Has anyone here read Alice in Wonderland recently?

I have massive book thats a compilation of Lewis Carrolls work, i LOVE it.

Yes I have. :) It was a few years ago though.

There’s a beautiful annotated version. oh look, it’s on the Amazon mind reader!—->

I love taking the tour down the rabbit hole, but its been a while and I never figured out “Why is a raven like a writing desk?”

I’ve read Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass a number of times. Like all the other Disney adaptations except possibly Snow White, the original is better. In order to get Alice, though, you do have to know some British history and also recognize the originals of the verses being parodied.

The film syncs up to Pink Floyd’s The Wall, and its awesome especially if you know the story of Alice

@AlfredaPrufrock

You mean the Kindle? :D Gosh I have one and that thing is gorgeous.
Cheaper to buy books for it too…although I mostly get mine for free because they are classics.

@tennesseejac why is a raven like a writing desk?

@seekingwolf, This one. It’s gorgeous. Edited by the amazing Martin Gardner.

@AlfredaPrufrock

Gah Sorry I’m dumb I read your post and saw “Amazon Reader” D’oh
And that IS beautiful! Wow! Thank you for showing me…!

Have you guys seen the videos on YouTube where animated photographs of poets are “reciting” their poetry? The first one I saw of the series was of Carroll’s Jabberwocky. Creepy, yet fascinating.

I haven’t read Alice in years.

@uberbatman: Why am I not surprised you love a book full of mushroom loving, hookah smoking, acid tripping individuals? ;)

@seekingwolf, I had a really conversation with someone on FB about the ads—we both didn’t realize we weren’t seeing the same thing.

@asmonet dont lie you were totally surprised when you read that :P

jabberwocky ftw

@uberbatman: pssst! get over here!

@aprilsimnel, fascinating! But oh, dear, the reader misrendered “frumious” (as in “frumious bandersnatch”) as “fruminous.” Big deduction.

@uberbatman, I loved reading Carroll’s explanation! Thank you.

Do you mean the whole Carroll myth? I don’t think it’s ever been proven.
Though the photograph he took of Alice Liddell has always made me a little uneasy.
Though there has always been something unsettling to me about Victorian sexuality in general.

I have a copy at home, though I have not read it in a while. Maybe I will read Gardner’s annotated version one day to become more acquainted with the historical background, but I think the book stands fairly well on its own. I love the word play.

It has a wanton quality, hasn’t it, @Nimis? One has to think Humbert Humbert would have felt a certain kinship with Dodgson.

I was referring to the explanation of the unanswerable riddle, and in particular the change made by a proofreader with a heavy paw.

@Nimis – Yikes, look at her face! The first thing I thought was Pandora’s Box. That’s some Louise Brooks impression Alice has got going there, way before Louise Brooks!

I suppose in an era when “decent” people wouldn’t say “leg,” you know all that seething sexuality was going to leech out somewhere, and a middle-aged man takes disturbing photos of a young girl.

I found an NYT review of a 1999 exhibit of his photography. It sounds like an interesting body of work, and collectively a different inference can be drawn from it.

I adore, adore, adore the Alice books. I read the annotated versions as a senior in high school and it got me into annotated books. It was one of the best things I’ve ever done. I re-read them in bits and pieces, usually as I wish to quote something.

I’ve read them both several times although not recently and also highly recommend Gardner’s Annotated Alice. They are brilliant!

I think there probably is some truth to the idea that there was a sexual quality to Dodgson’s attraction to Alice, but I can’t imagine it was ever expressed (or perhaps even realized) by Dodgson himself. Repression is a wonderful thing and who knows the judgments future ages will make on the sick sexuality of our times. (Photos of britney Spears’s crotch anyone?)

you know…
I’ve never read Alice…
I’m ashamed…
I’m going to sit myself in the corner…
particularly as Dickens and Carroll were mates… and you love Charlie boy…disgusted!

@ lynne Don’t whip yourself, just get thee to the library! You’re in for a treat.

ah bless you…thanks my blundell friend x

I’ve read both recently (Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass), and what struck me the most is how angry Alice is throughout the books, especially Adventures. You don’t get that anger in the Disney movie. It really made me like Alice more.

I’m not sure I’d call her angry, but I’d certainly have to say she is vexed. I certainly related to that when I first read the books, at just about Alice’s age.

great answers. As for Dodgson’s intent on photographing girls, he admitted to being sexually attracted to them, yet never acted on it. His devout love of God and duty kept his hand off those he admired. The biography I am reading goes into great detail about his ‘perversion’, but according to all the children he befriended, none admitted he did anything untoward with them, and many gave interviews after they were grown up. One has to understand the Victorian Era (religion was a prominent part after the previous Georgian era of excesses) to get a grasp of his ability to admire underage girls and yet not abuse them. His writing was proficient, and he wrote far more than a couple of fantasy books about little girls. His work with Euclid’s geometery and math are astounding. Despite his questionable sexual problem, the man was an absolute genius.

@evelyns_pet_zebra: The queen, after reading the first Alice book, demanded a copy of the next book he wrote. She was less than pleased to receive a math book. It might have been astounding, but not nearly as amusing.

It is a little sad that the grown up Alice was disappointed by Dodgson’s complete lack of interest in her.

I JUST finished reading The Adentures of Alice in Wonderland to my 5th graders. We also read Frank Beddor’s version: The Looking Glass Wars, and as we speak they are watching the film, preparing to write a comparison esssay on the above three “versions.”

@supergirl, what a great teacher you sound like. My daughters would have loved to be in a class like that!

Oddly enough, I’ve been reading “Alice in Bed” , a play by Susan Sontag… a work inspired both by Alice James and Alice in Wonderland…

a friend gave me a book that included alice in wonderland and a background on lewis carroll. unfortunately i never finished it, but i’m planning on rereading it. it’s really interesting.

I probably haven’t read it in thirty years, though I reread it numerous times as a kid. My dad read the originals to me when I was in diapers, and it was always my favorite, even though some people think it isn’t really a kid’s book. In high school, I was in a version of the play based on it, and in college I helped design a float on an ‘Alice’ theme. I still have huge portions of it memorized.

I later learned more about Charles Dodgson, about his mathematics and logic books, and about his work as a pioneering photographer. Despite the sexual hang-ups, he remains one of my heroes.

@Nimis: Word. Creepy.

I’ve seen the movie.

i’ve read and taught them several times (6th grade english) some wacky stuff – and some of my favorites…