"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking-Glass" by Lewis Carroll

Book Details:
Title: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass
Author: Lewis Carroll
Published: 2010 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.
ISBN: 978-1-4391-6947-6
Genre: Classic - English - Children's Fantasy
Pages: 315 pages
Rating: 4 of 5
Read In: 10 days

My Review:
Originally written off as unintelligent nonsense, Carroll's "Alice" books have entertained generations of adults and children alike. Starring the young Alice, created based on the young Alice Liddell, a child Carroll met at a picnic in July of 1862, where he began to tell the little girl a story of her following a white rabbit down his rabbit hole and onto this remarkable adventure that he writes down and eventually publishes in 1865, as the insistence of the girl's family. Marketed as a children's book when it was first written, Carroll was able to mock every aspect of Victorian English society in the seemingly innocent dream sequences of a seven-year old girl. Renowned for its eccentric and colorful cast of characters and nonsense conversations, researchers and literary experts are still discovering potential meanings in Carroll's works, revealing the author's true opinions of the social and political world he was born into.

In the novels, the White Rabbit is believed to represent a petty bureaucrat, constantly concerned with his own image and schedule, with little to no concern for the problems of others. The author also uses well-known nursery rhyme characters, Humpty Dumpty for example, to emphasize and tap into the familiar childhood fantasy of all readers familiar with this rhyme. Another character-type he utilizes in this humorous hodge-podge is the brave, noble knight archetype. Putting his own bias into the character, he made him slow, clumsy, and barely able to stay on his horse- a bit of a blow to the idea of the flawless White Knight come to save the day. Among these are the universally well-know Cheshire Cat, "Mad" Hatter, the March Hare, and the outspoken Dormouse.

All in all, it's quite easy to see how the "Alice" books have become classics- the uniqueness and child-like humor camouflaging adult undertones of political and social opinions and mockery would have made a much bigger impact in the late-1800s had readers at the time saw past the silliness and into the heart of the work. Presently, upon further researching and extensive searches for deeper meanings, we can now appreciate Carroll as a respectable writer instead of as the creator of sheer nonsense to entertain the fantasies of children. I gave it four out of five stars.

"The Forest of Hands and Teeth" by Carrie Ryan

Book Details:
Title: The Forest of Hands and Teeth
Author: Carrie Ryan
Published: 2009- Random House, Inc.
ISBN: 978-0-385-73682-4
Genre: Young Adult- Horror
Pages: 310 pages
Rating: 3 of 5
Read In: 13 days


My Review:
The "young adult" label finds its way to the zombie craze in this book series. The Forest of Hands and Teeth is the story of Mary, a teenager displaced and orphaned in a world over run with Unconsecrated. After a sheltered life in a small, fenced-in village being told there is nothing left of the world but the forest and the undead, Mary is eager to find out if her mother's stories of the ocean are true. When the fences are breached and survival depends on escaping the village, Mary, her best friend Cass, the man she loves, Travis, her betrothed, Harry, her brother Jed and his wife, and Jacob, a young boy whose parents were turned by Unconsecrated sneak out through a fenced path and begin their adventure in the Forest. The secret arrival of a girl into the village has Mary convinced she and Travis can find the ocean and figure out how to live happily ever after, despite the death surrounding them seemingly everywhere they go.

As is a staple feature of young adult novels, there is great emphasis on the relationship between Mary and Travis. As the village rule-makers, the Sisterhood, decree, Mary is betrothed to the first guy of age who asks the Sisterhood to be married to her. Her very close friend Harry asks for her, despite her love for his brother Travis, who is betrothed to Cass. Once outside the village and no longer under the Sisterhood's rule, this makes for and interesting, awkward social dynamic, as Cass is openly in love with Harry.

Besides this being the first young adult novel I have seen taking place in a zombie-infested world, very little is unique in this novel from other of the genre. A brave young girl fighting some force much bigger than herself while struggling for the guy she loves. I have read this same scenario repeatedly, and while it does appeal to teens, it's beyond predictable and does get a little old. I gave this novel three of five stars. I did enjoy it, but felt it was nothing spectacular and will probably pass on the rest of the series.

"America's Endangered Wildlife" by George Laycock

Book Details:
Title: America's Endangered Wildlife
Author: George Laycock
Published: 1976- Grosset & Dunlap
ISBN: 0-448-26102-2
Pages: 226 pages
Genre: Non-fiction - Wildlife - Conservation - North America
Rating: 4 of 5
Read In: 4 days


My Review:
America's Endangered Wildlife is a comprehensive wealth of information about individual species disappearing right from our own back yards. The author delves deep into sixteen individual species especially threatened and gives tips for how they can be saved from the brink, and also summarizes the plight of almost a hundred total species. I found this to be an informative and interesting work, but having read it purely for leisure, I found it to be quite unmemorable. Just a day after finishing the book, I found myself combing the pages for inspiration in writing this review.

Laycock is an authority on American wildlife and conservation, having penned several books on the subject. This one in particular is a valuable resource for anyone interested in protecting these animals, most threatened solely by humans invading and destroying their natural habitats.

I gave this book four out of five stars for highlighting such a worthy cause and bringing the issue of threatened and endangered American animal species. I really hope this book finds its way into the hands of more and more people determined to help with this issue for generations to come.

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson

Book Details:
Title: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Author: Stieg Larsson
Published: 2009- Random House, Inc.
ISBN: 978-0-307-45454-6
Pages: 590 pages
Genre: Fiction- Mystery/Crime
Rating: 5 of 5
Read In: 8 days

My Review:
I always regret when an amazing piece of literature is in publication for years before the masses catch on. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a very successful crime novel hailing from Sweden, by author Stieg Larsson. It finally reached mass popularity in the United States upon the release of its movie adaptation. Suddenly, copies of the novel and its subsequent The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest started appearing in stores all over the country, and they were flying off the shelves.

"The Girl" these novels follow is Lisbeth Salander- the quiet, tattooed, and eccentric freelance investigator for a security company. She joins black-listed journalist Mikael Blomkvist on the job of a lifetime. Mikael is approached by the elderly Henrik Vanger, former-CEO of the Vanger Corporation, and patriarch of the Vanger family. After pleading guilty to a libel charge he did not commit and stepping down as publisher of his own Millennium magazine. Blomkvist is looking at financial ruin and the collapse of his magazine, so he reluctantly accepts the old man's request to relocate to his family's private island for a year and write a chronicle of Henrik, his family, and their lives as majority share holders of a successful multinational corporation. The one catch is that while collecting information for the biography, Blomkvist must also try to solve the 30+ years old disappearance of Henrik's niece Harriet from that very island.

As Mikael seems to be uncovering new clues and information, Henrik's personal lawyer hires Lisbeth Salander to aid Blomkvist in his extensive digging into the events of the day Harriet disappeared. Initially cold, quiet, and difficult to get through to, Mikael and Lisbeth begin to trust and respect each other for their skill in their chosen fields, forming a perfect team to pry into the lives of this rich and respected family and prove that everyone has skeletons needing to stay in the closet.

The character who seems the least to be changed by this year-long adventure is actually the character we see the most throughout the story. Salander remains very cold and distant, virtually uncaring, until well into her partnership with Blomkvist. Toward the end, we see her heart start to thaw a little and her true thoughts and she begins to allow herself to have emotions toward people, even if she never shows them. Having not yet read the next two books, I would believe this social acclimation place a central role throughout the series.

I found The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo to be a very brilliant crime novel with fascinating characters and a very unique crime to solve. I would definitely give it five out of five stars and highly recommend to everyone.