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My passion at night before I go to sleep is to make sure I have time to read. Anyway, if you notice on my ‘favorites lists’ on my sidebar I have the mention of my favorite author. Gregory Maguire. He is best known for writing children’s literature, but the past couple of decades he’s written several New York Times bestsellers. For adult reading. When things settled down, and kids were grown and left home, I decided to retire with hubby and get into reading more! That’s when I found Gregory Maguire. I have all his adult ‘fairy tales come true’ novels! And I’ve been hooked on them since his first publication, Wicked; he brought to life the dear Wicked Witch of the West from the classic Wizard of Oz. He gave her character beyond my wildest imagination. After reading it, I found myself wondering: “What would Red Riding Hood be like if she were novelized for adults, and come to life too?” Or Cinderella? Or any childhood fables…what would they be like? He opened a whole new world for me. And I was with bated breath hoping he’d write more. He did, and lo and behold the next one and the next one and the next one. I was there, when they brought out the first editions of each and every one of his books. It’s like taking you to a whole new level of the characters you learned as a child to love to hate and make them compassionate and created them in a way you feel good about them. And rumor has it his latest, reported to be titled “Lion of All Men” about the cowardly lion from Wizard of Oz. It’s listed as being published and on the bookshelves in October of this year…I’ll be there getting my first edition for my collection of his works. Certainly if you read his first, Wicked, I propose your imagination will have a spell cast upon it. He’s obviously cast a spell on many, many adults alike. And Wicked is now a long running Broadway Musical. Oh how I dream of seeing that if it ever goes [way]‘off Broadway’…clear to this hick town!
So, my show n tell is my first edition collection of Gregory Maguire’s adult ‘fairy tales’!
Top left to right…Wicked [Wicked Witch of the West comes to life] – Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister [Cinderella & her Step Sisters!] – Mirror Mirror [Snow White "aka -Bianca" and those little men of hers come to life in a big way. IN this book Maguire also brings into the fiction, some historical figures of note.] Bottom row, left to right…Lost and Son of a Witch. Lost is filled with suspense. A girl goes to England only to realize that her relative could possibly be part of the legend “Ebenezer Scrooge” or could he be the ghost of Jack the Ripper? You’ll have to read it! And then, his last novel [way too long for a new one to come out!] is Son of a Witch -about Liir, the son of Elphaba [the Wicked Witch] or is he? When Wicked ends as Dorothy melts the witch, there is a boy left alone, Liir. Is he her son?
Then, two Christmases ago, Bud bought me this book. It goes into great detail of the making of the Broadway Musical, Wicked. You know I’ve seen this cover on many billboards, for years. And I loved it because it was associated with a great ‘innovative’ novel of our time. In fact when the selling of the hard cover books left the shelves in the stores, this same image was the soft cover [paperback] for that edition on the shelves. But, after having this book and reading through it, I just noticed recently that there were actually TWO women in the artwork. Duh!! One of black and the other white..whispering to the black witch image. Symbolic of the novel, I’m sure! But I just now saw it. Hey…I’m totally blond! Excuse me.
This image is just inside the cover of the Musical book…”Are people born WICKED?”
A photo of Elphaba, the Witch as a new born!!
More of the infant Wicked Witch, Elphaba
On stage, Elphaba to the right and Glinda the Good Witch on the left.
Elphaba’s magical broom! “I’ll get you my pretty!! And your dog too!”
And lasty, sorry if I’ve bored y’all…but Mary and I have been chatting through emails about what our interests are in reading. We both love historical novels. And I wanted to list some of mine I have either read or want to read…
Left to right [below] Raven’s Bride [about Sam Houston and his young bride. VERY good!! - Mozart's Sister [Mary read this and recommended it, so did my sister -she read it and loved it.] Then, The Story of My Life by Helen Keller. Bud found me this on the bargain shelf at Barnes and Noble, she is a favorite historical figure that I love to read about. An autobiographical sketch. And in the middle, an older copy of a novel about Mrs. Robert E. Lee of Civil War era, called The Lady of Arlington, and last to the far right is a newly published book within the last year…Dumas of Count of Monte Cristo fame – The Last Cavalier. I started reading this and then it got waylaid for another book. It’s reportedly something of Dumas’s work that has been long lost and now found. I intend to read this someday soon.
