From My Bookshelf: Candide, Foreign, Oz
For this month’s From My Bookshelf post, I’ve selected three of the slimmest books in my personal library: Candide, Foreign Correspondent, and The Wizard of Oz.
I read Candide two years ago (wow, that long ago already?!) for my Summer Reading Challenge, and its lasting impression on me is not as impressive as my initial impression, apparently, because I cannot remember anything about it. This book will go on my re-read list; maybe I’ll go through it more slowly to absorb the story more deeply.
Besides the various nuggets of exceptional prose, Foreign Correspondent wasn’t my favorite book to read (I read it in a college course). The narrator is a reporter, and I just didn’t enjoy the short bursts of reporting and scant reflection she had to offer. Here is a burst that I did enjoy:
“Some days I feel like I’m at war with things. They pile up, and there have been many occasions where I look around my life space and I am totally overwhelmed by the disarray of things. Then I lock up my things and go out and get some more things, with fresher surfaces, not yet in need of tending, and layer them on top of the extant disarray.”
I’m going to put this on my re-read list too. A lot has changed since I read this book (over at least four or five years…) so I think I owe it another chance.
This cover is a favorite of mine. The Wizard of Oz is one of my favorite stories, and I remember spending just as much time admiring this particular cover as I did reading the book and watching the movie. The black and white illustrations (Paul Granger) inside are just as whimsical and wonderful. And I might as well add this to my list of re-reads, since I haven’t read it in…I don’t know how long.
So I guess these books From My Bookshelf have another thing in common: I need/want to read them again! What are the skinniest books on your shelves? Have you read any of the ones on mine?
Share the titles in the comments below, and see you next month for more From My Bookshelf!
14 Comments
April Munday
I’ve read Candide, but it was almost 40 years ago. I remember that I found it rather depressing, but older me might see the humour in it.
thebeasley
Oh I loved reading the Wizard of Oz as a child. I think I read Return to Oz too. Such magical books for children (and adults!). I haven’t read the other two though.
kmac14
The Wizard of Oz was an obsession of mine as a child, so I totally relate! 🙂 I have never encountered Return to Oz (how?!), so thank you for that mention! I will check it out ASAP.
Gary
you remind me I need a bookshelf on which to put my books! Wizard of Oz I have read, but not the other two. I should read Voltaire more though so may well put that one onto next years reading list!
kmac14
I am a strong advocate for bookshelves! Although the floor, tables, and other furniture are just as sufficient. 😉
Gary
Indee they are, but I have this dream of a writing den and walls filled with well thumbed tomes. I’m running out of the other spaces you mentioned and need a sort out 🤔
kmac14
I can relate to that!
Lorna
I wonder if I’d enjoy Foreign Correspondent. I haven’t read Oz, I love the movie, but I know they are very different. Have you read Wicked?
kmac14
Yes, I have! My mom got ahold of a copy around the time the musical went to Broadway, so it’s another Oz book I cherish. 🙂 The edges of the pages are green and the cover is black, which I find so charming, and of course, pertinent to the book’s contents.
Oriana
Books that you never get bored of are the best books in my opinion ! Great choices 😉💕
kmac14
Agreed! Thank you. 🙂
Beth Tabler
I loved Candide! It might be my sense of humor though. I do appreciate dark and sarcastic wit. It has been ten years and it still makes me smile.
Kelsey
That is my thing too! I definitely need to reread it.
Beth Tabler
I bet now as I am getting older it will resonate differently with me and be a whole new experience. CHALLENGE!