Throwback Thursday: I Love Lucy, Season One

I recently spent a week rewatching the first season of I Love Lucy. I discovered the show the summer before going into seventh grade. The VCR was super-helpful back in the day. I recorded the episodes each night and watched them in the morning before heading off to school.

This time I watched courtesy of interlibrary loan.

I thought I would share my top ten list of episodes from that first season.

1. The Young Fans. I love, love, love this episode. In this episode, a teenage girl, Peggy, falls head over heels in love with Ricky while a teenage boy, Arthur, falls in love with Lucy. SIDESTEP, SIDESTEP, SIDESTEP. Keep jiggling, Peggy.

2. Lucy Fakes Illness. This is probably my Mom's favorite episode--at least from this season. Lucy's illness--turns out--are the go-bloots. The go-bloots can lead to a person needing to have part or all of their zorch removed via zorchectomy. But even if the doctors are able to save half of a person's zorch, the person will never be able to trummle again. Trummling is an involuntary internal process that much is unknown about.

3. Ricky Thinks He's Getting Bald. I'll be honest, this isn't *my* third favorite episode. But it is my Dad's favorite episode. He walked in while I was watching it, identified the episode right away, and started quoting whole bits of dialogue. Since this is so unlike him, I concluded it must be a favorite to make that big an impression.

4. Lucy Does a TV Commercial. This one may be the most famous. I do like it. It is quotable. But those people knew what they were doing--they knew the alcoholic content of the product they were advertising. They kept having her drink big spoonfuls so she'd be ready for the commercial. They had to see that she was getting very tipsy. But they did nothing.

5. The Marriage License. I love this one that has the couple getting remarried. They go to a small town where one man seems to wear all the hats--do all the jobs. But that isn't quite true, it turns out.

6. The Amateur Hour. In this one, Lucy accidentally finds herself babysitting twins. The mom did not tell her--warn her--that there were TWO boys. It takes a while for Lucy to figure it out. POOR Lucy, those boys are WILD. But they do help her win a talent show when she takes their mother's place in the routine.

7.  The Ballet. One word: Martha. That's not quite true. IN this attempt to get into the show, Lucy first tries ballet and then a burlesque routine. She learns "Slowly I Turned..."

8. Pioneer Women. Lucy and Ethel are determined to win a bet with Ricky and Fred. Who can survive the longest living as if it was the turn of the century?

9. Breaking the Lease. What lengths won't Ricky and Lucy go to when they're determined to get out of their lease agreement?

10. New Neighbors. There were so many that could go in this last spot. But I like this one where Lucy pretends to be a chair to "escape" her new "Russian" neighbors who are ought to take over the country.

© 2019 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood: The Poetry of Mister Rogers. Illustrated by Luke Flowers. 2019. [March] Quirk. 144 pages. [Source: Review copy]

First sentence: 

Won't You Be My Neighbor
It's a beautiful day in this neighborhood
A beautiful day for a neighbor.
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?

Premise/plot: Quirk is publishing the poetry of Mister Rogers. I'll give you a moment or two to squeal. Most of the pieces are by Fred Rogers. But quite a few are by Josie Carey with the music being by Fred Rogers. These poems--or lyrics if you prefer--are noted as such. The book contains pieces that you'd expect: "Won't You Be My Neighbor," "Everything Grows Together," "Many Ways To Say I Love You," "You Are Special," "I'm Proud of You," "It's You I Like," and "What Do You Do With the Mad That You Feel." But it also contains pieces that you've likely unfamiliar with. The songs that I did not know sometimes offered the most poetic food for thought.

I do not believe the book contains every poem--or song--by Mister Rogers. I can think of a handful it doesn't seem to include. (For example, "I'm Taking Care of You," "Look and Listen," "Peace and Quiet," "One and One are Two," "Everybody's Fancy."

This site seems to have a thorough listing of all the songs--including the ones from the operas. 

My thoughts: I LOVED this one. I especially loved the illustrations that were connected with Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. For example, the illustration that goes with "It's You I Like" shows Mr. Rogers singing with a boy in a wheel chair. Adults most likely will make the connection to a very memorable episode. I'm not sure if children will be as familiar with the show. But whether your little one knows the shows or not--the words have a way of speaking for themselves. Some of them are timeless and WONDERFUL.

Excerpts from some of my favorites.

It's Good To Talk
People weren't born to be silent
Our tongues make wonderful sounds.
Just try a few phrases for practice
You'll see there are very few bounds.

Things Are Different
You never know the story
By the cover of the book.
You can't tell what a dinner's like
By simply looking at the cook.

Sometimes Isn't Always
Sometimes I DON'T feel like combing my hair.
I DON'T feel like washing my face sometimes.
Sometimes I DON'T feel like saying okay.
But sometimes isn't always.

Are You Brave?
Are you brave and don't know it?
Are you brave and can't tell?
Are you brave and just don't show it?
While others know it very well?
Are you brave and you wonder?
Are you brave and you doubt?

Then Your Heart Is Full of Love
Love is fragile as your tears.
Love is stronger than your fears.
When your heart can sing another's gladness
Then your heart is full of love.
When your heart can cry another's sadness
Then your heart is full of love.

© 2019 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

World at War: Veronica

Veronica. (Sunfire #18) Jane Claypool Miner. 1986. Scholastic. 220 pages. [Source: Bought]

First sentence: The party looked just as boring as Veronica feared, and she planned her retreat the minute she entered the room.

Premise/plot: Veronica is set in Hawaii in 1941. The novel opens a few months before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Veronica Stewart is our sixteen year old heroine. Throughout the book she'll be courted by two young men: a slightly older sailor, Phillip, and a fellow classmate, Mike. Her snobbish mother disapproves of both. She disapproves of Mike because he's Hawaiian. She disapproves of Phillip because he's a sailor--not an officer in the Navy. (Veronica's father is an officer in the Navy). Both men are dying of love for her--or so they claim. Veronica realizes sixteen is too young to go steady or become engaged.

Veronica is staying over at a friends house the day of the bombing. She is an eyewitness to the Japanese planes flying overhead, an eyewitness to the bombs dropping, an eyewitness to a horrifying, unforgettable day. Most people who lived through it probably didn't need a reminder to remember Pearl Harbor.

My thoughts: The opening of Veronica reminds me of Gone With The Wind. Scarlett O'Hara is also sixteen. Both Scarlett and Veronica are super-super-bored by talk of politics and war. Both Scarlett and Veronica wish parties were more party-like and FUN for the young. Both Scarlett and Veronica end up serving the war cause in one way or another. But fortunately the similarities are only on the surface.

Veronica is young and carefree at the start of the novel. She's not had to grow up quickly by being weighed down by adult-size worries. But the war does change that--and she adapts well to the situation. She welcomes responsibilities and grows into a lovely young woman.


I grew up reading the Sunfire romance novels. I did. Some I reread many, many times. Some I just read once or twice. I loved the sweetness of them. They are definitely quick escapist reads. Though the subject is war, this one isn't super-serious--not like The Diary of Anne Frank or The Book Thief.

Each book does feature a love triangle. Usually readers can guess which hero is THE ONE very early on. If not, there's always the cheater-pants way to tell--by looking at the end first.

Veronica would have been born circa 1925--a year younger than my grandmother would have been when the war started.

The original readers of Veronica would have been born circa 1972-1978.

Dear Scholastic:
If I thought begging would do any good, I would plead with you to republish the Sunfire romance series originally published in the 1980s. The "name" books were my favorite-and-best books from my middle years--my first introduction to the wonderful genre of historical romance. It's a love that's still going strong, by the way. I know the Sunfire books don't contain vampires, werewolves, fairies, or demons. But why should romance novels contain such in the first place. If they were worth publishing in the first place--which they so clearly were--they are worth republishing.

I have given it a lot of thought. I have. And I think it would be wonderful if the books were republished as e-books for the same price as the original paperback books were released. Granted, I would love to see PRINT copies as well. But I imagine that they would cost more than the lovely $2.95 of the originals! But for an e-book, the thought is IT'S WORTH EVERY PENNY.

Becky

© 2018 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

2019 Reading Challenges: World at War

World At War Reading Challenge
Host: Becky's Book Reviews
Sign up here
Duration: January - December 2019
Goal: My goal is to read at least 52 books--fiction, nonfiction.

What I've read:

 1. Veronica. (Sunfire #18) Jane Claypool Miner. 1986. Scholastic. 220 pages. [Source: Bought]
2. The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler. John Hendrix. 2018. Harry N. Abrams. 176 pages. [Source: Review copy]
3. Winnie's Great War. Lindsay Mattick and Josh Greenhut. Illustrated by Sophie Blackall. 2018. Little, Brown. 244 pages. [Source: Library]
4. The Plot Against America. Philip Roth. 2004. 391 pages. [Source: Library]
5. Love to Everyone. Hilary McKay. 2018. 336 pages. [Source: Library]
6. The Diary of a Young Girl. Anne Frank (The Definitive Edition). Edited by Otto Frank and Mirjam Pressler. Translated by Susan Massotty. 1947/1996. 352 pages. [Source: Bought]
7. Code Name: Lise. Larry Loftis. 2019. 384 pages. [Source: Library]
8. The Book Thief. Markus Zusak. 2006. Random House. 560 pages. [Source: Bought]
9. I Survived The Nazi Invasion, 1944. Lauren Tarshis. 2014. Scholastic. 112 pages. [Source: Review copy]
10. Hattie Big Sky. Kirby Larson. 2006. 289 pages. [Source: Library]
11. How I Became A Spy. Deborah Hopkinson. 2019. Random House. 272 pages. [Source: Library]
12. Anne Frank's Diary: The Graphic Adaptation. Adapted by Ari Folman. Original text by Anne Frank. Illustrated by David Polonsky. 2018. 160 pages. [Source: Review copy]
13. Number the Stars. Lois Lowry. 1989. (Won Newbery in 1990) 137 pages. [Source: Bought]
14. Invisible Heroes of World War II: True Stories That Should Never Be Forgotten. Jerry Borrowman. 2019. Shadow Mountain. 208 pages. [Source: Review copy]
15. The Only Woman in the Room. Marie Benedict. 2019. Sourcebooks. 256 pages. [Source: Library]
16. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption. Laura Hillenbrand. 2010. Random House. 473 pages. [Source: Bought]
17. Courageous. Yona Zeldis McDonough. 2018. [Nov] Scholastic. 192 pages. [Source: Review copy]
18. Courage to Be Counted. (A Clubmobile Girls Novel) Eleri Grace. 2019. Bugle Call Books. 350 pages. [Source: Review copy]
19. Resistance. Jennifer A. Nielsen. 2018. Scholastic. 385 pages. [Source: Review copy]
20. The Good Son: A Story From the First World War Told In Miniature. Pierre-Jacques Ober. Illustrated by Jules Ober and Felicity Coonan. 2019. Candlewick Press. 104 pages. [Source: Review copy]
21. The Tattooist of Auschwitz. Heather Morris. 2018. 262 pages. [Source: Library]
22. Crossing Stones. Helen Frost. 2009. FSG. 184 pages. [Source: Library]
22. Ten Cents A Dance. Christine Fletcher. 2008. Bloomsbury. 356 pages. [Source: Review copy]
23. The Girl With The White Flag. Tomiko Higa. Translated by Dorothy Britton. 1989. 130 pages. [Source: Bought]
24. A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II. Sonia Purnell. 2019. 368 pages. [Source: Library]
25. In Farleigh Field. Rhys Bowen. 2017. Lake Union. 397 pages. [Source: Review copy]
26. Resistance Women. Jennifer Chiaverini. 2019. 608 pages. [Source: Library]
27. The Victory Garden. Rhys Bowen. 2019. 368 pages. [Source: Library]
28. . Mistress of the Ritz. Melanie Benjamin. 2019. Random House. 384 pages. [Source: Review copy]
29. Climbing the Stairs. Padma Venkatraman. 2008. 256 pages. [Source: Bought]
30. Standing Up Against Hate: How Black Women in the Army Helped Change the Course of World War II. Mary Cronk Farrell. 2019. 208 pages. [Source: Review copy]
31. Lovely War. Julie Berry. 2019. 480 pages. [Source: Library]
32. The Brave Princess and Me. Kathy Kacer. Illustrated by Juliana Kolesova. 2019. 32 pages. [Source: Review copy]
33. A Place to Belong. Cynthia Kadohata. Illustrated by Julia Kuo. 2019. 416 pages. [Source: Library]
34.  The Flight Girls. Noelle Salazar. 2019. 384 pages. [Source: Library]
35. One Good Deed. David Baldacci. 2019. 432 pages. [Source: Library]
36. The Tuscan Child. Rhys Bowen. 2018. 336 pages. [Source: Library]
37. Billy Boyle (Billy Boyle #1) James R. Benn. 2006. 294 pages. [Source: Library]
38. Girl Waits With Gun. (Kopp Sisters #1) Amy Stewart. 2015. 408 pages. [Source: Review copy]
39. The First Wave (Billy Boyle #2) James R. Benn. 2007. 304 pages. [Source: Library]
40. Lady Cop Makes Trouble. Kopp Sisters #2. Amy Stewart. 2016. 310 pages. [Source: Library]
41. Blood Alone (Billy Boyle #3) James R. Benn. 2008. 313 pages. [Source: Library]
42. Evil for Evil. (Billy Boyle #4) James R. Benn. 2009. 320 pages. [Source: Library]

43. Miss Kopp's Midnight Confessions. (Kopp Sisters #3) Amy Stewart. 2017. 374 pages. [Source: Library]
44. White Bird: A Wonder Story. R.J. Palacio. 2019. 224 pages. [Source: Library]
45. Rag and Bone (Billy Boyle World War II #5) James R. Benn. 2010. 320 pages. [Source: Library]
45.  Miss Kopp Just Won't Quit (Kopp Sisters #4) Amy Stewart. 2018. 309 pages. [Source: Library]
46. Fing's War. Benny Lindelauf. Translated into English by John Nieuwenhuitzen. 2019. 376 pages. [Source: Library]
47.  Cilka's Journey (The Tattooist of Auschwitz #2) Heather Morris. 2019. St. Martin's Pres. 352 pages. [Source: Library]
48. . A Mortal Terror (Billy Boyle #6) James R. Benn. 2011. 345 pages. [Source: Library]
49. Christmas at the Foyles Bookshop. Elaine Roberts. 2019. 297 pages. [Source: Review copy]
50. Christmas on the Home Front. (Land Girls #3) Roland Moore. 2019. 273 pages. [Source: Review copy]
51.
52.


The "official" categories:

_ Any book published 1914-1918
_ Any book published 1918-1924
_ Any book published 1925-1930
_ Any book published 1931-1938
_ Any book published 1939-1945
_ A nonfiction book about World War I
_ A nonfiction book about 1910s and 20s
_ A nonfiction book about 1920s and 30s
_ A nonfiction book about 1930s
_ A nonfiction book about World War II
_ A fiction book set during World War I
_ A fiction book set 1918-1924
_ A fiction book set in the 1920s
_ A fiction book set in the 1930s
_ A fiction book set during World War II
_ A book set in the United States or Canada
_ A book set in England, Ireland, or Scotland
_ A book set in Europe
_ A book set in Asia or Middle East
_ A book set elsewhere (a country/continent not already read for the challenge)
_ A book focused on "the war"
_ A book focused on "the homefront"
_ Watch any movie released in 1940s
_ Watch any movie released in the 1930s
_ Watch any movie about either war

Feel free to copy/paste this. You can replace the _ with an X or a ✔ (copy/paste it) when you finish reading a book. If you list the books you read, that may help other people decide what to read.


© 2019 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

84, Charing Cross Road

84, Charing Cross Road. Helene Hanff. 1970. 97 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: Gentlemen: Your ad in the Saturday Review of Literature says that you specialize in out-of-print books.

Premise/plot: 84, Charing Cross Road is a collection of letters exchanged between the author, Helen Hanff, and a British book dealer, Marks & Company. The first letter is dated October 5, 1949, and the last is dated October 1969. Many of the letters are between Helene and Frank Doel. The letters focus mainly on books and authors--titles she's hoping to buy, titles she's enjoyed, titles she's hated. But the letters also include plenty of chit-chat as she gets to know the employees of the shop and the families of the employees as well.

The letters contain flashes of spirit that are charming.

October 15, 1951
WHAT KIND OF A PEPYS' DIARY DO YOU CALL THIS? this is not pepys' diary, this is some busybody editor's miserable collection of excerpts from pepys' diary may he rot. I could just spit. where is jan. 12, 1668, where his wife chased him out of bed and around the bedroom with a red-hot poker? where is sir w. pen's son that was giving everybody so much trouble with his Quaker notions? ONE mention does he get in this whole pseudo-book. and me from philadelphia. I enclose two limp singles, i will make do with this thing till you find me a real Pepys. THEN i will rip up this ersatz book, page by page, and WRAP THINGS IN IT. HH (31)

 May 11, 1952
Dear Frank:
Meant to write you the day the Angler arrived, just to thank you, the woodcuts alone are worth ten times the price of the book. What a weird world we live in when so beautiful a thing can be owned for life--for the price of a ticket to a Broadway movie palace, or 1/50th the cost of having one tooth capped. Well, if your books cost what they're worth I couldn't afford them! You'll be fascinated to learn (from me that hates novels) that I finally got round to Jane Austen and went out of my mind over Pride and Prejudice which I can't bring myself to take back to the library till you find me a copy of my own. Regards to Nora and the wage-slaves. HH (50)

My thoughts: What a lovely way to start a new year!!! This is a charming collection of letters. If you love books about books, or, if you love meeting other book lovers, then this is a true must read.


© 2019 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews