I finally finished Gregory Maguire's Out of Oz, the last book in the Wicked series. I am counting this as book #9 on my summer reading expedition, even though I started it six months ago. First I should say this: I loved Wicked. I enjoyed reading the Wicked Witch's point of view. It was a page turner. I have never read any of Baum's Wizard of Oz, so I didn't know anything about Oz other than what I'd seen in the 1939 movie. Son of a Witch and A Lion Among Men were not that interesting to me either, but I stuck with it because I wanted to know what happened. I was really hoping that Out of Oz would be a return to the page turning I enjoyed at the beginning of the series. I was wrong.
Out of Oz centers around the Wicked Witch of the West's, Elphaba's, granddaughter, Rain. Because she is Elphaba's granddaughter, it is thought that she can operate the witch's book, the Grimmerie, which means Rain is always in danger. Oz is at war; the Munchkinlanders against Loyal Oz. Both sides believe that they can "win" the war if they can obtain the Grimmerie and Rain. Most of the book is about Rain escaping impending danger.
One small side plot that could have been completely ignored is that Dorothy is back in Oz. An earthquake brought her to Oz this time. She is put on trial in Munchkinland for the murder of Nessarose, the Wicked Witch of the East, that occurred on her first trip to Oz.
The Ozma line that everyone thought died out resurfaces at the end of the book and Rain ends up alone. Whoop-tee-doo.
Seriously? Six months of my life on this book that I'll never get back. Sheesh.
Gregory Maguire isn't that bad a writer, really. Check out Wicked, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, and Mirror, Mirror. I explained a bit about Wicked. Confessions is his take on Cinderella, and Mirror is Snow White but centers around Lucrezia Borgia.
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Summer reading 1-8
As promised, books 1-8 that I have completed this summer. I will give a brief synopsis of each, and whether or not I liked it.
1. 11th Hour by James Patterson. This is the most recent Women's Murder Club book. Lindsay Boxer is pregnant, and there is a dirty cop taking out drug dealers in San Francisco. There's also some crazy person who murdered several women and planted their heads in the backyard of a famous house. Lindsay is on both cases, and, of course, she solves them.
I enjoyed this book because Lindsay Boxer is one of my favorite modern heroines. This was a page turner, and a fast read.
2. Unseen by Luke Alistar. This was a free book for my kindle, so expectations were not exactly high. As for the story...A girl sees phantoms. Her family thinks she's crazy and send her to an asylum when she is five, where she is beaten and tortured. With the assistance of a "bad" phantom, she escapes the asylum at age 17. After her escape, she is raped twice as she is making her way home to her family. When she finally makes her way home, she finds that her family wants nothing to do with her. She goes off into the woods, is attacked by the "bad" phantom, and dies.
I didn't really care for this book. Basically, the girl never got over having imaginary friends, and people thought she was a nutjob. Who cares? At least it was free.
3. Sasha the Extraordinary Dachshund by CJ Adams. Another freebie for my kindle. I bought it because the dog on the cover was cute, and I have dachshunds. At it's core, this is a book about a woman's dachshund, and the relationship she shared with the dog over the course of it's life. That aspect of the book I liked; some of the stories reminded me of my own dogs. What bothered me was that this woman was using the book as a vehicle to persuade the reader that they need to look into alternative medicine when dealing with their pets. Also, she claimed to have this amazing relationship with her vet. If that were the case, then she'd have known not to feed her dog grapes-which can kill dogs.
4. His Good Opinion: A Mr. Darcy Novel by Nancy Kelley. Pride and Prejudice is one of my very favorite novels, so I read a good deal of the sequels and what not that are associated with it. This one popped up as a freebie for my kindle. This novel is Pride and Prejudice told from Mr. Darcy's point of view. What's not to like? I really enjoyed this one.
5-7. Fifty Shades of Grey, Fifty Shades Darker, Fifty Shades of Freed by EL James. I am dealing with these together. A friend sent them to me, so I didn't actually pay to read these. First of all, I am not sure why these needed to be three books. The story could have been told in one. Second, if you're reading for the "steamy" sex scenes, you'd do better to sit in a steam room with a Danielle Steel novel. These books are poorly written, and based on the Twilight saga (also poorly written). First we have Anastasia Steele, our "heroine," recent college graduate. I wanted so much to like her because she is so much like myself-bookish and cute. Next we have Christian Grey, an uber-rich guy who's into bondage and s&m. They meet. He wants her to be his submissive, and she readily agrees because she fell in love with him on sight. He doesn't allow her to have much of a life outside of him (like Edward Cullen), and falls in love with her. He no longer wants her to be his submissive, and proposes to her after knowing her all of 3 weeks. They marry, she gets pregnant. A few outside things happens (crazy former boss tries to kill and kidnap the Greys).
These books were so redundant. Every time they would have sex, with the exceptions of the times in the "playroom," he said and did the EXACT SAME THINGS. Oh, and she had an orgasm EVERY time she had sex-like that is reality! It got to the point where I just skimmed the sex scenes (which were every couple of pages) because I knew what was going to happen. Also, if I have to see "inner goddess" in print any time soon, I am going to cause bodily harm to someone. Seriously, it was on nearly every page!
8. Vet Tech Tales: The Early Years by Phoenix Sullivan. Another kindle freebie. I read this because I was expecting fantastic tales of a vet tech. This was not it at all. My best friend was a vet tech, so I have heard some really cool, and sometimes disturbing stories from her. This book involved discussing the author's love of animals, and spent several chapters discussing her first day as a vet tech. It took me an hour to read this, and it wasn't very good because it wasn't what I expected.
1. 11th Hour by James Patterson. This is the most recent Women's Murder Club book. Lindsay Boxer is pregnant, and there is a dirty cop taking out drug dealers in San Francisco. There's also some crazy person who murdered several women and planted their heads in the backyard of a famous house. Lindsay is on both cases, and, of course, she solves them.
I enjoyed this book because Lindsay Boxer is one of my favorite modern heroines. This was a page turner, and a fast read.
2. Unseen by Luke Alistar. This was a free book for my kindle, so expectations were not exactly high. As for the story...A girl sees phantoms. Her family thinks she's crazy and send her to an asylum when she is five, where she is beaten and tortured. With the assistance of a "bad" phantom, she escapes the asylum at age 17. After her escape, she is raped twice as she is making her way home to her family. When she finally makes her way home, she finds that her family wants nothing to do with her. She goes off into the woods, is attacked by the "bad" phantom, and dies.
I didn't really care for this book. Basically, the girl never got over having imaginary friends, and people thought she was a nutjob. Who cares? At least it was free.
3. Sasha the Extraordinary Dachshund by CJ Adams. Another freebie for my kindle. I bought it because the dog on the cover was cute, and I have dachshunds. At it's core, this is a book about a woman's dachshund, and the relationship she shared with the dog over the course of it's life. That aspect of the book I liked; some of the stories reminded me of my own dogs. What bothered me was that this woman was using the book as a vehicle to persuade the reader that they need to look into alternative medicine when dealing with their pets. Also, she claimed to have this amazing relationship with her vet. If that were the case, then she'd have known not to feed her dog grapes-which can kill dogs.
4. His Good Opinion: A Mr. Darcy Novel by Nancy Kelley. Pride and Prejudice is one of my very favorite novels, so I read a good deal of the sequels and what not that are associated with it. This one popped up as a freebie for my kindle. This novel is Pride and Prejudice told from Mr. Darcy's point of view. What's not to like? I really enjoyed this one.
5-7. Fifty Shades of Grey, Fifty Shades Darker, Fifty Shades of Freed by EL James. I am dealing with these together. A friend sent them to me, so I didn't actually pay to read these. First of all, I am not sure why these needed to be three books. The story could have been told in one. Second, if you're reading for the "steamy" sex scenes, you'd do better to sit in a steam room with a Danielle Steel novel. These books are poorly written, and based on the Twilight saga (also poorly written). First we have Anastasia Steele, our "heroine," recent college graduate. I wanted so much to like her because she is so much like myself-bookish and cute. Next we have Christian Grey, an uber-rich guy who's into bondage and s&m. They meet. He wants her to be his submissive, and she readily agrees because she fell in love with him on sight. He doesn't allow her to have much of a life outside of him (like Edward Cullen), and falls in love with her. He no longer wants her to be his submissive, and proposes to her after knowing her all of 3 weeks. They marry, she gets pregnant. A few outside things happens (crazy former boss tries to kill and kidnap the Greys).
These books were so redundant. Every time they would have sex, with the exceptions of the times in the "playroom," he said and did the EXACT SAME THINGS. Oh, and she had an orgasm EVERY time she had sex-like that is reality! It got to the point where I just skimmed the sex scenes (which were every couple of pages) because I knew what was going to happen. Also, if I have to see "inner goddess" in print any time soon, I am going to cause bodily harm to someone. Seriously, it was on nearly every page!
8. Vet Tech Tales: The Early Years by Phoenix Sullivan. Another kindle freebie. I read this because I was expecting fantastic tales of a vet tech. This was not it at all. My best friend was a vet tech, so I have heard some really cool, and sometimes disturbing stories from her. This book involved discussing the author's love of animals, and spent several chapters discussing her first day as a vet tech. It took me an hour to read this, and it wasn't very good because it wasn't what I expected.
A little about me and my blog
I am a voracious reader. I will read most anything, and if a friend or family member recommends it to me, I will get around to reading it at some point. I've read some good stuff and some terrible stuff. I read traditional books, and ebooks on my kindle.
I am an English teacher, so that doesn't leave tons of time to read what I want to during the school year. Summer is my catch up time. Every summer, I try to read as much as I can. It was suggested to me that I review what I read this summer. Obviously, this is what inspired me to start this blog.
I have already completed eight books since school got out, but I will try to go back and write my reviews on them.
Right now, however, I am trying to finish Out of Oz by Gregory Maguire. I have been working on this book since I bought it in December. It is the fourth and final book in the Wicked series, and I am just not enjoying it. I am not entirely surprised by this as I felt the same way reading Son of a Witch and A Lion Among Men. None of the subsequent books measure up to Wicked. Wicked was a page turner for me. I couldn't get enough of it, which is why I spent time and money on each of the sequels. There's roughly 150 pages to go on this last one, so we'll see if the end is satisfying.
I am an English teacher, so that doesn't leave tons of time to read what I want to during the school year. Summer is my catch up time. Every summer, I try to read as much as I can. It was suggested to me that I review what I read this summer. Obviously, this is what inspired me to start this blog.
I have already completed eight books since school got out, but I will try to go back and write my reviews on them.
Right now, however, I am trying to finish Out of Oz by Gregory Maguire. I have been working on this book since I bought it in December. It is the fourth and final book in the Wicked series, and I am just not enjoying it. I am not entirely surprised by this as I felt the same way reading Son of a Witch and A Lion Among Men. None of the subsequent books measure up to Wicked. Wicked was a page turner for me. I couldn't get enough of it, which is why I spent time and money on each of the sequels. There's roughly 150 pages to go on this last one, so we'll see if the end is satisfying.
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