Refresh My Memory
Or at least reset it, Lord ... why do I check out and buy more books to read when I already have a plethora of them that haven't been read? Yesterday to get the kids' Reading At Home in before work we stopped at Minot Public Library and we all checked out a book. I've already got five out from there, why oh why another one? Still, Danielle Paige's novel Dorothy Must Die (ISBN 9780062280671) which twists and turns L. Frank Baum's Oz series on its head -- essentially, Dorothy Gale returned to Oz and became a corrupt wicked tyrant, and via another tornado a Kansas girl comes to Oz to kill her and be trained in the magic she'll apparently need to do it. But good point, I wouldn't trust anybody either (which the protagonist Amy Gumm is repeatedly told not to do).
Still, it's refreshing to see someone write ... even a pseudo-Oz book who is familiar with the big and small of Baum's original work, from getting the countries right (Gillikin north, Munchkin east, Quadling south, and Winkie west) to even bringing in minor characters like Cayke the Cookie Cook with her diamond-studded gold dishpan and mentioning the characteristics of Flutterbudgets who can't make up their minds. I was just sad this book ended at a climax, almost a The Force Awakens moment. BUT there are at least two more books in the series, one this year and one next as well as several e-books available. There is just something about a mirror-Oz a la Star Trek's Mirror Universe that blew my mind.
At least I don't have to worry about jumping among worlds and meeting alternate versions of myself while exploiting their resources. Such is the premise of Image Comics' series Black Science, the first three volumes of which I've read (comprising the first sixteen issues, ISBN 97816079676, ISBN 9781632150189, and 9781632153951 respective) and also checked out of the library. Oh, and what did the kids choose? Each of them chose a Diary of A Wimpy Kid book, and the way they engaged them -- and that I have heard they engaged them at Grandma and Grandpa's yesterday -- should warn me that I should get them to read the books THEY want, not the ones I read at their age or the ones I think are right for their age. They can get pretty complex.
Caught two more episodes of the first season of Once Upon A Time last night after Martha got home (another good thing that the kids don't have to go to bed at nine, we have some time) and got to "The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter", the first episode Martha and I saw and now I've seen is the first episode where you actually see a character rip out someone's heart, Queen Regina ripping out the Huntsman's heart when he fails to deliver Snow White's own. (She ripped out her father Henry's heart in the second episode "The Thing You Love Most", but out of camera range; I guess the show hadn't gotten the effects quite right yet or didn't want to show it at that time.) Don't worry, I have no plans of doing that myself.
Jeffrey asked me last night when I picked the kids up was I feeling better (last night) than I did Monday. I said yes; I was very thankful that he did that. And I'm also thankful it wasn't as much of a fight getting the kids up this morning as it has been -- Martha asked me that, have the kids behaved better for me (because she leaves for work before I do and I have to get them either to school or to the family members who are going to watch them for the day before I go to work). I am glad and I am blessed that not only MY memory is getting refreshed that my household members are not walking around waiting to stab me in the back but also that there is the best in us that I just waiting and, a bit at a time, coming out.
I like to think I'm getting better at that too, David
Still, it's refreshing to see someone write ... even a pseudo-Oz book who is familiar with the big and small of Baum's original work, from getting the countries right (Gillikin north, Munchkin east, Quadling south, and Winkie west) to even bringing in minor characters like Cayke the Cookie Cook with her diamond-studded gold dishpan and mentioning the characteristics of Flutterbudgets who can't make up their minds. I was just sad this book ended at a climax, almost a The Force Awakens moment. BUT there are at least two more books in the series, one this year and one next as well as several e-books available. There is just something about a mirror-Oz a la Star Trek's Mirror Universe that blew my mind.
At least I don't have to worry about jumping among worlds and meeting alternate versions of myself while exploiting their resources. Such is the premise of Image Comics' series Black Science, the first three volumes of which I've read (comprising the first sixteen issues, ISBN 97816079676, ISBN 9781632150189, and 9781632153951 respective) and also checked out of the library. Oh, and what did the kids choose? Each of them chose a Diary of A Wimpy Kid book, and the way they engaged them -- and that I have heard they engaged them at Grandma and Grandpa's yesterday -- should warn me that I should get them to read the books THEY want, not the ones I read at their age or the ones I think are right for their age. They can get pretty complex.
Caught two more episodes of the first season of Once Upon A Time last night after Martha got home (another good thing that the kids don't have to go to bed at nine, we have some time) and got to "The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter", the first episode Martha and I saw and now I've seen is the first episode where you actually see a character rip out someone's heart, Queen Regina ripping out the Huntsman's heart when he fails to deliver Snow White's own. (She ripped out her father Henry's heart in the second episode "The Thing You Love Most", but out of camera range; I guess the show hadn't gotten the effects quite right yet or didn't want to show it at that time.) Don't worry, I have no plans of doing that myself.
Jeffrey asked me last night when I picked the kids up was I feeling better (last night) than I did Monday. I said yes; I was very thankful that he did that. And I'm also thankful it wasn't as much of a fight getting the kids up this morning as it has been -- Martha asked me that, have the kids behaved better for me (because she leaves for work before I do and I have to get them either to school or to the family members who are going to watch them for the day before I go to work). I am glad and I am blessed that not only MY memory is getting refreshed that my household members are not walking around waiting to stab me in the back but also that there is the best in us that I just waiting and, a bit at a time, coming out.
I like to think I'm getting better at that too, David
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