So much like the other 3 mil­lion people - if the cover tells the truth - who have bought this book, I caved and decided to read Gre­gory Maguire’s Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. I admit that it has inter­ested me for a while, but I’m adverse to read­ing much of what the gen­eral public reads. I don’t even want to start on The DaVinci Code. What is shock­ing is that it took this long for the book to become such a hit. It was orig­i­nally printed 12 years ago. 12!