Aarushi Bahadur: Welcome to The SPA Shortlist. I’m your host, Aarushi Bahadur, and today’s episode is on book recommendations.

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Bahadur: We’ll be hearing from freshman Elliot Cooper, sophomore and co-president of book club Melina Kannankutty, and history teacher Mr. Bollinger-Danielson.While television is a relatively new invention, books have been around for thousands of years, which means there are millions of great options to choose from. Let’s take a look at the favorite books of students and teachers at SPA:

Elliot Cooper: It’s technically more of a collection of short stories–is the Sherlock Holmes books.

Melina Kannankutty: I’m recommending The Handmaid’s Tale.

Ben Bollinger-Danielson: Ah, Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse

Bahadur: What’s really unique about this selection is the diversity in genre. However, they all have one thing in common: fiction.

Cooper: The genre is mystery.

Kannankutty: It’s a dystopian novel.

Bollinger-Danielson: It’s fiction, and it is a stream of consciousness sort of investigation to life’s meaning.

Bahadur: Whether the novel is a questioning of life’s meaning, a string of murder mysteries, or a cross-examining of patriarchy through the lens of fiction, all the books have found homes in the readers’ hearts for a reason.

Cooper: One of the things that makes it one of my favorites is, it’s got the right balance of really cleverly written plot, but not so clever that there’s no way that you could come to the same conclusions that Sherlock is at the same time you have the chance to solve the mystery for yourself before it’s revealed at the very end.

Kannankutty: Um, I really like it because it is a dystopian novel but it has many elements that are very prominent in today’s society, as well it has the fact that it references today’s society. So I think that it doesn’t feel as detached from our world as other books do.

Bollinger-Danielson: So I like it for probably three reasons-–probably more–-but three. One is the format of the book is very different, for me. It’s broken into three parts and one is like this deep nuanced look at especially one woman’s day, and just like at her family and all those dynamics and it’s kind of intensive look at like all the thinking she’s doing and what’s going on these dynamics. And I thought that was really interesting for me as like, as a male-identifying person to kind of get that intimate look into. Some people think it’s like Virginia Woolf’s, like, autobiographical sense of what her life was like, and I find that really interesting. And then the second and third parts are more experimental the second part of the book is the passage of time where they’ll take a look at the next couple decades of, like, the impact of this on this house. And then the third part is a lot of the characters in the first part have died, but then they come back to the same spot and kind of try to draw meaning out of all their lives at that point.

Bahadur: So how did the readers discover their favorites?

Cooper: I actually originally watched the Sherlock BBC TV show. My brother introduced me to that. And then afterward I was kind of like huh, it might be interesting to see where all this like fascinating plot and modern modernization of the books originally started what did they look like before these writers came and changed it for the TV show.

I can’t really-—I can’t really choose favorites because both of them are good in different ways. I think the modernization makes it more kind of relatable to nowadays and kind of cuts out some of the racism, sexism type stuff that comes with like, English writing from back then.

Kannankutty: Oh, I discovered it three, four years ago, my mom bought it at an airport and it was sitting in our living room, and I was not allowed to read it. It’s quite a dark book. But book club really wanted to read it and we got admin permission and it’s going great.

Bollinger-Danielson: I read it, I think as a student, and then in my adult life, I’ve been rereading a lot of, you know, great novels and 10 years ago, I reread it and I try to reread it every year. So I guess I’m constantly rediscovering it.

Bahadur: I asked the readers why these specific books are meaningful to them as individuals.

Cooper: Oh, yeah. It was one of my like, I was ridiculously bored during quarantine. And that’s how I originally started watching the show. So that was–that was one of the standout things in quarantine. I can think like, Oh, I remember that summer because I spent, like, most of it reading all the Sherlock Holmes books and kind of really getting immersed in that.

Kannankutty: I think it’s important to me because it–-it’s a great way to see that this seems crazy far-fetched. But really, there’s a lot of underlying concepts that are very similar in today’s world. And I think, for women specifically when reading this book, it can hit really close to home. And I think that’s important because you have to say that there are certain things that you can do to not let it get to this point of insanity.

Bollinger-Danielson: I think, I guess, one I think, reading and especially the–I think reading helps provide greater insights into how people think about the world and other people’s sort of perspectives and I like good stories. And then the other part is I notice my phone will want my attention. And I feel that I’m healthier when I’m not giving that attention to the phone and books helped me with that.

Bahadur: While all three books have distinct themes, messages, and prose, they each made a mark on the reader. For instance, Mr. Bollinger Danielson discovers something new every time he rereads To the Lighthouse.

Bollinger-Danielson: And I think so much of how we read books are a reflection of the context of the life that we’re in now. And so the other day I reread it, thinking about this interview, and there’s this part where the dad, Mr. Ramsey, is kind of a jerk and there’s this really optimistic son. It’s like, I want to go to the lighthouse, I think we’re gonna go, and the dad is like, and he’s hoping the weather will be good and the dads like, but it won’t be. The dad is right and he kind of crushes his son’s dreams and almost takes joy in that. And I was thinking as a parent, like, what ways do I crush my children’s dreams? I didn’t read about it that way, maybe 10 years ago.

Bahadur: Meanwhile, Melina notes how The Handmaid’s Tale stands out from other dystopian novels she’s read.

Kannankutty: In a lot of dystopian novels, the main characters this go-getter, revolutionary like, person and of course, we’re not that far into the book, but this person just seems she wants to stick to the status quo. Not any noise. I think that’s interesting.

Bahadur: While The Handmaid’s Tale and To the Lighthouse are standalones or part of a duology, the Sherlock Holmes books, given their quantity, are a big undertaking. I asked Elliot if he had a favorite, and if he liked any of the book versions better than the well-known BBC show’s.

Cooper: I kind of got to go with A Study In Scarlet or A Study in Pink depending on which one you read. A Study in Scarlet, though, threw me for a loop because I watched the TV show first. And the book–halfway through it suddenly splits to this like backstory of what turns out to be the murder, but I legitimately thought I was reading a different book. Suddenly it’s talking about these, like, the religion that’s in like Utah, specifically–-Mormons; it’s suddenly following this group of Mormons running around and I just like–that was kind of that threw me for a loop but it’s part of what made it interesting because I was like reading out like what just happened? And then it all comes together and you’re just kind of like, Oh, that makes so much more sense.

I liked the hounds of Baskerville in the story better I thought it was–I thought it was more realistic. The TV show kind of took it on a whole, like, sci fi bit for a while and I was…I was just kind of left wondering like, what happened? I feel like the writers were trying to kind of branch out but ended up feeling like in authentic and I didn’t, so I didn’t like that adaptation as much.

Bahadur: I asked all the interviewees to share a part of the story that stuck out to them, without giving any spoilers.

Cooper: Oh, I feel like I’ve already kind of spoiled stuff. Um, there’s a big reveal at the end of…I’m never–-I can’t pronounce the name of it because it’s I’ve only ever read it but it’s about this big blue jewel. And there it takes on a whole bunch of data. It’s got a whole bunch of red herrings in it. And so the final reveal of that was kind of wild.

Kannankutty: There’s a really striking scene where these tourists from Japan come to the setting of the book, which is the what we would call the United States. And it’s about how this main character scrutinizing the women for what they’re wearing and how they’re acting. when really it’s like this part of the world is kind of cult-like and the rest of the world is completely normal.

Bollinger-Danielson: Yes, later in the book, where this character is trying to make sense of life and try to make sense of the whole experience of what has happened. I love this one part where it says, “what is the meaning of life (question mark)? That was all a simple question. One that tended to close in on one with yours the great revelation had never come. The great revelation perhaps never did come. Instead, there were little daily miracles, illuminations matches struck unexpectedly in the dark.” Here was one little bit later. She’s doing a painting of this and there’s this moment of like life standstill here. And she’s trying to make sense of that moment and trying to make it permanent. And what I like about that is, I have these moments in my life, where I’m like, right here, this could be like this could be the meaning. It’s not like some profound uppercase meaning, but it’s more like these, as she says, as Wolff writes, “These daily illuminations, these matches struck unexpectedly in the dark”. You kind of want to seal them up, but that’s not how time works. And so they’ve been these moments while be like in some wonderful moment with my family or in the process of learning or a great experience in the outdoors, I’m like, oh my god, just seal this up here. Please seal this up. Keep this, like, stand still here. And I think that this novel gets to that about that’s not how time works. That’s not how life works. But there are these great moments. And I love how she articulates that in a way. That’s what great writers do. They make things clear that I’ve always felt but they make it clear and understandable for me.

Bahadur: Have any of these books appealed to you? This is who the interviewees recommend them to.

Cooper: Um, you’d have to be able to a have the patience to like have a dictionary next to you because there’s a lot of like old Victorian English terms that happen that like did not-–they didn’t click for me. So I’d say you’d have to be willing and you’d have to be willing to essentially read a whole bunch of really, really smart people talking all the time. It can kind of take–-it takes a lot of brainpower sometimes to understand it. So I’d say you know, people that are willing to get invested and kind of almost put a bunch of energy into it that then I’d really recommend it someone looking for something kind of more interesting to read, yeah.

Kannankutty: I would recommend it to… obviously people who like dystopian books, I would recommend it to people who enjoy feminist novels. And I would recommend it to anybody who’s looking for a book that makes your mind work, but also has a good story that you can get into really well so if you’re not looking for, you know, a children’s book, but you do want a story to move along with, like, the analysis. It’s a great book for that.

Bollinger-Danilson: I think there’s a little bit of work involved in this novel, so I think it has to be more advanced reader probably, but also somebody who’s willing to commit to kind of getting through it as a whole. Sometimes, different parts of the novel and its pieces can get a little dense and what’s going on here, but when you look back at the whole experience, it’s great. So I would say somebody who’s like, dedicated, interested and maybe somebody who’s, like, pondering the meaning of life.

Bahadur: With good literature comes a little bit of work, but that’s what makes the read all the more meaningful. Finally, I hope you discovered something new, found something that appealed to you, and will tune into the next episode. Once again, I’m Aarushi Bahadur, and this has been The SPA Shortlist.

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Music credits: Late Night Radio by Kevin Macleod