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Alice in Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass
Alice in Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass
Alice in Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass
Audiobook6 hours

Alice in Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass

Written by Lewis Carroll

Narrated by Robin Field

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

()

About this audiobook

Many a day we rowed together on that quiet stream…and many a fairy tale had been extemporized…yet none of these tales got written down: they lived and died…each in its own golden afternoon until there came a day when, as it chanced, one of the listeners petitioned that the tale might be written down for her. Thus, in 1864, Oxford mathematician Charles Dodgson (under the pen name of Lewis Carroll) presented family friend, Alice Liddell with the first edition of what would become the inimitable classic, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Seven years after Alice's success, Carroll published Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There, the equally beloved sequel. Freshly and imaginatively narrated, listeners will be delighted to accompany Alice on her journey into a world where nonsense and mayhem would reign supreme, but for the satirical practicality of a child.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateJul 1, 2010
ISBN9781596449558
Author

Lewis Carroll

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, aka Lewis Carroll (1832–1898), was an English writer, mathematician, logician, deacon and photographer. He is most famous for his timeless classics, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. His work falls within the genre of ‘literary nonsense’, and he is renowned for his use of word play and imagination. Carroll’s work has been enjoyed by many generations across the globe.

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Reviews for Alice in Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass

Rating: 4.122883074079529 out of 5 stars
4/5

5,432 ratings149 reviews

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Book Description In 1862 Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, a shy Oxford mathematician with a stammer, created a story about a little girl tumbling down a rabbit hole. Thus began the immortal adventures of Alice, perhaps the most popular heroine in English literature. Countless scholars have tried to define the charm of the Alice books–with those wonderfully eccentric characters the Queen of Hearts, Tweedledum, and Tweedledee, the Cheshire Cat, Mock Turtle, the Mad Hatter et al.–by proclaiming that they really comprise a satire on language, a political allegory, a parody of Victorian children’s literature, even a reflection of contemporary ecclesiastical history. Perhaps, as Dodgson might have said, Alice is no more than a dream, a fairy tale about the trials and tribulations of growing up–or down, or all turned round–as seen through the expert eyes of a child.

    My Review This book is an enjoyable read for all years from 2 to 99 years old. It is a fantastic and fun read and should be read to children and grandchildren and handed down from generation to generation. Reading it as an adult, the symbolism is very noticeable in the narration. If you haven't read Alice before, you should not hesitate as it should not be missed!
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    As ladonna37 states, this book would have been a good book to read as a child. It as a weird book that doesn't seem to have much to it than just being a weird story, and everything happens so quickly that it could easily hold the attention of a child. As for adults? It's a super quick read of a book you've heard about all your life, so just read it and find out for yourself.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    It's saturday, it's cold and it's raining, so of course I had to stay in bed and re-read my ultimate comfort book ♥ the only problem is that now I'm yet again left craving tea and bread-and-butter.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This has been an amazing journey with Alice. This book is so oddly smart, imaginative, original, thought-provoking, satirical, funny, weird, and fun.
    It is like nothing else that I have read. I am amazed <3
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Alice in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll appears to be an innocent fairy tale filled with cartoon-like characters, but it is a story that depicts how a young child deals with the baffling issues of growing up. Carroll views children as vulnerable, and presents Alice with many dangers, including death. Her journey through adolescence is represented as a confusing dream through Wonderland. She is thrown into a whole new world, requiring her to make choices and decisions, which could mean the difference between life and death. Should she drink from the bottle labeled “drink me” beautifully printed on it, or could this be poison? Alice would not be so quick to make such a decision. Being the wise little girl that she was, she was sure to look first, before she leapt.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I did not like the voices recorded for these stories. They could have been less whiny and squeaky.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Having first read Alice as a child - whilst sick with tonsilitis - I never really fully appreciated it.
    There is perhaps some irony in the fact that I enjoyed Alice more as an adult than a child.
    Carroll's use of language puns and nonsense is extremely clever and entertaining and definitely my favourite aspect of the book. Exposing the inadequacies and ambiguities of the English language as a means of highlighting the illogical and confusing nature of Wonderland and the land Through the Looking Glass works perfectly. I loves these stories!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Love it, dark and satirical.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Pretty disappointed with the book. :(

    I thought I would like it a lot but so many of jumping around and constant changing that made me feel like I got lost...several times. Had a hard time to stay motivated to read but I did finish the book.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is such a charming story! I can't believe I got to my current age without ever reading this lovely little fairy tale. It's so unlike anything else I've read. It's dream-like in the truest sense. Everything is familiar but nonsensical. It's like a novelization of a nursery rhyme.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A lovely edition of one of my favorite stories of all time. I must read this at least once a year to remain sane.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I had a terrible time trying to read this as a kid. It made no sense to me at all, and I didn't enter into the spirit of the nonsense one bit -- I thought it was all incredibly stupid, and I couldn't understand the fuss at all. This time, trying to read it for a class, I found it more of interest just because I was thinking about the way it's constructed, the audience, the themes which I think do come through the nonsense. (For example, the issue of identity is undeniable, with Alice constantly wondering whether she's the same person as she was the day before.)But I'm afraid I still don't feel particularly enthusiastic. It really does seem to be nonsense mostly for the sake of nonsense, in many ways, and I've never got on with that.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A classic work of fantasy; I highly recommend The Annotated Alice, which reveals the logic puzzles and satire buried in the nonsense.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I think this may be my favorite book. I've re-read this book like 20 times and I love the weirdness and great imagery.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    One of my favorite books. I love the imagination of Carroll and the way the book is written. It's just fun and charming.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    SLOW DOWN. This book is full of stories you think you know from the cobbling together of many movie versions and society's collective memories, and it jumps from one bit of nonsense to another, so it's easy, particularly as an adult, to dash through it like a white rabbit. But, though these works were ostensibly written to a young girl and are often treated as children's books (even by Carroll himself in the preface to a second edition of "Through the Looking-Glass," which is included in this volume), they are chock-full of ingenious language that you really need to stop and think about to truly appreciate. Lovely thing that, how the English don't write down to children. I've heard that "Alice" is some sort of allegory for the new mathematical ideas of the time. I don't know whether that's true. But from a linguistic standpoint alone, this book is a treasure trove. The poetry and punnery are second to none, and constructed not just with an eye on artistry, but with a real intent to comment on how language (and by extension society) works.The Barnes and Noble edition of this book is a great buy, featuring the original Tenniel illustrations and a very informative introduction. Unlike other volumes in the series, this one is not overly annotated, nor do the footnotes and endnotes presuppose that the reader must be seven years old. As always with these editions, the end of the book offers up works inspired by what you have just read, along with a variety of critical comments. As a 2004 edition, the former of these things is not up-to-date enough to acknowledge the recent Tim Burton adaptation, and is certainly not an exhaustive list anyway (after all, how could they forget the Star Trek episode "Shore Leave?"), but, as W. H. Auden suggests in the critical comments, Carroll is probably near the top of the list of the culture's "most frequently cited without attribution" authors, so where would one begin?
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Alice falls down the rabbit hole and finds a Wonderland of delightful nonsense.This is a favorite from childhood.Read as a child (1970s).
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is one of my lifetime favorite books. The Alice stories never grow old and I learn more about them every time I read them. That is one of the hallmarks of classic literature and these two novels are part of that pantheon.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Alice in Wonderland was the first book I remember reading after learning to read. It was time to revisit it! There’s nothing quite like this fantasy about a little girl who falls down a rabbit hole and meets all manner of strange creatures and adventures. I was just as delighted this time around as I was as a child. I don’t recall ever having read Through the Looking Glass before, although I am very familiar with many of its characters and elements. I’ve had Jabberwocky memorized since high school, when my choir performed a musical adaptation.The stories might initially seem like pointless nonsense, but both are journey/exploration stories. Alice overcomes a series of obstacles in her first journey of exploration, such as growing very large and shrinking very small. In her second adventure, Alice is trying to reach the eighth square in order to become a queen in the living chess game she finds herself in.Alice in Wonderland gets a full five stars. Through the Looking Glass doesn’t have quite the same magic, so I give it four stars.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    I have no idea what to write except to say; I just did not like "Through the Looking Glass" and I couldn't wait until it was ended.I fared a bit better with "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", but I found Alice to be a quite rude & arrogant little girl.What I did like, were the illustrations, which I'll use on my ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) as well as the text, which is why I'm rating this 1 star.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Digital audiobook performed by Christopher PlummerBelieve or not, I had never read this classic of children’s literature before. Oh, I knew the basics of the story. And, of course, I had seen the Disney movie when I was a child. I even had one or two of the chapters included in a series of books I had as a child (and still have to this day). But it took a challenge to read a banned book to finally get me to crack this one open. I certainly understand why this story is so beloved by so many legions of children. There is absurdity, fun word play, unusual situations, talking animals, and a slew of outlandish characters. Still, I think I just too old to really appreciate it. I was bored with much of the craziness. I just couldn’t let my imagination run wild and enjoy it. Christopher Plummer does a fabulous job of narrating the audio version, however! His gift for many voices and accents added to the experience; I absolutely LOVED the way he voiced the white rabbit. Also, there is a bonus chapter at the end – an alternate ending to the knight’s tale that Carroll wrote but which was never published. I’d rate Plummer’s audio performance 5***** (but I won’t increase the overall rating).
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Alice plummets down a rabbit hole in the first part of this bind-up edition of Lewis Carroll's classic children's novels, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking Glass (1871), and she steps through a mirror in the second. In both cases she finds herself in a fantastical alternate world, encountering extraordinary creatures and having a series of surreal adventures...Despite their status as towering classics in the field of children's literature, and the undoubted influence they have had on that literature and on the wider culture, I had never read either Alice's Adventures in Wonderland or Through the Looking Glass until they were assigned as texts in my masters course. I was pleased to be given the impetus I apparently needed in picking them up, as they had long been on my to-read list. The stories themselves were every bit as delightful as I'd hoped they'd be, the accompanying artwork by John Tenniel was lovely. This particular edition, from Oxford University Press, included a wealth of critical notes, which proved invaluable in helping to bring to light many significant details which might otherwise have eluded me. The significance of Carroll's parodies of well-known poetry from Isaac Watts, for instance, might otherwise have escaped me. We had an interesting discussion about these books in my class, and whether they could still be considered children's literature, given that today's children would miss so much of what made them entertaining to their 19th-century counterparts. For my part, I think they can still be enjoyed by children, even though I myself didn't read them when young. I highly recommend the stories themselves to all readers, and I recommend this Oxford publication to readers looking for a good critical edition.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    A great classic.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    An excellent work of art! I actually took a class in college that focused solely on this work for the entire semester! I didn't think it could possibly retain any interest beyond a few weeks, but I was wrong. This is a masterfully many layered work and one can read it on many levels. Recommended!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is my favorite book EVER! Love the stories, love the nonsense, the Cheshire Cat and the Mad Hatter..the tea party scene...the rhymes and the little children songs turned to Lewis Carroll's thinking way. AWE-SOME!! It's my fave ever!

    Really! Own them all!!!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is a really beautiful recording of Lewis Carroll's classic children's books. In the first, Alice sees a rabbit wearing a waistcoat, who pulls a watch out of his pocket and frets about being late, and she follows him down his rabbit hole. She finds herself in a surreal and comical landscape, with food that makes her shrink or grow when eaten, talking animals, a cat that appears and disappears in stages, and a royal court composed of a deck of cards ruled by the King and Queen of Hearts.

    In the second, on a dark winter day, Alice walks through a looking glass that has turned to mist, into the mirror house. Once through, she finds that outside the range of what's visible in the mirror, it's very different indeed. Here, she finds herself in a chess game, with living Red and White chess pieces, as well as talking flowers, fairy tale creatures such as Humpty Dumpty, and even the food served at a fancy dinner party speaks and has personality. Also, here, it's summer, not winter.

    Whether you've read Alice's adventures before or not, this is a delightful listen.

    Recommended.

    I received a free copy of this audiobook from the publisher.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Classic Alice! I loved this book (both of them really), though loved Wonderland more so than Looking Glass. Lewis Carroll definitely had a bit of an imagination and it translates really well in the story. It's in many ways a story of acceptance, being yourself, and being kind (because who else hates how the Queen treats everyone!?).
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I watched the movie, "Terminal", and after thought, "Why have I never read "Alice in Wonderland"? So I did! And to use an Alice-ish phrase, it was just a bunch of gobblydeegook! I mean, it was cool to read as a chance to discover where all of the popular characters and poems came from, and to compare it with the Disney film I grew up with! But really, it's just a lot of nonsensical adventures that mostly dabble in wordplay and weird-as-heck creatures! Don't get me wrong, some are rather witty and insightful. But, for me, it all reads like the author may have eaten too much of that mushroom himself!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Having seen a number of versions of the book made into movies was not at the top of my reading list. Was interesting to see how the movies have taken bits and pieces of both of the stories and made them into one. Most of us are familiar with Tweedle Dee and Dum being in the story which is actually from Through the Looking Glass. But didn't know that the Mad Hatter and March Hare are stuck at tea time due to an argument with time. Also who knew that Humpty Dumpty is a whole chapter in the book. was interesting to read. Wonderland is much easier to read than Looking Glass. Looking Glass seems to jump around a lot.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I enjoyed reading this classic in it's original form, although it amazed me any publisher touched it - they certainly wouldn't today. And it amazes me more that it became a 'classic'! Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was enjoyable in it's nonsense, but Through the Looking-Glass made little to no sense in the majority of its scenes. Now I am at least family with where stories of Humpty Dumpty, TweedleDum & TweedleDee and many others originated. Happy I read it, but glad it is over!