recent reading.

i first heard of Wicked when my high-school art club was planning a trip to NYC and we were voting on which Broadway shows we wanted to see while we were there. i had no idea what it was, but it got a lot of votes so i figured it had to be something good, and i was among the disappointed when we weren't able to secure tickets for our group. we wound up going to see Hairspray and The Producers instead, and i forgot all about the other shows on the original ballot.

i next encountered Wicked in my college marching band. one of our closing numbers my freshman year was a mash-up of two songs from the score: Dancing Through Life, and Defying Gravity. i liked the songs, but it was kind of difficult to fully appreciate them while also trying to play them and keep up with the drill too. lucky for me, my BFITW was kind enough to introduce me to the full soundtrack. and then i promptly fell in love with the parallel story of the Wizard of Oz.

and THEN, i found out that the musical was based on a BOOK, and of course had to read it. i put all three* books from the Wicked Years on my Christmas list, and i read through the first book before Christmas break was over. (i only got the first one that year, because apparently the fact that i asked for anything called Son of a Witch was just too shocking!) if it was possible, i fell even more in love with Wicked. i even went to see the musical in Pittsburgh with my BFITW, and it is the inspiration for our hopefully-sometime-in-the-nearish-future matching tattoos.

all that to say, i took a trip to the library before family vacation, and over the past few weeks i finally read the second and third books in the Wicked Years: Son of a Witch, and A Lion Among Men. and i highly recommend them to all of you. start at the beginning of course, with Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, and go from there. i dare you to not get sucked into the story, and the characters, and the whole world of Oz. they're like fairy tales for adults!

speaking of fairy tales for adults, when we were on vacation, my sister loaned me another book by Gregory Maguire called Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, which is a parallel Cinderella story. i read the whole thing while we were at the beach with the inlaws over the weekend. you should read it. it will give you a whole different perspective on the classic story. and i bet you'll love it.

i've read some really good stuff in the past month or so, but i'm not quite sure what i'm going to read next. have you read anything good lately?

* i hear from the very reliable source that is wikipedia that a fourth and possibly final book in the series is supposed to come out later this year! anyone else wicked excited?!