Everyone’s familiar with Lewis Carroll’s famous children’s classic and the huge influence it’s had on modern culture. The Mad Hatter, the Duchess, the Cheshire Cat, the White Rabbit, the Caterpillar—all of these strange and familiar creatures appear in Alice, and the nonsensical style, memorable poems, and colorful set pieces are just as influential. The book was originally written as gift to Alice Liddel, the daughter of one of Carroll’s friends. Carroll had told the story to Alice during a rainy-day boat trip up a river. It stuck in his mind, and a few years later the completed manuscript was published in 1865. More than 150 years later, it’s just as popular as it ever was.
I started reading this book in Russian (a very peculiar translation it was indeed) and found the book pretty boring and written badly (it was not even just a translation, it was a retold story). I never regretted switching to the original, which impressed me a lot. Now I get why people around the world love this story so much. I want to watch movies and cartoon about Alice's adventures, I want to check the other translations. Of course, I am going to read the second book about her.