Becky's Book Reviews

Friday, January 16, 2026

Week in Review #3

This week I read seven books!

I read three Laura Ingalls Wilder book on audio: Little Town on the Prairie, These Happy Golden Years, and The First Four Years. The library now has By the Shores of Silver Lake and Farmer Boy on audio. They didn't last week or the week before. So I may go back and read these to complete the series. (I read some of this series in December 2025.)

My least favorite book of the week is Traitors in Space. It's not that I think it's a bad book. I do think there will be young readers who do enjoy this choose your own adventure book. I think IF you approach it over a series of days or even weeks. If you read the story-path you've chosen ALL at once--beginning to end, and stay immersed in the story, it might work well. When you just read it super methodically and just pick things up at your last choice, well, the flimsy story becomes flimsier.

I read three Christian children's books this week! Two nonfiction books and an adaptation of Pilgrim's Progress. The other two were The Story of Corrie Ten Boom and 10 Questions about Pain and Suffering.

Century of Viewing #3

1980s

1980 Saturn 3 may have its share of fans. I'm not one of them exactly. Sci-fi-thriller with some gore involving a robot gone awry perhaps because his programmer was....less than fit psychologically. Shakespeare's tragedies may have a larger surviving cast. I also found some scenes to be....questionable. However to each their own.
1984. Nadia. It didn't take me very long to realize this must be a made for television movie and one that didn't concern itself with the actual actual facts of the people involved. It is a biopic that is 99.999999999% fiction. Well, that might be unfair. 99.2% fiction perhaps. They have a few names right AND the fact that Nadia got perfect tens and won Olympic medals. Still, if I'd known this movie existed as a kid, I might have watched it over and over again because I loved watching gymnastics.

1990s

1993. Groundhog Day is one of my favorite, favorite movies to again-again. Which seems right. I love the transformation of Phil. I do. It's funny and sweet and quirky
1993 Thing Called Love. I didn't enjoy this 1993 movie enough for it to be five stars, though it had its moments. Four people in Nashville trying to make it into the music business...Miranda "no relation" Presley is the center of attention--not that she's an instant success making it into the business, mind you. Just that it's insta for all the guys she meets. She falls for a bad boy type whom everyone warns her about...they even marry or "marry" as the case may be. Will they get a happy ending? Maybe. Maybe not. But it is an ending of sorts. I did like all the country music.
1997 Starship Troopers. Watching this one with my best, best friend. It is very much Beverly Hills 90210 in space, but, it's FUN or fun enough. I've just started reading the book. I'm going to guess the book is better. Perhaps. Maybe. Probably. The movie isn't so much about future space wars as it is hormones. Again some scenes slightly questionable, though there's plenty of unquestionable scenes as well. This one I rated 4 stars. It may be closer to 4.25 honestly.

2000s

2004 Bride and Prejudice. Bollywood retelling of Pride and Prejudice. I remember loving this musical when it first came out. It was FUN. I haven't watched it in ages. I found myself still loving all the music. AND being surprised at recognizing the cast from other stuff. Like the Darcy character being "Jack Sheridan" from Virgin River. OR Balraj being "Sayid" from LOST. I am glad I revisited this one!!!

2010s

2014 Chaos on the Bridge. I rate this one--right now upon first impressions--a 4 1/2 stars. I am tempted to give it five stars. BUT I'm just not sure that I'll still *feel* it 5 stars a few days, a few weeks, a few months from now. William Shatner is director and host of this Star Trek documentary. It is the story of STAR TREK THE NEXT GENERATION. Plenty of interviews with those who worked on the show behind the scenes. A few interviews with those who starred in the show. It's a colorful documentary.

2020s

2025 Gilded Age, Season 3. What a season?!?!?!?! There were a few things that I loved about season 2 and a few things that I definitely absolutely did not like at all. Season 3 has drama, drama, and more drama. YET there is lightness and hope and joy as well as drama. The last two episodes are SO INCREDIBLY INTENSE that you might lose all sense of time.

7. The First Four Years

7. The First Four Years. Laura Ingalls Wilder. 1971. 134 pages. [Source: Library] [historical fiction, classic, series book, 3 stars]

First sentence: The stars hung luminous and low over the prairie.

The First Four Years was published several decades after the death of Laura Ingalls Wilder. It was published after the death of Laura and Almanzo's daughter, Rose Wilder Lane. It is based on three hand-written notebooks. The story is believed to have been written in the mid to late forties. It is also believed to have been shelved by Laura Ingalls Wilder after the death of Almanzo. She never went back to work on it again. She never polished it up. She never sent it to the publishers. It is what it is, a first draft.

It has a completely different feel than the other Little House books. It doesn't have chapters, for one thing. But more than that there is an emotional undertone of sadness and regret that makes it pointedly different than its predecessors. It is just very melancholy. Yes, it captures all the horrible things that happened next. Yes, it's probably accurate enough to assume that most if not all farmers experienced this many brutal hardships. The other Little House books often dealt with hard issues as well. But I suppose they felt more balanced. I think she injected enough hope and light to lift them up.

Personally, I'd rather have the "happily ever after" ending of These Happy Golden Years than the brutal hardships of The First Four Years. Not that I'm promoting the unrealistic fairy-tale ending where marriage is problem-free. But to read of all the hardships with the farm, the land, the money problems, the debt, the worries, the health problems, the weather/environment problems, etc. It's just so hard, so brutal, so depressing.

© 2026 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Monday, January 12, 2026

6. These Happy Golden Years

6. These Happy Golden Years. Laura Ingalls Wilder. Illustrated by Garth Williams. 1943. HarperCollins. 289 pages. [Source: Library] [5 stars, historical fiction, classic, audiobook]

First sentence: Sunday afternoon was clear, and the snow-covered prairie sparkled in the sunshine. A little wind blew gently from the south, but it was so cold that the sled runners squeaked as they slid on the hard-packed snow.

Why is it that reading These Happy Golden Years makes me giddy? Could it be my actual favorite of the series after all? Perhaps. It has been such a treat for me to reread these Little House books this past month. I've enjoyed visiting with Laura and her family. I've enjoyed watching 'the romance' unfold with Almanzo in Little Town on the Prairie and These Happy Golden Years.

In These Happy Golden Years Laura has accepted--for better or worse--that she is all grown up. In this book, she teaches several different schools. Each teaching term is short--a few months here, a few months there. Her first teaching position lasts eight weeks, and, it is mostly a nightmare for her. She's rooming with Mr. and Mrs. Brewster. And Mrs. Brewster must be suffering from some mental illness. I feel sorry for Mr. Brewster and their baby, Johnny. There's a helplessness in the situation. Laura realizes how blessed she's been for a happy home life. The opening chapters dwell on her homesickness and gratitude. And she owes much to Almanzo Wilder. For HE comes to "rescue" her from the Brewsters every single weekend no matter how cold the weather. And it all comes as such a surprise to her that she'll get to spend her weekends at home.

When she's not teaching school, she's attending it. Every few months, it seems, she receives an opportunity to teach and earn money, and she'll take a teacher's exam, and get another certificate. But teaching isn't the only way she's able to earn money. She really, truly wants to earn money, not for herself, but to help keep Mary in college.

Most of the book focuses on the courtship of Laura and Almanzo. How he comes to take her sledding or for buggy rides. Laura does love his horses.

I love this book! I do.

© 2026 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

5. Little Town on the Prairie

5. Little Town on the Prairie. Laura Ingalls Wilder. Illustrated by Garth Williams. 1941. 374 pages. [Source: Library] [5 stars, audiobook, historical fiction, children's classic]

First sentence: One evening at supper, Pa asked, "How would you like to work in town, Laura" Laua could not say a word. Neither could any of the others. They all sat as if they were frozen.

I enjoyed rereading Little Town on the Prairie. Is it completely perfect in every way? Probably not. (The idea of Pa joining in a minstrel show performance still doesn't sit well with me. Just like I don't like the dialogue of the Native American in The Long Winter--when he warns them of the winter ahead. But other than that, I don't have any real issue with the book). In this book:

The family moves back to their homestead for the summer and fall
The Ingalls get a cat AFTER Pa's hair is "cut" by mice in the night!
Laura gets a job assisting a seamstress
Laura and Carrie and Pa go to a fourth of July celebration; lemonade is involved
Blackbirds come and threaten numerous crops; some of the corn is saved and will be dried for winter consumption
Mary goes away to college
The family moves back to the town for the winter
Laura and Carrie attend school
Nellie Oleson is one of the 'country' girls attending school
Nellie becomes teacher's pet; the new teacher is Eliza Jane Wilder
Laura gets her first ride behind Almanzo's horses (she's running late for school, she had to order name cards)
A Literary Society (of sorts) is formed in town for the winter
The book actually covers TWO winters in town, but, we barely learn anything about the spring/summer/and fall in between the winters.
Laura attends several revival meetings and Almanzo asks to see her home each night!
Almanzo hints that he wants to take her sledding.
Laura gets her teaching certificate

Plenty of lovely things happen. I love the progression of the series. This book just makes me smile as I'm reading it. I often forget just how much I like this one since I love, love, love THE LONG WINTER, and I always associate These Happy Golden Years with having THE romance. I don't give this one enough credit for being OH-SO-GOOD.

I listened to Little Town on the Prairie on audiobook! It was fantastic!

© 2026 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Friday, January 09, 2026

Week in Review #2

This week I read SEVEN books. (I'm shocked too!!!)

At Operation Actually Read Bible, I reviewed a delightful Christian romance--historical set in Canada--titled The Lawyer and the Laundress. This is a marriage of convenience story and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Of course, technically it's a bit predictable. BUT I fail to see how that's anything but a positive.

At Becky's Book Reviews, I reviewed three books. I reviewed two audio books: FAHRENHEIT 451 a dystopian science fiction novel that I've read and reviewed dozens of times AND Anne of Ingleside, L.M. Montgomery's last published novel in the Anne series. Both of these books are old friends. Though they are completely and totally different from one another. The third book I reviewed was a review copy, Westfallen: Into the Fire. This is the sequel to Westfallen. Three friends in the past (1944) and three friends from the future (2023) make a grand mess of things when they learn the heard way about loose lips. To be fair, the kids from the future had no idea the dangers of talking freely about their present. And it started innocent enough. This second book is INTENSE. And it ends in a cliffhanger.

At Young Readers, I reviewed two picture books and one board book. The Animals of Farmer Jones is a classic Little Golden Book from the 1940s. Squirrel Sits Still takes place at a library, I believe, and Squirrel has a difficult time sitting still. If You Make a Call on a Banana Phone is a great picture book. A child makes a phone call on a banana....what will happen next?!?!

Century of Viewing #2

1920s

1927 Metropolis (Tubi, loopy-loop jazz soundtrack) The version I watched (the first time, yes I'm already contemplating a second time) was on Tubi. It had a looped jazzy-jazz soundtrack. Despite the fact that the soundtrack did not in any way complement the movie, I found the movie intriguing--fascinating--interesting--enjoyable. I have found a better version to watch....soon. Will it be this week? Maybe. Maybe not. Will it be tonight? Possible. Anything's possible. The plot?! Well, I believe it's set in 2026. A case of haves and have-nots. The underground worker city is looking for a Mediator as foretold by Maria. The son of the city's creator may just be that mediator. He's certainly smitten? mesmerized? under a spell when he first meets Maria. And then he goes underground himself and takes the place of a worker for a day--or night. Time is tricksy. There's also a SUPER mad scientist type who's created a robot. He wants to destroy EVERYBODY and everything.
1927 Metropolis (KINO, original score) This is the KINO restoration which is the closest to the original film in length. It also has the ORIGINAL score instead of the jazzy-jazz loop. Definitely seek out this version. The music is by Gottfried Huppertz. Science Fiction. Set in the future of 2026. Haves versus Have-Nots in society. "Head" versus "Hands" according to the movie. The movie is about the search for a MEDIATOR between the two. Also robots. Don't forget the provocatively dancing robot.

1940s

1948 Easter Parade I do not care for this Judy Garland and Fred Astaire musical. Is it better than Camelot?!?! YES. Is it the worst musical out there? Probably not. So Fred Astaire's dance partner is leaving him....and he has to find a new one...and so he trains up the Judy Garland character. She falls for him--why?!?!--and he doesn't really know she exists until she yells at him again and again for NOT noticing her like that. In the end, they end up together--at least temporarily. Will it last?! I don't know that I care enough to imagine all the scenarios. (Unlike Music Man. I have imagined all sorts of things about those characters).

1980s

1987 The Running Man. It is VERY, VERY, VERY 80s. The plot seems over the top. But it is--repeat with me--very, very, very 80s. It is strange...but I suppose that's to be expected. The plot? Criminals get a "second chance" on a reality television show. But 99% of this world is a lie...and nothing is as it seems.

1990s

1996 Escape from L.A. Is it cheesy-cheeseful? YES. Was it meant to be? I think YES. Is the soundtrack horrible? I think it was almost meant to be. Maybe. My best friend said all the money went to hiring this cast and not to the special effects. Snake is back and this time he's doing a favor for ANOTHER president for another city.
1998 Lost in Space Do I want my time back? I probably would have wasted that time anyway all things considered. Was it time worst spent than playing WordScapes or Solitaire Farm Village? NO, not really. This "movie" is based on a television show. Not having seen the show, I'm not sure if it's a) more intelligent b) less intelligent or c) about the same.

2010s

2011 The Captains. My first documentary of the year though definitely not my last. This one is a documentary about Star Trek Captains. William Shatner interviews other Captains in the Star Trek series. This one being released in 2011 misses out on several shows, of course. BUT the interviews can be surprisingly deep and cover a wide range of topics. You expect fluff....and there is *some* fluff. But it isn't only fluff.

2020s

2024 VHS Christmas Carols. I love, love, LOVE, love this musical. The songs--most of them--are living rent free in my head. This is a mash-up of A Gift of the Magi, Little Match Girl, and A Christmas Carol. IT is EMOTIONAL and wonderful. I love it so much!!! I watched this one many times in December 2024 and many times in December 2025.