1998 · Louis Sachar · 233 pages · Children's Literature
Louis Sachar's Newbery Medal winner about a boy sentenced to dig holes in the Texas desert is a masterclass in narrative structure, weaving past and present into a story that's simultaneously a comedy, a mystery, and a meditation on fate and justice.
2009 · Sam Raimi · 99 min · Horror
Drag Me to Hell is Sam Raimi doing what Sam Raimi does best: turning horror into a carnival ride that's equal parts terrifying and hilarious. His return to the genre after a decade of Spider-Man films proved he hadn't lost a step, delivering a PG-13 film that's more inventive and viscerally entertaining than most R-rated horror of its era. Alison Lohman anchors the chaos as a loan officer cursed by an elderly woman, and the film's willingness to be simultaneously gross, funny, and deeply unsettling gives it an energy that never lets up.
2020 · V.E. Schwab · 444 pages · Fantasy
V.E. Schwab tells the story of a woman who makes a deal with a dark god and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets. Addie LaRue lives for three hundred years, experiencing history firsthand but unable to leave any mark on it, unable to be remembered by anyone she loves. When she walks into a bookshop and a young man remembers her name, the impossible happens. Schwab's prose is beautiful and measured, Addie is a protagonist of genuine depth, and the central question of what it means to be remembered gives the novel its emotional weight. The alternating timeline structure creates pacing issues, the bookshop romance is sweet but less complex than Addie's relationship with her curse, and the ending divides readers sharply. A gorgeous, melancholy novel that lingers.