FACT recommends a series of online shows and books for the last days of summer at home.

---

Screen time has been a source of concern for years before pandemic took over the world but now since the pandemic has forced many into social isolation and spending more time home, it is a lifeline. For those who have the luxury of staying home this summer, as we also encourage that because seems like Delta is on the rise, and unless you are vaccinated. So, what to do while spending these last days of summer at home? Sure, you can always declutter, revamp or Marie Kondo your home, but you may also wonder what shows or series are worth binge watching and what books are worth reading, re-reading or catching up on. FACT has you covered there with the list of series and books we recommend.

Series:

Cooking with Paris:

Netflix

Love her or hate her, but you cannot ignore her! You can’t help but be a little curious and intrigued at the idea of Paris Hilton hosting a cooking show. Paris is making her reality TV comeback, this time as a chef (well sort of). Although Netflix has put out a disclaimer that she’s not a legit trained chef nor is she trying to be, but with the help of her celebrity friends, she will navigate new ingredients, recipes, and exotic kitchen appliances in her quest to become a better cook.

 

Never Have I Ever

Netflix

The second season of Netflix’s quirky coming-of-age drama is finally here. If you’re not familiar with the first season, the story takes the viewpoint of Devi, a first-generation, Indian-American teen growing up in Southern California. As Devi tries to navigate high school, a love triangle, and friendships with her two BFFs, she also has to grapple with the loss of her father and pitfalls of high school hierarchy.

 

Loki

Disney +, OSN

Following the events of Avengers: Endgame, Loki finds himself in a little bit of trouble with the TVA, aka the Time Variance Authority. Turns out, stealing the Tesseract and messing up the timeline isn’t something you can do without being noticed. Now being held by the TVA, Loki must work with them to fix the various timelines he created after fleeing New York in 2012.

 

 

Gossip Girl Reboot

HBO Max

Even as reboots and revivals become so mainstream the culturati has no choice but to rule them unfashionable, there is palpable excitement for the return of Gossip Girl. The new cast of scheming, indulgent, yet aspirational teens is as inclusive as they are good looking. With so many copycat series over the years attempting to recreate the show’s magic, are original creators Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, who are executive producing the series, really catching lightning in a bottle twice? You’ll have to see. XoXo.

 

Modern Love

Amazon Prime

The first iteration of the episodic anthology series was sugary, emotional, and sadly uneven. Just like love! Based on the New York Times column with the same title and podcast about the different ways people connect through love the new batch of episodes features Kit Harington, Minnie Driver, Anna Paquin, and Garret Hedlund in various stages of relationship stress.

 

The Bold Type

Netflix

The Bold Type, which is loosely inspired by the life and work of the show’s Executive Producer Joanna Coles (former chief content officer for Hearst Magazines), is about three millennial women, Jane Sloan, Kat Edison and Sutton Brady, working at global publication Scarlet. But this is not just a show about the intense and all-consuming network of the magazine industry. While it does explore the women’s careers, workplace drama and the ethical and moral dilemmas that come with that, the real crux of the show is the bond between three best friends that kicked off in Scarlet’s fashion closet.

 

The Irregulars

Netflix

With so many different takes on Sherlock Holmes over the years, Netflix’s new take on the famous detective goes for broke with not one but two revisionist takes on Arthur Conan Doyle’s greatest creation, plunging him into a fantasy world while also sidelining him in favour of side-characters from the original stories. The Irregulars follows a gang of homeless teenagers hired by Doctor Watson  to investigate strange crimes while Sherlock Holmes is reluctant. Simultaneously, this reframing of the story is accompanied by a supernatural reimagining of Holmes’ Victorian playground, drawing from Conan Doyle’s well-documented interest in the fantastic (and some of his supernatural short stories) in a contrast to the rational mind of his great detective.

 

Books:

Long Division by Kiese Laymon

Heavy memoirist Kiese Laymon returns, this time with a fiercely creative novel combining time travel with institutionalised racism. Set in 2013, City Coldson has become an overnight sensation following an awkward meltdown on a televised quiz show and he’s sent away to stay with his grandmother, but not before he’s given a copy of Long Division, in which, strangely, a character named City Coldson can travel through time. The resulting saga winds from the 1980s to the 1960s and beyond.

 

Are you Enjoying by Mira Sethi

From the high-stakes worlds of television and politics to the intimate corridors of home these satirically observed, deeply revealing stories look at life in Pakistan with wit, empathy, and emotional acuity. Each story bears witness to the all-too-universal desire to be loved, and what happens when this longing gets pushed to its limits. Are You Enjoying? is a free-spirited, confident, indelible introduction to a galvanising new talent.

 

Somebody’s Daughter: A Memoir by Ashley C. Ford

Celebrated journalist and podcaster Ashley C. Ford makes her literary debut with an extraordinary memoir. Growing up, Ford idolised her father, who was incarcerated throughout her childhood. Only in the aftermath of trauma does she start to untangle the complicated threads of her inheritance.

 

Second Place by Rachel Cusk

A stranger comes to stay in this fascinating, uncomfortable exploration of creativity, the male gaze and the gendered experience of freedom. Cusk’s story of a female writer’s power struggle with a male artist is one of the first novels to take inspiration from lockdown.

 

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

A story about a Japanese American writer on a remote island in the Pacific Northwest, who finds herself drawn into the diary of a Japanese girl in Tokyo when the diary washes up on the beach.

 

The Secret to Superhuman Strength by Alison Bechdel

If you’ve never read a deeply personal, stomach-shakingly funny, existential graphic memoir about exercise, mortality and self-improvement, start with this one by the talented artist behind Fun Home.