Lewis Carroll
Castle
Fiction, YA Fantasy
***+
The Best of Lewis Carroll: Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass/The Hunting of the Snark/A Tangled Tale/Phantasmagoria/nonsense from Letter
The Best of Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll
Castle
Fiction, YA Fantasy
***+
The Best of Lewis Carroll: Alice in Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass/The Hunting of the Snark/A Tangled Tale/Phantasmagoria/nonsense from Letter
DESCRIPTION: Five of the noted late-nineteenth century author's works are reprinted in this volume, with miscellaneous excerpts from various correspondences over the years. The classics Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass share space with the poetry of Phantasmagoria and The Hunting of the Snark, in addition to the mathematical story problems presented in A Tangled Tale.
REVIEW: This is yet another part of my ongoing effort to read books I probably should've read long ago, thanks to reprints and Half Price Books. I suppose I should've
reviewed each story separately. I gave the whole an Okay rating on average, for while Carroll's writing style is memorable and rather charming, I don't care for his nonexistent
plots. I like stories to have a discernable progression from beginning to end, with some manner of reason to the events and characters encountered. Lewis's tales drift and
flutter along like butterflies, light and pretty to look at but with no sense of a specific direction or overarching goal. A Tangled Tale was my least favorite, for
all that it was about the only one with a recognizable story arc, in part because of all the math. I never did like story problems... As for Alice's adventures, they would
be ideal for out-loud bedtime reading, when the child doesn't really need to remember what came before, might nod off for a while in the middle of a chapter, and is just
enjoying the adventure in the here and now. The fact that so many people read so much meaning into every aspect of her tales... that, I fail to understand. Carroll did an
excellent job capturing the lucid-yet-not-quite-clear consciousness found in dreams, and the breaking and melding of themes as one wanders through them, but beyond that
there's nothing there, except maybe whatever a reader builds up through nostalgia.
(Speaking of nostalgia, perhaps my fondest Alice-related memory is the many hours I spent puzzling through the old Commodore game Alice in Wonderland, a Windham
Classics title. Great fun, with some excellent character dialog and truly perplexing puzzlers. Anyone who wants to dig around the Internet can find the game, and a Commodore
emulator with which to play it. They just don't make 'em like that anymore...)
You might also enjoy:
Peter Pan (James M. Barrie, YA Fiction - The boy who refuses to grow up leads three English children to the magical island of Neverland)
Peter and the Starcatchers (Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, YA? Fiction - In a prequel to the classic Peter Pan, an orphan boy fights a pirate for a magical treasure)
The Wizard of Oz (L. Frank Baum, YA Fiction - The classic American fairy tale of young Dorothy, swept from Kansas into a magical world)
The Sea Fairies (L. Frank Baum, YA Fiction - Young Trot and Cap'n Bill visit the wonder-filled realm of the mermaids)
Gregor the Overlander (Suzanne Collins, YA Fiction - A modern boy and his toddler sister fall into a dark, strange world beneath New York City)
Librarian: Little Boy Lost (Eric Hobbs, YA Fiction - A bookish boy discovers secrets and dangers in a mysterious library)
The Water Mirror (Kai Meyer, YA Fiction - In an alternate-world Venice, an orphan girl is apprenticed to a maker of magical mirrors)
Un Lun Dun (China Miéville, YA Fiction - Two girls stumble into the "abcity" mirror of London, where wonders and dangers abound)
The Enchanted Castle (E. Nesbit, YA Fiction - Three English schoolchildren find all manner of troubles when they encounter a magical ring)
The 100 Cupboards trilogy (N. D. Wilson, YA Fiction - A boy finds mysterious little doors leading to other worlds)
Alice in Wonderland (2-Disc Special Un-Anniversary Edition)
Alice in Wonderland
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