Last 2007 Reading List Update: # 97 - 100
Jan. 1st, 2008 01:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jedibuttercupThese were the final books of 2007-- I made it all the way to 100!
97. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. Hardcover, large print, 237pp. 1st of the Oz series. Reread. I read these five times over as a child, but hadn't touched them since high school. Baum introduces the book by saying that "it aspires to being a modernized fairy tale, in which the wonderment and joy are retained and the heartaches and nightmares are left out." For all of that, it still manages to sneak in plenty of common-sense moralizing, not that I think that's a bad thing. I noticed several things-- the Crack in the O.Z., the Mouse Queen, and the silver shoes, for example-- that the miniseries paid homage to but the movie didn't; and I was amused to rediscover that the "shining city on the hill" (tm Cain) really wasn't Emerald, after all. The Wizard just made everyone wear green glasses all the time so it looked that way! And Dorothy was maybe 8-10 years old, not 16, or 20, as in later adaptations. Overall, an interesting, and fun, reexamination of an old favorite.
98. The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum. Hardcover, large print, 281pp. 2nd of the Oz series. Reread. This one has no Dorothy Gale in it; instead it introduces Tip-- who eventually discovers himself to be the magically genderswapped Princess Ozma, about Dorothy's age-- who grew up as a servant to the evil Witch Mombi. He makes many friends, and ends up caught in the Scarecrow's troubles when that worthy-- who was crowned King after the Wizard left-- is conquered by an army of girls who are sick of the country being ruled by men. (Point in favor of a matriarchy, for future fic?) Some very fun moments; and more of the mild moralizing of the last, including the Tin Woodsman's: "Friends, I entreat you not to quarrel! As a matter of fact, we are none of us above criticism; so let us bear with each others' faults." And poor Tip, wanting assurances Glinda could change him back if he didn't like being a girl after all. (Maybe that's how the first Dorothy ended up Queen in the Tin Man version. *lol*)
99. Ozma of Oz by L. Frank Baum. Hardcover, large print, 258pp. 3rd of the Oz series. Reread. In this one, Dorothy is lost at sea whilst traveling to Australia with her uncle, and washes up in the fairy land of Ev, separated from Oz only by the Deadly Desert. She makes some new friends, ends up imprisoned by the vain Princess currently ruling there, and is rescued by Ozma, who arrives on a mission to free the previous Queen and her ten children, currently enslaved by the Nome King. (I vaguely remember seeing the 1985 movie Return to Oz; I think it got a lot of its material from this book and the one previous). Lots of adventure; Ozma gets turned into a green grasshopper; the Cowardly Lion reappears; and Dorothy wins a Magic Belt which becomes a very convenient future Plot Device for magical transportation purposes. For of course, she can't leave Aunt Em and Uncle Henry for long!
100. Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz by L. Frank Baum. Hardcover, large print, 220pp. 4th of the Oz series. Reread. This one happens not long after the last; for Dorothy and Uncle Henry are returning from Australia, and visiting friends in San Francisco. While in a buggy with her second cousin Zeb and her kitten, however, she's caught in an earthquake, and ends up in a series of dangerous fairy lands underground, where she runs into the Wizard again. (He's still a total humbug, but more likeable; his story has been retconned here. In Land of Oz, he was the one who gave baby Ozma to Mombi so he could rule; in this, Ozma's grandfather was enslaved by Mombi directly and the Wizard totally clueless there was a monarch he was supplanting). Of course, they end up in Oz, where Ozma sends them home via the Belt-- except the Wizard, who decides to stay on as kind of a court jester.
When I set out to do this list, I was worried-- I knew I'd been reading a lot more fanfiction than published fiction in the last few years, and I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to keep up with my writing *and* complete the 50 book challenge. Well, as you may have noticed-- my fic didn't suffer for it, and I managed to complete the challenge twice over!
All in all, I read 100 books, with 40,947 pages total, in 2007. That's an average of more than 400 pages per book; I wonder if I can keep that up in 2008?
(The first ten books of the new year, of course, will be the rest of the Oz series!)
~
97. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. Hardcover, large print, 237pp. 1st of the Oz series. Reread. I read these five times over as a child, but hadn't touched them since high school. Baum introduces the book by saying that "it aspires to being a modernized fairy tale, in which the wonderment and joy are retained and the heartaches and nightmares are left out." For all of that, it still manages to sneak in plenty of common-sense moralizing, not that I think that's a bad thing. I noticed several things-- the Crack in the O.Z., the Mouse Queen, and the silver shoes, for example-- that the miniseries paid homage to but the movie didn't; and I was amused to rediscover that the "shining city on the hill" (tm Cain) really wasn't Emerald, after all. The Wizard just made everyone wear green glasses all the time so it looked that way! And Dorothy was maybe 8-10 years old, not 16, or 20, as in later adaptations. Overall, an interesting, and fun, reexamination of an old favorite.
98. The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum. Hardcover, large print, 281pp. 2nd of the Oz series. Reread. This one has no Dorothy Gale in it; instead it introduces Tip-- who eventually discovers himself to be the magically genderswapped Princess Ozma, about Dorothy's age-- who grew up as a servant to the evil Witch Mombi. He makes many friends, and ends up caught in the Scarecrow's troubles when that worthy-- who was crowned King after the Wizard left-- is conquered by an army of girls who are sick of the country being ruled by men. (Point in favor of a matriarchy, for future fic?) Some very fun moments; and more of the mild moralizing of the last, including the Tin Woodsman's: "Friends, I entreat you not to quarrel! As a matter of fact, we are none of us above criticism; so let us bear with each others' faults." And poor Tip, wanting assurances Glinda could change him back if he didn't like being a girl after all. (Maybe that's how the first Dorothy ended up Queen in the Tin Man version. *lol*)
99. Ozma of Oz by L. Frank Baum. Hardcover, large print, 258pp. 3rd of the Oz series. Reread. In this one, Dorothy is lost at sea whilst traveling to Australia with her uncle, and washes up in the fairy land of Ev, separated from Oz only by the Deadly Desert. She makes some new friends, ends up imprisoned by the vain Princess currently ruling there, and is rescued by Ozma, who arrives on a mission to free the previous Queen and her ten children, currently enslaved by the Nome King. (I vaguely remember seeing the 1985 movie Return to Oz; I think it got a lot of its material from this book and the one previous). Lots of adventure; Ozma gets turned into a green grasshopper; the Cowardly Lion reappears; and Dorothy wins a Magic Belt which becomes a very convenient future Plot Device for magical transportation purposes. For of course, she can't leave Aunt Em and Uncle Henry for long!
100. Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz by L. Frank Baum. Hardcover, large print, 220pp. 4th of the Oz series. Reread. This one happens not long after the last; for Dorothy and Uncle Henry are returning from Australia, and visiting friends in San Francisco. While in a buggy with her second cousin Zeb and her kitten, however, she's caught in an earthquake, and ends up in a series of dangerous fairy lands underground, where she runs into the Wizard again. (He's still a total humbug, but more likeable; his story has been retconned here. In Land of Oz, he was the one who gave baby Ozma to Mombi so he could rule; in this, Ozma's grandfather was enslaved by Mombi directly and the Wizard totally clueless there was a monarch he was supplanting). Of course, they end up in Oz, where Ozma sends them home via the Belt-- except the Wizard, who decides to stay on as kind of a court jester.
When I set out to do this list, I was worried-- I knew I'd been reading a lot more fanfiction than published fiction in the last few years, and I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to keep up with my writing *and* complete the 50 book challenge. Well, as you may have noticed-- my fic didn't suffer for it, and I managed to complete the challenge twice over!
All in all, I read 100 books, with 40,947 pages total, in 2007. That's an average of more than 400 pages per book; I wonder if I can keep that up in 2008?
(The first ten books of the new year, of course, will be the rest of the Oz series!)
~
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no subject
Date: 2008-01-01 11:40 pm (UTC)I haven't always commented (or have read the books you list) but I've enjoyed reading the updates on your reading. I will have to get back on track and post monthly updates about my own in 2008.
Very Happy New Year, dearie!
no subject
Date: 2008-01-02 12:47 am (UTC)