Book Review: “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll

Hi 🙂

Now that I can watch YouTube on my TV, I’ve been finding different channels to amuse myself, and one day I stumbled on an audiobook. I don’t know why I was so stunned at this, because I’ve seen crazier things! This ultimately made me remember what I had discovered on Spotify a few days beforehand. I’ve been enjoying the various podcasts, mostly the sleep ones and I found one called “The Sleepy Bookshelf” and they have a few of famous books like Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen, The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Braun to listen to until you fall asleep. As much as I thought this was a great idea, some of these books are actually on my TBR so I don’t exactly want to drift off into dreamland while trying to remember the events going on; and the fact that the person reading the books has the perfect monotone voice so falling asleep is somewhat easier than you’d think. Once I saw this pop up om YouTube, I thought I would try it out again and found one that had the full book of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.

If you would like to try listening to the book via YouTube, here’s the one I used but there are others out there that include the words just in case you want to read along on the screen.

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ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND (commonly shortened to Alice in Wonderland) is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice falling through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures. The tale plays with logic, giving the story lasting popularity with adults as well as with children. It is considered to be one of the best examples of the literary nonsense genre. Its narrative course and structure, characters and imagery have been enormously influential in both popular culture and literature, especially in the fantasy genre.

Dodgson’s tale was published in 1865 as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by “Lewis Carroll” with illustrations by John Tenniel. The first print run of 2,000 was held back because Tenniel objected to the print quality. A new edition was quickly printed, released in December of the same year but carrying an 1866 date.

The entire print run sold out quickly. Alice was a publishing sensation, beloved by children and adults alike. Among its first avid readers were Queen Victoria and the young Oscar Wilde. The book has never been out of print. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland has been translated into at least 174 languages. There have now been over a hundred English-language editions of the book, as well as countless adaptations in other media, especially theatre and film.

taken from Amazon.

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Since I have watched the original Disney adaption of Alice In Wonderland throughout my life, I really tried to turn off what I knew from the film to what I was hearing – unfortunately I wasn’t that successful but then again it happens whenever I read the Harry Potter books too. I can’t change what I know but it is a nice lesson to other book to screen adaptions in the future!

For the most part, the experience was great!

I really enjoyed myself throughout most of the story, but like how I feel about the movie, my interest basically disappears as we get to the ending. I thought it was funny how much the Queen of Hearts is actually a mild character in the book whereas her husband, the King, has a bigger role. The same goes with other characters we are used to be commanding like The DoDo and Mad Hatter. In a way it was strange or I guess in this case “curious” that it doesn’t matter what age we are, but we could be swayed just as easily as Alice figuring out how tall she wanted to be throughout the entire book.

Do bats eat cats? Do cats eat bats?

Alice in general was very sure of herself but had a posh or snub personality to me. Despite not really understanding what was going on at the start of her journey, she never let go of that almost cocky attitude. The author wrote the book in the 1800’s, so children who were born and raised in the middle or higher in their social class, would have that kind of personality, well most of them! So, it was rough to get over my judgement towards her. and frankly I just didn’t care for her at all…Is there anyone out there who does not find the book interesting at all? I am curious about what made you think this wasn’t as thrilling as you thought it would be? Honestly, a part of me wishes I had fallen asleep to it when I found it on Spotify.

If you are a fan of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, what were the elements that pulled you down the rabbit hole? Do you think I should check out “Through the Looking Glass” next? Do you believe I might like this one better?

Top 5 Quotable Scenes Of Our Favorite Disney Films!

Howdy!

I am not kidding when I say that while writing this post I was listening to a playlist of my favorite Disney songs! I figured it was only right to do that! 🙂

I’ve been thinking about my favorite scenes in all of the Disney films out there! We are more into singing the songs than acting out our favorite scenes, for obvious reasons! Some of us do NOT want to embarrass ourselves whether out in public or with family around in case somebody’s got their phone and using Snapchat. As I’ve been told, once somebody busts you, it’s a bit hard to escape it afterwards, but it is perfectly fine to say the scenes while laying in bed eating popcorn, just don’t get choked!

I wanted to write out my all-time favorite scenes that I tend to say aloud without even thinking now! Unfortunately, I have screwed myself a few times in the past! So if you’re ever around me and a Disney movie is on the TV, there’s a 50/50 chance I’ll just go ahead and quote it!

1.) Zazu Singing To Scar – The Lion King (1994)

I have trouble with watching The Lion King all the way through. I have always had issues with it and I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one! I mean, between this one and Tarzan I think they’re the saddest kid-friendly movies ever!

Despite rarely watching the film, I think the funny relationship between Scar and Zazu is the best! When the scene of Scar is basically eating his last meal of both Pride Rock and in general, he has poor Zazu locked away inside a decomposing ribcage of a small animal and he is just singing somberly and Scar wants him to be more cheery and then Zazu just breaks into “It’s A Small World After All” and Scar is like, “hell no!” and then they finish the last scene of the two of them with this little tune mentioned in the gif above!

2.) The White Rabbit Saying “I’m Late” – Alice In Wonderland (1951)

I am obsessed with Alice In Wonderland well, the old Disney film at least! I still haven’t seen the second of the live-remake yet! My only problem now is that I use this film to help me fall asleep at night!

I think everybody would agree that the white rabbit basically singing “I’m late” throughout the whole movie is a little annoying, because then you have the little jiggle stuck in your head either later that day or in my case because I’ll turn it on late at night, it’ll creep its way into my brain in the middle of the day and I’m pulling an Alice and humming while doing things at my nana’s house!

3.) Buzz Lightyear Meeting Woody and The Other Toys – Toy Story (1995)

Toy Story has become a new love of mine! I don’t necessarily remember being into it when I was younger, but one day in November last year, I saw it on Nick Jr–don’t knock it, that’s where I’ve found majority of my favorites again–and I’ve been addicted to it. However, I usually lose interest in it around the time Woody just knocks Buzz out of the window.

My favorite scenes starts when Woody takes his younger sister Molly downstairs and the toys suddenly awaken and start roaming around the room like normally. The first scene is of Potato Head trying to gather his facial features back into his head after Molly basically puts it into her mouth and bangs it against her crib and says “Ages 3 and up, it’s on my box! Ages 3. And. Up. I’m not supposed to be babysitting Princess Drool” it is my favorite thing to quote right out of the gate!

And then I like when Rex pulls Woody’s doodle pad over by the bottom of the crib and starts roars, Woody is not bothered and poor Rex is like, “Were you scared, tell me honestly?” and Woody being a good sport says that he was close to being scared and Rex concludes with “Oh, I’m looking for fearsome here but I just don’t feel it, I just feel I’m coming off as annoying!” I feel ya buddy!

My last quotable scene of the film is when Buzz Lightyear meets Woody and the other toys and Woody is obviously jealous of another toy on his spot on the bed and Buzz thinking he’s the Buzz Lightyear and Woody tries to tell him he’s just a toy (T-O-Y, toy as he says) and then while the toys are asking him about his gadgets and they continue to bicker Woody just says this and I liked the comeback from Potato Head “getting kind of tense, huh?” The beginning of the film has the best quotes I think!

4.) Pain and Panic – Hercules (1997)

Now like AIW Hercules is another film that I can fall asleep too and it’s one that can instantly put me to sleep too, so I hardly ever watch it for pleasure anymore because I know what’ll happen!

I believe the “scene stealers” in this film are Pain, Panic and Hermes. Everybody likes to quote both Hades and Phil the most, at least I see more memes from Hades than any other character from the movie. However, I think Pain and Panic, his little henchmen forgetting to mention that the Fates were there waiting for him and he goes into a rage and the small flame on top of his head kind of grows around his upper body and Pain and Panic basically melt into the ground and change into fat worms to show that they feel guilty about it is pretty freaking hilarious!

5.) Tantor Refusing To Get Into The Water – Tarzan (1999)

Tarzan is another movie that I have trouble with completing, and it must have something to do with animals and death. In The Lion King only two animals die in the film, one is a beloved character by all whereas Scar is the evil brother who killed Mufasa. In this one, four animals and a pair of humans die! I mean, I think it should have had a PG-13 rating because of the amount of deaths in it!

Anyways, I believe when Tarzan and his buddies were little were probably the more hilarious scenes. They’re just having fun and learning about their surroundings, especially Tarzan! The scene where Tantor does not want to follow his mother into the swamp or whatever and he asks the question above in that high-pitched voice! I mean, we all have probably recreated this scene once or twice in our lifetimes!

If I ever figure out any more quotable moments in other Disney (which will probably happen) I will share them along in a second post! Just as a warning, I have created a fairly large list of blog post ideas and majority of them are movie related, so this will definitely not be the only film post going up this spring!

What are your favorite scenes to quote? 

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Five Sentence Fiction: Whimsical

What it’s all about: Five Sentence Fiction is about packing a powerful punch in a tiny fist. Each week I will post a one word inspiration, then anyone wishing to participate will write a five sentence story based on the prompt word. The word does not have to appear in your five sentences, just use it for direction.

This week: WHIMSICAL

At night the dreams would get clearer and more dark as the scenes started to take her away from the reality she had come to get used to, but when things would start to make a little sense she would wake up in tears as she was back to square one again.

Every night it started off the same, back in the enchanted garden, walking past the arguing mushrooms, singing daisies, and the dandelions are cutting their pedals for the warmer weather, here things never made sense to outsiders but she was at home as nothing ever made sense in the outside world.

“Oh, She’s here guys” said the cute little gray and black striped cat, he wore a cute little vest and tie, and had grown the love the young girl, “how was your day today” he said to her, as the other crowded around them and sat down to hear the crazy stories of the other side.

“It seems like such a boring place to be, Aoife” the cat said to her as he began to purr next to her leg, the others chatted and nodded their heads in agreement, “Aren’t you glad you have us as friends” he said in a wink, she began to think twice about everything and the ones right in front of her.

“Well, my doctors think I should go back on my medicine again, they said I should be feeling right again soon” Aoife said to her loyal friends, instead of being supportive they turned mean and began to torture her by saying things like, “you will never be more sane than being next to us, you will be lost without us, I say you destroy the medicine and get rid of those people for good” Aoife felt lost in the good and bad, she wanted to lose her erratic thoughts but she didn’t think there would be a good outcome if she lost her friends. 

Book Review: Her Mad Hatter by Marie Hall

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“Wonderland was wonderful, but without a counterbalance it could turn its inhabitants completely insane.” ~ Danika

I will be the first one to say, I have never read the story version of Alice In Wonderland, but I have watched both versions of the movie. I don’t think I’ve ever had to think about fairytales until I started reading this book. It is very different, but interesting. When you watch a movie or read a story, you only have one way of seeing it. So when you read somebody’s imagination wander into something like this. Of course, the author is taking the tale of Alice In Wonderland, but she has leveled up as high up as it could go, I think. I have never thought of characters such as Alice and the Mad Hatter as soul mates? There’s some things I never thought I’d hear, but whatever.

I’ve got to say reading this book, I think I just like how much detail it has. When you read about the Mad Hatter’s garden, you start to imagine how it would look. Your inner child awakens from their slumber. Even though the detail of Wonderland seems innocent and childlike, this book is far from being for kids. It’s testing my ability to only see things one way. I liked pictures some of the fairytale characters of Alice In Wonderland and other familiar stories too. Honestly, I didn’t like this book at all. I tried to like it and find some way to at least give it a chance and I couldn’t. I think it was too far out there for me to like. Especially Alice Hu. She is a baker and has an Alice In Wonderlamd theme bakery and lives in HAWAII?!?! Didn’t the other Alice’s in the movies from England? That threw me for a loop right away. Because I was expecting to read about a blonde girl and already imagined her British accent. This Alice confused me.

The Mad Hatter wasn’t as good either. I was picturing Johnny Depp throughout the entire book. Which honestly was bad, because of the very hot steamy scenes at the end. I kept thinking of a red-headed clown and abstract clothing with Johnny’s voice. It was weird! The animated version is with the old guy so I knew that wasn’t going to work out whatsoever. The romance part of it was pretty good and kind of sweet, but since the theme was about a fairytale, it was very difficult to like. I also don’t see the Mad Hatter as a bad boy either, because bad boys are not crazy. They just act like macho assholes. There’s a difference. I did like Danika, the fairy godmother. She was a different fairy that I was okay with and I could process everything about her, but I did see her like the fairy godmother in Cinderella. Same voice too! That’s pretty much the only thing I liked about it. For the first book of the series, I didn’t like it and there’s a big possibility I won’t be reading the others either.

Alice