"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll

(gosh, it's really hard to find the cover to a book that has a billion editions and has never been out of print!)

Danny and I read this book together after seeing the movie at the dollar theatre.

I had read it when I was about 14. I enjoyed it better this time. But I agree with Danny. I said, "Well, I'm not really sure exactly why this book is a Classic in English Literature." He said, "Yeah, well we probably 'get' about 10% of the jokes." This is almost definitely true. He also thinks the reason it's a "classic" is because little kids really like it, and adults like trying to find meaning in it, even if it's just not there. We both think the ending is such a lame, cop-out, deus-ex-machina type ending, but Danny said, "Well, maybe nobody else had done the it-was-all-just-a-dream ending before." Possible.

Reading this book takes me back to the old Disney Animated Classic, which frankly always scared me. But I think it's actually more a combination of "Alice" and "Through the Looking Glass". Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee aren't even in this book. Therefore, neither is "The Walrus and the Carpenter."

I think the most noticeable difference between reading it this time and last time was what I thought about "You Are Old, Father William." As a younger girl, ten years ago, I didn't get it and didn't think it was funny. But reading it with Danny was hilarious. Especially the part about how his wife has kept him from going deaf or something because she nags him all the time. Haha.

Danny and I noticed that any time Alice asks something that is a little bit reasonable, the characters change the subject. I thought the Mad Hatter was nice in the book, but Danny thought he was the snidest of them all. Like, he calls Alice a moron. Probably the nicest character is really the Cheshire Cat. They're all kind of weird and creepy. I guess opium will do that to you.