Book Review: Wicked

I found Wicked to be a very interesting book. It's definitely not a light read. The first thing I had to do was get rid of all of my candy-coated ideas about the land of Oz from the movie The Wizard of Oz. I should have known a book based on the life story of the Wicked Witch of the West would've been darker than a story about a girl and her dog lost in a mystical land. However, I was not prepared for both the sophisticated writing and complex topics that Maguire dove into. Once I adjusted my mindset, I was pleasantly surprised.

I never read the original story, The Wizard of Oz, or any other novels based on Oz, but based on this book, I think Maguire did a good job fleshing out the land of Oz. I loved the story of the witch's upbringing, childhood, school and early adult life.

However, I didn't quite buy where Elphaba goes from being an extremely smart, but angry woman to wanting to become and be perceived as an evil, wicked person when her whole life she has been looking for a way to save Oz from the evil, wicked wizard.

Still, I really enjoyed the novel and recommend it.

Book Review: The Hunger Games

I have to thank my fourth-grade son for prompting me to read one of the most engaging books I’ve read in a long time. He wanted the book because a couple of his friends really liked it. He took the book to Grandma’s house one day and didn’t bring it home. I asked why and he said his aunt was reading it and wouldn’t give it back until she was done. What kind of book would excite a bunch of fourth grade boys and my son’s middle age aunt? Intrigued, I read the first page at 10 p.m. Monday night while fighting a cold. I set it down at 4 a.m. Tuesday morning, physically a mess, but mentally jazzed.

Every time I thought I could go to sleep, there was another twist or added level of depth that drew me deeper into Collins’ novel causing me to break numerous promises of just one more chapter. I’ve read lots of books with believable characters, full of suspense, and great pacing, but it was Collins' well-placed twists and ah-ha moments that kept me going and had me say at least three times, that’s awesome.

Criticism? There were a couple of back stories that seemed inconsequential that I skimmed over and there was one scene I’m sure Collin’s had written, but didn’t make the final draft that I would’ve liked to have read.

The Hunger Games is a fast-paced, suspense-filled novel that I could not put down and highly recommend.

Book Review: American Lightning: Terror, Mystery, the Birth of Hollywood, and the Crime of the Century

Next to my grandmother's grave at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery is a large monument dedicated to the employees who were killed during the 1910 Los Angeles Times bombing. As a child, I enjoyed looking at the massive stone memorial as I visited the gorgeous cemetery with my grandmother. I also remember her theories about what happened that day. So when I saw American Lightning in the bookstore, I was eager to read the novel.

I really enjoyed the first half of the novel where the story not only centered on the facts of the bombing, but on the labor-versus-capital movements at the time, the rise of Hollywood and the rise of Los Angeles.

The different theories about who committed the bombing at the beginning got me excited, but I felt let down when the author suddenly had Billy Burns latch onto one of many theories without investigating the others-even the most popular and controversial that my grandmother believed.

Still, it is a well-paced book with many interesting facets. I'm not sure how D.W. Griffith and Mary Pickford fit in with the crime of the century, but since I enjoy their movies I also enjoyed everything he included about their rise in the motion picture industry.

Aside from some of Darrow's personal side stories getting a little long, and Burns painted in a very favorable light even when he was knowingly breaking the law, I enjoyed Howard Blum's recreation of a turbelent time in Los Angeles' short history and the crime of the century.