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Introducing Amazon Coins: A Digital Currency for Kindle Fire Owners

Posted by on May 21st, 2013

Amazon’s most recent Kindle Fire marketing effort is the introduction of Amazon Coins. They’ve released their own digital currency that can be used to purchase apps and games from the Amazon Appstore. On the surface it’s a confusing move, given the larger trend of companies moving away from internally controlled currencies, but there’s a lot to be said for the idea if it is handled correctly.

Most users should already have received the email informing them that 500 Amazon Coins have been added to their account. That will hopefully give people a chance to get interested in the idea. This will not be blocking off real currency-based purchases, of course. That’s going to be an important consideration, since systems that completely replace all other forms of money with their own tend to enjoy little enthusiasm. One mistake easily avoided. Even Microsoft has been forced to begin removing their digital currency thanks to that approach despite a large and dedicated user base.

Most likely, the goal here is twofold: Encourage more frequent spending and allow for more options where children are concerned. The addition of an alternate currency model that can be used for these tasks makes perfect sense so long as they are not forced on the customer without their input.

Consider the potential for the Amazon Coin as a micro-transaction currency. Rather than needing to enter a password for every payment, a customer can purchase 100 coins for a dollar and spend them at their leisure with no hassle. Abuse is limited since there is a hard limit to how much of the currency is present at any given time. Annoying lists including dozens of $ 0.05-0.10 transactions are removed from statements. Customers even feel more free to make the occasional transaction they might otherwise have avoided, since the Coins are already sitting there.

When it comes to children, this has the additional benefit of security. Nobody wants a repeat of the early iPad problems that resulted in thousands of dollars worth of purchases being made by those too young to grasp what they were doing, but at the same time parents often want to be able to allow free use of the devices. By setting up a separate wallet for this sort of thing, Amazon could allow these parents to offer an allowance of sorts that doesn’t require regular input of a password or PIN.

Amazon is known for offering frequent promotions with purchases. This will certainly continue to be the case. While the occasional free MP3 or video credit might be beneficial for some and overlooked for others, it’s going to be easier to encourage people to make use of these freebies if they have a wallet to fill up with Amazon Coins. This will encourage app purchasing and use while giving developers even more incentive to join the platform. Considering the fact that Amazon’s Appstore for Android already shows superior returns when compared to the Google Play app store, it’s only going to get harder for anybody to justify staying away.

This is What Happy Looks Like (2013)

Posted by on May 21st, 2013

This is What Happy Looks Like. Jennifer E. Smith. 2013. Little, Brown. 404 pages.

This is the third novel I’ve read by Jennifer E. Smith. I’ve also reviewed The Comeback Season and The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight. I loved them both in very different ways. She is definitely an author I’d recommend to fans of Elizabeth Scott, Sarah Dessen, and Deb Caletti.

It starts when Ellie receives an email from a stranger. It’s obviously a case of mistaken identity–this G is asking her to take Wilbur for a walk. Not wanting Wilbur to suffer, she replies back and discovers…that he’s a PIG and G is a kindred spirit. A true friendship grows between E and G. They both have secrets they’re keeping from one another: Ellie’s secret isn’t hers exclusively, so it makes sense that she wouldn’t share it with just anyone. G’s secret is that he is Graham Larkin, movie star. He purposefully suggests Ellie’s hometown in Maine as a shooting location for his new movie, he’s truly hoping to have a magical summer with the woman he can’t stop thinking about. But Ellie has reasons–good reasons–not to want attention from the media.

I LOVED the beginning of this one. The email exchanges were great. I enjoyed the rest of the novel as well. It wasn’t quite love, love, love for me. I did enjoy both characters, and I thought there were a few scenes in this one that worked really well. But for me, it didn’t have as many magical moments as The Statistical Probability of Love At First Sight. It’s a good romance. I’m definitely glad I read it!

Becky’s Book Reviews

Sunday Salon: Reading Emily of New Moon (1923)

Posted by on May 20th, 2013

Emily of New Moon. L.M. Montgomery. 1923. Bantam. 352 pages.

Have you met Emily Starr? Fifteen years after introducing children to the oh-so-lovable Anne Shirley, L.M. Montgomery introduces another young orphan to the world: Emily Starr. While Anne Shirley had no memories of her parents, Emily Starr remembers her father very well. In fact, readers meet him as well. When Emily of New Moon opens, Emily is about to learn the devastating truth: her father has only a few more weeks to live. He is dying; there is no cure, no hope for a cure. After her father dies, the relatives gather together. They hated Emily’s father and have had nothing to do with Emily all these years. But now there is one question to be settled: who will get the “privilege”of taking Emily Starr home to raise?! She goes with Aunt Laura and Aunt Elizabeth to Prince Edward Island.

How does Emily Starr compare to Anne Shirley? Well, she’s imaginative, spirited, struggles to adapt to school at least at first, loves to write…but in many ways she is quite unique. While she doesn’t automatically love Aunt Elizabeth and her new home, she does come to peace with her new life. And there are many things she LOVES. Aunt Laura, Cousin Jimmy, Ilse Burnley, and Teddy Kent come to mind! But Teddy Kent is not the only boy in her life, there is also that Perry Miller and Dean “Jarback” Priest!

I do love Emily of New Moon. I’m not sure I LOVE this book as much as I love the earliest Anne books (Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea), but, there are many things I do LOVE about it. It is always great to spend time on Prince Edward Island. And L.M. Montgomery’s characters can’t help feeling human. She had such a great gift for bringing all of her characters to life!

Favorite quotes:

“It had always seemed to Emily, ever since she could remember, that she was very, very near to a world of wonderful beauty. Between it and herself hung only a thin curtain; she could never draw the curtain aside– but sometimes, just for a moment, a wind fluttered it and then it was as if she caught a glimpse of the enchanting realm beyond– only a glimpse– and heard a note of unearthly music.”

“Ten good lines out of four hundred, Emily—comparatively good, that is—and all the rest balderdash—balderdash, Emily.”
“I—suppose so,” said Emily faintly.
Her eyes brimmed with tears—her lips quivered. She could not help it. Pride was hopelessly submerged in the bitterness of her disappointment. She felt exactly like a candle that somebody had blown out.
“What are you crying for? demanded Mr. Carpenter.
Emily blinked away tears and tried to laugh.
“I—I’m sorry—you think it’s no good—” she said.
Mr. Carpenter gave the desk a mighty thump.
“No good! Didn’t I tell you there were ten good lines? Jade, for ten righteous men Sodom had been spared.”
“Do you mean—that—after all—” The candle was being relighted again.
“Of course, I mean. If at thirteen you can write ten good lines, at twenty you’ll write ten times ten—if the gods are kind. Stop messing over months, though—and don’t imagine you’re a genius, either, if you have written ten decent lines. I think there’s something trying to speak through you—but you’ll have to make yourself a fit instrument for it. You’ve got to work hard and sacrifice—by gad, girl, you’ve chosen a jealous goddess. And she never lets her votaries go—not even when she shuts her ears forever to their plea.”

“Tell me this–if you knew you would be poor as a church mouse all your life–if you knew you’d never have a line published–would you still go on writing–would you?’
‘Of course I would,’ said Emily disdainfully. ‘Why, I have to write–I can’t help it at times–I’ve just got to.”

Becky’s Book Reviews

The Daughter of Time (1951)

Posted by on May 19th, 2013

The Daughter of Time. (Inspector Grant #5). Josephine Tey. 1955/1995. Touchstone. 206 pages.

I reread books. I do. I can’t help myself. If I truly love a book, then I’ll reread it again and again. I’ve now read Josephine Tey’s mystery novel, The Daughter of Time, three times. I’ve wanted to reread it even more than that. But I’ve shown some restraint.

The Daughter of Time is an unusual mystery novel for the hero, the detector, Inspector Grant, “solves” the case in a hospital bed. He has visitors bringing him books, bringing him copies of portraits, and he has assigned people to do research on his behalf, seeking answers to his questions. But he never leaves the room. What case is he trying to solve? It’s not a current case, a contemporary one. It’s historical in nature. He’s trying to solve the case of WHO murdered the two princes in the tower during the reign of Richard III.

He starts with simple history textbooks, and moves on to look at other sources. He QUESTIONS the material at hand, always curious as to where they got their information, and IF that information would be admissible in a courtroom. Would there be enough real proof to convict the prime suspect Richard III of the crime. What he reasons is that most of the source material that has been taken for granted–to a degree–was all written decades after the crime, during the reign of Henry VII or even Henry VIII. Tudors have tempers! To upset a Tudor king (or queen) is NOT a good idea. So were these books written to please the crown? Perhaps! The historian Grant questions most is Thomas More. More was just a boy–five years old–when Richard III was struggling to keep his kingdom. He may have talked to many who were still alive, who still remembered, but his facts are uneven in their believability. (You might have to read the book to learn the details!) Grant struggles to find genuine closer-to-primary-documents to recreate the events. He looks at ALL the key players, all the men and women, and traces their steps, their whereabouts. He also examines motives. Who has the most to gain and who has the most to lose? Once Grant has all the information he can, he pieces together a case showing that Richard III should not be the primary suspect after all.

I love the subject of this one! I also love the writing!

Alan Grant on popular fiction authors:

The Sweat and the Furrow was Silas Weekley being earthly and spade-conscious all over seven hundred pages. The situation, to judge from the first paragraph, had not materially changed since Silas’s last book: mother lying-in with her eleventh upstairs, father laid-out after his ninth downstairs, eldest son lying to the Government in the cow-shed, eldest daughter lying with her lover in the the hayloft, everyone else lying low in the barn. The rain dripped from the thatch, and the manure steamed in the midden. Silas never omitted the manure. It was not Silas’s fault that its steam provided the only uprising element in the picture. If Silas could have discovered a brand of steam that steamed downwards, Silas would have introduced it. (13)

Did no one, any more, no one in all this wide world, change their record now and then? Was everyone nowadays thirled to a formula? Authors today wrote so much to a pattern that their public expected it. The public talked about “a new Silas Weekley” or “a new Lavinia Fitch” exactly as they talked about “a new brick” or a “new hairbrush.” They never said “a new book by” whoever it might be. Their interest was not in the book but in its newness. They knew quite well what the book would be like. (14)

The Rose of Raby proved to be fiction, but at least easier to hold than Tanner’s Constitutional History of England. It was, moreover, the almost-respectable form of historical fiction which is merely history-with-conversation, so to speak. An imaginative biography rather than an imagined story. Evelyn Payne-Ellis, whoever she might be, had provided portraits and a family tree, and had made no attempt, it seemed, to what he and his cousin Laura used to call in their childhood “write forsoothly.” There were no “by our Ladys,” no “nathelesses” or “varlets.” It was an honest affair according to its lights. And its lights were more illuminating than Mr. Tanner. Much more illuminating. It was Grant’s belief that if you could not find out about a man, the next best way to arrive at an estimate of him was to find out about his mother. (59)

Alan Grant on Sir Thomas More

He came to the surface an hour later, vaguely puzzled and ill at ease. It was not that the matter surprised him, the facts were very much what he had expected them to be. It was that this was not how he had expected Sir Thomas to write. “He took ill rest at nights, lay long waking and musing; sore wearied with care and watch, he slumbered rather than slept. So was his restless heart continually tossed and tumbled with the tedious impression and stormy remembrance of his most abominable deeds.” That was all right. But when he added that “this he had from such as were secret with his chamberers” one was suddenly repelled. An aroma of back-stair gossip and servants’ spying came off the page. So that one’s sympathy tilted before one was aware of it from the smug commentator to the tortured creature sleeping on his bed. The murderer seemed of greater stature than the man who was writing of him. Which was all wrong. Grant was conscious too of the same unease that filled him when he listened to a witness telling a perfect story that he knew to be flawed somewhere… (71)

He was five. When that dramatic council scene had taken place at the Tower, Thomas More had been five years old. He had been only eight when Richard died at Bosworth. Everything in that history had been hearsay. And if there was one word that a policeman loathed more than another it was hearsay. Especially when applied to evidence. He was so disgusted that he flung the precious book on to the floor before he remembered that it was the property of a Public Library and his only by grace and for fourteen days. More had never known Richard III at all. He had indeed grown up under a Tudor administration. That book was the Bible of the whole historical world on the subject of Richard III–and it was from that account that Holinshed had taken his material, and from that Shakespeare had written his–and except that More believed what he wrote to be true it was of no more value than what the soldier said…. Grant had dealt too long with the human intelligence to accept as truth someone’s report of someone’s report of what that someone remembered to have seen or been told. (81)

Other favorite quotes:

“One would expect boredom to be a great yawning emotion, but it isn’t, of course. It’s a small niggling thing.” (16)

“I’m feeling like a policeman. I’m thinking like a policeman. I’m asking myself the question that every policeman asks in every case of murder: Who benefits? And for the first time it occurs to me that the glib theory that Richard got rid of the boys to make himself safer on the throne is so much nonsense. Supposing that he had got rid of the boys. There were still the boys’ five sisters between him and the throne. To say nothing of George’s toy: the boy and girl. George’s son and daughter were barred by their father’s attainder; but I take it that an attainder can be reversed, or annulled, or something. If Richard’s claim was shaky, all those lives stood between him and safety.”
“And did they all survive him?”
“I don’t know. But I shall make it my business to find out. The boys’ eldest sister certainly did because she became Queen of England as Henry’s wife.” (105)

It was brought home to him for the first time not only what a useless thing the murder of the boys would have been, but what a silly thing. And if there was anything that Richard of Gloucester was not, beyond a shadow of a doubt, it was silly. (137)

“Of course I’m only a policeman,” Grant said. “Perhaps I never moved in the right circles. It may be that I’ve met only nice people. Where would one have to go to meet a woman who became matey with the murderer of her two boys?”
“Greece, I should think,” Marta said. “Ancient Greece.”
“I can’t remember a sample even there.”
“Or a lunatic asylum, perhaps. Was there any sign of idiocy about Elizabeth Woodville?”
“Not that anyone ever noticed. And she was Queen for twenty years or so.”
…
“Yes of course. It’s the height of absurdity. It belongs to Ruthless Rhymes, not to sober history. That is why historians surprise me. They seem to have no talent for the likeliness of any situation. They see history like a peepshow; with two-dimensional figures against a distant background.”
“Perhaps when you are grubbing about with tattered records you haven’t time to learn about people. I don’t mean about the people in the records, but just about People. Flesh and blood. And how they react to circumstances.” (151)

Becky’s Book Reviews

Amazon Picks Up Goodreads For Kindle Social and More

Posted by on May 18th, 2013

A few weeks ago, Amazon announced that they were going to acquire Goodreads, one of the most popular social sites on the internet for book lovers. Goodreads has become a great place to go for sharing reviews, recommendations, ideas, and more since its debut in 2007. While this is certain to be mutually beneficial in many ways, we have to assume that the goal here is to develop the Kindle Social experience into a real selling point for the eReader line.

The Kindle has an interesting position with regard to social interaction.

By its very nature it allows greater privacy than most paper books would. No matter what situation you happen to be in, nobody can tell what you are reading without looking directly over your shoulder or asking you. This cuts out the opportunity for people to randomly discover shared literary interests.

At the same time, because it offers access to practically any book in print at a moment’s notice there is a lot of opportunity for sharing and recommendations. Users just need a way to willingly share their activity now that book covers can’t do the job. The current integration with Twitter and Facebook are alright in this regard, but really a dedicated space for that sort of posting would go over better. Hence the Goodreads acquisition.

There are a few things that both organizations stand to gain beyond that, of course.

One of the main services that Goodreads provides its users is book recommendations. Regardless of what your opinions are of their other business strengths, nobody is going to deny that Amazon is the best there is at accurately targeting recommendations based on previous purchases. Taking that technology and applying it to these book lists will improve the performance immensely.

That helps to drive up business at Amazon, since the Kindle Store remains the best place to buy eBooks. In addition to the sales, there’s a wealth of data to work with on the Goodreads site. Tying the review system there into the main Amazon site could provide much more accurate information for potential shoppers. The associations and trends found between various readers will probably do some good in refining recommendations further as well.

It’s going to be a while yet before anything changes. The acquisition that was just announced won’t actually take place for a couple months. Even after that there will need to be a fair amount of work before anything is ready for release.

Millions of readers are about to get a much more robust social experience out of their reading.

Penny and Her Marble (2013)

Posted by on May 17th, 2013

Penny and Her Marble. Kevin Henkes. 2013. HarperCollins. 48 pages.

Penny was pushing her doll, Rose, in her stroller. They went back and forth on the front sidewalk. “Only go as far as Mrs. Goodwin’s house,” called Mama. Penny pretended they were in a big city. “Look at the tall buildings, Rose,” said Penny. When they got to Mrs. Goodwin’s house, they turned around. Then Penny pretended they were in a forest…

I am really loving Kevin Henkes new series starring Penny and her family. I have loved each of the books in the series so far. Penny is such a fun heroine! The first book was Penny and Her Song; the second book was Penny And Her Doll. In her latest adventure, Penny struggles with her conscience. That day she picked up a marble she found in her neighbor’s yard or perhaps on the sidewalk in front of her neighbor’s house. She took it without thinking of it being someone else’s property. And at first, she takes pure delight in it! Though small, this marble is bringing her nothing but joy. But then she starts thinking that maybe someone is missing it, maybe it wasn’t hers to take after all. Penny and Her Marble is a thoughtful book for young readers, and it’s a book with a happy ending!
© 2013 Becky Laney of Becky’s Book Reviews

Becky’s Book Reviews

Kept in the Dark (1882)

Posted by on May 16th, 2013

Kept in the Dark. Anthony Trollope. 1882. 512 pages.

I love, love, love Anthony Trollope. Kept in the Dark is a novel about relationships. Cecilia Holt, our heroine, when we first meet her is engaged to be married to Sir Francis Geraldine. While she was madly in love with him for a few brief weeks, she soon begins to see that he is not the one for her. There is something not quite right about him, something that worries her. So. She tells him that she’s changed her mind. She will not be marrying him. His vanity is wounded, so he goes and boasts that he changed HIS mind. She doesn’t care that much at the time; after all, the important thing is that the engagement is over. Even Cecilia’s three closest friends don’t know what to believe in the matter. Cecilia chooses not to gossip, not to add to the rumors. A few months later Cecilia and her mother are traveling around in Europe. She meets a man just a few years younger than Sir Francis. (Sir Francis was quite a bit older than Cecilia). He tells her after a brief acquaintance that he’s suffering from a broken heart. A young woman, a beautiful woman, (a SILLY woman) has broken their engagement; she’s fallen in love with a younger man, a Captain Geraldine. Cecilia’s only known George Western a week! He’s opened up his life to her, sharing his thoughts and cares, but how should she respond? She’s certainly not brokenhearted herself, and except for the fact that there was not another man, her case superficially resembles his. She did “jilt” an older man. So she remains silent. As time goes by and they meet again and again in their travels, the two fall in love. Cecilia has an idea that she should tell him about her former engagement, but, the time doesn’t seem right. To interrupt during the proposal would be awkward at best. She at first plans to tell him before the wedding, but, then her determination weakens. In a matter of months, the two are wed and her husband is still being “kept in the dark.”

Most of the novel focuses on her husband’s reaction to the news. For those that have read He Knew He Was Right, George Western does not do a Louis Trevelyan. Not quite. He leaves her quite suddenly, and he does insist on a permanent separation. But he offers her the country house, his home, and all the money she wants. She refuses these “kindnesses” which seem so cruel. She returns to her mother’s house…but that is not the end of the story!

Unlike previous Trollope novels, readers only meet a few characters. The other two characters we spend time with are Sir Francis Geraldine and Francesca Altifiorla. Miss Altiforla was a “dear friend” to Cecilia Holt at the start of the novel; but she is VICIOUS. We also get a quick glimpse or two of Lady Grant, George’s sister. I really loved this minor character!

I enjoyed this one. I really did.

Quotes:

People are taken and must be taken in the position they frame for themselves. (6)

“Do you measure the one thing by the other,” said Lady Grant; “a man’s desires by a woman’s, a man’s sense of honour by what a woman is supposed to feel? Though a man keep such secrets deep in his bosom through long years of married life, the woman is not supposed to be injured. She may know, or may not know, and may hear the tale at any period of her married life, and no harm will follow. But a man expects to see every thought in the breast of the woman to whose love he trusts, as though it were all written there for him in the clear light, but written in letters which no one else shall read.” (55)

“Lies are a sort of thing which are very commonly told, and are ordinarily ascribed to the world at large. The world never quarrels with the accusation. The world has told most infernal lies to this man about his wife. (124)

Becky’s Book Reviews

Reviewing ColcaSac Uintah for the Kindle Fire

Posted by on May 16th, 2013

ColcaSaclogo I recently got the opportunity to try out a ColcaSac sleeve for my Kindle Fire and thought that it might be useful to share my thoughts. It’s proven to be an interesting product.

First impressions

The sleeve I ended up with was the $ 29.95 Uintah style for the Kindle Fire. A fairly minimal design made of undyed hemp canvas and lined with a surprisingly soft recycled polyester fleece. This fits together with the company’s environmental concerns without sacrificing quality. There is absolutely no question, holding the sleeve in my hands, that this is a durable product.

Getting the device into the sleeve for the first time was somewhat daunting. The packaging actually instructs you to brace the device against your body while pulling it on and the instructions mention that the fit should be tight fitting, but that doesn’t get the idea across well enough.

It is very clear that my Kindle will not just fall out of this sleeve even if I leave the flap at the top closed.

After some use

ColcaSac Interior Ok, the horrible snugness that made me fear I might never be able to retrieve my tablet again has faded somewhat. Now that I’ve been using it for a couple days, things have stretched out enough that while there is still no danger of the Kindle falling out I will at least never have a problem sliding it in and out. It’s clearly a case that has to be broken in.

In terms of other performance, the Uintah sleeve has held up well. A spilled drink left no stain on the canvas, and it was thick enough to prevent quickly-cleaned liquid from making its way through. The fleece lining is thick enough and soft enough that there is no reason to suspect anything has a chance of scratching through it.

The stitching holds up quite well and nothing seems to be glued together. I tested a fair amount and honestly can’t tell whether the canvas itself wouldn’t give out before the seams. It’s a well put together product.

The one concern I have is with fall damage. As with most sleeves, the shock of an impact will translate directly through to the device. This one is better than most in that regard, but the edge with the closure flap is particularly vulnerable. You would have to be unlucky enough to drop it just right, but these things can happen.

Final Thoughts

I’m a fan of folio cases for eReaders and tablets. To me they offer the least inconvenience during frequent use while still providing protection. That said, if I were to switch to a sleeve for regular use I would definitely make it one of these.

The ColcaSac Uintah design is as utilitarian as I could hope for without being unattractive or bulky. While it’s true that there could be some damage during falls, that’s going to depend on the situation and the device you’re holding in one. The Kindle Fire has already proven itself fairly resistant to fall damage from under four feet or so. The Kindle eReaders weigh less and would get even more benefit from the use of a sleeve with this kind of padding. It seems like a pointless concern unless you’re really hard on your electronics.

Remember that it will take some time to break in. I’m not exaggerating the tightness of a freshly shipped Uintah sleeve. It took a good week and probably 20 insertions/removals before things finally stretched just enough to be comfortable. Definitely worth it to avoid stretching to the point of looseness later, but it’s worth keeping in mind.

In addition to sleeves for the Kindle Fire, Kindle Touch, and Kindle Paperwhite, ColcaSac makes sleeves for the iPad, iPad Mini, iPhone, and Macbook. I’m also told that a Kindle Fire HD design is on the way.

Check them out at http://www.colcasac.com/

The League of Frightened Men (1935)

Posted by on May 15th, 2013

The League of Frightened Men. Rex Stout. 1935. Bantam. 320 pages.

This is the second novel in Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe mystery series. I am not reading the series in order, and I have preferred some of his later books in the series to the first two in the series. In this mystery, Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin are trying to satisfy a large number of clients, members of the ‘league of atonement.’ These men were less than saints in college, and one of their pranks went horribly wrong. The victim was crippled, and lives were impacted. So why is this league ‘frightened’? Well, it starts with the death of one or two of its members. After the first death, an anonymous letter–a poem, I believe–was sent to the others. It was a poetic, rambling threat. Another member dies unexpectedly, another letter was delivered. This causes alarm. At first Rex Stout did not take the case seriously, this was when one of the members turns up at his house alone and acting very strange. But weeks later when this man has gone missing, well, Stout decides to invite the other members to his house and take on their case. Many fear it is this ‘victim’ that has turned dangerous, wild, unpredictable. If Wolfe can alleviate their fears, then he’ll be paid.

I found this case to be confusing and a bit strange. But it does star Nero Wolfe and Archie, so even though it was confusing at times, it had its moments of delight. I am so glad I didn’t try to read this series in order or I’m not sure I’d have bothered reading on.

I do recommend Rex Stout as a mystery writer. This may not be my favorite Nero Wolfe, but overall his series is great.

Becky’s Book Reviews

Ozma of Oz (1907)

Posted by on May 14th, 2013

Ozma of Oz. L. Frank Baum. 1907. 126 pages.

Ozma of Oz is certainly an interesting and enjoyable read! This third novel in the Oz series sees Dorothy returning to a magical land; Oz is not the first destination she reaches, however. Instead of a dog, Dorothy’s companion is a chicken. One of the reasons Dorothy knows with certainty that she’s landed in another fantastical adventure is that the chicken begins to TALK. This chicken, Billena, comes in quite useful! In fact, Dorothy and her friends would have been doomed without her! Another new character we meet is Tik-Tok. (I really liked this mechanical wind-up man.) The main adventure of this one concerns the Nome King.

I definitely enjoyed this one! I’m not sure which of the Oz books is my favorite so far. I’ve enjoyed elements from all three! I really enjoy the writing and the dialogue! There are plenty of enjoyable scenes throughout all three books.

Favorite quotes:

But, bye and bye, when she was almost in despair, the little girl came upon two trees that promised to furnish her with plenty of food.
One was quite full of square paper boxes, which grew in clusters on all the limbs, and upon the biggest and ripest boxes the word “Lunch” could be read, in neat raised letters. This tree seemed to bear all the year around, for there were lunch-box blossoms on some of the branches, and on others tiny little lunch-boxes that were as yet quite green, and evidently not fit to eat until they had grown bigger.
The leaves of this tree were all paper napkins, and it presented a very pleasing appearance to the hungry little girl.
But the tree next to the lunch-box tree was even more wonderful, for it bore quantities of tin dinner-pails, which were so full and heavy that the stout branches bent underneath their weight. Some were small and dark-brown in color; those larger were of a dull tin color; but the really ripe ones were pails of bright tin that shone and glistened beautifully in the rays of sunshine that touched them.
Dorothy was delighted, and even the yellow hen acknowledged that she was surprised.
The little girl stood on tip-toe and picked one of the nicest and biggest lunch-boxes, and then she sat down upon the ground and eagerly opened it. Inside she found, nicely wrapped in white papers, a ham sandwich, a piece of sponge-cake, a pickle, a slice of new cheese and an apple. Each thing had a separate stem, and so had to be picked off the side of the box; but Dorothy found them all to be delicious, and she ate every bit of luncheon in the box before she had finished.
“A lunch isn’t zactly breakfast,” she said to Billina, who sat beside her curiously watching. “But when one is hungry one can eat even supper in the morning, and not complain.”
“I hope your lunch-box was perfectly ripe,” observed the yellow hen, in a anxious tone. “So much sickness is caused by eating green things.”
“Oh, I’m sure it was ripe,” declared Dorothy, “all, that is, ‘cept the pickle, and a pickle just HAS to be green, Billina. But everything tasted perfectly splendid, and I’d rather have it than a church picnic. And now I think I’ll pick a dinner-pail, to have when I get hungry again, and then we’ll start out and ‘splore the country, and see where we are.”
“Haven’t you any idea what country this is?” inquired Billina.
“None at all. But listen: I’m quite sure it’s a fairy country, or such things as lunch-boxes and dinner-pails wouldn’t be growing upon trees. Besides, Billina, being a hen, you wouldn’t be able to talk in any civ’lized country, like Kansas, where no fairies live at all.”

A princess cannot be expected to remember today what she did yesterday.

The generals commanded the colonels and the colonels commanded the majors and the majors commanded the captains and the captains commanded the private, who marched with an air of proud importance because it required so many officers to give him his orders.

When the bell rang a second time the King shouted angrily, “Smudge and blazes!” and at a third ring he screamed in a fury, “Hippikaloric!” which must be a dreadful word because we don’t know what it means.

“I have no reason to complain of my lot,” replied the Scarecrow. “A little fresh straw, now and then, makes me as good as new. But I can never be the polished gentleman that my poor departed friend, the Tin Woodman, was.”

“That is the College of Art and Athletic Perfection,” replied Ozma. “I had it built quite recently, and the Woggle-But is its president. It keeps him busy, and the young men who attend the college are no worse off than they were before. You see, in this country are a number of youths who do not like to work, and the college is an excellent place for them.”

Becky’s Book Reviews