March 2023 Recommended Reading and Viewing

[Coír Draoi Ceítien]

March signals the approach of spring, and while winter may last a good while yet, it's good to be getting to that time of year. This month's reading was easy to recommend, but the film took some thought; as a result, they may be a bit lopsided, but I hope you'll still enjoy them.

Reading: The Wind in the Willows (1908) by Kenneth Grahame

This is one of the best-known classic children's fantasies, filled with talking animals and an abiding love of nature that sometimes reaches into the transcendent. Mole, Rat, Badger, and the irascible Toad are legends amongst readers of all ages, their warm-hearted (and sometimes zany) antics etched into our collective memories. It's a rather quick read, but it lasts for life. Share it with your children whenever you can.

Trade: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0143106643
Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0074VTHAC



Viewing: To Be or Not to Be (Ernst Lubitsch, 1942)

One of the greatest comedies ever filmed - and quite daring considering the time it was made - this picture is also a firm statement against fascism underneath the lighthearted touch. Josef and Maria Tura (Jack Benny and Carole Lombard) are a renowned husband-and-wife duo of Polish theater actors in Warsaw whose lives are upended when the Nazis invade, and things become even more complicated when a romantic liaison of Maria's, who has joined the underground resistance, catches wind of a spy, forcing Josef and his troupe to abet the Allied cause by impersonating Gestapo officers; it all comes to a head when the group attempts to evacuate Warsaw for free territory - just as Hitler himself arrives for an official theater performance! Thankfully, I believe, this film stands up to repeated viewings, and I hope you'll give it a watch some day.

DVD: https://www.amazon.com/Be-Not-Criterion-Collection/dp/B00CUKTGSA/
Blu-Ray: https://www.amazon.com/Be-Not-Criterion-Collection-Blu-ray/dp/B00CUKTHHK/


I sincerely hope that we're turning a corner now. See you next month!