I have all fifteen Oz books on the Kindle – one of those 99¢ specials from Amazon – and have finally begun to read them. Last night, I finished the first one (which is probably not named The Wizard of Oz, but I’m too lazy to go check).

It’s interesting to compare it to the movie (which I’ve seen many, many times). The last third of the book, a lengthy quest to visit the Good Witch of the South, is missing from the movie (as is the Good Witch herself). The movie has better pacing.

(As usual, the formatting was terrible. Beware the Kindle freebies / cheap books – they’re all Project Gutenberg, formatted for a time when computers were text-only & everybody used 300-baud modems. On modern hardware, Project Gutenberg books are a very retro experience.)