Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Today marks the beginning of the 2013 Blogging from A-Z Challenge. Throughout the month of April, participants would be blogging their way through the letters of the alphabet. My theme for this year's challenge is speculative fiction books, so I'll be highlighting some of my favorite science fiction, fantasy and horror books, all month long. And what better way to start than with one of the most influential fantasy books ever written: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Originally published in 1865, the book tells the story of a little girl named Alice, who follows a strange white rabbit (on an otherwise ordinary day) to Wonderland, a fantasy world inhabited by talking animals. It is a dreamlike tale that is really just (as the title suggests) a collection of loosely-connected adventures. Most of it involves Alice trying to figure out a way to solve one problem or the other, and their resolutions tend to be just as ludicrous as the problems themselves, if not more so.

One of the things that has endeared this book to readers for nearly 150 years is its cast of quirky and unforgettable characters. From Alice's childlike curiosity, to the Cheshire Cat's fading grin, and the Queen of Heart's tendency to pronounce on-the-spot decapitations; it is these characters that truly make this otherwise nonsensical story a worthwhile read for children and adults alike.

Alice in Wonderland has been repeatedly adapted into film, the two most popular adaptations being the 1951 Disney animated classic and the more recent Tim Burton version (2010). It has also influenced a string of other books (not to mention films like The Matrix and Sucker Punch), a few of which I would be highlighting in the days to come.

P.S: A special shout out goes to Arlee Bird, who started the Blogging from A-Z challenge in 2010. Thanks, Mr. Bird, for helping so many people in the blogging communities find one another.