Bookish Thoughts

I didn't really like this book as much as the first one. I'm not sure if it was the premise, the characters, or just my mood, but this book didn't do much for me. It's a good thing it was such an easy read, or I may have abandoned it. In The Marvelous Land of Oz , an army of young girls, led by General Jinjur, decide that they've had enough of men ruling things. So they conquer the Emerald City and kick the Scarecrow off his throne. Around the same time, a young boy has come to visit the Scarecrow with his own wooden man, Pumpkin Jack. They set off to collect the Tin Woodsman (now named Nick Chopper) and reclaim the scarecrow's throne. I think the whole thing was just a little too silly for me. And everyone falls all over themselves to be so nice and accommodating that the stakes never really felt that high. I understand that most of this is probably because this is a children's book, but it still seemed a lot sillier than the first book. Th...

I've been wanting to read L Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz for years. I've seen a ton of adaptations, from the 1939 Judy Garland movie, to Gregory Maguire's Wicked and the musical based on it, to the Syfy mini-series Tin Man . But somehow I kept missing the original work, even after my mom bought it. I finally picked it up when I discovered a collection that combines three books in the series into single printings. And I'm happy to report that I thoroughly enjoyed the original tale. There was a lot more adventure and character development that I expected. It was fun to see so much more of Oz when the characters traveled south to meet Glinda (the witch in the north is an entirely different person). I also liked how much the book emphasized that the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, and Cowardly Lion all already possessed the very things they wanted from the wizard. The scarecrow is nearly always the person to provide solutions to any problems the group...