Book 3: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

A literary staple for about 150 years, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is a clear choice for someone seeking to be well-read. Millions of readers have been charmed and puzzled by the whimsical, nonsensical tale since Carroll first published the famed tale.

While playing in the yard with her older sister, Alice becomes bored and stumbles into a rabbit hole. After falling for a long time, she lands in a mysterious world where everything she eats or drinks makes her smaller or larger. There, she meets a white rabbit, a "Mad Hatter," a red queen made of playing cards, a baby that turns into a pig, and more characters that serve to confuse both Alice and the reader ever more with their senseless explanations.

One of the book's greatest surprises is its sudden conclusion: Alice is beating the Red Queen into a smattering of playing cards and suddenly she is laying in her sister's lap in the yard. She was dreaming all along.

I also noted that the dialogue between Alice and the characters she met in Wonderland, the circular, confused, and unresolved nature of the conversations, was not unlike that found in Catch-22. I wondered whether Heller had been inspired by Lewis.

Since beginning this book, I have already come to understand cultural references that I missed before. Alice's story is one of those that has influenced and infiltrated Western culture more than we realize. I am glad to realize this now.