I just reread Glinda of Oz for the first time in decades, reading it to Matilda for the first time, and damn but that is one fine book. Crazy, but fine. Baum is totally one of those writers who just never had a single oddball idea flit through his mind and then filed it away as Too Weird To Work With. Glinda contains the Flatheads, a tribe of purple-eyed persons who carry cans of powdered brains in their pockets and are ruled by a Supreme Dictator who who stole three cans of brains from his rivals and so is now four times as smart as any other Flathead (his wife turned herself into a powerful sorceress by stealing five cans of brains, but then got turned into a pig by a rival sorceress who kept her brains safely and unstealably in her ordinary round head), the Skeezers and their submersible island, the three transfigured Adepts at Magic, the Valley of the Mist Maidens, (that's Princess Polychrome being borne up by the MMs - I think she's mostly a Sky Island character, but she does show up in a couple of Oz books as well) and the spectacularly beautiful, snarky and cheerfully misanthropic Reera the Red, who hates people in general although she seems to like the individuals she meets just fine, and who cools herself off on hot days by transfiguring herself into an orangutan because that way she can sit around mostly naked but still has hands and can keep up with her sewing. Reera is not exactly a Buffista, but I think she'd get along with a lot of us, as long as we never expected her to show up to any F2Fs.

In short, everyone should read Glinda of Oz posthaste. It'll only take an hour or so - it's a galloping quick read for grown-ups.

I feel I set a really low bar for coping--I never fail to be startled when other people fail to clear it.

Ah, well. Weekly reminder will be set.

I check in with the UCLA nurse who's managed setting up this process once a week, and I mentioned to her that my insurance hadn't been billed for this yet, so I had no idea how much this was going to cost me. She said she'd check, and I have a message from the IV meds pharmacy saying I won't be paying them. That just leaves the nursing company, but I have no idea why I'm not paying for the meds--I'll have to read my insurance agreement again--I thought everything was a fixed amount or a fixed percentage. It's not good enough insurance for anything to be free. Unless it is--I certainly won't push at anyone exceeding my expectations.

"should call her the day before" (I will, but I shouldn't--this isn't my responsibility). I

WTF. Um, lady, this is your JOB. It's not a favor you're doing for a friend or something. OMG.

I'd be curious to hear from Kate and Beth to see if that kind of bias is still entrenched. It's rare to find a children's library today that has more than The Wizard of Oz.

Huh! I don't think that bias persists -- I've never heard a librarian say anything disdainful of the Oz books. But as you note, they're not really a staple of many libraries, and that certainly could be traced in part to the disdain of an earlier era. They never really made it into the canon. And I'd guess that even if a librarian did want to stock up on Oz books, the length of the series and the variations in quality make it difficult to know which ones are worth purchasing.

That said, I'm pretty sure my local library had a bunch of the books when I was a kid; I remember reading several of them, and I know we didn't have them at home. I don't remember a whole lot about them, except that they were very different from the movie, but now I kind of want to find a few and see what I would make of them as an adult.

...Just looked up Glinda of Oz in the Nashville Public Library's catalog, and there are five copies available at various branches. Requested!

I read the first 10 or so Oz books at a neighbor's house. They were hardcover with gorgeous turn of the last century covers. If I ever run into that printing at a doable price I'll totally snatch them up.

The printing I read had (I think( reprints of those covers. And also included the continuation of the series by someone not Baum (I presume after he died). I don't rec the not Baum ones.

I must now read the Oz books.

I just learned today that my all-time-favorite, most wanted, most mysteriously unavailable, book from childhood is going to be reprinted this year!!

This turn of events is so important to me that I am actually going to call the rumored publisher tomorrow to confirm.

Sinbad and Me by Kin Platt.

Seriously, a HUGE check off the 'my life is now complete' list.

I have not read the Oz books, but will check my library soon.

I got to see K-Bug's apartment. It is cute. They have a HUGE walk in closet, pantry, and bathtub. I'm quite jealous of those. Funiture wise, they have a couch, a bed, a small bureau, and a tv. I took her to Target and bought a front door mat, a pot holder, and some kitchen towels.

And also included the continuation of the series by someone not Baum (I presume after he died). I don't rec the not Baum ones.

They were continued by a woman named Ruth Plumly Thompson for many years, and then after she died the incredible illustrator John R. Neill wrote a batch.

The Wizard of Oz was illustrated by W.W.. Denslow. And he had a sort of round cartoony style. Dorothy comforting the Cowardly Lion.

The succeeding volumes were illustrated by Neill who had a fantastically ornate Art Nouveau style. Dorothy and Ozma kissing by Neill. Nothing slashy here!

If you want to read just one Oz book that isn't The Wizard of Oz, I'd recommend The Patchwork Girl of Oz (which has the quite funny glass cat in it, and The Woozy), The Marvelous Land of Oz (the second book in the series. Mostly new characters), or Glinda that JZ recommends. Also The Sea Fairies and Sky Island though both of those have darker/stranger material.

Sinbad and Me by Kin Platt.

I ADORE THAT BOOK! It got me into architecture!