Monday, April 30, 2018

Two quirky books from my TBR shelf...

In The Undead World of Oz, Ryan C. Thomas takes L. Frank Baum's classic children's story and gives it a fun zombie twist. Because of an evil curse by the Wicked Witch of the West, the undead of Oz have risen and they want brains. Dorothy, Toto, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman and the Cowardl yLion must fight off the undead as they journey down the yellow brick road to see the Great and Terrible Wizard of Oz.

I grew up loving L. Frank Baum's Oz books, which is why I couldn't resist buying this slightly twisted version. It's a little dark, has some humorous moments, and lots of flying body parts, and it made me smile and shake my head at the same time. Zombies and Oz really don't go together, but somehow in this quirky, crazy read Thomas makes it work.


It's a great cover, isn't it? I spotted it at a library discard sale and couldn't resist buying it. In The Doctor and the Dinosaurs, Mike Resnick combines an eclectic cast of historical figures. It begins with Geronimo, who enlists the help of a dying Doc Holliday to stop the two most famous fossil hunters in the world from doing their digging in the sacred burial ground of the Commanche. If he doesn't, the Commanche medicine men are going to raise a real dinosaur or two to take care of the problem themselves. Teddy Roosevelt joins Doc Holliday in his quest, and Thomas Edison provides the firepower.

It's a fun premise, but there was too much talking and not enough action for me. Plus, it took way too long for the dinosaurs to appear; and there should have been a lot more of them. I mean, I was promised dinosaurs! But I felt like they never even showed up. I did really like Doc Holliday, though. And since I only paid 50 cents for this book, I'd still say it was money well spent. Best of all? That's two books on longer sitting on my TBR pile making me feel guilty.

So, there you are, the two quirkiest books from my TBR shelf. Now that I've finally read them, the only question left is what book from my TBR shelf should I read next. What about you? What quirky gems are hiding in your TBR piles?

Happy Reading!

19 comments:

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    1. Isn't that great? It's why I bought the book. :)

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  2. Certainly quirky! The covers and content. Both of these look like they would make fun reads, and even if there is too much talking in Dinosaurs, I'd want to know more about Geronimo and Doc Holiday. :)

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    1. Geronimo was a cool character...I wish he'd been in it more, too. :)

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  3. Those are pretty quirky - but look fun! I don't know why, but they both call to me. I've got all of my TBR books packed up in boxes right now. It makes me want to dig them out and see what quirky ones I have. I don't think they'll beat yours!

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    1. Most of my TBR books are not nearly as quirky as these. But I just couldn't resist either book. :)

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  4. Quirky is right! Haha. These sound like a lot of fun, Lark. I'm trying to think if I have any quirky books on my shelves. None that I can think of off the top of my head, unfortunately.

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    1. Life is so serious all the time sometimes I just need a little quirkiness in my life. :)

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  5. There's a dinosaur on the cover...I'd say your expectation of dinosaurs to be in the all over that book was justified! :)

    The most quirky book languishing on my TBR is probably Bats of the Republic. I read about half of it and put it aside two years ago. I need to get back to it. It is actually two books and has drawings and notations in it. Or it could possibly be a book in a book: the one set in the future written by someone in the past... in any case, all is revealed in the end...which is an actual envelope with a separate letter inside.

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    1. It sounds awesome! I love that it has an actual letter included with the book. :)

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  6. That's the same author who wrote the gruesome "The Summer I Died"! I had no idea about the Undead World of Oz. Now I have to have it :)

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  7. Quirky is right! I love the fun covers. I don't think I have any quirky books on my shelves. Or maybe I do and I've forgotten about them!

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  8. I like the covers too. I would probably choose the dinosaur book. I see them as similar to dragons even though dinosaurs walked the earth whereas dragons are mythical.

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  9. To be honest, I always found the Oz books pretty weird myself, so this one could just be the latest in the series!

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