[Tinalles]

I'm just curious - how many of you, if any, are Oz fans? The Wizard of Oz was the very first book I ever read, and after that I read all fourteen of the original series and a good number of the later ones. Not all of them, obviously, since there are hundreds. But a good number. I've got the first 26 on my shelf right now, and recently re-read most of them.

So, any other Ozites out there?
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Keeper of The Remnant Minuon (cognomen Lucy, the Eaten One) and the Emissary Caeli

[TheBritishInvasion]

I like the film (though I hate Somewhere Over the Rainbow). I haven't read the books but I think I'd like to, and if it counts I am utterly obessed with Wicked.
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[CBB]

I've only seen the movie (and I lurves "Somewhere Over the Rainbow").
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[Asa]

Watched the movie, read all the books our local library had. It's just such a fun universe!
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BS: "...then insist you eat a brownie."
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[Tinu.]

Unfortunately, I haven't read the book. It, like Alice in Wonderland, I have avoided like the plague for some odd, unexplainable reason since childhood. I might need to give it a shot though (Good luck getting me to read Lewis Carroll).
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"If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life believing it is stupid."
~Einstein

[Grimwatch]

Pretty much ditto Asa's comments. I seem to remember a raggedy-anne type doll that fell in love with the Scarecrow, or somethin along those lines in one of them?
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[Tinalles]

That would be Scraps, the Patchwork Girl. Not one of my favorite characters; I think the only one I like less is H. M. Wogglebug, T.E., who never appeared to serve any particular purpose as a character beyond being weird.

If you're interested in reading any of them, all fourteen of the original series are no longer in copyright, and be had free of charge online. The Gutenberg Project has all of them. Archive.org has most of them, and I prefer the Archive.org versions because they preserve the illustrations. And they're in color. Here's a list:

1. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Gutenberg Project, Archive.org)
   
2. The Marvelous Land of Oz (Gutenberg Project, Archive.org)
   
3. Ozma of Oz (Gutenberg Project, Archive.org)
   
4. Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz (Gutenberg Project, Archive.org)
   
5. The Road to Oz (Gutenberg Project, Archive.org)
   
6. The Emerald City of Oz (Gutenberg Project, Archive.org)
   
7. The Patchwork Girl of Oz (Gutenberg Project, Archive.org)
   
8. Tik-Tok of Oz (Gutenberg Project, Archive.org)
   
9. The Scarecrow of Oz (Gutenberg Project, Archive.org)
   
10. Rinkitink in Oz (Gutenberg Project)
    
11. The Lost Princess of Oz (Gutenberg Project, Archive.org)
    
12. The Tin Woodman of Oz (Gutenberg Project)
    
13. The Magic of Oz (Gutenberg Project)
    
14. Glinda of Oz (Gutenberg Project)
    

I think it would probably be hard to come to the books as an adult. They really are aimed at an audience of children, strongly. The initial sequels often had very little plot per se. I think my favorites are Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz (#4), Tik-Tok of Oz (#8), Rinkitink in Oz (#9) and Glinda of Oz (#14). The second one, The Land of Oz is somewhat surreal, involving as it does an army of discontented young women marching on the Emerald City armed with knitting needles, intent on overthrowing the Scarecrow (who briefly ruled Oz after the Wizard's departure via balloon). The protagonist in #2 is a boy (Tip, short for Tippetarius) who is almost the only strongly defined male protagonist in the entire series. The only other one is Inga, the Prince of Pingaree, from Rinkitink in Oz (#9). It's a pity that Archive.org doesn't have the later ones, as the illustrations add a lot to the text.

Basically all of the books have female protagonists. As I mentioned before, The Wizard of Oz was the very first book I ever read, before I hit kindergarten, and I've long believed that it was the single most important factor in determining my preference for stories starring female protagonists. Dorothy stamped that slippered foot of hers firmly in my subconscious, and ever since I've preferred stories about women and girls.

I enjoyed Wicked very much. It's just one in a long series of spin-offs and such, though. There've been hundreds of novels and movies set in Oz.
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Keeper of The Remnant Minuon (cognomen Lucy, the Eaten One) and the Emissary Caeli

[Tomato]

I enjoyed several of the Oz books, but Wicked was tripe. It was overly modernized in my opinion. Fantasy series don't generally "need modern updates" to remain appealing in my opinion.
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[unimportant]

I think I tried to pick up the oz books at the wrong time in my life, because for some reason I just couldn't focus on them at all.

My most recent exposure to anything related to it was Sci-Fi's mini-series Tin Man though, which while not great or in any way remotely like the books, was still a lot of fun.

[TheBritishInvasion]

[Grimwatch]

Ah, Scraps. Ty for that, my memory for character names is somewhat spotty sometimes. I seem to recall some of those other titles, but its been a long, long time since I read any of them. Out of idle curiosity I may just see if the local library still carries them.

I have to be honest though, even if it does I doubt I'll read them. While admittedly still a child at heart (many would also argue in spirit and mentality ), I find it difficult to read below a certain level and still enjoy a good story. To be honest, I dont know wheter thats a good thing or not. Theres a lot to be said for innocence based plot.
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Coach of the Maulers 'n' Brawlers Blood Bowl team - winner of the "Most casualties inflicted on opponents" award for T.A.G 2008, mwahaha...

[Tomato]

[Tinalles]

The book came first (1995) with the musical later (2003).

If you were looking for a faithful rendition of Oz lore, then Wicked is definitely the wrong book for you. As the author said in an NPR interview from 2003, "Wicked" began as an exploration into the origins of evil. When he was living in London in 1993, there was a particularly gruesome murder in which two boys (ages 11 and 9) kidnapped another boy (age 2) and killed him. Everyone was naturally asking, "How could two children do something so horrible?" And he started wondering about the origins of evil; Wicked came out of that.

It's a little unfair to criticize him for not imitating the original more closely. He never had any intention of imitating the original work - the Oz milieu provided him a convenient setting with a ready-made evil character to study.

Maybe that's not your cup of tea; fine. You may wish to avoid his later novels, such as "Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister" and so on, since he takes basically the same approach in his later work (find a fairy tale and re-tell it from a different slant).
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Keeper of The Remnant Minuon (cognomen Lucy, the Eaten One) and the Emissary Caeli

[Sparrow]

Hmm... I liked the movie well enough, although I got a headache when I watched it through with the pink floyd album...

Has anyone else even done that? It had maybe one or two amusing coincidences, but I didn't see anything other than that. Although, maybe you have to use the old record version? We were using an iTunes alum, so maybe the timing is different between songs or whateverrr...

[Asa]

The second book he wrote was called "The Adventures of the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman" or something like that, and it was the only one that didn't have the word Oz in the title. But it was the second, and it appears to be missing from your list.

Am I right or wrong?
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Self-styled Forum Grandmother, because I hand out nicknames and hugs whether you want them or not. ^_^

Keeper of the Library and the Gateway to Haven

Nem: "It's the sort of face you just know is getting ready to poke you with something sharp."
BS: "...then insist you eat a brownie."
__________________
If we shadows have offended,
Think but this and all is mended...
Give me your hands if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.