LET'S GO FOR A WALK IN GRANTCHESTER

Last Sunday signalled the start of the third series of hit ITV show ‘Grantchester’. But what do we really know about the village that has become the stomping ground of a ‘crime-fighting’ vicar, played by James Norton, and a war veteran turned police detective in Robson Green?

Well, Grantchester which lies just a mile outside the city of Cambridge plays host to a number of famous pastimes which adds to its quintessential Englishness. These include the Boxing day-barrel race that brings all the local pubs together for a tradition that dates back to the 1960’s.

12 BOOKS TO READ BEFORE YOU ARE 30

There are many timeless books you should read, but even books are best read at a specific age. If you are in your twenties, you have already exited your teens happily and started entering adult life, which introduces an inevitable change in obligations. Life is your best teacher, but it is always helpful to get some guidance from good writers along your way.

'The things you learn and how you understand the book depend on the phase in your life' – says Jack Matheson, a content manager at Essayontime. For this reason, we have selected some of the best books that may not have read before, but can certainly shape your identity and your worldview.

1.     Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky

At some point in your life, you will need to make an important choice. Reading Dostoyevsky's novel is a great way to learn about the difference between choosing the good and the bad, and the consequences that come from both.

A gripping story and an argument against nihilism, 'Crime and Punishment' speaks of a 23-year-old man, Raskolnikov who murders two women and suffers from the consequences. The story speaks of humanity and how we are responsible over our actions and the death of others.

PERIOD & MORE PERIOD: NEW SHOWS & OLD ACQUAINTANCES

The White Princess

Have you seen episode 1 of new Starz The White Princess? I saw and liked The White Queen when it was on, so I have been eagerly waiting for this new series which was announced as a sequel. However, I'm sure it can be seen as an indepent chapter of the tragic Cousins' War, so don't worry if you haven't seen the previous series.
I didn't expect to like The White Princess, though.  Being a Ricardian, I am supposed to watch it with a scowl, despising King Henry VII (Jacob Collins-Levy),  probably as much as Prince Elizabeth of York (Jodie Comer),  who hated him for killing her beloved uncle (and lover?), King Richard III. But just like her,  I unwillingly accepted  to grant him the chance to prove himself the rightful king of England  and I let him be just the hero of a new TV show.  Beware Henry/Jacob, you'll have a very hard task to make Elizabeth and me change our minds!
Jokes apart, I liked what I saw in the first episode: lavish, intriguing, introspective. Little history, much fiction, but good period drama. Right balance of sex & violence, intrigue & politics. Hence, green lights, Starz! (N.B. Those who are in search of historical accuracy as well as perfect 15th clothing and hair style had better look for academic essays and documentaries).

    Interview with Jodie Comer and Jacob Collins-Levy        Preview episode 2

5 REASONS TO WATCH BERLIN STATION

What it is about

It's a 10-part spy series which follows Daniel Miller (Richard Armitage) just arrived at the CIA foreign station in Berlin, Germany. Miller has a clandestine mission: to uncover the source of a leak who has supplied information to a now-famous whistleblower named Thomas Shaw. After  ten years spent as a CIA analyst, Daniel goes back to the rough-and-tumble world of the field agent guided by veteran Hector DeJean (Rhys Ifans).

BOOK REVIEW - LUCA DI FULVIO, THE BOY WHO GRANTED DREAMS

The Boy Who Granted Dreams

New York, 1909: Fifteen-year-old Cetta arrives on a freighter with nothing but her infant son Natale: strikingly blond, dark-eyed, and precocious. They've fled the furthest reaches of southern Italy with the dream of a better life in America. 

But even in the "Land of the Free," the merciless laws of gangs rule the miserable, poverty-stricken, and crime-filled Lower East Side. Only those with enough strength and conviction survive. As young Natale grows up in the Roaring Twenties, he takes a page from his crippled mother's book and finds he possesses a certain charisma that enables him to charm the dangerous people around him ... 

Weaving Natale's unusual life and quest for his one true love against the gritty backdrop of New York's underbelly, Di Fulvio proves yet again that he is a master storyteller as he constructs enticing characters ravaged by circumstance, driven by dreams, and awakened by destiny.  (Book Blurb)

AUTHOR GUEST POST - SIDDHI PALANDE, THIS HAPPENS ONLY IN INDIA

India is a country of age-old traditions and customs. We have an auspicious day every day of every week, 365 days. We have set limits for everything. No brochures are issued but we know how a man ought to behave and how a woman ought to react. There are one too many curfews imposed. Our social setup is as much stifling as it is welcoming.  However, when it comes to marriages we are tad too strict.

BOOK BLAST & GIVEAWAY: JAMIE BROOK THOMPSON, A REAL LIFE FAIRYTALE

   

Ready for a new book blast + giveaway? Real life fairy-tales by Jamie Brook Thompson!

MOVIE REVIEW - A CURE FOR WELLNESS

        

A cure for wellness sounds rather contradictory. Nevertheless, it does exist. At least in a movie by Gore Verbinski,  which this article is going to be about.

It is the story of a young and ambitious worker of a New York company who is given an important mission to visit a forsaken health center in Swiss Alps in order to get his boss back out of the prolonged vacation. He warned everyone that he is not going to be back by means of a strange letter. It makes it to where everyone worries in the company and which is why a man was sent there to solve this problem. There are rich and powerful people having a rest, stressed due to hectic life for a treatment with a water with curative powers.

On arriving and spending some time within its walls, he realizes that miracle-working procedures of spa-saloon are not what they seem to be. While the main character begins to unwrap scary secrets of the place, his sound mind undergoes a checkout for stiffness. Despite all the attempts, Lockhart is not allowed to meet his boss due to some reasons.

Failed to accomplish the mission, he is going to go back to New York but it looks like now he suffers from the same weird illness, which is the reason why all the rest guests of the center are there wishing to get their dose of the cure. With each new day, hopes of Lockhart to be cured and returned home are fading away. Instead, he has thrilling hallucinations and borderland between fact and fiction disappears.