"Exploring the Enchanting World of Alice's Adventure's in Wonderland"

writehandart

Mar 31, 2024

3 min read

Updated: Apr 13, 2024

Some links in this post are Amazon Affiliate links.

Through the rabbit hole: Exploring Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

I'm reading Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass to myself for the first time.

When my children were young, we spent hours reading together. We’d read outside in good weather. Inside we’d rotate through the house with the sun. At night, we took turns reading the kids to sleep. There were weekly library trips, with boxes full of books. Books in Every Room of the house.

We were a homeschooling English major and public school teacher.

We had grown up being read to and reading. We read the Hobbit together on our honeymoon.

And I loved those hours snuggled with the kids, reading. Taking turns flipping pages. But occasionally, during long car trips, or during lunch, we'd listen to an audiobook. Alice's Adventure's in Wonderland was one of those lunchtime audios. We read it in spring, sitting at the table in what used to be the porch. The children laughed. And my mind wandered.

Audiobook are wonderful, but nothing holds my attention like the printed page. No matter how talented the reader, no matter how amazing the book. I'd suddenly realize I was no longer paying attention, thinking instead of what came next, of those never ending to-do lists.

Nothing holds my attention like the printed page.

So here I am, rediscovering Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

I find myself amazed by the peculiar genius of it all - the unexpected action, the dream state points of view (Alice looking down at her neck!) and the quotable gems written throughout.

Some favorites include:

"Alice had begun to think that very few things indeed were really impossible."

"She generally gave herself very good advice, (though she very seldom followed it).

"Alice sighed wearily. 'I think you might do something better with the time,' she said, 'than wasting it in asking riddles that have no answers.'"

This last quote gets me because I know I would like to do better things with my time.

I had a stroke at 36 and it left me mentally exhausted. Time is precious. And over the last year or so, I found myself squandering it. Instead of settling down with a book as I've always done, I instead scrolled aimlessly on my phone. At night, and considerably less than the proscribed 2 hours before bed! As someone with limited energy, it wasn't a smart health move. And that late, that tired, I'm not reading anything worthwhile anyway. Just scrolling for dopamine hits and draining myself.

I knew better, but... I seldom followed the good advice I gave myself!

So I began making an effort to return to reading real books, whether with cloth bound spines and ink printed on paper, or on an easier to navigate (for the one-handed) e-reader. It's been so good for me. I'm less drained, more inspired me to live more intentionally. I'm doing something better with the time! Not that I never aimlessly scroll the internet...

I’ve just finished the chapter with March hare and Mad Hatter’s tea party and something else I’d like to do with the time is host an Alice in Wonderland tea! We will not, however, rotate seats. I've gathered some fun ideas to start below. A lovely bone china tea set (in pink or blue), a special tea gift set, a you-might-do-something-better-with-the-time clock, beautiful watercolor art, a centerpiece planter, and of course, a hard dover copy of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

What are some things you want to do with the time?