Choose books that will make your life—and your community—healthier and happier
AS WE REACH THE YEAR-END HOLIDAYS in 2022, we are pleased to recommend wonderful Hanukkah and Christmas “gifts of reading” that will enrich the lives of your loved ones well into the New Year.
After publishing weekly editions of this online magazine for 15 years, we know that our thousands of readers love to read and learn and find new sources of hope and resiliency. This 2022 shopping guide features eight choices that fill that bill.
We know you’ve all got someone on your shopping list who is especially “tough to shop for,” but just might light up with a special new book that will serve as a lively companion as 2023 unfolds. We also know folks who always are looking for books that might “keep on giving” across our communities by serving as discussion starters for small groups. You’ll find some great choices in our shopping list!
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WANT TO SEE ALL OF THE UPCOMING HOLIDAYS & FESTIVALS?—It’s easy to find our annual calendar of global observances. Just remember the web address: InterfaithHolidays.com
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Click this movie still to read Ed McNulty’s review of the documentary Good Night Oppy.
Faith & Film
ED McNULTY, for decades, has published reviews, magazine articles and books exploring connections between faith and film. Most of his work is freely published. Ed supports his work by selling the Visual Parables Journal, a monthly magazine packed with discussion guides to films. This resource is used coast-to-coast by individuals who love the movies and by educators, clergy and small-group leaders.
Here are some of Ed’s most recent free reviews and columns:
- GOOD NIGHT OPPY—(Streaming on Amazon) “Ryan White’s delightful documentary is a good companion for Wall-E, due to the NASA engineers treating their two Mars rovers like they were their children. You don’t have to be a space travel fan to enjoy this true story that unfolded over six exciting months of 2003.”
- CALL JANE—(In theaters; streaming on various services) “Director Phyllis Nagy takes us back to the Chicago of 1968 in this story about an underground cadre of women who provided safe abortions for desperate women. The members of the underground group, known as the Jane Collective, risked their freedom to help the helpless. They are real, only the story and its central character are fictional.”
- BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER—(In theaters; coming to Disney+) “The Black Panther sequel is both impressive and, if you are not an avid fan of the super hero genre (like me) confusing at times.”
- ARMAGEDDON TIME—(In theaters) “Eleven-year-old aspiring artist Paul Graff (Banks Repeta) is the protagonist in this semi-autobiographical coming-of-age memoir movie set in Flushing, Queens, New York, in 1980s, co-starring Anthony Hopkins as Paul’s grandfather.”
- HOMEBODY—(In theaters) “This is not so much a body-swap film, like Freaky Friday, as it is a gender-swap one, as well as a film of gender exploration in which a boy arrives at some degree of self discovery.”
- CAUSEWAY—(Streaming on Apple+) “Broadway director Lila Neugebauer, in her feature directing debut, brings us the story of a wounded warrior on the road to recovery, played by Jennifer Lawrence, who still is struggling when she returns to her native New Orleans.”
- TICKET TO PARADISE—(In theaters; coming to Peacock) “The main reason for seeing it is to watch two pros, Julia Roberts and George Clooney, go through their paces in a story about as believable as anything from the Brothers Grimm.”
- THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL—(Streaming on Netflix) “Director Paul Feig’s long film is based on a young adult fantasy partially set in an 18th century village called Gavaldon.“
- THE PIANO LESSON—(Streaming on Amazon) “August Wilson’s wonderful play is currently in a Broadway revival, but there also is the excellent Hallmark TV version broadcast in 1995.”
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