Reading Notes: Alice in Wonderland, Part A

· I love how fantastical this all is.

· I think that one of the skillful things about his writing is the specificity. I’m thinking of the orange marmalade specifically. I should try to emulate that.

· I love this dialogue, and the interjections by the narrator appealing to the reader to consider what he is saying. Once again, I’d love to write like that.

· I also like his repetition of ideas. “either the locks were too large, or the key was too small”

· I also like how he states the obvious. She’s a little girl who know that if you hold a red-hot poker too long it will burn you, and things of that sort.

· He also states the obvious in very subdued terms. Things marked ‘poison’ are almost certain to disagree with you.

· Ooh I also enjoy how she talks to herself. It adds character to the whole thing.

· Once again, humor in the obvious: “there’s no sort of use in knocking . . . because I’m on the same side of the door as you are.”

· I didn’t know that there was also a Duchess who was bad, in addition to the Queen.

· I like the idea of incorporating rhymes into my story. He does that well.

(Illustration by Arthur Rackham)

Bibliography:  Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll

Reading Notes: Eskimo Folk Tales, Part 1

(Inuit Seal Hunting)

· It seems as though every creation story contains a great flood. Like, everywhere.

· It’s interesting to me how there seems to be this idea in the creation story of men kind of knowing what had to come next: women sewed clothes before there were children to dress in them, they desired dogs, they knew to progress from eating of the earth to hunting.

· What an unpleasant story! I like how the guy plotting murder gets his comeuppance, but it’s still sad. I’m also glad that Nukúnguasik didn’t get accused of murdering him.

· Once again, I’m very glad that the innocent bear didn’t get falsely accused of murdering the man when in fact the man attacked him first.

· What if the bear had been unhappy about the fact that the people eat bears?

· Awww I feel so bad for Qalagánguasê L. Why on earth did he tell all the people about the ghosts a minute after the ghosts told him not to?

· I could tell that story from the perspective of a villager. It might be unpleasant, though, because I would have to justify being mean.

· Wow I wish I could get married that easily.

· Wait so what happened to the girl?

· How does the girl feel about this? One day she’s married then the next someone’s like “no, you’re not his wife” and then you’re not? Why can that happen? (Yes, I know it’s a different culture.)

· “[It] always happened that he shamefully overslept himself every time he had made up his mind to go out hunting.” Same.

· I like that he’s willing to say that sheer luck caused him to save the man, not merit.

· This reminds me a bit of Samson and Delilah.

· So, did he end up living in the hills alone?

· But… the dude is married.

· Wow! He destroyed their sledges and took their stuff. I don’t like him.

Bibliography:  Eskimo Folk Tales, by Knud Rasmussen.