Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Favourite Quotes from Books

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. 

Technically this week’s prompt was Top Ten Inspiring Quotes From Books, but since I’m more likely to find inspiration in song lyrics, I just chose quotes I like. Several of them actually are “inspirational” or have something to do with books/writing.

1) From Instructions – Neil Gaiman

“Trust dreams. Trust your heart, and trust your story.”

2) From Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – J.K. Rowling

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” (Dumbledore)

3) From Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll

“But I don’t want to go among mad people,” Alice remarked.
“Oh, you can’t help that,” said the Cat: “we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.”
“How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice.
“You must be,” said the Cat, “or you wouldn’t have come here.”

4) From Ella Enchanted – Gail Carson Levine

“I had been able to break the curse myself. I’d had to have reason enough, love enough to do it, to find the will and the strength.”

5) From Audrey, Wait! – Robin Benway

“If you really want to know something about me, you should know this: I like my music loud. I mean loud […]You have to turn it up so that your chest shakes and the drums get in between your ribs like a heartbeat and the bass goes up your spine and fizzles your brain and all you can do is dance or spin in a circle or just scream along because you know that however this music makes you feel, it’s exactly right.”

6) From The Picture of Dorian Grey – Oscar Wilde

“The artist is the creator of beautiful things.”

7) From Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can’t Avoid – Lemony Snicket

“Never trust anyone who has not brought a book with them.”

8) From Through the Looking Glass – Lewis Carroll

“Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast…” (the White Queen)

9) From Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – J.K. Rowling

“Wit beyond measure is man’s greatest treasure.”

10) From The Ocean at the End of the Lane – Neil Gaiman

“I lived in books more than I lived anywhere else.”

And a bonus gif:

What are some of your favourite quotes, inspirational or otherwise?

Fiction Friday Round-Up – April 10th, 2015

Over the past week-and-a-bit, I’ve read a classic, two ARCs, and a second book in a series! Click the links for full reviews!

• Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass – Lewis Carroll: “This is a book that speaks to the nonsensical part of me, the part that prefers to fantasize my way into a story rather than, you know, do actual work.”
• Spelled (ARC) – Betsy Schow: “I love fractured/retellings of fairy tales so I was pretty stoked when my request for this was approved.”
• The Weed that Strings the Hangman’s Bag – Alan Bradley: “Flavia continues to be precocious and clever, and I sort of want to be her. Or I’d at least like to understand chemistry the way she does.”
• The Rise and Fall of the Gallivanters (ARC) – M.J. Beaufrand: “I liked the fact that they were in a punk band. These are my people (well, these are the people I wish were my people), and I’ve always loved stories where one or more characters are in a band.”

BONUS:

Last week was Good Friday and I only posted one review (but it was SUCH a good book!):

• The Wondrous and the Wicked – Page Morgan: “I don’t want to spoil anything about this book, but I’m just going to put this out there: it was one of the best endings to a trilogy I’ve read in a long time…”

Until next week, happy reading!

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass – Lewis Carroll

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass – Lewis Carroll

Weary of her storybook, one “without pictures or conversations,” the young and imaginative Alice follows a hasty hare underground–to come face-to-face with some of the strangest adventures and most fantastic characters in all of literature.
The Ugly Duchess, the Mad Hatter, the weeping Mock Turtle, the diabolical Queen of Hearts, the Cheshire Cat–each more eccentric than the last–could only have come from that master of sublime nonsense, Lewis Carroll.
In penning this brilliant burlesque of children’s literature, Carroll has written a farcical satire of rigid Victorian society, an arresting parody of the fears, anxieties, and complexities of growing up.

There are, of course, many gorgeous editions of Alice in the world (I have the one illustrated by Oleg Lipchenko), but this is the edition I read. Plus this version has the original – classic – illustrations by John Tenniel.

I’ve read Alice once or twice when I was younger, though I was more familiar with the Disney movie (which, oddly enough, I can barely remember now), but it wasn’t until I had to re-read it in my last year of university (for a children’s lit course which I loved for the reading list, but not so much for the professor who stretched Pinocchio out for two weeks instead of the two days we were supposed to discuss it) that I realized how much I loved it.

This is a book that speaks to the nonsensical part of me, the part that prefers to fantasize my way into a story rather than, you know, do actual work.

I find it interesting how a lot of adaptations combine elements from both Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. For example, did you know it’s really Humpty Dumpty in Looking Glass who tells Alice about “un-birthdays”? Humpty Dumpty was actually one of my favourite parts of Looking Glass because he’s quite amusing, if a little pompous. The one adaptation I’ve personally seen that remains quite faithful (despite taking some liberties with Alice’s age) is the ballet production.

My least favourite part of Looking Glass, however, is the chapter with the Knight. I can’t even remember if it was a White Knight or a Red Knight, but either way, it was pretty tedious and felt like it lasted longer than necessary.

Wonderland, on the other hand, didn’t really have a “low” moment for me. Maybe it’s because it’s the more familiar story, but it moved quickly and, of course, introduced a lot of the iconic characters: the Mad Hatter and March Hare (and the Dormouse); the Cheshire Cat (with one of my favourite lines: “We’re all mad here”); the Queen, King, and Knave of Hearts, etc.

I don’t really know what else to say about this book. This is one of those classic pieces of children’s literature that I genuinely love, that I think everyone should read – whether or not you end up enjoying it – if only because it’s a celebration of the power of one’s imagination. It’s quite funny and (obviously) whimsical, but maybe it’s more relatable more if you were an imaginative child (and continue to be an imaginative adult).

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