I read six books this week.
14. First State of Being. Erin Entrada Kelly. 2024. 272 pages.
[Source: Library] [4 stars, Newbery Medal, MG Speculative Fiction, MG
Fiction, Time Travel]
Read this book if....
- You like keeping up with the Newbery Medals and Hnor books
- You enjoy so called "historical" fiction set in 1999
- You enjoy time travel elements
- You enjoy coming of age stories
15. Buster Keaton: A Filmmaker's Life. James Curtis. 2022. 810 pages. [Source: Library] [5 stars, adult nonfiction, biography]
Read this book if....
- You are curious to learn more about Buster Keaton--his life and films
- You enjoy biographies
- You enjoy the history of cinema and have a fondness for silent films especially
14. Ratnip: Lost and Found in the City. Cam Higgins.
Illustrated by Allison Steinfeld. 2025. [February] 128 pages. [Source:
Library] [3 stars, animal fantasy, early chapter book]
Read this book if....
- You enjoy animal fantasy written for children
- You enjoy stories with rats
- You like to keep up with new series for young readers
15. Trouble Finds Plum. Matt Phelan. 2023. 128 pages. [Source: Library] [4 stars, animal fantasy, early chapter book, j fiction]
Read this book if....
- You enjoy series books
- You enjoy illustrated chapter books for young readers
- You like humorous animal fantasy
13. Christ Crucified: A Theology of Galatians. Thomas R. Schreiner. 2024. 176 pages. [Source: Review copy] [christian nonfiction, theology, bible commentary, 4 stars]
Read this book if....
- You are looking for a weighty scholarly treatment of Paul's letter to the Galatians
14. Happy Lies: How a Movement You (Probably) Never Heard Of Shaped Our Self-Obsessed World. Melissa Dougherty. 2025. 272 pages. [Source: Library] [5 stars, christian nonfiction]
Read this book if....
- You are a Christian
- You want to learn how to discern right from almost right
- You want to make sense of so-called "Christian" culture and why it is at odds with the Bible
Century of Viewing Round-Up for Week 7
1910s
- 1918 Moonshine is META gold. The intertitles of this Arbuckle/Keaton short are GREAT. It has many great sequences. Definitely plays like a LIVE-ACTION cartoon complete with the gag of how many people can fit in a small car. (And the curling the barrel of a gun to shoot around the corner gag).
- 1918 Good Night, Nurse is another Arbuckle/Keaton short. It is SILLY for sure. I think my favorite bit was Keaton as woman with umbrella kicking Arbuckle! (Granted he was trying to steal her umbrella in a horrible rain storm.) Plenty of smiling Keaton bits in this one. The story was strange.
1920s
- 1920 Convict 13 is silly, surreal, and overall fun. Not a favorite, but, certainly this Buster Keaton short is enjoyable. (Loved the spanking fish scene.)
- 1920 The Scarecrow was even more enjoyable the second time around. I absolutely loved it. I cannot emphasize too much how FABULOUS the ending is. Love seeing Buster Keaton and Sybil Seely together.
- 1921 The Boat. I think of this one as the sequel to One Week. Was it meant to be? Maybe. Maybe not. In this one, Buster is building a BOAT for his family--which now includes TWO pork-pie hat wearing boys. Will it be smooth sailing? What do you think?!?! Is his boat Damfino aptly named? YES. I loved this one so much. Another Buster Keaton, Sybil Seely short.
- 1921 High Sign. Buster Keaton is irresistible. This one is purely silly but man he's adorable. Buster Keaton plays both HITMAN and BODYGUARD. And it all starts with the wanted ads...
- 1921 Hard Luck. This one was not my favorite or best Keaton short. However, it does have its bright moments--just a lot of dark ones too. The premise is that his life is so bad that he wants to end it. He rides horses and goes high diving....the ending is surreal.
- 1921 The Goat. Buster is THE GOAT for sure. Though why they titled the film this I'm not sure. This wonderful short--featuring some epic chases and epic trains--was a DELIGHT. And of course it all involves mistaken identities....and odd circumstances. This one is a MUST for sure.
- 1925. Go West. Just when I think I can't love a Buster Keaton film any more than I do....along comes Go West. Words cannot express how much I absolutely LOVED, LOVED, LOVED, LOVED, LOVED, LOVED, LOVED, LOVED, LOVED this movie. Buster Keaton plays FRIENDLESS; he's homeless, jobless, and riding trains. He heads west (of course) and finds himself barreling down a hill unto a new opportunity--a ranch hand. He befriends--albeit slightly reluctantly--a cow named BROWN EYES. The two become inseparable. But what will he do when it's time for the cattle to be sold??? I want to watch this movie a hundred million times. This is the movie I "compelled" my Dad to watch. (I did have to bribe him.)
- 1926 Battling Butler. How much did I love this Buster Keaton film? So much I watched it twice. How much was I expecting to like it? Not as much. You see it's supposedly a "boxing" film. Who wants to watch a film about boxers boxing???? Certainly not me! Or so I thought. Sigh. Buster Keaton plays Alfred Butler, a rich, spoiled man thoroughly dependent on his valet. "Arrange it" is one of his refrains. His father insists on a trip to the mountains to make a man of him. On the trip--hunting and fishing--he ends up falling madly in love with "mountain girl" (that's how she's credited on screen). He proposes (not even needing the help from a love advice column). She accepts. Her family is reluctant until they learn he's Alfred Battling Butler. (He's not). The two share a name--but nothing else. He pretends to be a boxer little knowing he'd be called upon to go the distance and actually face a real boxer (though not in the ring). Will she still love him when the truth comes out??? Buster Keaton needed a double in this one...though not for the boxing....don't be silly. He needed a HAND DOUBLE for showing off the engagement ring in the box since he was missing the tip of his right index finger. (He does not use a hand double in all his films.)
- 1927 Children of Divorce is a silent film starring CLARA BOW and GARY COOPER. Who knew that Gary Cooper acted in silent movies?!?!?! This one was a melodramatic depressing downer. So I ended up wanting most of my time back. Yet I can't say that I regretted seeing BABY Gary Cooper.
- 1928 The Cameraman. Is this one Buster Keaton's most "romantic" silent film????? Maybe. Maybe not. But swoon and sigh. It was FABULOUS. Buster Keaton plays a photographer who falls madly in love with a young girl who works for a news agency? He trades in his camera for an ancient film camera, and, away he goes to try to win her heart by getting the BIG story. This one has it all--even a monkey. The BATHHOUSE scenes are not to be missed. This one is charming through and through. I definitely want to watch again-again.
- 1928 The Circus. This is my first Charlie Chaplin movie. It was DIFFERENT than Keaton for sure. Keaton almost always, always, always, always gets the girls--at least in his silent films/shorts. I suppose The Tramp will always be The Tramp and he'll never settle down and have a wife and kids? This one had some great scenes. I am not hooked on Chaplin yet, however. Still I am glad I started with this one.
1940s
- 1944 Since You Went Away is an emotional war drama starring Claudette Colbert, Jennifer Jones, and Shirley Temple. A wife and daughters struggle with life on the homefront during World War II. Many changes come their way and they open their home to a boarder--a retired officer. This one was LONG nearly three hours. It was written by Selznick and the music score was by the same one who did Gone With the Wind. This one definitely feels classically epic.
1950s
- 1957 Desk Set is a Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn romantic comedy set at an office. Need I say more? Maybe. Maybe not. If you love these two, I probably won't need to sell you on it. This one does have a slightly slower plot, perhaps. But I thought it was worth it in the end. It definitely has a LONG Christmas scene if you're looking for almost Christmas-y movies to watch in the Fall.
2010s
- 2010 Inception is one of my all-time favorite movies. The more I see it, the more I love it. Of course, the more you see it, the more you understand it. Minimum of two views to "get" it. The soundtrack is all kinds of wonderful.
© 2025 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews