September 2021 Recommended Reading/Viewing

[Coír Draoi Ceítien]

As the summer officially winds down, we now find ourselves in cooler days (at least where I live). Still, there's enough good weather to celebrate, and after some thought, since the author and I coincidentally share a birthday, I've found my recommendations for this September. Be warned, though: it's not that cheery.

Reading: Lord of the Flies (1954) by William Golding

A staple of high school reading curriculums, Nobel Prize-winning author Golding's classic novel is a refutation of the boys' adventure novels of the past, which were celebrations of cooperation and innate goodness. In this tale, the group of boys, having been stranded on a desert island, attempt to put together a system of government and responsibility, but eventually, selfishness and petty jealousies give way to animal savagery and lawlessness, resulting in death. While he would go on to write other well-praised works, this is the novel for which the author remains best known, for good or ill. If you haven't read it already, maybe you'll find it worth checking out; if you have, well, perhaps it might be time to give it one more go.

Mass Market: https://www.amazon.com/Lord-Flies-William-Golding/dp/0399501487/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=lord+of+the+flies&qid=1630725501&sr=8-1
Trade: https://www.amazon.com/Lord-Flies-Penguin-Classics-Deluxe/dp/0143129406/ref=monarch_sidesheet
Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/Lord-Flies-William-Golding-ebook/dp/B000OCXIRG/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=



Viewing: Lord of the Flies (Peter Brook, 1963)

Released just nine years after the book was published, this black-and-white independent adaptation, which is remarkable faithful to the source material, may be one of the best British motion pictures ever made. Shot with a mostly non-professional cast using some improvised dialog, the film manages to elicit a sense of dread and terror as the darker aspects of the story come to the forefront. It's an absolute classic that I would recommend not only to fans of the book but to simply casual moviegoers who love a good intense film.

DVD: https://www.amazon.com/Flies-Criterion-Collection-James-Aubrey/dp/B00CEIOHLY/ref=sr_1_17?keywords=lord+of+the+flies&qid=1630725663&sr=8-17
Blu-Ray: https://www.amazon.com/Lord-Flies-Criterion-Collection-Blu-ray/dp/B00CEIOHRI/ref=sr_1_17?dchild=1&keywords=lord+of+the+flies&qid=1630725663&sr=8-17
Amazon Video: https://www.amazon.com/Lord-Flies-James-Aubrey/dp/B00DY0TCSY/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=lord+of+the+flies&qid=1630725501&sr=8-4

So that's all for September. I hope you enjoy these next few weeks.