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30 Book Recommendations in 30 Days — Day 3. For anyone interested in the many ways “The Wizard of Oz” has resonated and continues to resonate throughout our culture, you can‘t do better than “Was,” by Geoff Ryman. And, yes, it‘s better than “Wicked.”

So I totally bought this book last month purely based on the cover. It's a re-telling of sorts of Dorothy & Baum's wizard of Oz. Heartbreakingly sad but beautiful Geoff Ryman deftly weaves together the stories of the real Dorothy & a dying stage actor, Jonathan, who played the scarecrow many years later as well as bits of Baum & Judy Garland. There are some intense themes of childhood, abuse, escape, & role/importance of both fantasy & reality.

This book hijacked my TBR list.

#wizardofoz #judygarland #auntem #notinkansasanymore

This sad, magical book... read several times now over the past 25 years.

I enjoyed this interesting and often disturbing retelling of The Wizard of Oz.

"It's difficult, because everyone wants to be loved. And you think you can't have a home unless you are loved by somebody, anybody. But it's not true. Sometimes you can learn to live without being loved. It's terribly hard, but you can do it."--Etta

I loved this book. Why has no one read it?! It's original, beautiful and moving. It intertwines the stories of Judy Garland, a real life Dorothy, and a gay man named Jonathan who plays the scarecrow in a stage production. It deals with loss, abuse, AIDS and hope ever so tenderly. Read this book!