the once upon a time book tag

Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Quote, Unquote!

Today I’ll be participating in a fun tag co-created by Merie Shen of Imperial Scribis. This one has been sitting in my inbox for a little while now as I’ve been stewing over my answers, and I think it’s finally time to share them with the world!

Without further ado…let’s jump right in.

the rules

  • thank the person who tagged you
  • use the tag graphic above (optional) (I opted not to for this one!)
  • name a book for each of the following 12 categories
  • tag as many people as you would like

the fairytales

Cinderella: a book that changed your life

Does the Bible count? I mean, technically it did change my life, but I don’t think that’s the answer y’all are going for here.

This one took me a lot of thought, but I’d have to say Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli.

I read Stargirl in middle school. It was one of the first books that I read that could be considered YA romance (though it’s honestly debatable whether it’s YA or MG), and it kicked off my love for the genre. Pretty soon I was reading more and more of the genre, and that lead to me wanting to write it. I credit Stargirl, in part, with my love of writing.

Sleeping Beauty: a book that took you forever to finish

I received Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights for my birthday in December of 2021, started it, and didn’t finish it until last month. Whoops.

Technically speaking, I took a long break, but if you classify “taking forever to finish” as “the interval between which one started and finished the book being long,” I’d say fourteen months is a pretty long time. (In fact, it was almost exactly fourteen months!)

Also, can we take a second to appreciate the Penguin Clothbound Classics editions? One day I am going to own every single one of them. They are gorgeous.

A Thousand and One Nights: a book you couldn’t stop reading

I started Crumbs by Danie Stirling in the afternoon, and when my mom poked her head in my room to tell me to come help with dinner, I felt like I was waking up from a trance. I plan to post a book review very soon, so I don’t want to spoil too much, but this is the best graphic novel I have ever read. It was just so CUTE. And the art style was AMAZING. And I LOVED IT SO MUCH. I couldn’t put it down. AAAAHHHH.

Little Red Riding Hood: a book you recently read in an unfamiliar genre

I had to look way back in my reading log to find something that wasn’t contemporary, fantasy, memoir, or dystopian sci-fi, and the earliest deviation I found was from October of last year.

#MurderTrending was recommended to me by a friend who loves thrillers. I’m not super into them, but I’ll read them from time to time, and I had to admit that this was a fairly interesting read. It was certainly fast-paced and action-packed and kept me on my toes. It was a little bit too gory for my taste, but then again, I am unable to handle even the slightest amount of gore, so that might just be me. Overall, a pretty good book.

The Wild Swans: a book with your favorite sibling relationships

The entire Boxcar Children series holds so much nostalgia for me. The original series was twenty-one books (one of which I have been searching for for years), and they’re all chock-full of the siblings solving little mysteries.

They’re intended for a younger audience and published in the 1920s, so there isn’t a whole lot of plot (they just happen to discover a lot of lucky things), but I love it. Sometimes it’s nice to read something lighthearted, you know?

And I love Henry and Jessie and Violet and Benny (and, of course, their grandfather). Their dynamic is just so sweet. I highly recommend all of the Boxcar Children books.

Snow White: a book filled with beautiful prose

You know it already. I’ve ranted and raved about The Book Thief so often on my blog. This was the book that taught me how to write prose. The descriptions, the emotion, the phrasing—yes. Just yes. If you haven’t read The Book Thief yet, you are missing out spectacularly.

Rapunzel: a book that you procrastinated on reading after buying

There are several books that I have acquired years ago and still haven’t read. Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke, Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson (although in my defense that thing is a brick), The Summer of Broken Things by Margaret Peterson Haddix…I could probably keep going. I need to get on that.

The Little Mermaid: a book that took you on a magical journey

Um…all of them?

I recently reread the WondLa series after a few years and ohhh boy. Ohhhhhh boy. I love these books so much. They’re such well-thought-out, well-written, all-around-amazing books with a teensy little bit of social commentary on humanity and nature.

I love the worldbuilding and the transformation of the characters, watching them grow up in just three books. I love the way the story never goes exactly where you expect it to. I love everything about this series, and I think that it’s a tragedy that it doesn’t get as much press as some of the more mainstream dystopian series.

The Frog Prince: a book that made you want to turn into a frog because you hated it so much

How about Apologia Exploring Creation through Chemistry?

Nah, just kidding. Chemistry and I have a mutual hatred.

It took me a while to find this book in my reading log, but once I read the synopsis, I was reminded why One Night That Changes Everything had the “would not reread” tag on it.

The premise was promising, but the characters were flat, the plot was unrealistic, and the writing was terrible. I put it down feeling completely dissatisfied and like I had just wasted my time reading it. Not a good feeling to walk away from a book with.

(I’m going to be honest—I hate trashing books like this. I’m terrified that the author is going to see it and be hurt. So if you’re Lauren Barnholdt and you are reading this, I am so sorry.)

Peter Pan: a book that reminds you of your childhood

My copy of The Wishing Spell is so beat up by now that the entire book split in half. I loved this whole series as a kid, probably because the bookish, introverted, overly geeky heroine reminded me of myself. I remember my mom getting this for me at a homeschool book sale (because of course) and being utterly absorbed in it for the rest of the day. Good times.

The Goose Girl: a book you had low expectations for but ended up loving

I am not particularly a fan of John Green. When I first read The Fault in Our Stars, I didn’t really get what all the fuss was about. It was slightly absurd and overly pretentious. So I wasn’t expecting to like Paper Towns, but I ended up falling in love with it.

It’s still absurd and pretentious, mind you, but the premise, the plot, the characters are all so three-dimensional. The high stakes kept me on the edge of my seat. I still reread it every so often, even though the long philosophical ramblings don’t really make much sense. (I feel like you either love or you hate John Green’s style. I’m not quite sure how I feel about it.)

Hansel and Gretel: a book that made you hungry

The Magic Cake Shop by Meika Hashimoto feels like a fever dream of mine. When I was a kid, elementary school perhaps, I used to check this book out of the library at least every other week. There was just something about it. Maybe it was the illustrations that looked somehow exactly like the illustrations in the American Girl books of the time.

I barely remember what happens in this book. It feels like something my fourth-grade brain made up, but I just asked my sister and she remembered it, so I guess not? Unless it was a shared hallucination.

Anyway, there was cake. Lots and lots of cake. I remember that. I mean, obviously.

Okay, I just checked, and our library still has it. I’m going to read it and report back to you.

the tags

Honestly, tagging people on blog tags has always been a struggle for me, so I’m going to just leave this open for whoever would like to participate. Let me know if you do! I’d love to see your answers.

Thank you again, Merie and Diamond, for this lovely tag! I had a lot of fun answering your questions.

Thank you so much for reading, and I’ll see you next Wednesday!

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four reasons to read the classics

Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Quote, Unquote!

The classics are the bane of high schoolers everywhere. Austen, Brontë, Dickens, Carroll…they’re a standard of almost every curriculum. Many people grumble over reading them.

But there are valuable, legitimate reasons that you should read them. I’m here to show you the light.

1. they provide a glimpse into how life used to be

Not only can you ponder over the ways people used to live and what life was like way back when, it also provides a firsthand account of what moral standards used to be.

Take, for example, books such as Mark Twain’s classic The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The book centers around slavery and often uses language that would be quite shocking to today’s reader. It’s been condemned for this, but at its core, the only reason that this would be considered offensive is if it was written nowadays by an ignorant author. The morals were different back then, and so there is nothing wrong with this, and it’s actually quite an effective way of demonstrating morality changes.

2. you will be able to understand references

Because the classics are just that, classics, they are often referenced in pop culture. Taylor Swift’s lyrics come to mind (as they often do)—in her song “New Romantics”, she sings, “We show off our different scarlet letters,” which is a reference to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. “Wonderland” from 1989 and “long story short” from evermore both have references to Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, and “cardigan” from folklore references Peter Pan. In “This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things” from reputation, she sings “Feeling so Gatsby for that whole year”, obviously referencing The Great Gatsby. Taylor’s lyrics are jam-packed with nuanced references.

There are obviously plenty of other songs that reference classics, but I’m obsessed with Taylor Swift and her gorgeous lyrics. My point is, pop culture often gains a new level of meaning once you’ve absorbed the classics.

3. they challenge your brain

People spoke much differently when these books were written than they do now. Oftentimes when reading the classics, it’s hard to determine what’s actually going on underneath the fanciful old language.

But don’t let that deter you! In a world where everything is dumbed down into abbreviations, slang, and shorthand, it’s rewarding to read something so challenging. Keep a dictionary nearby—a paper one, if you can. Look up unfamiliar words. It’s going to be worth it. I promise.

4. they can change your life

The books that challenge us the most are the books that most often stick with us. Classics can change your outlook. Many people, after reading books such as Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, admit to the book having changed the way they view life and society. These books are classics for reasons—they carry messages still valuable to us today.

final thoughts

Another benefit of reading classic books is that people will think you’re smart when you slip Jane Eyre or A Tale of Two Cities into conversation. And hey, if that’s the only reason you read them, at least you will have read them.

What are some of your favorite classic books? Do y or like to read classics, or do you find it difficult? Let me know.

Thank you so much for reading, and I’ll see you next Wednesday!

the new year’s resolution book tag

Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Quote, Unquote!

It’s been a while since I’ve done a blog tag, and I saw this one on E. G. Bella’s blog and decided to steal it.

Well, I don’t really have anything else to say, so I’m just going to jump right in. Let’s go!

an author that you’d like to read (that you’ve never read before)

Sara Ella, Joanne Bischof, and Nadine Brandes. Starting in September, these three ladies are going to be among my writing instructors, and I’d like to brush up on their books before I start. I’ve been meaning to pick up Coral (Ella) and Sadie on the Rocks (Bischof), and I’ve heard good things about Wishtress (Brandes). But I’d like to read all of their books!

a book that you’d like to read

Um, all of them?

I’ve heard good things about The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, and I love bees, so that one is definitely on my list. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is a bookstagram classic that’s been on my TBR pile for a while. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, Six of Crows by Marissa Meyer, The Maze Runner by James Dashner, and Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alice Sáenz are also cult classics that I’ve been meaning to read for a while.

a classic you’d like to read

All of Jane Austen’s books! I’ve owned Mansfield Park for a while now but just…haven’t read it for whatever reason. It’s a little intimidating, not going to lie. And I have some beautiful copies of Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion, and Emma that I also haven’t read for whatever reason.

a book you’d like to reread

I reread the entire Harry Potter series every single summer. It’s honestly one of the highlights of my year, which I know sounds kind of pathetic, but there’s something comforting about hanging around outside rereading one of your favorite series.

a book you’ve had for ages and want to read

I picked up The Summer of Broken Things by Margaret Peterson Haddix at the thrift store a while ago, and it’s still sitting unread on my shelf. It’s got a beautiful cover, too—honestly, that might have been one of the reasons I bought it. Maybe I’ll post a review when I’m done.

a big book you’d like to read

Not so much “like to read” as “like to have read”, but A Patriot’s History of the United States. It is one of the thickest books I’ve ever encountered. I’m going through it for my junior year in high school right now, and I honestly can’t wait to be done with it.

an author you’ve previously read and want to read more of

Emma Lord is one of my most favorite contemporary authors, and she recently released a new book! I still haven’t read the book she released before that, so I need to pick both of those up at the bookstore.

a book you got for Christmas and would like to read

I received a book called Making Stuff and Doing Things from my grandparents for Christmas. It’s a compilation of zines with all sorts of things from making record bowls to doing your own bookbinding. I’ve thumbed through it a little bit, but I’d really like to read it cover to cover.

a series you want to read from start to finish

The Chronicles of Alice and Ivy by Kellyn Roth. I saw Kellyn speak at the YWW Conference, and she keeps posting little things about her characters on her Instagram story, so I want to support a fellow indie author and finally understand the jokes.

do you set reading goals? if so, how many books do you want to read in 2023?

I don’t necessarily set reading goals—I just like to see where the year takes me. However, I only started tracking my books last year, and I read over 120, so I know I can easily hit over 100. Maybe I’ll be a little ambitious and set a goal of 150 books this year, but I’m not necessarily going to be strict about it. I guess we’ll see.

any other reading goals?

I’d like to read more biblical nonfiction. I want to dive a little deeper into my faith and read more nonfiction, so why not combine those two? I’ve been pretty good about reading more nonfiction lately, and I think I’d like to expand that even more.

I also just want to have fun reading. I devoured books when I was younger. I used to come home from summer library trips and lie in the grass and just read two or three books at a time (usually Warrior Cats, heheh). So I’m not putting too much pressure on myself. I want to enjoy it like I used to.

Well, that about wraps it up! I’m not going to tag anyone here, but feel free to post this on your own blog (and let me know when you do!) or just answer the questions in the comments. I want to know what you’re reading in 2023!

Thank you so much for reading, and I’ll see you next Wednesday!

hot takes: The Sound of Music and Jane Eyre

Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Quote, Unquote!

It’s been a little while since I’ve last posted Hot Takes, a series where I compare modern film to classic literature. And, okay, maybe The Sound of Music isn’t exactly modern, but hey, it was made after Jane Eyre, so it counts. In this post, we’ll be comparing the two stories, their themes, and their plots, and seeing what makes them similar.

Without further ado, let’s start by explaining the plots of both stories. Warning: There will be spoilers ahead! If you haven’t seen/read either of these works and you still wish to, please do so before continuing to read this post.

plot summary: The Sound of Music

Austria, 1938. Maria is failing at her one job: becoming a nun. She just can’t seem to stop singing and dancing and racing away to the mountains, so the Mother Abbess sends her to be a governess for Captain von Trapp’s seven children (the eldest of which I was named after, although I pronounce my name slightly differently. However, this isn’t relevant, so moving on). The Captain rules his household with an iron fist, and after he goes away, the children take every opportunity possible to misbehave, but Maria responds with kindness and soon they become good friends.

Maria teaches the children to sing, which displeases the Captain greatly when he returns home with his romantic interest, the Baroness, and he almost returns Maria to the abbey. But he is impressed and overcome by his childrens’ beautiful voices and changes his mind. He hosts a lavish party, during which Maria realizes that she has romantic feelings for the Captain. The Baroness, jealous, indirectly convinces her to return to the abbey. She does so, and during this time, the Baroness and the Captain are engaged.

Maria soon returns, and the Captain breaks off his engagement and marries Maria instead. However, this is Austria in 1938, so things aren’t happy for long. The Captain is ordered to report to the German naval base, but he’s opposed to the Nazis, so the family attempts to escape, but they are stopped. The family goes and sings in the Salzburg Festival to buy time, afterwards slipping away and hiding at the abbey. After a close call with the Nazis, the von Trapps are able to escape, and they make their way into Switzerland safely.

plot summary: Jane Eyre

(buckle up)

Young Jane Eyre lives with her abusive Aunt Reed, who, close to the beginning of the book, sends her away to school. The school is nowhere near as idyllic as Jane hoped it would be, and she spends a total of nine years there before finally accepting a governess position at a manor called Thornfield.

Her employer is a dark, brooding old man named Mr. Rochester, who she secretly starts falling in love with. One night, she saves him from a fire that she is told was set by a drunken servant. Later, Rochester brings home a wealthy and beautiful woman named Blanche Ingram. Jane is despondent and expects Rochester to propose to Blanche, but to her surprise, Rochester proposes to Jane instead. As their wedding day draws nearer and nearer, Jane is uncomfortable with the amount of lavishness (is that a word?) that Rochester heaps upon her. And on the wedding day itself, a man called Mr. Mason interrupts the vows, calling out the unbelievable truth: Rochester is already married.

Rochester admits that he is, but his wife, Bertha, is insane, and proves it to Jane by showing her. He tells her that it was really Bertha who set the fire that night. Rochester keeps Bertha hidden on the third floor and pretends she doesn’t exist. Horrified, Jane flees, knowing that it is impossible to stay with Rochester after this. She is forced to beg for food and wander the moors until she is taken in by three siblings: Mary, Diana, and St. John. St. John finds Jane a job teaching at a nearby school, and one day shocks her by delivering two pieces of news: her uncle has died and left her a vast fortune, and her uncle is also his, Mary’s, and Diana’s uncle, thereby making them cousins.

St. John decides to travel to India as a missionary and invites Jane to accompany him, proposing marriage to her (EW). She declines after nearly giving in and realizes that she cannot leave Rochester, who she truly loves. She hurries back to Thornfield and finds that it has been burned in a fire, during which Rochester lost his sight. They reconcile, marry, and live happily ever after.

(I know that was long, but that was like the SparkNotes of the SparkNotes, so…there’s not a whole lot I can do.)

their similarities

Now, you may be noticing some eerily similar things in these synopses. Let’s list them:

  1. a spirited young woman with strong faiths (Jane and Maria are both strong believers in God) as the main character
  2. a moody, rich older man as the love interest (who also owns a mansion in Europe)
  3. the men being scarred from their previous marriages
  4. the women leaving their former lives to become governesses
  5. the governesses falling in love with their employer
  6. a rich woman who comes in between the main character and their love interest
  7. governesses leaving their employers, despite being deeply in love with them
  8. the (former) governesses returning to their employers after a deep internal conflict
  9. the governesses marrying their employers and gaining children, whether by birth or inheritance (that’s not the right word but honestly who cares)

Obviously, The Sound of Music actually happened–the original musical was based off of Maria von Trapp’s memoir The Story of the Trapp Family Singers. But isn’t it a little…odd how much the 1965 film mimics the 1848 classic novel?

Maybe this is a conspiracy theory–it definitely could be. But The Sound of Music and Jane Eyre really are creepily similar. No one knows why….

Until next time,

hot takes: Zootopia and Pride and Prejudice

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Quote, Unquote!

This week we’ve got something just a little different. That’s right, I’m starting a new series!

I was watching Zootopia the other day because I was sick and Zootopia is one of my comfort movies. While I was barely paying attention to the movie, something struck me, and I grabbed my phone and texted my friend:

Of course, her response was more along the lines of “you’re insane and there’s nothing I can do about it,” but I thought I was onto something, so I’m subjecting you all to it.

In the process of brainstorming for this post, I realized that there are a lot of movies that share a lot of events and themes of classic literature. So I’m making it a series. But for now, let’s just focus on the post at hand.

Anyway, obligatory disclaimer: If you have not watched Zootopia or read Pride and Prejudice, I would encourage you to do so before you read this post. It won’t make sense otherwise, plus there are going to be a million spoilers.

Let’s jump right in!

Zootopia plot summary

Rabbit Judy Hopps has become a police officer despite the astronomical odds against her, and she aims to go to Zootopia, “where anyone can be anything,” to make the world a better place. On her first day on the job, she is assigned to parking duty, while all the other officers are sent to handle the fourteen missing mammal cases. But a twist of fate finds her trying to track down one of the missing mammals, Emmitt Otterton. With a fox named Nick Wilde, she tracks Emmitt to an asylum, where all fourteen of the mammals are found, but they have gone savage.

She appears on a press conference, where a reporter maneuvers her into saying that they may have gone savage because of their predatory biology. Nick angrily storms away and Judy returns home, wracked with guilt. While she’s there, she figures out the reason all the predators have gone savage, and returns to Zootopia, where she reconciles with Nick.

Together, they apprehend the mastermind behind the whole plot, who turns out to be the mayor. Nick becomes Judy’s partner and the first fox on the ZPD.

Pride and Prejudice plot summary

(there are about a million things going on here, so I am just covering the main plot–Darcy and Elizabeth’s relationship)

Mrs. Bennet is desperate to see her five daughters married off, and the news that the wealthy Mr. Bingley has moved into the manor at Netherfield Park causes quite a stir. Mr. Bennet visits Mr. Bingley, and soon after they attend a ball at which Mr. Bingley is present. Mr. Bingley spends most of the evening with the eldest, Jane, but his friend, Mr. Darcy, refuses to dance with the second-eldest, Elizabeth, and this causes the other guests to view him as arrogant and obnoxious.

But over the next few weeks, at social functions, Darcy finds himself growing increasingly more attracted to Elizabeth. Elizabeth, however, is cold towards him, as another gentleman, Mr. Wickham, tells her how Darcy cruelly cheated him out of an inheritance. Later, Darcy proposes to Elizabeth quite rudely, shocking her. She declines it and reprimands him for disinheriting Wickham. Darcy leaves, but shortly thereafter sends her a letter explaining that Wickham lied to her. Elizabeth realizes how prejudiced she has been.

Long story short, one of Elizabeth’s sisters runs off with Mr. Wickham, and Darcy helps her family enormously with financial aid. Darcy proposes to Elizabeth again, much more kindly this time, and Elizabeth accepts and is married.

how are they similar?

Now, reading these two synopses, you’ll most likely be thinking, She’s insane. They’re nothing alike! And you would be right. I am insane. In some ways, they aren’t. Let’s count the ways:

Zootopia
  • action/adventure police story
  • anthropomorphic characters
  • recent technology, mannerisms, and customs
  • themes of leadership, doing what’s right
Pride and Prejudice
  • novel of manners, romance
  • human characters
  • Regency-era customs and manners
  • themes of reputation, gender roles, and class

But now, let’s take a look at how they are similar. I listed a few themes of each, but I failed to mention the most important one of both: prejudice.

In Zootopia, there is a lot of discrimination against predators, especially after Judy makes her statement in the press conference about biology. It’s actually kind of hard to watch these days–it hits too close to home after all the Black Lives Matter and race struggles going on today. Animals fight in the streets, and the police force is overwhelmed. Fear runs rampant.

In Pride and Prejudice, the prejudice is more at an individual level. Elizabeth is heavily prejudiced against Mr. Darcy after Mr. Wickham lies to her about the inheritance. She believes him to be a terrible person and acts cold and indifferent towards him. However, this prejudice is later solved after he clears it up and makes Elizabeth aware that Wickham was lying.

While they have their (large) differences, Zootopia and Pride and Prejudice, at their cores, are very similar. I thought this was kind of interesting, and hey, free blog content is free blog content. (Plus, this is good use for all the comparison essays I wrote this year.)

Let me know if there are any other similar movies and classics that you’d like to see in the future!

Until next time,

let’s talk about Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Hello, everybody, and welcome back to Quote, Unquote!

By the time you read this, I will probably be in class, and we will probably be discussing none other than Lewis Carroll’s classic masterpiece, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Now, if you haven’t read this before, I urge you to close this email or this browser tab and go do so. You will probably be lost without context. Even the Disney movie may have left some things out of the original book (I’ve never seen it, so I wouldn’t know).

This year, we’re studying British literature in our homeschool community. We’ve gone through several great classics like Pride and Prejudice, A Tale of Two Cities, Jane Eyre, and the like. And this week, we were assigned to read Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

I was excited about reading this book, and, if I’m honest, part of it was because it was short. Like, the entire thing (my copy, at least) is about 90 pages. I’m a fast reader, so I can knock that out in about an hour. (Not to brag or anything. I mean, I am sort of bragging, but…I’m going to stop now.) We were only given a week to read this, so it was a welcome break from the 400-page novels we were given last semester.

I’d read abridged kids’ versions before this, so I knew the general plot, and, of course, I was familiar with some of the characters. Being a book intended for children, it wasn’t that hard to follow. In the note included at the beginning of my edition, it says that “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is credited with having been the first great imaginative book for children whose principal goal was to entertain rather than instruct.” I thought that was interesting, and I also thought that Carroll really succeeded in that goal, because I’m certain that absolutely nothing instructional could be taken out of this book.

I mean, seriously though? Read it. It’s such a weird book. I know that’s the point, but like…really? I would like to know what Lewis Carroll was on when he wrote it. It would certainly explain a lot.

While reading, I was struck by how real Alice seemed to be. She is only a young girl, after all, and I think Carroll portrayed this well. One of my favourite things is how Alice continually talks about her cat and how much she misses her, because as any of my friends can tell you, I’m the exact same way. (Not a week goes by in class where my classmates don’t hear “I miss my cat.”)

But I cannot get over how weird this book is. I’m sorry. I want to like it, I really do. And I do like some of the aspects, like Alice’s character as mentioned above, but the weirdness factor is a little too much, even for me.

Overall, I would give this book a five out of ten. I regard and respect it as a classic work of literature, but if it wasn’t on my syllabus, I would be okay with that.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this post. I’m thinking of doing some more like this, instead of my typically structured book reviews. Let me know how you liked it and I’ll see you next Wednesday!