Page Eleven

Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll

Well I definately needed to read something that was a complete 360 from my previous choice, and as I was nosing around the shelves at Chapters I came across Alice and thought: have I actually ever read these? Of course I know the plot, and the characters, but I couldn't remember having ever sat down to read these books. And what an absolutely absurd, nonsensical read they were. Can children even comprehend this? A hookah-smoking Caterpillar (I must admit, my favourite character), a Hatter and a Hare, both completely off their rockers, a Duchess who finds mind-boggling morals to everything . . . I could barely keep it straight. But what is so interesting is how Carroll captures the dream-like quality of everything, so that you the reader almost feel like you're caught in a dream yourself, "dreadfully puzzled."