The Annotated Alice - The Definitive Edition

Title: The Annotated Alice - The Definitive Edition

Author: Lewis Carroll, Notes by Martin Gardner, Illustrations by John Tenniel

Pages: 312

Genre: Children's Fiction, Fantasy

Grade: A-

Synopsis: The Annotated Alice consists of the books Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, both by Lewis Carroll. The full text of each book is included (as well as parts that were taken out) and there are annotative notes through the text of each chapter.

Alice in Wonderland: Alice dreams that she falls down a rabbit hole chasing a white rabbit and meets a bunch of interesting fantastical creatures. She plays croquet with the queen of hearts, has a baby turn into a pig in her arms and is continually changing sizes.

Through the Looking Glass: 6 months to the day after her dream about wonderland, she has another dream about climbing through the mirror into the house/parlor on the other side. She finds herself a pawn in a chess game and works her way across the board so that she can become a queen. Everyone she meets seems to recite poetry to her (where the annotations really help) including Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the White Knight and Humpty Dumpty.

My Review: I've been wanting to read Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass for quite a while. I very much enjoyed reading them with the annotations because there is so much more to the stories than you would ever know or realize without them. Charles Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll), was a shy, eccentric bachelor that taught mathematics at Oxford. Lewis Carroll (aka Charles Dodgson) was a man obsessed with little girls, especially one Alice Liddell. While his obsession with young girls is a little creepy, it was amazing to read the cleverness of his stories.

From the Book: "(p. 22) Alice took the fan and gloves, and, as the hall was very hot, she kept fanning herself all the time she went on talking. "Dear, dear! How queer everything is to-day! And yesterday things went on just as usual. I wonder if I've been changed in the night? Let me think: was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I'm not the same, the next question is 'Who in the world am I?' Ah, that's the great puzzle!" And she began thinking over all the children she knew that were of the same age as herself, to see if she could have been changed for any of them.

"I'm sure I'm not Ada," she said, "for her hair goes in such long ringlets, and mine doesn't go in ringlets at all; and I'm sure I ca'n't be Mabel, for I know all sorts of things, and she, of, she knows such a very little!"

"(p. 148) Jabberwocky
'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogroves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

Around the World in Eighty Days

Title: Around the World in Eighty Days

Author: Jules Verne

Pages: 6 discs

Genre: Fiction

Grade: A-

Synopsis: Phileas Fogg is a man that does everything with exactness. He makes a bet of 20,000 pounds with his friends that he can travel around the world in eighty days. In just over an hour he departs London for Dover with his newly hired French servant Passepartout. In Suez, a detective thinks that he recognizes Mr. Fogg as a notorious bank robber and begins to follow him and try to hinder him on his journey while he waits for a warrant to arrive from London. Amazingly, Phileas Fogg and his servant continue on their journey by train, steamship, sailboat, sledge and elephant (but not by hot air balloon - which is even shown on the cover of many copies of the book).

My Review: I used to love reading Jules Verne when I was younger. I'm pretty sure that I've read this book before, but it was quite a bit different than I remembered. I loved hearing about the different places that Fogg and companions passed through, I even pulled out my trusty world atlas to follow them on their journey as I listened. One of the highlights is when the travelers are on the transcontinental railroad in the United States. Passing through Utah, Passepartout is given a lesson on Mormons. He listens to a Mormon missionary speak in one of the railroad cars and hears a discourse on the Mormon religion. For what it's worth, I think that Verne did a very nice job of describing the LDS beliefs as they were known during the time period.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Title: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Author(s): Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

Pages: 278

Genre: Fiction

Grade: B

Synopsis: Guernsey is a British Island that came under German occupation during World War II. The residents there formed the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society on a whim when they were caught past curfew. After the war the residents of Guernsey begin corresponding with Dawsey Adams, an author looking for a topic for her next book. Ms Adams falls in love with the island (and islanders) as she unravels their stories.

My Review: The whole book consists of a series of letters between the characters. I didn't really like the format of the book and I had a hard time remembering who was who. The story was interesting, but I never felt drawn into it. There wasn't really a climax to the story - instead everything just seemed to continue on and on. All that said, I believe that most people that read this book will like it quite a bit more than I did.

Nights in Rodanthe

Title: Nights in Rodanthe

Author: Nicholas Sparks

Pages: 212

Genre: Romance

Grade: B

Synopsis: Adrienne Willis is a recently divorced mother of three who heads out to Rodanthe to watch her friends Bed and Breakfast before it closes down for the season. There is only one scheduled guest, Paul Flanner, who is a recently divorced workaholic looking to make some changes in his life. Adrienne was expecting time to relax and enjoy herself, but conveniently there is a hurricane force storm coming in from the ocean which requires them to board up the windows and doors and spend the weekend inside all alone together.

My Review: This was a fairly typical Nicholas Sparks love story. I had heard that it was a good book club book so I recommended it to Alison for her book club - and she didn't like it. Sorry Al. I think that I liked it better than she did, but there was still something about it that made it almost awkward (maybe because it's a love story featuring people like our parents...).

The Reptile Room

Title: A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Reptile Room - Book the Second

Author: Lemony Snicket

Pages: 3 discs

Genre: Children's Fiction

Grade: B+

Synopsis: Violet, Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire have been sent to live with a far-removed uncle, Dr. Montgomery Montgomery, who is a world-renowned herpetologist. The kids immediately grow fond of "Monty" as they prepare for an expedition to Peru to trap snakes. Monty's original assistant disappears and he is forced to hire a new one, Stefano. The orphans immediately realize that Stefano is actually Count Olaf in a crude disguise (who they lived with and were tormented by in the first book). He is still out to get their fortune.

My Review: I liked this book quite a bit more than the first. In fact, there were a few times that I was listening to the book that I laughed out loud. As a sidenote, I highly recommend listening to the book. The reader, Tim Curry, is fantastic and really makes the story come alive. As usual, the book is a bit depressing but, very clever all the same.