I'd just like to say that it is because of reading Buffista discussion about this particular scene that I understood the ending of To Say Nothing of the Dog. So thanks!

Oh, did we have that conversation here? I thought I'd read it somewhere else.

(You know, we should make up a list. "Conversation #46: The Ending of Gaudy Night. Conversation #47: Billy: Closer To The Earth? Seriously?)

Yes to Little, Big and The Haunting of Hill House. Other perfect endings for me: Coraline by Neil Gaiman, War for the Oaks by Emma Bull, and Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury.

Dorothy's not messed up, she's just a plucky girl that went to a weird world.

Yes, exactly. Well, next time a sibling puts this tape into the VCR and we discuss it again (yeah, we're like that - there's a line in the movie when they spell a moose-head to come to life, and the head repeats the ending of the last word of the spell, it says "Piag?" - it's one of the most quoted lines among us. But I both embarrass myself and degress) - I'll be able to tell them that a stranger from the internet supports my point of view.

And straight from the book.

The only book that was translated into Hebrew (and therefore is available here in English as well) is the first one. It's only thanks to this movie (and, oddly enough, an animated TV show that my bab-ysister adored when she was little) that I knew there were more Oz books.

Harlan Ellison is a big fan of this movie, too.

Cool.

I Capture The Castle has a perfect ending.

I loved the movie of Return to Oz. I think I even have the movie-tie-in novel somewhere.

I have a memory of liking the end of Volatire's Candide. But it's been half my life since I read it in high school. I've been thinking about cultivating my garden lately.

I'll be able to tell them that a stranger from the internet supports my point of view.

"The lurkers support me in email."

Nilly, not only were there other Oz books, there were a huge number of Oz offshoots. Receiving a new Oz book was a Christmas tradition for decades in the early part of the century. After Baum died, Ruth Plumly Thompson continued the tradition, then his illustrator John R. Neill took it up. There were also many different Oz stage shows (the second Oz book is dedicated to two performers from the musical). Baum himself made some of the earliest silent movies based on Oz books (I particularly like the version of The Patchwork Girl of Oz, which is also my favorite later Oz book). On top of that there were long running comic strips in the Sunday paper, and now that Oz is public domain, its been used as the basis for a couple different comic books.

These collections of Oz Story pull together all the fun ephemera. It's really an early form of fandom with lots of fanfic type stuff.

the movie-tie-in novel

t sheepishly What does a "movie-tie-in novel" mean?

I had no idea there were so many Oz follow-creations. Wow. It's like Sherlock-Holmes big, or even more, the way you describe it.

[Edit: thanks for the link, Hec. This may use one day for a great present for my baby sister, who is the Oz-iest of the 5 of us]

What does a "movie-tie-in novel" mean?

It's a novelization of the movie. That is, they hire some hack writer to do a cheap paperback that tells the same story as the movie. It's an interesting weird little sub-genre. I actually read the novelization for Star Wars before the movie opened.

I had no idea there were so many Oz follow-creations. Wow. It's like Sherlock-Holmes big, or even more, the way you describe it.

Similar. They are two of the biggest early fandoms, along with Tarzan.

my baby sister, who is the Oz-iest of the 5 of us

This makes me think of her as a strangely laconic short guitar player with cool hair.