really tutorialize too well, so if that’s not something you want to do then you may find it a bit frustrating.

When I was living in Korea teaching English, Americans that I met there always new INSTANTLY that I was Canadian. I had no idea I had a “Canadian accent” and I’m still convinced I don’t.

Playing this right now. The world is huge and beautiful, the story is great, and the gameplay is a lot of fun. Fully recommend!

A crowd of people turned away

The Neapolitan Series, beginning with My Brilliant Friend, by Elena Ferante.

Beautifully written and captures everyday life and relationships so well. One of the best things I’ve ever read. HBO recently made it into a TV series which is also stunning. Really captures the beauty, melancholy, and passion of the book.

You do!

Pro: total freedom to build the life you want, how you want it.

Con: finding someone to watch your cat when you go on holiday.

The Neapolitan Series (starting with My Brilliant Friend) by Elena Ferante

In terms of tone and theme, I thought 500 Days of Summer was similar - it’s also a very aesthetic movie with a good heart-break love story. I doubt it’s on Netflix though but might be worth tracking down through other means!

Loved this and Putt Putt as a kid

All my favourites have been listed, but the only one I haven’t seen is the Neapolitan Series by Elena Ferante.

Cannot recommend these enough. Beautifully written and such an acute sense of emotion. I couldn’t believe that someone else had felt the strange small things I’d experienced and on top of that was able to write it down so accurately and eloquently. And so engaging! I would stay up for hours reading them when normally reading sends me to sleep.

I wasn’t just talking about Raskolnikov, but Dostoevsky’s characters in general. And even then, I wouldn’t call Raskolnikov bad. He does a bad thing, but he as a person is much more complicated than that.

Anna Karenina

And if you’re interested in “bad” people being treated with nuance generally (outside of relationships) I’d recommend anything by Dostoevsky, but Crime and Punishment in particular.

I’d recommend some fun fantasy books because a lot of the reading you’ll be doing for school will be really dry and you’ll want something that’s easy to jump into. I’d take the Hunger Game series because they’re quick and easy and the Game of Thrones series because they’re meatier but still really engaging.

Watership Down