The Wonderful Wizard of OZ

I recently read the classic children's novel that inspired what is probably the most well known and loved movies of all times, The Wonderful Wizard of OZ by Frank L. Baum. I was surprised to discover that this is one of those rare occurrences where Hollywood took a delightful and imaginative book and, in making a film version, actually improved it!! The plot of the movie is entirely based on material in the book and any changes made are both understandable and only help to create cohesion and avoid confusion. The biggest change in the movie is that the Wicked Witch is made into a larger, more pervasive character, which adds an element the book lacks, an antagonist. The movie also merges two characters together to create Glinda, so that in the book Dorothy meets another good witch in the beginning who doesn't know about the powers of the ruby slippers (The witch of the South-ever wonder what had happened to her?) I would whole heartedly recommend taking a walk down the yellow brick road again and discovering the original characters and situations- including Boq, who is absent from the movie but who reappears in Wicked.  Definitely more interesting after having seen the movie!

Finished at last

I finished My Ántonia this afternoon. There is a charm to the story I must admit. It has an honesty to it, and according to the afterward, most of it is actually true. Although the plot is not compelling and the story-line does not follow a very direct path, there are some interesting stories imbedded within. I'm glad I read it. I enjoyed the little anecdotes here and there about why a character had come to Nebraska, or what they did after they left. I did not enjoy the unconcerned and removed tone that the author used to portray the lives of the interconnected people. I never became invested in them and perhaps that is why I never really cared what ended up happening to them. I doubt if any of it will stick with me for very long.

My Ántonia

I find myself still reading My Ántonia and not particularly excited about it. Several of the chapters I have read were actually interesting, but there doesn't really seem to be much to the book. It's a portrait of the early settlements on the Nabraska plains. It is much more about the place then the people in it, although some of them have fun stories. I have little to no sympathy for the main character. But then again I had this same problem with Catcher in the Rye, and a lot of people seem to really like that book- even obsess over it. Either way, I am determined to finish this book. perhaps it will redeem itself in the end.