Catherine Steadman, Something in the Water, 2018 (This gripping psychological thriller follows a newlywed couple who make a shocking discovery while on their honeymoon, leading them down a dangerous path of moral dilemmas and life-altering decisions.) Recommended

Nick Stone, The Verdict, 2014 (A legal thriller that follows a struggling London lawyer as he takes on a high-profile murder case, navigating through a web of lies, corruption, and personal demons in his quest for justice.)

John Grisham, The Testament, 2010 (Grisham's legal drama revolves around the controversial will of a billionaire, sending a burned-out lawyer on a journey to the Brazilian wetlands to find the surprise heir, leading to personal redemption and legal intrigue.)

Steve Hagen, Buddhism Plain and Simple, 2011 (This accessible introduction to Buddhism cuts through cultural trappings to present the core teachings of the Buddha, offering practical guidance for applying these principles to everyday life.)

Carlo Rovelli, The Order of Time, 2018 (In this lyrical exploration of time, physicist Carlo Rovelli challenges our fundamental understanding of its nature, weaving together physics, philosophy, and personal reflection to present a new perspective on this universal yet elusive concept.)

A Prayer Before Dawn, 2017 (violent) (This intense and visceral drama tells the true story of Billy Moore, a young English boxer incarcerated in one of Thailand's most notorious prisons, where he fights in Muay Thai tournaments to earn his freedom.)

Red Sparrow, 2018 (A dark espionage thriller starring Jennifer Lawrence as a Russian intelligence officer who becomes entangled with a CIA agent, exploring themes of loyalty, survival, and the brutal world of international espionage.)

Den of Thieves, 2018 (This gritty heist film follows an elite unit of the LA County Sheriff's Department as they clash with a crew of sophisticated bank robbers planning an seemingly impossible heist on the Federal Reserve Bank.)

A Star is Born, 2018 (Bradley Cooper's directorial debut is a powerful remake of the classic story, following the romance between an established musician and a talented newcomer as they navigate fame, addiction, and personal struggles.)

A Quiet Place, 2018 (This innovative horror-thriller depicts a family struggling to survive in a post-apocalyptic world where blind but noise-sensitive creatures hunt humans, relying on silence and visual storytelling to create suspense.)

Better Call Saul - Season 3, 2018 (The third season of this Breaking Bad prequel continues to explore Jimmy McGill's transformation into Saul Goodman, delving deeper into the complex relationship with his brother Chuck and his gradual descent into the criminal underworld of Albuquerque) Recommended

Ozark - Season 1, 2018 (This gripping crime drama follows financial advisor Marty Byrde as he relocates his family to the Missouri Ozarks after a money laundering scheme goes wrong, navigating dangerous local criminals and a tenuous alliance with a Mexican drug cartel.)

Patrick Melrose, 2018 (Based on Edward St Aubyn's semi-autobiographical novels, this miniseries stars Benedict Cumberbatch as the titular character, chronicling his journey from a traumatic childhood through addiction and recovery, offering a darkly humorous yet poignant exploration of the British upper class.)

Alexandra Schwartz, "Sheila Heti Wrestles with a Big Decision in 'Motherhood,'" The New Yorker, May 7, 2018 (On the one hand, the joy of children. On the other hand, the misery of them. On the one hand, the freedom of not having children. On the other hand, the loss of never having had them—but what is there to lose? The love, the child, and all those motherly feelings that the mothers speak about in such an enticing way, as though a child is something to have, not something to do. The doing is what seems hard. The having seems marvelous....In the “Confessions,” Augustine puzzles over a phrase from the first chapter of Genesis: “Be fruitful and multiply.”... “Fruitful,” when applied to humanity, doesn’t mean only physical reproduction; it refers “to the process of mental conception,” the power of human beings to learn and reason, and so to create more knowledge.)

Louis Menand, "What Personality Tests Really Deliver: They’re a two-billion-dollar industry. But are assessments like the Myers-Briggs more self-help than science?" The New Yorker, September 10, 2018 ("There are more than two thousand personality tests on the market, many of them blatant knockoffs of the MBTI, but Myers-Briggs is No. 1...The key to the MBTI’s success is her insight that you can waste a lot of energy and bring on a lot of psychic pain if you think of these differences as incompatibilities that have to be ironed out...In the workplace, this means assigning tasks to people based on their personality types, which is one of the things that the MBTI is supposed to help companies do....[However] “there is scant evidence that MBTI results are useful in determining managerial effectiveness, helping to build teams, providing career counseling, enhancing insight into self or others, or any other of the myriad uses for which it is promoted.” And it’s not easy to see how the different types correlate with different tasks...In life, it means recognizing that we are naturally more likely to get along with some people than with others, and that when people aren’t communicating it can simply be because they are broadcasting on different frequencies. We need to get used to it..")