If you’re like me, your New Year’s resolutions may have already been slipping by the end of January. Fortunately, spring is a perfect time for renewal and reinvention. So whether you’re trying to renew your commitment to read a book every month, or just wanting to explore how others may take the opportunity to reinvent themselves, these entertainment picks are for you.
Check out this Album: The Lumineers: Brightside
While The Lumineers became popular in 2012 for their self-titled album featuring catchy earworm hits like Ho Hey, more recent releases have marked a slow departure from their start in some really inventive ways. Brightside is no exception. And yet, on this short album, fans will still find the same commitment to creative storytelling that has always been part of the band’s persona. Here, however, the result is stripped down and raw, with an underproduced sound that feels almost like sitting around the fire and hanging out with the band. The last two years, if nothing else, have brought us seemingly increased intimacy with our favorite artists as they’ve streamed entire concerts from their living rooms, and invited us to follow them on social media. This fits The Lumineers’ laid-back folksy vibe more than most, and I, for one, am totally here for it.
Check out this Book: Violeta by Isabel Allende
Chilean-American writer Isabel Allende is often compared to Gabriel Garcia Marquez for her poetic use of prose and depictions of magical realism in her work. But her last book, The Soul of a Woman, is a nonfiction meditation on what it means to be a woman in a patriarchal society. It is exciting to see Allende return to the world of fiction with Violeta, a novel about a woman whose 100 years of life have afforded her many great opportunities to see the world change and grow around her. Comparisons to Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude will be inevitable, but fans of Virginia Woolf’s Orlando may find love within the incredible character that Allende has created here as well.
Check out this Series: Inventing Anna
In 2017, in a truly remarkable and unbelievable story of reinvention, Anna Delvey managed to convince the elite socialites of New York that she was a German heiress; that she was one of them. This is the story that is told in the Netflix limited series, Inventing Anna. Starring Julia Garner (Ozark) and Laverne Cox (Orange is the New Black), Inventing Anna is one of those rare series that manages to somehow keep you in suspense even when you know the ultimate outcome. Lovers of true crime will want to binge-watch all 10 episodes in one sitting, but anyone who enjoys watching the “elite” get outsmarted at every turn should definitely tune in.
By Vanessa Hutchison
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