Week in Review #8

This week I read three books.

I've been spending a lot of time listening to Gone with the Wind on audio book, however, I did get three book reviews written!

A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr. was a reread. I started it in January but finished it just a few days ago. This one is essentially three novellas loosely connected by a post-apocalyptic monastery in the desert. Centuries span between the novellas. Readers see civilization collapsed, rebuilt, and collapsing again.

A World Without Summer by Nicholas Day started off absolutely fantastic but got too preachy for me to keep it in the absolutely amazing and fantastic category. LOVED the history. Didn't love the beating over the head with a hammer.

Bittersweet by Christy Mandin is a great nonfiction picture book about the aftermath of World War II.


Century of Viewing #8

1970s

• 1978. Avalanche. Disaster movie set at a ski resort. Rock Hudson is the "villain" of sorts because he's so confident that he can build where no one else would ever dare because of the high risk of avalanches. The resort opens....and closes....within one weekend after tragedy strikes. Perhaps too much time is spent building up to the avalanche? It is rated PG. But it is absolutely NOT PG. At all. It isn't even PG-13. I don't know who decided the rating, but, that was a choice for sure. Most of that occurs before the avalanche and the action. And it was completely unnecessary to any story line or plot. This one stars Rock Hudson and Mia Farrow.

2000s

• 2000 Return to Me I absolutely love, love, love, love this romance. Is it incredibly, overwhelmingingly sad in the beginning? YES. But it's also a beautiful story of finding love again and second chances. I love ALL the 'side' characters that make up this movie. SO well done and a great example of 'found family.' SO many things to love. It's dramatic and comedic as well.
• 2001 Shrek. Would Shrek be as awesome with a different soundtrack?!?! It is a good thing we never have to find out. Shrek, an ogre, has layers. Donkey does not have layers--he has all the feels. Can Shrek and Donkey rescue Princess Fiona?! And does she have a secret of her own?
• 2004 Shrek 2. Do I love this one as much as the first Shrek?!?!?! This one introduces new characters that I do enjoy! It's just as quotable as the first movie. Perhaps even more so. Shrek and Fiona travel to meet her parents, but, not all is well....will they get their happily ever after.

2020s

• 2021 A Little Daytime Drama. It's Hallmark. Need I say more? Maybe. Maybe not. I watched this one because it is soap opera themed. It was enjoyable enough for a Hallmark movie. When you've just watched a great romantic-comedy like Return to Me, it's hard to watch this and not see how...lacking it is. That being said, it was enjoyable enough. It needed more of the dog! And I wouldn't have minded more scenes of the fictional soap opera so it could venture into more of a parody.
• 2026 Miss Scarlet. PBS mystery drama. It was fine. It wasn't not fine. I just don't know that I am invested in the show as I used to be. I think I liked last season better. And perhaps the seasons before even better. I do think that this insta relationship is just weird. I mean it was so fast, so sudden, so settled. Anyway, it was fine.

© 2026 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

23. A Canticle for Leibowitz

23. A Canticle for Leibowitz. Walter M. Miller Jr. 1959. 335 pages. [Source: Bought] [4 stars, science fiction, apocalyptic, post-apocalyptic, classic]

First sentence: Brother Francis Gerard of Utah might never have discovered the blessed documents, had it not been for the pilgrim with girded loins who appeared during that young novice's Lenten fast in the desert.

Premise/plot: Canticle for Leibowitz is divided into three parts: "Fiat Homo," "Fiat Lux" and "Fiat Voluntas Tua." Centuries pass between each part, I believe. Essentially what you need to know is that it's post-apocalyptic. The novel opens several centuries (at the very least) after nuclear disaster has wiped out society--at least as we know it. Knowledge is feared and simplicity embraced. A group of monks in the desert cling to what remains of book-knowledge. They memorize. They copy. They wait. They wait knowing that humanity may never be ready for their wisdom. Readers get to know a few monks in each part. The book is not bleak from cover to cover, however, by the end the message is that humanity is incapable of learning from their past mistakes and no matter how many centuries pass, humanity is always its own biggest threat.

My thoughts: This is the first time I ever-ever wished I'd paid more attention in Latin class. Just as Jane Eyre is sprinkled with French, this one is sprinkled with Latin. My general thoughts are that once is not enough to really get everything there is to get. I was reading for big-picture ideas, and not really savoring the details and looking for all possible meanings. My first impression is that it's good, but, depressing. Also thought-provoking.


Favorite quotes:

• "How can a great and wise civilization have destroyed itself so completely?" "Perhaps," said Apollo, "by being materially great and materially wise, and nothing else." (119)
• If you try to save wisdom until the world is wise, Father, the world will never have it. (208)
• It never was any better, it never will be any better. It will only be richer or poorer, sadder but not wiser, until the very last day. (216)
• The freedom to speculate is essential...(216)
• Men must fumble awhile with error to separate it from truth, I think--as long as they don't seize the error hungrily because it has a pleasanter taste. (218)
• If we're born mad, where's the hope of Heaven?" (240)
• When mass murder's been answered with mass murder, rape with rape, hate with hate, there's no longer much meaning in asking whose ax is the bloodier. Evil, on evil, piled on evil.(259)
• Too much hope for Earth had led men to try to make it Eden, and of that they might well despair until the time toward the consumption of the world.(264)
• It is the soul's endurance in faith and hope and love in spite of bodily afflictions that pleases Heaven. (292)
• The trouble with the world is me. (305)

© 2026 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

22. A World without Summer

22. A World Without Summer: A Volcano Erupts, a Creature Awakens, and the Sun Goes Out. Nicholas Day. 2025. 304 pages. [Source: Library] [4 stars, nonfiction, middle grade nonfiction, history]

First sentence: The only way to understand is to have been there. The world loud isn't loud enough. The word hot isn't hot enough. The word-- None of the words are enough. The only way to understand is to have been there. But if you had been there, you would be--well, you would be dead. So we will do the best we can.

Premise/plot: Nonfiction. History. Nature. Science. This is the story of the eruption of a the volcano Tambora in April 1815 and how it impacted the world for several years. YES, years. The book's title might mislead you into thinking it was a short span of time the world's global climate was changed by this volcanic eruption--and all its aftermath. But it was in fact several years before things began to stabilize and 'return' to 'normal.' Of course, that's not quite the whole truth. For that generation there would always be some effect. (For example, the malnutrition--starving or nearly so--of those growing up would leave a forever impact on their bodies whose growth and development would remain stunted.) 

The book is equally fascinating and bleak. It is impactful. For sure.

My thoughts: I loved, loved, loved much about this one. What I didn't love--well--I hated. The book doesn't allow much for subtly messaging the reader, allowing the reader to connect dots between the past and present. (IF in fact there are any dots to be connected between the past and the future.) The author is all about hitting readers over the head with a hammer. Perhaps with both hands holding a hammer. While I would say most of the book can be read and enjoyed, the agenda is so heavy-handed and extremely not subtle that it becomes obnoxious. There's a right way and a wrong way to get your message across. Sometimes less is more. Sometimes being subtle is more effective. Let readers reach their own conclusion and trust them a bit more.

 

© 2026 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

21. Bittersweet

21. Bittersweet: Based on the True Tale of the Berlin Candy Bombers. Christy Mandin. 2025. 40 pages. [Source: Library] [4 stars, nonfiction picture book, history, world war II aftermath]

First sentence: A bitter war was over. But for Hilda, the war didn't end when the bombs stopped falling. The war raged on in her belly, a rumbling hunger that never seemed to go away. Her too-tight shoes pinched her toes. Rubble piled up where buildings once stood. Neighbors waited in long lines for little bits of food. Hilda's country was broken into chunks like a wheel of old cheese, each part controlled by a different military.

Premise/plot: This picture book tells of the Berlin Candy Bombers and how one man's act of kindness started it all. It is set in Berlin after the Second World War. While it uses Hilda as a main character, the story is true, or true enough. I believe it is classified as narrative nonfiction.

My thoughts: What a great story! I'd read a little about the Berlin Candy Bombers but not in such a kid-friendly format. I thought it was a great story. Nonfiction that reads as easily as fiction. I would definitely recommend this one for elementary ages.


© 2026 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Week in Review #7

This week I read eight books.

The Belle of Chatham by Laura Frantz is Christian historical romance set during the American Revolution.

Searching for Mr. Johnson's Song by Ariel Vanece is a children's picture book about a young boy seeking to comfort and encourage his neighbor, Mr. Johnson, by helping him remember the lyrics to a song he forgot.

All the Blue Skies by Renee Watson won the Newbery Medal, but did it win my heart???? Not so much. But if you are looking for a book weighted down by ultimate sadness do seek it out.

Jella Lepman and Her Library of Dreams by Katherine Paterson was a bit overwhelming but extremely fascinating. I felt each page was SO packed with information I'm still processing it all.

If You Traveled West in a Covered Wagon by Ellen Levine was a thrift find I loved.

Through the Telescope by Charles R. Smith, Snowshoe Kate and the Hospital Built for Pennies by Margi Preus, and That Swingin' Sound: The Musical Friendship of Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong by Rekha S. Rajan are all picture book biographies.

Century of Viewing #7

1950s

• 1953 Call Me Madam. This was my first time seeing the musical Call Me Madam. It has both Vera-Ellen AND Donald O'Connor. Though neither in the lead roles. Mrs. Sally Adams is appointed ambassador to a foreign country--her only qualifications being connections in D.C. and her 'charms.' (Her charms must include singing and dancing). She takes her attache (played by Donald O'Connor) with her. They fall in love with some higher-ups in the foreign country, but, things are complicated overseas. Can she sing and dance her way out of trouble?
• 1959/1960 "There is a fifth dimension, beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call The Twilight Zone."
  I love, love, love, love the Twilight Zone. There were thirty-six episodes in the first season.

  My favorite episodes this season were:

  "Time Enough at Last"

  "One for the Angels"

  "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street"

  "The Fever"

  "Perchance to Dream"

  "Judgment Night"

  "The After Hours"

1990s

• 1995. A quirky comedy (period drama) with an extremely flimsy romance. But the soundtrack is fabulous. The accents are fun. I liked it. So a Welsh "mountain" is judged to be a mere "hill" and the villagers come together to make their hill a mountain....and Hugh Grant falls in insta love with one of the villagers. Or maybe she falls in insta love with him. Not the best plotted romance for sure. And while listed as a comedy, it's the premise that is comedic AND not the story itself. It has more drama than comedy.

© 2026 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews