Becky's Book Reviews: Week in Review #6

Saturday, February 08, 2025

Week in Review #6

I read nine books this week.

11. Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All. Chanel Miller. 2024. 160 pages. [Source: Library] [4 stars, Newbery Honor, mg realistic, family, friendship, light mystery]

Read this book if...

You enjoy coming of age novels with strong friendship themes
You enjoy books set in New York City
You enjoy books about race/racism
You enjoy books with LIGHT mysteries (missing socks)
You enjoy reading Newbery Honors

12. Up, Up, Ever Up! Junko Tabei: A Life in the Mountains. Anita Yasuda. Illustrated by Yuko Shimizu. 2024. 48 pages. [Source: Library] [nonfiction picture book, 3 stars]

Read this book if...

You enjoy nonfiction picture book biographies
You have an interest in outdoors adventures and sports (mountain climbing)
You have an interest in conservation activists
You enjoy reading Caldecott Honors

13. Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World: The Extraordinary True Story of Shackleton and the Endurance. Jennifer Armstrong. 1998. Random House. 144 pages. [Source: Library] [5 stars, nonfiction, history, biography, adventure, South Pole, survival]

Read this book if...

You enjoy nonfiction books for middle grade (on up)
You enjoy adventure/survival stories
You enjoy history and biography
You have an interest in Antarctic explorers/exploration
You love a compelling nonfiction narrative

11. Noodles on a Bicycle. Kyo Maclear. Illustrated by Gracey Zhang. 2024. 40 pages. [Source: Library] [5 stars, Caldecott Honor, historical picture book, picture book]

Read this book if...

You enjoy historical picture books
You enjoy books set in other countries [Japan]
You enjoy learning about other cultures
You enjoy reading Caldecott honors
You enjoy fantastic storytelling

12. Gnome and Rat First Snow (Gnome and Rat #3) Lauren Stohler. 2024. [November] 80 pages. [Source: Library] [3 stars, graphic novel, early chapter book]

Read this book if...

You enjoyed the first (or second) Gnome and Rat book
You enjoy early chapter books
You enjoy early graphic novels
You enjoy humorous graphic novels

13. Pasta! These Names are Fun To Say. Felice Arena. Illustrated by Beatrice Cerocchi. 2024. 32 pages. [Source: Library] [3 stars]

Read this book if...

You like silly books that beg to be read aloud
You enjoy noodles!

10. Found: God's Will. John F. MacArthur Jr. 1972/1998. 64 pages. [Source: Bought] [Five stars, christian nonfiction, Christian living]

Read this book if...

You are looking for GOOD, solid advice on how to better live the Christian life
You are looking for quick reads with substance

11. C.S. Lewis at War: The Dramatic Story Behind Mere Christianity. Focus on the Family Radio Theatre. Paul McCusker screenplay. 2013. Tyndale. 2 Discs. [Source: Inter-Library] [4 stars, audio book]

Read this book if...

You have an interest in C.S. Lewis
You have an interest in British RADIO during World War II
You enjoy audio plays

12. The Indigo Heiress. Laura Frantz. 2025. 416 pages. [Source: Library] [4 stars, christian fiction, historical romance, clean historical romance]

Read this book if...

You have a weakness for Scottish men [and their accents]
You enjoy historical romance [clean historical romance]
You enjoy christian historical romance
You enjoy MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE stories
You don't mind a little melodrama

Century of Viewing Round-Up for Week #6

1910s

1917 Coney Island is a short starring Roscoe Arbuckle and Buster Keaton. If I hadn't already been long gone, way past head over heels, truly madly deeply in love with Buster Keaton BEFORE watching this one, it would send me there. This one has a lot of mischief--as Roscoe is trying to escape his wife...and everyone (including Roscoe) is after Buster's girl. (The girl does seem like she just wants a ticket to the amusement park.) BUSTER AS LIFEGUARD.
1917 His Wedding Night is another short starring Roscoe Arbuckle and Buster Keaton. This one has Buster Keaton in the role of a delivery boy. Sounds like a small part, except, for Buster there are no small parts. The bride-to-be asks HIM to model the wedding gown, and, well the VILLAIN kidnaps Buster by mistake. EVERYONE is fooled even the groom himself. It's silly. Buster laughs and smiles. It's nice enough. The story isn't the best. But BUSTER.
1917 Oh, Doctor! This is another Roscoe Arbuckle and Buster Keaton short. In this one, the comedy duo play father and son. Buster is dressed up as a kid. Roscoe plays a HORRIBLE doctor who gets duped by other horrible people. Probably my least favorite short I've seen so far this year.
1917 The Rough House is another Arbuckle/Keaton short. Buster Keaton plays a handful of different roles in this one. It is not my favorite or best. I'm not sure if Oh Doctor or The Rough House is my least favorite. Still I don't regret watching it because it does have Buster!
1918 The Cook. Yes, I watched The Cook in January. Yes, The Cook factors into my zealous obsession of sorts with Buster Keaton. This one is in some ways broken into three acts: Buster as waiter/dancer; Buster and friends eating spaghetti; and the friends all hanging out on the beach. Two out of three are PERFECTLY PERFECT. Not sure why the beach scene stuff is part of it??? But still, one not to be missed.
1918 The Bellboy is another Arbuckle/Keaton short. In this one the two play bell boys at a less than luxurious resort. The two share an interest in the manicurist. This one is funny...zany even. Plenty of stunts and antics. I think this was the short where I started to better appreciate Arbuckle.
1919 Backstage is another Arbuckle/Keaton short. In this one the back-stage help is forced to become THE ON STAGE talent on very quick notice. There's a villain [boo, hiss] but thank goodness for Buster's quick thinking! This one was HILARIOUS. And I absolutely loved so many things about it.

1920s

1920 The Scarecrow stars Buster Keaton and Sybil Seely. In this one, Buster Keaton plays a farmhand in a "like triangle" with the farmer's daughter, I believe. Two farm hands (living together) are in pursuit of the same girl. This one also BORROWS Luke the Dog from Roscoe Arbuckle. The ENDING OF THIS ONE WAS SO WONDERFULLY SILLY.
1920 Neighbors is a Buster Keaton short. He is truly, madly, deeply in love with the girl next door. The parents of BOTH object--violently, as in get the cops involved violent. Will these two ever get married?
1922 My Wife's Relations. This is a Buster Keaton short. I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED, LOVED, LOVED, LOVED, LOVED it. Buster Keaton is FALSELY "accused" if you will of breaking a window. A woman literally drags him before a judge to tattle on him. The judge--who only speaks POLISH--thinks they are a couple wanting to get married. YES, the pair finds themselves married to one another...for better or worse. She takes him home to her large Irish family--multiple generations. This one never stops. Every single scene had me at hello. It was HILARIOUS. I loved every single second. I watched it THREE times in two days.
1922 Cops. I am just going to have to divide this one into two parts. As far as STUNTS and action sequences go, it is worth the hype. Chances are if you've seen a montage of Buster Keaton's stunts, you've seen all the best highlights of Cops. Scene after scene after scene you see Buster performing incredible stunts. BUT. I absolutely hated the story so much. Well, that's not fair. THE ENDING WAS THE WORST. Like, a chase scene is *only* good as far as I'm concerned if he's not caught. It might not be a popular opinion, but I did NOT care for Cops at all. Well, I can definitely appreciate the stunts and some sequences. But that ending is HORRIBLE.
1923 Three Ages is a feature-length Buster Keaton film. Three "timeless" love stories are woven together. The ages are the stone age, the Roman empire, and the modern world (1920s). Buster is in love in all three, the family opposes him as suitor, and another rival is preferred. This one has a HILARIOUS scene where Buster is reacting to crab on his plate. Is it the best Buster Keaton feature? NO. Of course not. But I enjoyed elements of it.
1926 The General. Is The General *still* my favorite Buster Keaton feature film. Probably. Definitely. Perhaps. I may just have to watch it 89 more times to be certain. (You think I'm joking, but I'm not. I've already watched it three times--twice in January, once in February.) The plot: Johnnie Gray, a train engineer, wants to enlist in the Confederate army after Ft. Sumter is fired upon. However, he's rejected as a soldier to his own dismay and that of his girl (one of his two loves) and the girls' family. Dejected, he continues on with his regular work UNTIL one day when spies kidnap the two things he loves most--his train, THE GENERAL, and his girl, Annabelle.

1930s

1930 Free and Easy. Buster Keaton feature film. OH MY HEART. I am so conflicted. On the one hand, the ending is SO sad. I could almost taste tears sad. So much was conveyed without saying a single word. [Buster is great at that.] Back to the plot itself, it starts in KANSAS. Buster plays an agent accompanying a young, beautiful woman who hopes to become a Hollywood star. Elvira is joined by her protective, domineering mother. As the story unfolds, it seems EVERYONE including Elmer (Buster) and her mother have star potential and gets work in movies....except for her. She falls in love with a [boo, hiss] guy who is a WOLF I tell you. This one has some great scenes in it. It's a movie about making movies. It stars Buster Keaton. It is a MUSICAL with song and dance numbers. How could I not love this one. Yet, it caused me to yell at the tv. I fully expected Elvira to come to her senses and see how much Elmer loved her--in every way that mattered. The song YOU DON'T KNOW ME comes to mind. I definitely want to rewatch this one a couple of times at least before returning to the library. (Let's be honest, unless a hold comes in, it will be living here for a while.)
1934 Le Roi des Champs-Elysees. Missing is Buster's wonderful voice: it's dubbed into French. This is a FRENCH movie never released in the United States. I was able to watch with English subtitles. Buster plays two roles in this one. A LOVABLE BUT CLUMSY fellow who can't seem to get anything right (though he lands a role in a play) and a GANGSTER JUST RELEASED FROM PRISON. This one perhaps suffers from being unevenly paced. But the last half of the movie was all kinds of fabulous. Once the plot unfolds and the action begins, I was definitely enjoying it!!!
1938 Vivacious Lady stars Jimmy Stewart and Ginger Rogers. He marries her [a New York City show girl [performer]] on a whim and takes her home to meet his family...or does he. Will he ever tell his uptight family about his WIFE? This one features a fight-scene between his wife and his supposed girlfriend. The writing is great. It's definitely an enjoyable romantic comedy.

1940s

1940 His Ex Marks the Spot. Buster Keaton plays a man [ELMER, I believe] in a difficult position. His current finances are being DRAINED by his having to pay alimony to his ex-wife. His current wife is MAD, MAD, SUPER MAD at their current situation. She's suffering because of the alimony payments. The ex has it "better" than the current wife. To stop the payments, he decided to ask his ex-wife and her boyfriend to move in with them. This of course leads to many opportunities for comedy.
1940 The Villain Still Pursues Her is a parody/comedy. It parodies old-fashioned morality tales that warn of the dangers of alcohol. Edward Middleton falls prey to a mustached villain--the trickery occurs on his wedding day, no less. As his life crumbles, a faithful family friend WILLIAM DALTON (BUSTER KEATON) stands by and watches over the family. I can't say that I loved this one. But Buster Keaton's role was fabulous and the joy of the picture. It was silly and over the top. But fun nevertheless--like the pie throwing scene.

1950s

1950 The Jackpot. James Stewart's character learns the hard way that free is not always "FREE" when he wins a radio quiz show and his entire world collapses as a result. Also features Barbara Hale before her time on Perry Mason.

1960s

1962 Panic in Year Zero is a realistic take on WHAT a nuclear attack might look like--if it happened in the early 60s. It stars Frankie Avalon in a SERIOUS role. I didn't know he did anything other than beach romances. It is heavy subject handled well. I definitely thought it was a great drama. It has a great line that goes something like this: "I went looking for the worst in others and I found it in myself instead..." It's been about six or seven days since I watched it but relatively close to that.

1990s

1993 Benny and Joon is a movie I absolutely LOVE AND ADORE. And now I am seeing Buster Keaton everywhere. Literally. The movie starts off with Sam (Johnny Depp's character) reading a book about Buster Keaton. Later a cardboard cutout of Buster appears at a VIDEO STORE scene. And then, of course, there's SAM'S HAT and his hat tricks. Yes, Sam's character isn't solely inspired by Buster Keaton. There are other influences as well, but still. But I've loved this one since 1993/1994--long, long, long before I had any interest in Buster Keaton. It's a FANTASTIC love story with a GREAT THEME SONG. (500 Miles).
1993 Groundhog Day is a Bill Murray film that I could watch again-again-again. I do love this time-loop movie that goes from shallow to meaning of life. Highly recommended.

2020s

2024 Virgin River, season 6. BOY DID I STRUGGLE WITH THIS SEASON. Well, actually the last two seasons???? I'm at the point where I don't remember why I ever started this show but I've invested so much time in the two main characters getting together that I hate to dump the series. This season was all about the WEDDING.
2024 Here. Here is a premise-driven movie starring Tom Hanks (and others like Paul Bettany and Robin Wright). The main character is a PLOT of land, literally. All the action occurs at the exact same spot through the ages. I would say about 80 percent of the plot follows three generations of one family. A young couple moves into the house [shortly] after World War II. They raise their family there. Their son, Richard, raises his family there. This movie--intentional or not--brings to mind the book of ECCLESIASTES. There is *nothing* new under the sun. And this movie captures thousands of snapshots of humanity, of family, of life at its best and worst. It hits REALLY, REALLY, REALLY hard in places. And it doesn't shy away from the darker emotions. And relationships are raw. These aren't people behaving at their absolute best. These are private moments.