Week in Review #15

This week I reviewed eight books.

36. All Creatures Great and Small. James Herriot. 1972. 437 pages. [Source: Library] [semi-autobiographical, adult fiction, animals; 5 stars]

Read this if...

• You enjoy semi-autobiographical, fictionalized stories
• You enjoy rural animal stories
• You enjoy storytellers with a gift for words (the HOW it is told more than the WHAT is told)
• You want to read the book the iconic show is based on

37. The Worthing Saga. Orson Scott Card. 1990. Tor. 465 pages. [Source: Library] [5 stars, adult science fiction, short stories, framework stories]

Read this if...

• You enjoy science fiction and fantasy
• You enjoy stories with deeply flawed characters (extremely well-fleshed out characters, characters that stick with you, but essentially flawed and very human)
• You enjoy stories with a unique framework
• You enjoy your science fiction with a big dose of meaning-of-life questions

33. Board book: Runaway Blanket. Nancy Deas. 2025. 22 pages. [Source: Library] [4 stars, board book, bedtime book]

Read this if...

• You have little ones and are looking for another bedtime book

34. Board book: This Dog. That Dog. Jade Orlando. 2025. 24 pages. [Source: Library] [dogs, pets, board book, 5 stars]

Read this if...

• You enjoy reading board books
• You enjoy reading books about dogs
• You enjoy concept books about opposites

35. Touch and Feel: Baby Animals with tactiles for toddlers to explore. (Board book) DK. 2025. 12 pages. [Source: Library] [4 stars] [interactive, touch and feel]

Read this if....

• You enjoy board books
• You are looking for a recently published touch and feel books with baby animals
• You don't mind all the textures being the same

36. Board book: Richard Scarry's Bunnies. Richard Scarry. 1976/2025. 26 pages. [Source: Library] [4 stars, bunnies, board book]

Read this if...

• You enjoy RICHARD SCARRY
• You like bunnies
• You like vintage books

31. Faith (Brides of the West #1) Lori Copeland. 1998/2020. 320 pages. [Source: Library] [audio book, christian fiction, historical romance, two stars]

Read this if....

• It's a hoopla borrow and you are not picky (that's why I checked it out)
• You enjoy mail order bride stories (and are not picky about how good they are)
• You are inattentive to details and are not weighed down with overthinking about what you are reading

32. And the Beagles and the Bunnies Shall Lie Down Together. Charles M. Schulz. 1984. 100ish pages. [Source: Gift] [4 stars, comic strips, theology]

Read this if...

• You enjoy Peanuts
• You enjoy theology
• You don't mind the inclusion of Halloween as a subject
• You love LINUS especially

Century of Viewing Week #15

1910s

• 1919 Backstage. I love, love, love this one. Roscoe Arbuckle and Buster Keaton have a show to put on....with very little notice. When the star attraction walks out angry--with good reason--the two have a show to save. The show they perform may or may not be wonderful....however this short is. Plenty of mishaps on stage...and Buster gets the chance to shine.
  
• 1919 The Hayseed. Arbuckle/Keaton short. Of their latest shorts, this is the most forgettable perhaps? Maybe just because the others were so stand-out memorable. This one has a rural setting. I can't remember if it's a general store and/or post office? They deliver the mail, I believe. Or maybe that's Buster's job? Anyway, there's a villain who's trying to frame Roscoe's character....and there are a lot of onions to be eaten.
  

1920s

• 1920 The Garage Roscoe Arbuckle and Buster Keaton's last short together. I LOVE this one so much. It has some of my favorite gags in it. I love how buddy-buddy it feels. So the two are working side by side at a garage as mechanics....and as firemen.
  
• 1920 One Week Buster Keaton's first SHORT to be released. This is one of my all-time favorite shorts. It's SWEET, adorable, and FUNNY. A newlywed couple faces all of life's hardest stresses all within the course of one week as they build their first home together--out of a box-kit. A former rival has mis-numbered the boxes and chaos results. The weather is not kind either! Will these two survive their first week of marriage?
  
• 1920 The Saphead. This is Buster Keaton's FIRST feature film. He was loaned out to another studio to do this movie. This was his first time to be a FEATURE star...as in not a sidekick. He plays the son of a wealthy man...who's trying to win the love of his life BY following the advice of a silly book. The book tells him that the modern girl ONLY loves bad boys. Drink. Gamble. Waste away your day. Stay out all night. Have a string of girls...etc. However, Bertie can't help being GOOD and wanting to say his prayers every day. What a relief that *his* girl is not a 'modern girl' and she loves him EXACTLY the way he is....the problem....HIS father still doesn't approve and puts up obstacles. Still it is his no-good brother-in-law who may just ruin his chance for happiness.....
  
• 1920 Convict 13. Buster Keaton is a golfer.....who ends up having a weird dream sequence. It is not my favorite or best. HOWEVER it does have its enjoyable moments. This one, I believe, uses some of the gags that he used to do on vaudeville (the whole table act with him throwing around a basketball on a rope). It has its funny moments for sure. And I do like aspects of it.
  
• 1920 The Scarecrow. Buster Keaton is a farm hand smitten with the farmer's daughter. However there is another rival for her affection. (Well, she is NOT in any way interested in the other guy.) This one has many, many merry and not-so-merry chases around the farm. It is FUN and SILLY and WONDERFUL. I absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE how this one resolves. The last half of this one is just magical.
  
• 1920 Neighbors. Buster Keaton's character is head over heels in love with the girl next door--woman next door, let's be clear. The families HATE each other. There seems to be no way for these two to marry without causing major DRAMA. But that won't stop these two from trying....and the judge marrying them is a good sport.
  
• 1921 The Haunted House. I am not sure if The Haunted House or One Week was my first *short* to watch with Buster. But OH how much difference time makes. I didn't *love* this one the first time around. Now I adore it oh-so-much. I do. I truly do. Buster Keaton plays a BANK CLERK who is having a BAD DAY. He ends up in a haunted house--aka the secret hideout for a gang of counterfeiters.
  
• 1921 Hard Luck. Buster Keaton short. This one is definitely not my favorite or best. He plays a man down on his luck who is trying to un-end himself. Of course he doesn't have any luck. This is a comedy after all. He has some misadventures--including going fishing, going hunting, and doing some high diving. This one does have a BEAR. There's a long sequence where Buster has to get up on a horse many, many, many times. He finds a different way to mount each time, plenty of comedic moments. The fishing scene was also humorous. Still the story isn't my favorite or best.
  
• 1921 High Sign I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this Buster Keaton short. I do. It was his first to film independently--without Roscoe. It was not his first to release. It is a good bridge between the two periods of his career, I believe. It is 1000% silly. It is extremely surreal. Buster plays a man who is hired to be both a HIT MAN (by the Blinking Buzzards) and a bodyguard (by a father and daughter). He soon realizes that he's being paid to kill the man he's being paid to protect. It is silly. It is fun. It grows on you. Granted you might not be at the point where you'll watch the same short half a dozen times in a month or two, but, this one has grown on me so much.
  
• 1926 The General. My favorite Buster Keaton film. My steady Friday night commitment. I watched the William Perry soundtrack The General. I am still open to revisiting the Carl Davis one which I watched for the first time last week. So the plot? (As if you didn't know if you've been keeping up with my blog this year at all) Johnnie Gray loves TWO things--his train, The General, and his girl, Annabelle. When both are kidnapped by the enemy--Northerner spies--Johnnie Gray will risk everything to get them back. 
  

1950s

• 1952 April in Paris Doris Day and Ray Bolger star in this musical. He works for the government--an assistant to the undersecretary of the secretary of something or other. (There's a song because of course there's a song). He was supposed to invite a famous actress to this convention in Paris, France, but he accidentally invites Ethel "Dynamite" Jackson (Doris Day's character, I believe that's her stage name?). On the cruise ship, these two do a little after-hour partying/dancing (in the kitchen) and decide they *must* marry on the spot...but will their marriage last. Ray Bolger comes across as a Buster Keaton clone in this one. His mannerisms, his expressions, EVERYTHING seems to be so Buster. I know, I know, I know that I might be seeing Buster where another wouldn't. But his facial expressions are so spot-on for being Buster. Except, of course, he's much taller.
  

1960s

• 1967 Doctor, You've Got To Be Kidding. Sandra Dee and George Hamilton star in this one. She plays a young woman whose mother risks it all for her daughter to have a chance at becoming a singer, a somebody. She is content to be a secretary who sings for fun with her friends and family. Her boss--George Hamilton's character--is an egomaniac. Yet apparently he's so charismatic that she finds him irresistible...at least for one night. This romantic comedy has her pregnant out of wedlock with three friends willing to step in and say I do.....
  

1990s

• 1995 Babe. Apparently while other people my age were watching Empire Records [and Clueless], I was watching Babe. (Though to be fair, I was a big fan of Clueless.) Babe is super-quotable, and at least for me so iconic. Babe, a pig, finds his place in the world. Lots of FOUND FAMILY. It is precious and adorable. Singing mice.
  
• 1995 Empire Records I don't know *how* I missed this movie. But I had. It wasn't until everyone seemed to be posting about Rex Manning day that I became curious enough to seek this one out. IT was definitely entertaining and I can see why it has a following. I can see why if you grew up watching this one, it might be one you quoted often. I liked it. I would definitely be open to seeing it again. Though I'm not sure it will be an again-again-again-again thing. But once a year on Rex Manning day....I might could do that so long as it's streaming free. [I watched on Pluto] The plot??? It follows a group of coworkers over a twenty-four hour period. They work at EMPIRE RECORDS. Each one has his/her own worries/concerns. Rex Manning, a musician, will be visiting the store [on his tour] signing albums, etc.
  

2020s

• 2023 Alien Intervention. This is a low-budget, slightly-different alien movie. It is set in 1967/1992. An alien visits a young desert girl and asks her to hide his glowing blue stone for safekeeping since he's just minutes away from being apprehended by the men in black, let's say. He returns for the stone twenty-five years later...she's still in the desert....and her life is in the dumps. She needs....wait for it....an alien intervention....to gain perspective on life. This one was character-driven and thoughtful. I don't know that I absolutely love it. HOWEVER, it was definitely worth watching.
  
• 2025 Cinderella's Castle. This is a Team StarKid musical production. I'm not sure if it was *filmed* in 2025, but released on YouTube in 2025...it was. This is a darkly comedic [sometimes crude] adaptation of Cinderella...if Cinderella had skin-wearing trolls as villains. I was very conflicted as I was watching this one. On the one hand, some of the songs are super-catchy and the puppet work for some of the characters was just working for me. On the other hand, some of it is just distasteful, intentionally so. It is DARK and disturbing in some ways. But extremely light and silly in others. I did like the resolution. I know that if I coaxed myself to watch it a second time, I'd probably have the songs grow on me more and convince myself that I like it. I don't necessarily want to. I know that it won't be on YouTube forever and it was quite crude in places.
  

© 2025 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews