Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass

Last books I read? Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Something a little sad? I’d never read either of them before.

Lately I’ve been feeling pretty drawn to Classics that, until now, I’d overlooked. Purposely. Why do I do this to myself? It was the same when I was in school and refused to read Shakespeare; the same when I got to University and rebelled against the prospect of reading Timothy Findley and Robertson Davies. It seems to be a lesson that I have to learn again and again: these authors, these books that are not only studied, but read and passed down from generation to generation have been passed down for a reason: they’re good!

The truth of it is that, generally, something that gets elevated to Classic status is basically a sure thing: Huck Finn has not been being read and re-read for over a hundred years only because of the hype, and Treasure Island still stands as the template for every good pirate/shipwreck/adventure story ever made because Long John Silver rules.

All this to say: I enjoyed following Alice into her dreams so much that I’ve extended my reading list: there’s the fantabulous Mr. Roald Dahl (anything by him, really); P.L. Travers’ Mary Poppins; Frank Baum’s Wizard of Oz; Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie; Astrid Lindgren’s Pippi Longstocking; and in the non-fiction section (j398.2, j398.21) in kids’ we have stories of King Arthur, Brer Rabbit, some of Hans Christian Anderson’s favorites, like Sleeping Beauty and The Princess and the Pea… and so much more that I plan on being buried under a mound of books for the foreseeable future.