In this edition, The Good Oil has gathered recommendations from some of our readers and writers on what to read, watch and listen to over Christmas and the New Year.
There is something for everyone in this list of recommendations, which are sure to enrich your mind and spirit.
Recommended by Michael McGirr
Image: Melbourne University Press.
Read: Sarah Gilbert’s Unconventional Women is the moving human story of a small group of enclosed contemplative nuns living in Melbourne before, during and after Vatican II. Gilbert shares their intimate story with compassion, understanding and insight. She understands their hardships and challenges but never passes judgment. It is an utterly compelling account of beautiful people in search of Love. (Melbourne University Press)
Watch: The first series of Bad Sisters is a shining black comedy set in Ireland. Superbly scripted and acted, it follows the story of the five Garvey sisters whose loyalty to each other sets up scenes that are high farce and deeply poignant at the same time. (Apple TV)
Listen: Don’t miss the Richard Johnson lecture, organised by the Centre for Public Christianity, delivered by Tim Winton on the topic Exiles at Home: What our contempt for nature is costing us.
Michael McGirr is Mission Facilitator with Caritas Australia.
Recommended by Pat O’Gorman
Image: Sky Cinema.
Watch: Lee is an impactful story of courage, resilience and the pursuit of truth starring Kate Winslet as Elizabeth ‘Lee’ Miller, a fashion model turned photographer who went on to become an acclaimed war correspondent in WWII.
Lee gains a job with British Vogue completing assignments intended to “encourage the women of Britain to do their duty” but grows increasingly frustrated that her work is constrained by patriarchal rules. She determinedly and defiantly pushes against the establishment, overcoming enormous obstacles to get herself embedded with the American forces at the front line.
This sobering and serious film sheds light on a woman who defied the norms of her time to document the realities of war, capturing moments that would otherwise have been lost to history. Lee is in cinemas now.
Read: The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles. A multilayered story of misadventure and self-discovery brought to life by a cast of flawed, loveable and fascinating characters.
Listen: Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus. People who love the character Elaine from Seinfeld will love listening to Julia as each week she has funny, touching conversations with iconic older women focussing on their lived experience and earned wisdom. I love her conversations with her 90-year-old mum, Judith, at the end of each podcast. (Spotify, Apple)
Recommended by Dan McAloon
Image: Disney.
Watch: Commemorating 60 years since the Beatles first arrived in New York City, the documentary Beatles ’64 describes the cultural disruption that ensues when John, Paul, George and Ringo prepare for their debut performance on The Ed Sullivan Show.
A film crew follows the Beatles in the eye of this hurricane, while outside their hotel female fans mob the streets and others scream hysterically at their concerts. The Ed Sullivan Show doesn’t disappoint – 73 million viewers tune in. Two months after the assassination of JFK, the Beatles’ exuberance in song and youthful charm is like sunshine breaking through the black winter of national mourning. (Disney+)
Listen: In the podcast Unravel – Snowball radio producer Ollie Wards investigates a female con artist who marries into his family in New Zealand, leaving a trail of financial and emotional ruin in her wake. Following leads that stretch around the world, Ollie speaks to other victims of a person who emerges as a serial offender. (ABC)
Read: Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner. A freelance spy is assigned to infiltrate and undermine environmental activists living in a farming cooperative in France. She begins to suspect that her mission is undermining her own humanity. Shortlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize. (Penguin)
Recommended by Sister Veronica McCluskie SGS
Image: HarperCollins Australia.
Read: The Talented Mrs Greenway by Tea Cooper is a delightful, easy to read, novel that brings to life the role of a woman in the life of the early Australian colony and the buildings that marked it out as a city emerging from a convict settlement. It asks, whose hand really shaped Sydney?
Who is this woman that the book calls, the Talented Mrs Greenway?
Mary’s first husband was sadistic and controlling. His death frees Mary who eventually marries Francis Greenway, a promising new architect who is under the protection of Arthur Phillip. Mary herself is quite a talented drawer and creative thinker with a deep interest in buildings, both interior and exterior. When circumstances change and Francis is deported, Mary is determined to join him.
In 1814, she arrives in the turmoil of Sydney Town alone with three young children and high hopes of a new beginning, despite having little money and a husband in irons. Soon ensconced in a tiny cottage in George Street, Mary sets about forming a life for her family. The guilt of her past actions that almost lost her everything, and her desire to be a woman in her own right, drive her on.
When she is befriended by Elizabeth Macquarie it seems the promise of a better life is within her grasp. But fate can be tricky – will her past destroy what she has spent so much time and effort to build? (HarperCollins Australia)
Listen: Antarctica, Kiribati and outback Australia – the adventures of a GP doctor on Conversations (ABC) is an interview with Dr Gillian Deakin about her self-published book: What the hell is wrong with me? How to recover from pain, fatigue, weakness and other undiagnosed symptoms.
Watch: Solar System with Brian Fox takes us on a voyage across the Solar System, revealing new discoveries, spectacular wonders and mysterious phenomena on the worlds that orbit the sun. (ABC iView)
Recommended by Michael Mullins
Image: Neon.
Watch: Flee is one of my favourites from the Sydney Film Festival a few years ago. I was pleased to see this full-length animated feature turn up on SBS On Demand. It’s the story of Amin Nawabi, who escaped Afghanistan and eventually settled in Denmark as a refugee, after feeling he had to keep hidden the truth of some of his circumstances.
With asylum seekers perpetually demonised in public discourse, I always love it when they are able to speak for themselves. The power of story inevitably leads to the shattering of our racist and xenophobic attitudes.
Listen: Meet the Writers is a weekly podcast from Monocle Radio.
Read: Inside Story is an independent, non-profit magazine featuring analysis, commentary and reporting by leading writers and researchers from Australia and beyond.
Recommended by Kate Scholl
Image: HarperCollins Australia.
Read: In Bright Shining: how grace changes everything Julie Baird explores the multitude of ways in which we find grace. Grace is in deepest darkness of our lives, in the kindness of strangers, is present in the slog, in the faithfulness of parents, carers and medicos who day after day offer solace and comfort and practical aid to others.
Baird weaves storytelling with research from social sciences, health, neuroscience and theology. “The greatest examples of grace come from people who have been oppressed and continue to fight, to ask for change and for understanding.”
I found the stories of why we give uplifting. Why do people donate blood? She tells stories of giving, or kindnesses, or fierce defending and protection and care. “It’s (grace) wrapped in the everyday, but it is still extraordinary.” It’s there for us, all around us and within us. (HarperCollins Australia)
Listen: I selectively listen to Soul Search (ABC RN) and there are many episodes to recommend. I found Ramadan — Seeking the divine in times of suffering particularly informative.
Watch: Fifteen seasons of ER are now available on ABC iView. This consistently good drama, set in County General Hospital in Chicago, deals with the doctors’ personal and professional challenges in the emergency department.
Kate Scholl is Chairperson of Eremos.
Recommended by Garry Everett
Image: Apple.
Watch. I highly recommend the film and true story Killers Of The Flower Moon. For viewers who have a passion involving issues to do with racism, exploitation, justice and redemption, this episode of early American history will engage you: body, mind, soul and spirit.
The story centres on a tribe of native Indians who are confined to a reservation by white Americans, and whose rights to movement and town entry are severely limited. That is, until the Indians accidentally discover oil on the reservation.
Suddenly, the whites want the reservation back, but find that their own laws, made to keep the Indians there, now work against the whites. Not to be disheartened, the whites conjure up an ingenious way to secure ownership of the oil. The resolution of this episode of US history is as redemptive as it is just. A powerful outcome. History is a superb teacher! (Apple TV)
Listen: Sarah Blasko’s new album I Just Need To Conquer This Mountain.
Read: A tribute to women everywhere is Jodi Picoult’s novel By Any Other Name.
Recommended by Mary Rowan Highfield
Image supplied by Mary Rowan Highfield.
Read: The Mother of the Brontës: When Maria Met Patrick by Sharon Wright. This 2019 novel caught my eye as I was browsing in my local library for something that might provide sustenance of an intellectual, spiritual and enjoyable bent.
The author, Sharon Wright, supplied these three expectations in her book about the obscure mother of one of the most famous families in literature, the Brontës. After spending years researching numerous primary sources, the author managed to capture the wisdom, independence, dignity, humility, beauty and faith of Maria Branwell Bronte.
Despite the brevity of her life, this unassuming woman of integrity impacted the lives, not only of her children and husband, but of millions throughout the world through the writings of her children of genius. Published by Pen and Sword.
Watch: Le Silence de la Mer (1949) – a film adapted from the book by Jean Bruller. (Apple TV)
Listen: ABC Classic – daily classical selections from the world’s most famous composers and musicians.
Recommended by Adrian Middeldorp
Image: Netflix.
Watch: With South Korea reeling from President Yoon Suk Yeol’s declaration of martial law and the National Assembly’s failed impeachment proceedings this month, the nation’s political landscape feels more volatile than ever.
Against this backdrop and in a case of life imitating art, The Whirlwind, a 12-episode Netflix drama, offers a fictional but strikingly relevant portrayal of ambition, betrayal and the fragility of governance. Its gripping narrative dives into the heart of political turmoil, echoing the precarious balance of power seen in real-world events.
Prime Minister Park Dong-ho (Sul Kyung-gu), driven by a strong sense of justice, confronts the corrupt President Jang Il-jun (Kim Hong-pa), whose ties to the shadowy Daejin Group have entrenched corruption within the system. Backed into a corner, Dong-ho resorts to an assassination plot, triggering a dramatic power struggle that sets the stage for the series’ central conflict.
The Whirlwind mirrors South Korea’s political tensions and the ever-present shadow of its northern neighbour, making it a timely and thought-provoking watch.
Read & Listen: This Is What It Sounds Like: What the Music You Love Says About You by Dr Susan Rogers and Dr Ogi Ogas. (Penguin Australia)
