Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

“You should learn not to make personal remarks,” Alice said with some severity: “It’s very rude.”

The Hatter opened his eyes very wide on hearing this; but all he said was “Why is a raven like a writing-desk?”

“Come, we shall have some fun now!” thought Alice. “I’m glad they’ve begun asking riddles–I believe I can guess that,” she added aloud.

“Do you mean that you think you can find out the answer to it?” said the March Hare.

“Exactly so,” said Alice.

“Then you should say what you mean,” the March Hare went on.

“I do,” Alice hastily replied; “at least–I mean what I say–that’s the same thing, you know.”

“Not the same thing a bit!” said the Hatter. “Why, you might just as well say that ‘I see what I eat’ is the same as ‘I eat what I see’!”

“You might just as well say,” added the March Hare, “that ‘I like what I get’ is the same thing as ‘I get what I like’!”

“You might just as well say,” added the Dormouse, which seemed to be talking in its sleep, “that ‘I breathe when I sleep’ is the same thing as ‘I sleep when I breathe’!”

“It is the same thing with you,” said the Hatter, and here the conversation dropped, and the party sat silent for a minute, while Alice thought over all she could remember about ravens and writing-desks, which wasn’t much.

I remembered watching the cartoon version of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland once, maybe twice as a child. I remembered all the main characters like the White Rabbit, the Cheshire Cat, the Mad Hatter, and the Queen. However, I did not remember the delightful conversations Alice had that seemed to border on the absurd, but nuggets of truth are always buried just beneath the surface. At its end, I believe Lewis Carroll intends for us to ponder what reality is, and how much our perception of it can be altered without question.

This has been the most enjoyable read in awhile. I began the sequel Through the Looking Glass last night, but already I can tell this story has a different tone than Wonderland. I hope I enjoy it as much, regardless.

Of Mice and Men

[Editorial note:  I wrote this more than a week ago thinking I would come back and finish it.  Apparently, I won't.  Enjoy.] 

I finished reading Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck a few nights ago.

It’s the story of two migrant workers who travel from job to job, dreaming of earning enough money to own some land of their own.  I’m not a literary person, so I’m not sure if what I read was social commentary, allegory, or just a tragedy.  If it is one of the above, I would appreciate enlightenment.

Next up, Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll.  This is mainly pleasure reading so I would expect about as thorough a “review” as you received for Of Mice and Men.

Roger Clemens

Old Conventional Wisdom:

Clemens is arguably the greatest pitcher of his generation, perhaps all-time.  He is revered for his competitiveness and his conditioning regimen.

New Conventional Wisdom:

Clemens’ achievements were gained artificially through the use of steroids and human growth hormone.

Clemens is appearing before a Congressional hearing largely because he refutes the claims made in the Mitchell Report.  I don’t believe he is telling the truth, but I want to believe his opening statement.

Sophia

Clean diaper?  Check.

Bottle?  Check.

Full belly?  Check.

Nap?  Check.

Crying baby?  Check.

Fantasy Baseball

It began today.

Not that actual distribution of points, but fantasizing about fantasy baseball beginning did.

Two friends and I rotate each year who gets to be commissioner of the league, and I’m up this year.  Really, there’s more to tell, but I’m tired now.  So, you get more info later.

Watership Down

I’ve been meaning to sit down and write this for awhile, but everytime I’ve tried, I couldn’t think of anything meaningful to say. I still haven’t, actually, but I want to write something regardless.

Just before the semester started, I began reading Watership Down by Richard Adams (426 pages, for those of you who count that sort of thing), mainly in the evenings to read myself to sleep. It’s the story of a rabbit who leads a gang of rabbits from one warren (That’s where rabbits live in the wild. I did not know that.) and tries to establish another warren. It really is about rabbits. The characters speak, but they are only concerned with matters a rabbit should be concerned about, and they are even dumb like rabbits are. Even so, I found myself slowly drawn into their story.

Correction: I said it’s a story about rabbits, but really it’s a story about how societies function, the role of individuals in a society, and how we are often mislead what a leader is supposed to be. The book is split into four sections, and the fourth section had me pacing my living room while I read about the ensuing adventure.

This book may not crack my list of Top Ten, but I imagine I will read it again some day.

Next up should be Of Mice and Men.  But the reading is really slow.  I’m averaging only one page per day out of approximately 100 because I’ve been tired at nights and the font is really small.