I'm going to be moving apartments, and then will be without Internet in the new apartment for 3 days as we wait for everything to get installed. So, all my regularly scheduled blogging will be delayed.
26 books this year. Which is one of my better years actually.
Although I should note that I've changed my accounting system this year. In the past, I didn't count re-reads. And 14 of these books are re-reads.
Also in the past, I usually counted compilation volumes as one book. So the three books on this list from The Chronicles of Amber volume and the six books from The Complete Stories of Ozvolume would have gotten counted as just one book each in the past.
Also, this year I read a lot of children's books. So take that into account. Although I like to think that some of the really heavy reading I also did this year (Don Quixote, Chomsky's Universal Grammar, The Linguistics Wars) balances that out a little bit.
But besides all that, I'm really happy with this year because I was able to clear out a lot of books that have been lingering on my bookshelf for years.
Don Quixote , Chomsky's Universal Grammar,The Moral Animal and The Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales were all books I had started years ago, and just never got around to finishing, and was wondering if I would ever find it in me to finish them. And then this year, I got up a bit of self-determination, and finally finished those books. (The other book that had been lingering on my shelf was The Complete Stories of Oz, which I haven't finished yet, but at least I'm now on track to finish it.)
One last note: although I'm relatively happy with my book list this past year, it could have been better. There were far too many evenings that I spent on Youtube, when I should have been reading. I shall try to do better next year.
Anyway, let's get into some of the awards
Best Fiction (Not Counting re-reads)
I don't want to count re-reads here, because that skews the playing field. (Most books I re-read are books I like. Plus the nostalgia factor of re-reading makes everything difficult to evaluate). But getting rid of re-reads actually leaves me very little to work with now.
I guess I'm going to have to go with Don Quixote. (I know, I know, I spent most of my review complaining about how hard it was to get through. But, for all that, there were enough moments of genius in the book to make me remember it fondly. It's perhaps one of those books that you think about more fondly when you look back on it then when you're actually reading it.)
Not counting books that I read for professional development (I'll deal with those separately), it looks like I only read one non-fiction book this year-- The Moral Animal. So I guess this wins by default. Although it was a really fascinating read, so I'd recommend it regardless.
Best Book I Read for Professional Development
What I generally try to do in my "Professional Development" reading is balance out books on practical classroom practices with books on more abstract linguistic concepts. But this year, it ended up being all abstract linguistic concepts. Chomsky's Universal Grammarwas about abstract linguistic theory, and then I decided that The Linguistics Warswas a good book to follow that up with. And then after that, unfortunately, my professional development reading sputtered out. (I've been steadily chipping away at The Grammar Book, but haven't finished it yet.)
Both Chomsky's Universal Grammar and The Linguistics Wars were difficult reads for me. Both had large sections that I didn't understand. But The Linguistics Wars had a fascinating narrative, so it wins the best book for professional development this year.
March 28, 2021 Don Quixote p.226-276, The Hand of Oberon p.512-536 (74 pages) April 4, 2021 The Hand of Oberon p.536-540, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood p.0-106 (110 pages) April 11, 2021 The Hand of Oberon p.540-580, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood p.106-144, Chomsky's Universal Grammar: An Introduction 0-78 pages (156 pages) April 18, 2021 The Hand of Oberon p.580-614, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood p.144-160, Chomsky's Universal Grammar: An Introduction p.78-90 (62 pages) April 25, 2021 The Hand of Oberon p.614-640 (finished) started second reading p.494-496, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood p.160-182, Chomsky's Universal Grammar: An Introduction (second reading) p.90-116 (76 Pages) May 2, 2021 The Hand of Oberon p.496-514, The Courts of Chaos p.645-672, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood p.182-210, Chomsky's Universal Grammar: An Introduction p.116-118 (75 pages) May 9, 2021 The Courts of Chaos p.672-680, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood p.210-276, The Linguistics Wars p.0-16 (90 pages) May 16, 2021 The Courts of Chaos p.680-752, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood p.276-296, The Linguistics Wars p.16-84 (160 pages) May 23, 2021 The Courts of Chaos p.752-772 (finished) 2nd reading p.645-648, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood p.296-327, (finished) The Linguistics Wars p.84-168 (138 pages) May 30, 2021 The Courts of Chaos p.648-654, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood p.0-10, The Linguistics Wars p.168-250 (98 pages) June 6, 2021 The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood p.10-18, The Linguistics Wars p.250-260, The Story of King Arthur and His Knights p.0-54 (72 pages) June 13, 2021 The Linguistics Wars p.1-14, The Story of King Arthur and His Knights p.54-118 (78 pages) June 20, 2021 The Story of King Arthur and His Knights p.118-178, The Grammar Book p.1-6 (66 pages) June 27, 2021 The Story of King Arthur and His Knights p.178-301 (finished) 2nd reading p.1-6, The Grammar Book p.6-40 (163 pages)
July 4, 2021 The Grammar Book p.40-82, The Moral Animal p.1-161 (203 pages)
July 11, 2021 The Grammar Book p.82-106, The Moral Animal p.161-321 (184 pages)
July 18, 2021 The Grammar Book p.106-122 The Moral Animal p.321-364 (Finished) 2nd Reading p.1-3, The Brothers Grimm p.1-42 (104 pages)
July 25, 2021 The Grammar Book p.122-138, The Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales p.42-336 (310 pages)
August 1, 2021 The Grammar Book p.138-144, The Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales p.336-532 (202 pages)
August 8, 2021 The Grammar Book p.144-154, The Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales p.532-570, Charlotte's Web p.1-184, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory p.1-180 (412 pages)
August 15, 2021 The Grammar Book p.154-160, The Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales p.570-640, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator p.1-182 (258 pages)
August 22, 2021 The Grammar Book p.160-176, The Brothers Grimm p.640-694, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone p.0-210 (280 pages)
August 29, 2021 The Grammar Book p.176-192, The Brothers Grimm p.694-802, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone p.210-332 (246 pages)
September 5, 2021 The Grammar Book p.192-202, The Brothers Grimm p.802-845, The BFG p.1-120 (173 pages)
October 3, 2021 Herodotus p.120-152, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz p.1-54 (86 pages)
October 10, 2021 Herodotus p.152-226, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz p.54-96 (116 pages)
October 17, 2021 Herodotus p.226-244, The Marvelous Land of Oz p.98-134, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland p.1-104, Through the Looking-Glass p.106-122, The Grammar Book p.202-208 (180 pages)
October 24, 20201 Herodotus p.244-278, The Marvelous Land of Oz p.134-196, Through the Looking-Glass p.122-231, The Grammar Book p.208-214, The Hobbit p.1-54 (265 Pages)
October 31, 2021 Herodotus p.278-286, The Grammar Book p.214-218, The Hobbit p.54-254, Ozma of Oz p.195-216 (233 pages)
November 7, 2021 Herodotus p.286-314, The Grammar Book p.218-222, The Hobbit p.254-351, Ozma of Oz p.216-287, The Fellowship of the Ring i-xii (212 pages)
November 14, 2021 Herodotus p.314-318, The Grammar Book p.222-226, Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz p.290-326, The Fellowship of the Ring xii-xxvii, p.1-90 (149 pages)
November 21, 2021 Herodotus p.318-324, The Grammar Book p.226-230, Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz p.326-386, The Fellowship of the Ring p.90-176 (156 pages)
November 28, 2021 Herodotus p.324-328, The Grammar Book p.230-234, The Road to Oz p.388-432 The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien p.176-250 (126 pages)
December 5, 2021 Herodotus p.328-344, The Grammar Book p.234-238, The Road to Oz p.432-482, The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien p.250-336 (156 pages)
December 12, 2021 Herodotus p.344-366, The Grammar Book p.238-242, The Emerald City of Oz p.484-550, The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien p.336-444 (200 pages)
December 19, 2021 Herodotus p.366-376, The Grammar Book p.242-252, The Emerald City of Oz p.550-609, The Fellowship of the Ring p.444-531 (166 pages)
December 26, 2021 Herodotus p.376-380, The Grammar Book, The Patchwork Girl of Oz p.621-664, The Two Towers p.537-652 (175 pages)
Started: The Bible This will be mostly a re-read. In my youth, I was on a devotional project to read one chapter of the Bible every night. I think I actually let the project go somewhere in the Pauline epistles, but I did actually work through the whole Old Testament, and half of the New Testament. Or that is to say, I did the whole Protestant Old Testament--I never read the Deuterocanonical books (which is one of the reasons I'm going with The Jerusalem Bible translation this time, so I have access to the extra books.) I'm going to try to review each book one by one, and then possibly making a video at the end.
Sigh... I rambled on for so long in this video, and yet I didn't mention half the stuff that I had wanted to talk about, and the stuff I did mention I didn't explain the way I wanted to. This is the danger with doing unscripted videos. And also, perhaps, filming while tired. My apologies.
The links to other videos I mentioned (from booktube atheists who talk about the necessity of reading the bible) are:
He's talking about academic writing here, but this sentiment also reflects how I feel about most of the entries on this blog. Or, as I put it back in 2013:
I share the affliction, common to all writers, where I believe that everything I write is brilliant as it comes off my fingers. It’s not until after a couple months go by, and I re-read my old posts, and then I think to myself: “I’m such an idiot!”
So, we all heard the rumors, right? Despite Marvel's best efforts at keeping this secret, we all heard that Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield were seen on the set of this movie. And that Marvel was doing some sort of multiverse thing.
As a big comic book geek in my youth, I knew that the multiverse has always been a big part of comic book stories. So in one sense, it seemed totally natural to do. And, I think if I were 10 years old again, this would be the absolute coolest thing for a movie to do. (I used to dream of these kind of cross-franchise team ups when I was a kid.)
But now that I'm older, I view these kinds of stunts with a bit more skepticism. I mean, sure, in one sense, it's really cool. But in another sense, it seemed a bit...desperate. Like it seemed like the kind of stunt that fanboys would always dream of, but that a serious franchise would never dream of doing until they were flat out of ideas.
And yet, here we are.
I don't think a major studio would ever have considered doing a film like this when I was young. This is the kind of thing that would be viewed as appealing only to the geeks, but not the mainstream audience. But, as has been noted many times before, somewhere around the turn of the century, geek culture became mainstream, and now a cross-over stunt like this can have major appeal to a mainstream audience.
So, does it work?
The answer is, yeah, mostly. It's basically like a lot of Marvel movies--by which I mean it's well directed, the actors are all incredibly charismatic and likeable, and it's edited together in a very fast paced way with lots of quick cuts and snappy music. The movie hums along nicely at a fast pace. There's plenty of action, plenty of laughs, and the movie cuts so quickly from scene to scene that you really don't have time to get hung up on any one plot point.
There were a lot of things in the movie that I don't think entirely made sense. And there were some character moments that didn't entirely make sense. But the movie moves along at such a fast pace that you don't really have time to think about any one thing too much. You're just along for the ride.
And what a ride it was! These Spider-Man movies have always done a good job of capturing the kinetic energy of swinging through the air in and out of danger, and this one is no exception. In fact, this one may be the best one yet. The action scenes in this movie are really fast paced and intense and brilliant. And also those scenes with Spider-Man fighting Doctor Strange in the mirror universe were not only wonderfully bizarre, but again had so much kinetic energy throughout (swinging around, riding on speeding trains, etc.)
Once Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield show up, the pace slows down a little bit. There's a lot of fan service in this movie. Which is to be expected. (I mean, if you're going to do a movie like this, you pretty much have to do the fan service.) But the problem with fan service is that it slows the story down. Character moments with Toby Maguire, Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland all bonding are great, but these are also moments in which the story isn't going anywhere. The movie was on the verge of over-doing these character moments, but I think it gets away with it because it had earned some down-time. The movie had been so fast paced up until this point that it had earned some slower scenes that don't go anywhere.
(Or... now that I think about, maybe the opposite is true. Maybe the reason that these character moments felt so slow is because they felt out of place in a movie that had been so fast paced up until these moments. I don't know, what did you guys think?)
8 out of 10 Stars. Look, as far as entertaining goes, this film is about as entertaining as you could ask for. It loses one point for some plot and character moments that don't entirely make sense. And it loses another point for some fan service that slowed down the plot. (I'm all for fan service, but you've got to integrate it into the plot better.) But it's a solid 8 out of 10.
I had no idea about the story of the Czechoslovak Legion, so that was really interesting.
In this episode we also get to the part where the Bolsheviks begin to tighten their authoritarian control in the name of War Communism.
A lot of what Mike Duncan outlines in this episode forms the standard anarchist complaint against the Bolsheviks--a critique I picked up from Noam Chomsky.
When I was at the University of Melbourne, I remember arguing some of these points with one of the Trotskyist groups on campus. They would always reply to me that this was because of the necessity of Wartime Communism.
(Sidenote: Given how little educated I was about the historical particulars of 1918, I don't know why I felt the need to try to argue about it. I should have talked less and read more.)
Other notes:
* Is it my imagination, or are there some mistakes in the editing of this episode? Like when "blank" seems to be inserted in place of a number.
(It looks like I'm not the only one who noticed this.)
Sooo not sure I'm missing something but i'm confused, at 5:57 you say "episode 10.BLANK" and at 6:05 you say "BLANK percent". Placeholders that weren't filled ?😆
Originally published in 1910, this is the 6th book in The Land of Oz series. At the time, L. Frank Baum intended it to be the final book in the series (but the need for money would eventually bring him back for more books.)
According to Wikipedia, "This is the first time in the Oz series that Baum made use of double plots for one of the books." (So presumably double plots will become more common in the later books? I guesss I'll see.)
My History With This Book
As I've mentioned before (HERE and HERE) this is my second attempt to read through The Complete Stories of Oz. I first picked this book up about 5 years ago, but eventually got stalled out on it before finishing it. The Emerald City of Oz was actually the book that I got stalled out on. I got about one-third into it, but never finished it.
Summary of the Book (*SPOILERS*)
As noted above, this book has a double plot. On the one hand, the book chronicles the attempts of the Nome King and his general to assemble a coalition of all the wicked creatures so that they can conquer the land of Oz.
On the other hand, the book follows the adventures of Dorothy and Aunt Em and Uncle Henry.
Aunt Em and Uncle Henry are losing their farm back in Kansas, so Ozma agrees to let Aunt Em and Uncle Henry and Dorothy all come to Oz to live forever.
Uncle Henry and Aunt Em soon get bored in the land of Oz with no work to do, so Ozma suggests a tour of Oz. Dorothy, Aunt Em, and Uncle Henry go on the tour, along with some other friends from the previous books (the Shaggy Man, Billina the hen, and the Wizard).
The encounter the usual strange and bizarre things--a town full of paper dolls, a town full of jigsaw puzzle people, a town full of talking utensils, a town full of talking bread, a town full of talking bunnies, et cetera.
Meanwhile, the Nome King and his team of wicked creatures is getting ready to invade Oz.
Ozma of Oz hasn't prepared any defenses, and, as it turns out, isn't particularly worried about the invasion. But the scarecrow remembers that there is a magic fountain that makes anyone who drinks it forget their identity. So the baddies are tricked into drinking from the fountain, and Oz is saved.
But what about future invasions? Dorothy and Ozma ask Glinda the witch to make the Land of Oz invisible, so no one can ever find it again. And then L. Frank Baum announces to his readers that because Oz is now invisible, he can no longer get reports from Dorothy about her adventures. He's sure everyone lived happily ever after, and please don't ask for any more Oz books in the future because it's invisible now kids. Okay?
The Reading Experience
Well, like I said above, I ended up stalling out on this book the first time I tried to read it 5 years ago. So I guess it obviously didn't grip me that much.
I don't know, it's not terrible. I think I was just starting to get bored by too much of the same thing by this point in the series (after attempting to read The Complete Stories of Oz straight through.)
I suppose it doesn't help that the action in this book isn't exactly gripping.
The threat of invasion in Oz is new (L. Frank Baum has not done that plot before). But it is also a distant threat. The Nome King's general is just wandering from land to land, with no hint that the invasion is going to be ready until near the end of the book. Meanwhile Dorothy, Aunt Em, and Uncle Henry are just wandering around the Land of Oz without much to do.
Evaluation
So, over the course of these 6 books, the Land of Oz has evolved from a dangerous place full of dangerous creatures to a happy utopia where nothing bad ever happens. It's been an interesting tonal switch to watch over the course of the series. I'm not exactly sure what the motivations behind this were, but I suspect that L. Frank Baum wanted to create a happy fantasy world for his child readers.
This book, even more so than its predecessors, lays out the vision of Oz as a socialist utopian land where everyone shares everything together, and no one has to work too hard. (See HERE for the complete quotation.)
But in the same book, we get to see the wicked baddies assembling outside of Oz, and so it's an interesting tonal juxtaposition. See, for example, from chapter 4:
"Oh, indeed!" exclaimed the King. Then he turned to his servants and said: "Please take General Crinkle to the torture chamber. There you will kindly slice him into thin slices. Afterward you may feed him to the seven-headed dogs."
"Anything to oblige your Majesty," replied the servants, politely, and led the condemned man away.
Well, so much for the happy fantasy land story where nothing bad ever happens!
In fact, even within the land of Oz, we get to see that not everyone lives happily ever after. (Some of the talking bread creatures are eaten up by Toto the dog!)
They visited the Sugar Bunns, the Currant Bunns and the Spanish Bunns, the latter having a decidedly foreign appearance. Then they saw the French Rolls, who were very polite to them, and made a brief call upon the Parker H. Rolls, who seemed a bit proud and overbearing.
"But they're not as stuck up as the Frosted Jumbles," declared Mr. Bunn, "who are people I really can't abide. I don't like to be suspicious or talk scandal, but sometimes I think the Jumbles have too much baking powder in them."
Just then a dreadful scream was heard, and Dorothy turned hastily around to find a scene of great excitement a little way down the street. The people were crowding around Toto and throwing at him everything they could find at hand. They pelted the little dog with hard-tack, crackers, and even articles of furniture which were hard baked and heavy enough for missiles.
Toto howled a little as the assortment of bake stuff struck him; but he stood still, with head bowed and tail between his legs, until Dorothy ran up and inquired what the matter was.
"Matter!" cried a rye loafer, indignantly, "why the horrid beast has eaten three of our dear Crumpets, and is now devouring a Salt-rising Biscuit!"
"Oh, Toto! How could you?" exclaimed Dorothy, much distressed.
Toto's mouth was full of his salt-rising victim; so he only whined and wagged his tail. But Billina, who had flown to the top of a cracker house to be in a safe place, called out:
"Don't blame him, Dorothy; the Crumpets dared him to do it."
"Yes, and you pecked out the eyes of a Raisin Bunn—one of our best citizens!" shouted a bread pudding, shaking its fist at the Yellow Hen.
"What's that! What's that?" wailed Mr. Cinnamon Bunn, who had now joined them. "Oh, what a misfortune—what a terrible misfortune!"
"See here," said Dorothy, determined to defend her pets, "I think we've treated you all pretty well, seeing you're eatables, an' reg'lar food for us. I've been kind to you, and eaten your old wheelbarrows and pianos and rubbish, an' not said a word. But Toto and Billina can't be 'spected to go hungry when the town's full of good things they like to eat, 'cause they can't understand your stingy ways as I do."
"You must leave here at once!" said Mr. Bunn, sternly.
"Suppose we won't go?" asked Dorothy, who was now much provoked.
"Then," said he, "we will put you into the great ovens where we are made, and bake you."
Dorothy gazed around and saw threatening looks upon the faces of all. She had not noticed any ovens in the town, but they might be there, nevertheless, for some of the inhabitants seemed very fresh. So she decided to go, and calling to Toto and Billina to follow her she marched up the street with as much dignity as possible, considering that she was followed by the hoots and cries of the buns and biscuits and other bake stuff.
***END QUOTATION From Chapter 17*****
Connections with other Books I've Read (and Movies I've Watched)
* It's clear by this point in the series, and especially in this book, that the Land of Oz is a land where everything is alive and everything is sentient. At least in some part of Oz. The paper dolls are sentient. The utensils are sentient. The bread and crackers are sentient.
But in a world where everything is alive and can talk, do they live happily ever after? Or do they inevitably meet a tragic fate, like when some of the delicious talking bread gets eaten (see the extended quotation above.) I can't help but think of the film Sausage Party. Sausage Party is a lot darker than L. Frank Baum. And a lot more crass. But they both share essentially the same joke. The wonderful fairy-tale world, where everything is alive and everything can talk, quickly ends in disaster.
* Poor L. Frank Baum. He kept trying to end the Oz series, but the public kept insisting that he keep writing. I can't help but think of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes.
The dual plots give this book a rather schizophrenic feel, not helped by the very different tones of each. The invasion plot is as close as Baum got to pure horror in the Oz books: the Phantasms, master illusionists who revel in evil, are particularly effective.
But if the Phantasms provide Baum’s most obvious and ghastly horror, some rather wretched stuff is going on in the See Oz and Eat Some of Its Inhabitants Along the Way Plot. (And I’m not just talking about Ozma finding an imminent invasion dreadfully dull.) Ozma has Dorothy visit some seemingly delightful places—a village of living paper dolls, a second village of living jigsaw puzzles—but both places are frighteningly fragile. A single sneeze from the Shaggy Man nearly topples the paper dolls. As for the jigsaw puzzles—if no one comes along to solve them, they must remain on the ground in tiny pieces, completely unable to move. (This totally freaked me out when I was a kid.)
But the worst is to come after Dorothy meanders off with Toto and Billina and finds herself in Bunbury, where her two companions eat some of the inhabitants (made of bread, they are sentient and can talk.)
The Emerald City of Oz contains more material on the social organization of Oz than most of the earlier books, and as a consequence has attracted commentary on its Utopian aspects.[3] The "explicitly socialist" economy of Oz has been contrasted to other "fantasy" projections of socialist societies, like Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward (1888) and William Morris's News from Nowhere (1890). How far such analyses and comparisons should be pursued is, of course, open to debate; as Baum writes of the social structure of Oz in Chapter Three, p. 31, "I do not suppose such an arrangement would be practical with us...."[4] There are also strong similarities between The Emerald City of Oz (and to a certain extent the other Oz books) and the 1915 feminist utopiaHerland (novel) by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Today probably best known for The Yellow Wallpaper, Gilman was, like Baum, a newspaper editor who used her publication as a platform for social reform. The literary connection between Gilman and Baum is thought to be another campaigning newspaper editor, Matilda Joslyn Gage, the women's rights activist who happened to be the mother of Baum's wife, Maud Gage Baum.[5] Sally Roesch Wagner of The Matilda Joslyn Gage Foundation published The Wonderful Mother of Oz describing how Matilda Gage's feminist politics were sympathetically channeled by her son-in-law into his Oz books.[6]
The buddy read of the Wizard of Oz series continues! I’ve been reading them with my YouTube friend Joel Swagman, and we’ve been tackling one book every couple of weeks. The last one was a little bit of a disappointment, but I did enjoy this one some more, although it’s not quite at the heights that the earlier books in the series were able to achieve.
Odds and Ends
* Well, that's convenient! Now Dorothy and her family all live in the Land of Oz. No more contrived plots and statistically unlikely natural disasters will be needed now to get Dorothy to the land of Oz for the beginning of each new book. Now Dorothy and her family will just live their permanently. L. Frank Baum intended this to be the last book in the series, so I guess he wasn't thinking about more sequels at this point. But since we all know he eventually gave in and started writing more sequels eventually, I imagine that having Dorothy in Oz will be a convenient starting point from here on out.
* So, The Wizard has magical powers now. (He learned them from Glinda the Sorceress).
"Oh, Mr. Wizard! How did you manage to do it?" asked Dorothy.
"It's a trick Glinda the Sorceress taught me, and it is much better magic than I used to practise in Omaha, or when I first came to Oz," he answered. "When the Good Glinda found I was to live in the Emerald City always, she promised to help me, because she said the Wizard of Oz ought really to be a clever Wizard, and not a humbug. So we have been much together and I am learning so fast that I expect to be able to accomplish some really wonderful things in time." (From chapter 14)
This seems to me to be rather pointless. We already have plenty of magical characters in the Land of Oz. We don't need any more. The whole point of The Wizard's character was that he was an excellent trickster and an illusionist. To give him real magical powers seems to me to ruin what was unique about his character.
