Posted by Mark Donahue on Thursday, August 2, 2018 @ 2:27 PM
Ah, summer. Hot days, warm nights. The perfect time for…binging! Ignore the lawn and the weeds, put your feet up, watch movies, and read. Feeling guilty? Not if you tell yourself you’re doing a cultural study. So let’s go British.
Some binging suggestions from the BGLibrary”
DVDs. Call the Midwife, all seven seasons. Set in England in the 1950s, this series explores medicine, poverty, and Church of England politics, all through the eyes of midwives living under the auspices of the Church. Their home—the vestry—is in an impoverished city district outside London. As the young midwives minister to expectant mothers, they find various health issues connected to poverty, often becoming embroiled in family and personal issues. Watching the Midwives, you can argue that besides cultural studies, you’re pursuing reproductive medicine.
DVDs. Downton Abbey, the complete series. Live vicariously in a grand English manor and experience the vastly differing life styles of upstairs and downstairs. Live through the First World War, vicariouslly explore the Pyramids, suffer the drama of royalty, and feel the excitement of foxhunting. Love and romance, secrets and lies, and the absolute proper way to set a table.
- Books. The Starbridge fiction series from author Susan Howatch explores beneath the surface of the Church of England, its religion, politics, and drama…even scandal. The series begins with Glittering Images where you’ll be introduced to characters you’ll follow through Mystical Paths and beyond. Working your way through the whole series will take you all the way through August.
- Books. Or if you prefer something more lighthearted, try Alexander McCall Smith. Explore “crime” with the Ladies #1 Detective Agency. Agency owner Mma Precious Romatswe and her assistant, Mma Makutsi, solve all sorts of dilemma from lost properties to wandering husbands to stolen recipes. Pick one up, and you won’t quite till you’ve read them all! The BGLibrary has both the books and DVDs. Bonus: The author is British, but the novels are set in Botswana, so you’ll be doing double the cultural study!