During the month of December, the University Libraries staff make lists and check them twice. What are these lists about? Anything! You can look at past years’ lists here and stay tuned for more lists!
- Crazy Rich Asians based on Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan
- While I personally didn’t like the book too much, the movie is a work of art that I will always turn on… especially on a plane. There’s something about traveling that really allows you to put yourself into Rachel’s shoes no matter what your destination is. Plus, pretending that I’m sitting pretty in Rachel and Nick’s first-class cabin while I’m crammed in Economy, Boarding Group Q, is always a great escape. Also as an Asian woman this did affirm my dream of marrying rich while also still being accomplished myself like I work because I like it not because I have to.
- Regretting You based on Regretting You by Colleen Hoover
- While the movie isn’t as good as the book, sometimes you find a top shelf read from an author you thought was going to be much worse #IWasAColleenHooverHater. Though it may’ve just been my need to be **different** or my initial apprehension due to BookTok’s craze over Hoover, this book surprisingly landed with me AND made me interested in her other works. But I will say Night Road by Kristin Hannah is a better version of Reminders of Him also by Colleen. Burn me at the stake if you must.
- Red, White, and Royal Blue based on Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
- Girl, you knew some of it was going to be gay. Okay, but in all seriousness, Taylor Zakhar Perez and Nicholas Galitzine, c’mon. An enemies-to-lovers romance because they liked each other so much they hate each other? Right up my alley give me 15 of them NOW. I can’t wait for the sequel movie.
- The Hunger Games Quadrilogy based The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins
- Pick any of the three books or any of the four movies (other than Mockingjay Part 1) and you will have an amazing time consuming it. My favorite is Catching Fire, but based on this list you could probably tell I’m pretty basic. I’m sorry, I love an All Winners season 🤷♀️. Ugh now, I wish there was a Drag Race Book so that I could put it on this list. Anyways, a book that serves its purpose as a sequel and deepens the world introduced by the first, while still keeping some of the similar themes we loved from Book 1, but with a twist. It perfectly bridges the The Hunger Games and Mockingjay by peeling off the layers the first book’s Katniss was too much of a nobody to interact with.
- Percy Jackson and the Olympians based on Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series by Rick Riordan
- Perfect timing as a new season of the TV show on Disney+ just drops on December 10th, but you actually have two ways to watch adaptations of the first two books of the original Percy Jackson-starring series. While the movies starring the beloved Logan Lerman and Alexandria Daddario are far from book-accurate, they are an amazing dive into the edgy styling of the early 2010s and though their inaccuracies are their faults as good adaptations, I can’t say that I wasn’t influenced by them. The Disney+ TV show is much more accurate to the books themselves, though I do wish that the episodes and seasons are longer. Enjoy both for what they are and they’ll be amazing content to consume.
- Okay, I know this seems far out, but trust me, or rather, my Star Wars-obsessed Honors English teacher in high school. So apparently, the story of King Arthur is the same bones used to create the original Star Wars trilogy: a boy picked from a distant place destined to become king and overthrow the regime in front of him. I know I know, sounds like a reach and I thought that too, but trust me, read the book and then watch the movies. The similarities are there and it makes you wonder how prevalent Picasso’s saying “Good Artists Copy, Great Artists Steal” really is.
- Heated Rivalry based on Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid
- Girl, this gay hockey romance has thrown me back to middle school so hard that I’ve spent the past four days up late in my bed reading on Ao3. Whenever I breathe I think about watching Heated Rivalry. I go on TikTok to consume Ilya Rozanov edits. I open Instagram to watch Rachel Reid react to her book topping the charts. I scroll through Twitter to see people come up with Heated Rivalry AUs and then link to their favorite Ao3 creations. Heated Rivalry has consumed all of my being that I bought Blackhawks tickets. I am now on HockeyTok. I am living for Heated Rivalry and you should too.
- Normal People based on Normal Peopleby Sally Rooney
- Just watch it. I can’t even write a good reasoning for this without destroying the greatness that comes with a first interaction.
- The Devil Wears Prada based on The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger
- Prep for the new movie by revisiting the classic and the book that inspired it. The Devil Wears Prada is, I don’t know why I’m thinking about explaining this movie to you as if you haven’t already seen it. But if you haven’t, go to Disney+ and watch right now and come back to this blog post when you’re done. I’ll see you in an hour and fifty-one minutes, go, I’m timing you.
- Brokeback Mountain based on Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx
- A book for all the busier readers out there, Brokeback Mountain’s physical copy is only 55 pages, but the writing is so emotive that you are able to easily see how Ang Lee was able to make a two hour movie out of it. A story about the secretive nature of homosexual relationships in much less contemporary items always made me feel so grateful for the time we live in, even though its current political temperature isn’t greatly aiding our progress.
Jostin is the newest Information Commons Supervisor and a double alumni of Loyola. While she’s now one of the bosses, her mindset is still student-sided so check out her Goodreads for in-depth reviews of the books she reads while she’s making sure you all aren’t lighting the IC on fire.
