Thoughts: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

With all the hype surrounding Alice these days, I thought it was time to actually read the book.  I grew up with the animated Disney movie and I recently saw the new one in 3D.  (Johnny Depp was pretty creepy as the Mad Hatter.)  Reading this also counts towards The Classics Challenge. 

Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is a fast and fun read.  I found it incredibly charming.  I enjoyed the wit and humor that Carroll injected into the characters and their conversations.  As a child, I think I was scared of the Cheshire Cat in the movie, so I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked him in the book.

Since all of my knowledge of the storyline came from watching the movies, I felt like the story was moving quite slowly at first.  I kept thinking that the plot I knew about had to happen.  After all, it is a very short book.   Having finished reading it, I can now say that a considerable portion of the book is left out of the movies and some of the story in the movies is not in the book.  That being said, I'm wondering if the movies cover the story presented in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There.  My copy of the book has both so I plan on reading the sequel as well. 

If you like a story that is slightly out of the ordinary and sometimes just plain ridiculous, yet filled with logic and plays on words, then Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is a must read for you.  There are many funny passages I could quote, but I think I will end with the last paragraph of the book.  Alice's older sister is thinking about the adventure Alice has just told her about.  There is something about these words that make me happy and leave me feeling hopeful:

"Lastly, she pictured to herself how this same little sister of hers would, in the after-time, be herself a grown woman; and how she would keep, through all her riper years, the simple and loving heart of her childhood; and how she would gather about her other little children, and make their eyes bright and eager with many a strange tale, perhaps even with the dream of Wonderland of long ago; and how she would feel with all their simple sorrows, and find a pleasure in all their simple joys, remembering her own child-life, and the happy summer days." - Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, page 144

The Classics Challenge 2010

I am signing up for The Classics Challenge.  It runs April 1 - October 31, 2010.  Until I see how life goes these next months, for now I'm going to do the Classics Snack level, which is to read four classics.  I hope to only read from what I already own and haven't yet read, but I will allow myself to check out a book from the library if it strikes my fancy.  


Here are some potential selections:
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Persuasion by Jane Austen
O Pioneers! by Willa Cather 
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Completed reads linked to my review:
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

There is also a bonus in this challenge to read a book that will likely be a future classic.  I think I can handle that.  A list is being compiled on the challenge blog.  Since I own and have been wanting to read The Poisonwood Bible and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, I will choose one of those for the bonus.

(updated September 4, 2010)