Showing posts with label L. Frank Baum. Show all posts
Showing posts with label L. Frank Baum. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Dorothy Must Die

So, that was different. Amy Gumm is different. She's not exactly angsty. She's angry. She's had a hard life. She's not some family-loving, idyllic, country girl. She's lived through bullying, abandonment and poverty. Anger fuels her, but deep down, I think she's a good person. Being a good person is something she's clung to even in her most depressing times, living in her trailer with no wheels.

Once Amy met Ozma, I totally called what was going to happen with them. However, Dorothy Must Die has many surprising moments. Deaths I didn't see coming, the question of loyalty, hearts being cut out. Author Danielle Paige puts Amy though a lot, creating situations I don't if another author would for their main character. There's a lot of knives and bloods. Also, magic fuelled by anger. I wonder what fuels all the magic users we've encountered.

My only qualm is that Amy seemed to accept everything a little too quickly. Though, I imagine if you wake up in a strange place after a tornado, Oz probably would seem like a good guess. Maybe I just read the book too fast. If I put a little more time between chapters, would everything seem to have taken longer for Amy? Maybe, but that's not going to slow me down.

I'm also wondering if I should be reading the Oz books now. I've seen the movie, I know the story, but Paige seems to take a lot of things from the original texts. I've been meaning to read L. Frank Baum's stories for a while, maybe now is finally the time.

I'm excited to read The Wicked Will Rise and Yellow Brick War was recently released. There are also a lot of novellas to read before I read the end of the series, two paperbacks' worth. I'm intrigued by the stories, based on these crazy characters (the Tin Woodman, Lion and Scarecrow are nuts) and I wonder how they became who they are in Paige's story. Danielle Paige's Dorothy Must Die is a unique twist on an old tale.

Tuesday, July 02, 2013

You Scare Me! Top Ten Most Intimidating Books


It's the end of the day and I'm finally getting a chance to make my Top Ten from The Broke and The Bookish.  I had a long Canada Day weekend.  It was fun, filled with family and fireworks.  I'm back home and I just couldn't resist this week's topic: Top Ten Most Intimidating Books.  Here they are in no particular order.

1. Ulysses, by James Joyce - It's HUGE!
2. War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy - It's HUGER!
3. Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - It seems a little mental, and deep, and possibly violent (and LONG). Also, it's so CANON.
4. Alias Grace, by Margaret Atwood - I LOVE Margaret Atwood and I've read so many of her wonderful books, but something about this one... I don't know if it's the LENGTH, that SO MANY PEOPLE LOVE IT or what, but I'm scared of it.
5. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hoseinni - I LOVED A Thousand Splendid Suns and And The Mountains Echoed. The Kite Runner was his first book that for some reason I didn't read.  It was made into a movie (which I haven't seen) and also a graphic novel (which I also haven't read).  I feel like I've internally HYPED this one up so much, I'm scared to be disappointed.
6. The Stand, by Stephen King - I watched the mini-series oh so long ago and I remember loving it.  The Stand is also supposed to be King at his BEST.  I've read loads of his work, so I don't know what this one intimidates me more than the other stories I haven't read yet.
7. The Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum- What if I HATE it?
8. The Walking Dead (Compendium #1), by Robert Kirkman - What if I HATE it? (I LOVE the show.)
9. Wizard's First Rule, by Terry Goodkind - I've heard such good things about this book and series.  But ALL the books are so HUGE.
10. A Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson - Again, I've heard great things about Bryson and his writing.  People LOVE his books.  What if I don't?

Honourable mentions:
Alice in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll - Same feelings as The Wizard of Oz
Tale of the Body Thief, by Anne Rice - I started this series, but never read past Queen of the Damned.  They were great books and I've always intended to finish.  They're just so long and there are so many other books vying for my time.

So, apparently I'm intimidated by big books, in general.  I also fear being disappointed by books other people love.  Sounds pretty normal to me :)

Sorry my CAPS LOCK button kept getting stuck.

What books are you intimidated by?