Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll

Alice's Adventure in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll

Every so often I feel the need to read an old classic.  Alice has been sitting on my kindle for quite some time, so I dusted her off.

 I don't believe I had ever read this book as a child.  I remember my mother reading to me The Wind in The Willows but not Alice.  Maybe she did and maybe she didn't.  Because what I found was that my clearest memory of the characters and settings come from the movie.  The book is slightly different.  It's really a shame that the images of Disney have taken over what the written word has the ability to create in one's mind.

But that being said, Alice is charming and polite and curious.  She meets an unusual cast of characters when she plummets down the rabbit hole.  And she always manages to keep her cool regardless of her size at the moment.

Alice's Adventure in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass is an imaginative tale that is sure to delight no matter what your age.  Alice is a smart, modern girl who can be a great role model.  And she brings to reading a book, a one of a kind, kind of magic and imagination.  A classic!

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

In my quest to become well read, I decided I should read one of the most talked about and controversial books in modern literature, Lolita.  I was well aware of the premise of the novel, but had no idea what to expect or why the book is held in such high esteem.

Humbert Humbert is a pedophile.  Plain and simple.  But this story takes the reader so far inside his head that we can almost justify his actions the same way any criminal and mental disturbed person would.  An unfulfilled love affair as a young teenage boy has left Humbert obsessed with what he refers to as a nymphet, a young, prepubescent girl.  He searches high and low for one that suits him until he lays eyes on Dolores Haze, his Lolita.

Humbert marries Lolita's mother to remain close to her.  While Lolita is away at summer camp, Charlotte is hit by a car and dies.  From there on out, Humbert passes himself off as Lolita's father and takes her on a road trip across the United States. He plots out a complicated scheme to seduce Lolita, only to find she is already sexually experienced.

I found this book funny, absurd, and distasteful all at the same time.   The prose is delightful and engaging.  For the most part it was a page turner, but I felt it dragged on in some parts.  But when it was funny, it was laugh out loud funny.  And when it was disgusting, it turned my stomach.  Lolita has all the makings of a classic novel, with wonderful writing full of emotion. And I'm feeling a little more well read.  

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

This book has been sitting peacefully on the shelf for a couple years.  I really wasn't aware of its importance as a literary classic.  Florida, hurricane and love story was all I needed to take it home.  Lately it's been sitting on the coffee table as decoration.  That's how pretty the cover is.  I kept thinking it had been there long enough but never picked it up.  About a week ago Ginger decided she wasn't getting enough attention.  She climbed on the table and nabbed the book.   I guess she thought it had been there long enough too.  The beautiful cover now has more than a few teeth marks but I retrieved it before she started ripping out pages.

The dialect in The Help was flat and not real.  I felt the dialect in Same Kind of Different As Me was very good and believable.  It was only used in the chapters that were written in Denver's voice so it worked well.  In Their Eyes Were Watching God the dialect is perfection.  It's written so that I can hear the characters talking to me.  The only problem is there is so much dialog the book is very difficult to read.  It bogs down the story line.

As for the story line, there wasn't much of one.  Life in Florida in the early twentieth century was rough.  Janie's life in Eatonville was comfortable compared to others.  She was looking for love.  I don't believe she ever found it.  Tea Cake was no prize, always playing tricks on her and gambling with her money.  Nothing really unexpected or exciting happened until the last 40 pages.  Up until then she combed her hair and worked in her husband's store.  Then they were uprooted by a hurricane, Tea Cake was bitten by a rabid dog, they walked to Palm Beach and back again, and moved back into a cabin that miraculously hadn't washed away.  Janie killed Tea Cake, was put on trial, acquitted and moved back to Orlando to her home she'd left behind years ago.  All in the blink of an eye.

At the end was some information on the life of Zora Neale Hurston.  What I read in those few paragraphs made for far more interesting reading about her life that all of Their Eyes Were Watching God.  I rate this book 2 out of 5.  I'll pass it along to someone who won't mind the teeth marks.