A New Year, A New Book

It's January and this is Wisconsin.  It is impossible to imagine a drearier time.  "It's always winter but never Christmas."  So, we have chosen a new book and are going to revive this dead blog.  A lot has changed in the past two years but our friendship has not, nor our love of books.  In light of this, we have chosen a classic to begin anew.  We will be starting Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. 

I'd like to propose an open mind to this tale.  As is often the case with classics, we are already familiar with certain elements of the story.  We know the character and the basic line of her story, but as we know all too well, there is much to be seen when reading something again.  Remember The Neverending Story II: The Next Chapter:  "Ahh, but have you ever read a book twice? Books change each time you read them."  Let's try to approach Alice with as much of a clear mind as is possible.  We never know what she will show us, but we can certainly change it by allowing our prejudice to blind us.

This extends to criticism.  I've been trying, especially since I'm focused on classics lately, to avoid reading any criticism of a novel before reading the novel itself.  Alice is particularly vulnerable to criticism for several reasons, including the recent movie, the overwhelming popular representations of her in our culture and the somewhat scandalous nature of Lewis Carroll's life.  After we finish the book though, I would be interested in comparing our reactions with those of others in the literary community.  Symbols in particular tend to surprise me when I look at criticism and I imagine that there is quite a bit written about what Alice means.

With that said, here we go!  I'll see you at the bottom of the rabbit's hole.....