Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass audiobook

I think that the failure not only of Children's Literature as a whole, but of our very concept of children and the child's mind is that we think it a crime to challenge and confront that mind. Children are first protected from their culture--kept remote and safe--and then they are thrust incongruously into a world that they have been told is unsafe and unsavory; and we expected them not to blanch.It has been my policy that the best literature for children is not a trifling thing, not a simplification of the adult or a sillier take on the world. Good Children's literature is some of the most difficult literature to write because one must challenge, engage, please, and awe a mind without resorting to archetypes or life experience.Once a body grows old enough, we are all saddened by the thought of a breakup. We have a set of knowledge and memories. The pain returns to the surface. Children are not born with these understandings, so to make them understand pain, fear, and loss is no trivial thing. The education of children is the transformation of an erratic and hedonistic little beast into a creature with a rational method by which to judge the world.A child must be taught not to fear monsters but to fear instead electrical outlets, pink slips, poor people, and lack of social acceptance. The former is frightening in and of itself, the latter for complex, internal reasons. I think the real reason that culture often fears sexuality and violence in children is because they are such natural urges. We fear to trigger them because we cannot control the little beasts. We cannot watch them every minute.So, to write Children's Literature, an author must create something complex and challenging, something that the child can turn over in their mind without accidentally revealing some terrible aspect of the world that the child is not yet capable of dealing with. Carroll did this by basing his fantasies off of complex, impersonal structures: linguistics and mathematical theory. These things have all the ambiguity, uncertainty, and structure of the grown-up world without the messy, human parts.This is also why the Alice stories fulfill another requirement I have for Children's Lit: that it be just as intriguing and rewarding for adults. There is no need to limit the depth in books for children, because each reader will come away with whatever they are capable of finding. Fill an attic with treasures and the child who enters it may find any number of things--put a single coin in a room and you ensure that the child will find it, but nothing more.Of course, we must remember that nothing we can write will ever be more strange or disturbing to a child than the pure, unadulterated world that we will always have failed to prepare them for. However, perhaps we can fail a little less and give them Alice. Not all outlets are to be feared, despite what your parents taught you. In fact, some should be prodded with regularity, and if you dare, not a little joy.

THIS BOOK IS MY DREAM.It’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, plus Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, plus a ton of critical analysis and fun facts and biographical info and poetry and background and cultural and period information and bonus illustrations and basically all you need or could ever want to know, except if you’re me and your love for and curiosity about Alice and Lewis Carroll and Wonderland will never be satiated.And also it’s about a square yard and the font is tiny and it weighs about 30 pounds and takes an eternity to read.I loved this so much that it made my heart hurt to finish it. My version of paradise is probably something like this, where I’m alternating between reading the original text I love more than anything and eloquent, wise, humorous elaboration on things I had never known. The more I learned, the more I wanted to know.I guess you could say I grew…curiouser and curiouser.I love myself.Anyway, my bookmark for this book was a folded-up sheet of lined paper on which I wrote down the titles and works of art and research queries I wanted to know more about as I read. I filled up both sides of that sheet.Absolutely every aspect of this book is gorgeous and curated and fascinating. I don’t really know how to review this because it basically transcended reading for me. It was just a perfect experience.Bottom line: If you love Alice like I do, or really really like it, you need to read this book. It’s a gift. That’s all I can say.-----------pre-reviewi have never, in my entire life, cried in public over a book.until today.THIS BOOK MADE ME CRY IN PUBLIC!more of a review to come??

Try to avoid hyperactive white rabbits Alice's Adventures in Wonderland aka Alice in Wonderland How did Caroll get his ideas?Many questions arose both around Carroll´s alleged drug consumption and the mental state of the author and besides himself, nobody will ever know. But it has been used to argue for pro drug consumption by hippies, for damnation by all of their political and ideological opponents, and as part of The myth of how authors find inspirationThe idea of how the mental state of a writer, or artist in general, influences her/his works is even more fascinating, because the line between sane imagination and creativity and madness or getting lost in a world one created her/himself is thin. Just genetic luck or pure coincidence may make the difference between a world-building, ingenious, and very successful author superstar and severe, lifelong mental illness. Being in the zone and flow state of positive creative overkill or of uncontrollable mindfucks one really isn´t into. Mental strength and self-discipline, to let the demons work for one instead of killing them, or a small pharmacological help may make the difference between world fame and mental asylum and completely blocking or losing the controllable and not harmful symptoms might destroy the ability to make such works, take away the needed basis of dreams, hallucinations, and loss of reality necessary to create unique works. A manifestation of how precious and fragile those human egos, fictional surrogates of what the brain wants, are.One of the first comedic fantasy works with depthAt a time when there was close to no fantasy literature available, Carroll wrote a precursor of today's bizarro fiction/fantasy/ crossover/horror/comedic whatever genre, focussing on the hero´s journey of one main plot with the strangeness and surreality of the other characters and environment as main driving engines. Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There Don´t look behind the mirrorsMaybe a bit too strangeBecause of the violence and weirdness, I wouldn´t consider it as a clean, normal read for all ages anymore, but closer to the elder kid section. A true classic, having a lasting impact on pop culture and many other works and tinkering with the ideas of reality, consciousness, the layers of dimensions that might lie beyond the known three, and the realm of interpretations, connotations, and innuendos. More in it than in stereotypical standard classicsBecause it is highly subjective, it is very difficult to draw the line between witty, hidden criticism and satire and simple plot devices with coincidental benefits, and just the author knows what the true intention was. But just that so many, big, clever, whatsoever generations of adults and parents are thinking about and puzzling around what hidden meanings might be behind that lovely story with beheadings, bipolar, schizophrenic, and generally prone to mental illness side characters, highly developed nanotech that let´s one grow and shrink and stuff, differentiates it from other classics.The extra easter goodie for the adult readersOne of the rare examples where timeless, all-devouring questions have been compressed and distilled to an allegedly benign, nice, little tale for the kiddies, but the deeper the interested adult digs, the further she/he explores the Matrix-style abyssal depths of the hidden human thoughts, fears, and imaginations, the bigger the WTF factor becomes.Inspiration unknownI don´t know where Carroll took his ideas from and what inspired him to invent this tale, as for instance other pioneers of fantasy tended to use, steal, and adapt old mythology, but much of the content is just so bizarre that it can´t be compared with the typical standards of the innocent (except the violence, opportunism, sexism, racism, extremism, and many other evil isms) old tales.Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...

(Book 868 from 1001 books) - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland #1-2), Lewis CarrollThrough the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1871) is a novel by Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson), the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865). Set some six months later than the earlier book, Alice again enters a fantastical world, this time by climbing through a mirror into the world that she can see beyond it. Through the Looking-Glass includes such celebrated verses as "Jabberwocky" and "The Walrus and the Carpenter", and the episode involving Tweedledum and Tweedledee. The mirror which inspired Carroll remains displayed in Charlton Kings.عنوانهای چاپ شده در ایران: «آلیس آنسوی آینه»؛ «ماجراهای آلیس در سرزمین عجایب و سفر به درون آینه و آنچه آلیس آنجا یافت»؛ نویسنده: لوئیس کارول؛ تاریخ نخستین خوانش: ماه مارس سال2001میلادیعنوان: آلیس آنسوی آینه؛ نویسنده: لوئیس کارول؛ مترجم: محمدتقی بهرامی حران؛ تهران، جامی، سال1374؛ در138ص؛ شابک9786001760235؛ چاپ دوم سال1389؛ موضوع: داستانهانی نوجوانان از نویسندگان بریتانیا - سده 19معنوان: ماجراهای آلیس در سرزمین عجایب و سفر به درون آینه و آنچه آلیس آنجا یافت؛ نویسنده: لوئیس کارول؛ مترجم: جواد دانش آرا؛ تهران، فرهنگ نشر نو، سال1395؛ در462ص؛ مصور؛ شابک9786008547044؛ آن‌ سوی آینه؛ دنباله ای بر کتاب «آلیس در سرزمین عجایب» است، مرحله‌ ای که سرانجام «آلیس»، که هویت خود را در «سرزمین عجایب» یافته، سعی در شکل‌ دادن آن، و پیدا کردن جایگاهش، در اجتماع دارد؛ «لوئیس کارول»، کتاب «آن‌ سوی آینه» را، هفت سال پس از «سرزمین عجایب»، هنگامی که «آلیس لیدل» چهارده‌ ساله بود، نوشتند؛ در «آنسوی آینه»، «آلیس» با اختیار کامل، گام به «شهر آینه» می‌گذارد، تا باز هم با موجودات بیشتری آشنا شود، و تجربه بیندوزد؛ در این داستان، «شهر آینه» را، قانونِ «شطرنج» اداره می‌کند، و «آلیس» که با ورود به این سرزمین، تنها یک مهره ی سرباز پیاده، به شمار می‌آید، بر طبق قانون «شطرنج» می‌تواند تا خانه ی هشتم پیش برود، و با رسیدن به آنجا، صاحب مقام مهره ی «وزیر» میشود؛ در بخش‌های نخستینِ داستان، وزیرِ مهره‌ های سرخ «شطرنج»، همانند یک آموزگار، راه پیروزی را برای «آلیس» شرح می‌دهدتاریخ بهنگام رسانی 22/03/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ 02/12/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی

Dreams , figments of the wondrous mind, what things can it create...A little girl named Alice, 7 with her big sister a few years older, sitting on the banks of the gentle river Thames, on a calm , warm sunny day, in 1862 how delightful , still she is bored watching her sibling read a book, not paying any attention to her, with no pictures, imagine that... getting sleepy...Out of nowhere a nervous White Rabbit dashes by Alice, no big deal even though it has clothes on, not thinking it peculiar when the animal speaks, looking at a watch, and declares he will be late to an important party. Intrigued the child follows the rapid rabbit down a large hole, a long tunnel , soon finding a precipice, then falling and falling, the never ending drop continues as the frightened girl starts to believe, maybe, quite possible , arrive finally on the other side of the world, welcome Australia. Nevertheless landing safely in a pile of leaves, unhurt Alice in a strange hall sees a bottle that says drink me. She the brave girl does, being much too big, for this land, needing to get out, to the beautiful place outside that Alice views, through the door, too small for her and shrinks... this will not be the last time either, her size will vary in future adventures in this magical tale. Meeting a plethora of mad characters, as one of them matter of fact boasts we're all mad here. The Cheshire Cat with his always grinning smile as he fades away and reappears ...the Queen of Hearts the annoyed ruler frequently shouts and proclaims, "Off with their heads", and her curiouser and curiouser croquet match...with real animals for equipment, the Mad Hatter and his perpetual tea party with the March Hare who enjoys puzzling Alice. The mellow Caterpillar likes sitting on top of a mushroom smoking leisurely and showing scorn for the little girl's silly questions, the Mock Turtle who head looks like a cow and is sad, the ugly Duchess sneezing because her maid's over use of pepper, other weird souls in this enchanting book appear. If you are a type of person who relishes the road less traveled, this will be up your alley. A classic children's fable that will always be a favorite, having sold more than 100 million copies, and adults can be entrapped also, and benefit by the amusing satire of their foibles, which everyone has.That is being human ...

Curiouser and curiouser edition! This is the annotated edition, collecting both novels in the Alice book series: “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice found There”. WE’RE ALL MAD HERE Begin at the beginning… This was technically a re-reading since I’ve already read both novels previously, the key difference here was that this is an “annotated” edition, which includes a comprehensive section, at the end of each chapter, with tons of notes revealing “behind-the-scenes” detailing moments in the life of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll), the “real” meaning of scenes, the “real” inspirations for several of the characters in both novels, historic meaning (in the Victorian England) of casual expressions that got outdated nowadays, studies in the metrics of the poems included in the novels, etc… I don’t think… Then you shouldn’t talk… It was a curiouser and curiouser reading experience since this was my first “annotated edition” of any book, and I believe that if you want to engage into this sort of books, it’s advisable having read the regular version of the novel first, since reading all those annotations after each chapter, it’s a kinda of “braking” effect, since depending the chapter, you’ll invest almost the same time reading the explanations than the chapter itself, so you lose a great deal of the rhythm of your reading, therefore, if you haven’t read the story before, you may not enjoying as much as it was supposed to be. It’s a poor sort of memory that only works backwards. Of course, almost all the information was made by scholars in the Lewis Carroll’s works, doing assumptions and best guesses, since the author was already gone when this annotated edition began to be conceived. Therefore, it’s a priceless access to get a better understanding of the novels at the era when they were published, BUT… …sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast. …you can’t fully take without a doubt the exposed explanations, since you can’t ask the author anymore to validate if their interpretations are truly accurate. So, as many things in life, it’s up to you if you wish to believe them. I can’t go back to yesterday because I was a different person then. And as those scholars mentioned at some momento of the annotations, that sometimes we are so obssessed to find a secret meaning behind any single quote, any single character, any single scene, etc… and while it’s evident that some quotes, characters and scenes have indeed a double significance, some of them are merely things needed to keep flowing the narrative, as simply as that, without any conspiration or secret plot,… I’m not strange, weird, off, nor crazy, my reality is just different from yours. …so don’t get too deep into the annotations section and simply enjoy this wonderfully mad tale about a little girl who fell down into a rabbit’s hole and she kept finding curiouser and curiouser things, even through the looking-glass. …and go on till you come to the end: then stop.

Then Alice saw a large wall in the middle distance. Someone was sitting on the top of it. When Alice had come within a few yards of it, she saw that the thing sitting on the wall had eyes and a nose and mouth and a large pile of golden hair; and when she had come very close, she saw clearly that it was TRUMPTY DUMPTY himself. "It must be him because that’s what is written on his baseball cap," she said to herself. He was already speaking to her. “They said I wouldn’t build the wall and I built the wall. They were wrong because they weren’t right. Really really really great wall.”“I’m sure it is,” said Alice. “What is it for?”“Believe me, this is the greatest wall there ever was,”“I’m sure it is,” said Alice, “but please, what is it for?”“The people, there were people, who said the wall would never be built, they were not smart people, as you see, the wall is right here, it is extremely extremely here, believe me.”“Yes, I do see that it is, but please,” said Alice, getting rather impatient, “what is it for?”“Those people, there were so many many of them, they said the wall was never ever ever going to be built, that’s what they said, you can check that, it’s there in the record. They were really really not smart those people. Everyone here can see that this is a great great day. That is what people are telling me. ”“But –" started Alice.“We are making Wonderland great again. Really really great. Dozens, hundreds of people, have said that there would be no wall. No wall at all. They said it would never never never happen. You can’t find those people any more because they are on the other side of the wall. Oh yes, there is another side of the wall. Really really other side. Can you hear them?”Trumpty put his hand to his ear, exaggeratedly listening. Alice listened hard too for a moment but could not hear a sound, except for Trumpty talking continually. She had by now given up trying to ask Trumpty Dumpty anything at all. It was as if he did not know what a conversation was.“It’s going to be amazing, really amazing. You will see Wonderland great again. So great.”*Sorry about that..... I really just wanted to flag up that this Definitive 150th Anniversary edition by Martin Gardner is exquisite and replaces all previous editions. So if you have a birthday coming up, you could ask for this! And if you get it you'll have a smile that will take a really really great long time to fade away. Believe me.

Alice suddenly falls into a hole and sees an empty corridor, where she is, she does not know. Often she does not know if she is herself or maybe someone else? In her dreams, Alice encounters many strange kings and queens, talking animals, a hatter, playing cards, a chessboard and many other strange creatures. It is a fable wrapped in a fairy tale. The book includes many beautiful drawings and makes the story more vivid. It is quite confusing at times, but that is what makes the story this adventure.

“But I don't want to go among mad people," Alice remarked."Oh, you can’t help that," said the Cat: "we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad.""How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice."You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn't have come here.”150 years ago, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson welcomed a new Dean to Christ Church College, Oxford, along with his family, including the three daughters, Lorina, Edith and Alice. Charles had been writing prose and poetry since a very young age, but it was young Alice Liddell who encouraged him to write down the stories he had made up for her and her sisters, thus Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was published and has since been a stalwart in children's reading treasuries.Charles, or more famously known by his alias Lewis Carroll, was an extraordinary man, graduating from Oxford with a first in Mathematics and going on to study and teach at Oxford, where he remained until his death in 1898. Not only did he write, but he was an early pioneer of photography and also painted. He predominantly wrote short stories and poems, but Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was a longer version of his unique writing style, and was published in 1865 to great acclaim. He became famous almost over night and wrote the sequel Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, though this particular story seemed much darker than the much-loved Wonderland, most probably caused by the depression he felt after the death of his father in 1871. Sylvie and Bruno, a tale of fairy siblings is a lesser known story from Carroll in 1895 and did not fair as well as Alice ever did though it remains in print as a testimony to the wonderful writer Lewis Carroll was.Lewis Carroll's writing is often described as surreal and nonsensical, a lot of his words are made up, but are used in today's language-think specifically of the poem Jabberwocky-and he has had almost as much impact on the way we use language as Shakespeare ever did. The word 'chortle' is used today as commonly as if it truly were a real word for laughing:`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe."Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun The frumious Bandersnatch!"[...]"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock? Come to my arms, my beamish boy!O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!' He chortled in his joy.In my most recent re-read of Alice, I decided I would read aloud the poetry within the book. There is a lot more poetry in it than I originally remembered, all of which is told to Alice by the various characters she meets. The made-up Carrollian words sound both strange and familiar on the tongue and one can find a genuine lilting rhythm to the entire book when experienced out loud with sound.Beneath the surface, the story can be seen as quite dark, particularly the latter story Through the Looking-Glass. Whilst both retain the whimsical, surreal nature of another world, Looking-Glass has more of a sinister overtone, with more things going wrong for Alice and many more characters being unkind to one another. It also showed another side to Alice herself, as she had grown out of the rabbit hole and crying her way out of situations and instead wished more than anything to be a Queen. Her previous adventure with the Queen must have sparked this desire, though Alice had shown nothing but disdain for the Queen of Wonderland who wanted to chop everyone's head off at any given moment.I found myself enjoying the latter book to the former: I cannot place my finger on the reason why, however. If nothing else, it is probably the more grown-up version of Alice I prefer, though in reality she is still just a child. Her experiences in her first Wonderland adventure seemed to have impacted her fervently, as she navigated the Looking-Glass Wonderland exceedingly well, often outsmarting those who were native to it.The two books-often just collated in to one large one known as Alice in Wonderland-are actually all I've ever read of Lewis Carroll's works, though I am intrigued by his other works, particularly his poetry. The surreal, nonsense nature of the poetry in Alice is unique to Carroll and I'd be curious to see if it carries over in to his other works. Have you ever read his other works?There is some controversy surrounded Lewis Carroll, mostly brought up in biographies of him, particularly regarding his friendliness with young girls such as the Liddell children, but I shan't be commenting on that here. Instead we shall concentrate on the great piece of literature he left behind, which he wrote whilst he was both disappointed and unhappy with his job of teaching at Oxford (despite remaining there until his death) and saddened by the loss of his mother early on in his life and by his father after Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was published. It is too much to wonder whether the reputation of such an absorbing, wonderful book would be tarnished if his biographers ever learnt the exact truth of his nature and the absurdities of accusations are most likely driven by the era they find themselves in.There are many events taking place in 2015 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of this wonderful, wondrous, wandering book all over the globe. Royal Mail are producing celebratory collection stamps in honour of the landmark and who can forget the wonderful (if rather libertarian) Disney film? The best thing you can do is to read and re-read this book an enjoy it for what it is: a beautifully written, surreal and nonsense book that has captivated the imaginations of children and adults alike.[On the night I re-read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the moon decided to show me his best Cheshire Cat smile in celebration of the 150th Anniversary of the book.]Blog | Instagram | Twitter | Pinterest | Shop | Etsy

Between its many animated and live action movie adaptations over the years, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland turned into this weird psychedelic drug-induced hallucination, rather than the original irony-filled charming children's story in my mind. So it was high-time for a reread.I wouldn't call myself a particularly perceptive person, having focused more on the many absurd adventures rather than the irony, as a child. So the constant barrage of "a-HA" moments that I now found myself experiencing, came as very welcome surprise. I love a book that ages well, especially when it reads like a completely different story at varying times in life.The contrast between Alice's educated demeanor, and its (lack of) use in real life situation was fun to follow. Alice's fumbling attempts at making use of the French lessons, while unintentionally insulting the mouse, hit quite close to home.Nevertheless, I have mixed feelings about the protagonist's curiosity/bravery, which would often come across as rather thoughtless and/or selfish. Take for instance that Mad Hatter's tea party, which she joins uninvited, only to then feel offended by the participants' (lack of) manners and amenities. Alice's Adventures Through The Looking Glass features a much more intriguing premise, but is also much more boring to get through. Admittedly, I know precisely nothing about chess, so the many clever game references would've gone right over my head without the footnotes. The overall effect seemed much closer to an ambitious endeavour, than a story with a natural flow.If the prequel gave us a story featuring several comedic episodes, this one seemed a series of funny banters, that so happened to have a story linking them together. It was still good, but the overall narration didn't flow quite as naturally as before.Score: 3.5/5 stars4 rounded-up stars for nostalgia and writing styleI would advise skipping the footnotes; while the poem references were useful, the emphasis put on the inspiration behind one or more of the events got tiring after a while. Like in the episode from Alice's Adventures Through The Looking Glass where Alice forgets her name, and only remembers it's something with "L". The footnotes insist this is a reference to "Liddel", while I found it more likely to be a pun on how "Al" from "Alice" has the same pronunciation as the letter "L".... plus the creepy revelation, that Charles Dodgson used to intentionally "cultivate friendships" with young girls, rather put me off any subsequent rereads. I probably shouldn't have googled documentaries on the subject.