Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland is book number three that should be on your reading list. Now, I know what you’re thinking. “Alice in Wonderland? That’s a kid’s story!” I mean, it’s a common misconception, probably caused by the 1951 children’s cartoon, but I’ll get back to the cartoon later. Alice in Wonderland may have been converted into a story acceptable for children, but in its original form,  it kind of resembles a story you would find in Grimm’s Fairy Tales, if you know what I mean. James Topham even said in a review that it is “Brilliant for children, but with enough hilarity and joy for life in it to please adults, too” (Topham). I wouldn’t be surprised if the author, Lewis Carroll, was high on sugar crack when he wrote it because the story is random and almost psychedelic. On a side note, there’s an interesting thing about the name ‘Lewis Carroll’: it’s a pseudonym. The author of Alice in Wonderland’’s real name was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson.

        The story was originally written in 1865, and to be honest, it has an Old English style of writing, similar to how Shakespeare writes. Whenever I read it, I imagine it with an English accent in my head which is quite amusing. Alice is a young girl who stumbles into a rabbit hole, and she falls right into a new dimension where if you eat a small cake you grow ten feet tall. Animals talk there, and cats can make themselves invisible. There are mad tea parties that you would expect to take place in a mental hospital, and Queens enjoy croquet and chopping off people’s heads. Oh, and there’s a white rabbit. Can’t forget the white rabbit. The story is all about Alice’s journey through Wonderland and all the new “people” she meets.

        It is an absolutely crazy story, and that’s why I like it so much. That is also why I think other people my age will like it, too. It’s all about being adventurous and curious. It’s about trying new things. It’s about a young girl trying to find her way. If it wasn’t so crazy and unrealistic, I would say it’s exactly like life. It’s about getting out there and having fun. Who wouldn’t want that? No, the story isn’t super-relatable, but it does make for a really good read. Sometimes you don’t want relatable and understandable. Sometimes I just want to read a book that’ll make me laugh because it just makes no sense at all. It’s a great story that will temporarily transport you into another world.

        The kid’s cartoon of Alice in Wonderland was actually my first exposure to the story. It’s kind of a mash-up of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and the second book about Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass. It’s like the book was specifically written to be made into a cartoon; it’s all hectic and happy which makes for a great cartoon. While it is a great cartoon, like any movie, it does not do Carroll’s writing justice. “The music and production design of Alice in Wonderland is marvelous, but the film is too much of a good thing, much too frantic to do full honor to the whimsical Carroll original” (Alice in Wonderland). It’s great for kids, but as an adult, I still find it amusing. My favorite part, or character I should say, out of the cartoon is the Cheshire Cat. He is so splendidly creepy and almost alluring that I can’t help but love him. I wish my cat could make demented faces and disappear! That would be awesome.

        Then there’s the live movie that came out in 2010. The one that has yummy Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter. “Mr. Depp’s strenuously flamboyant turn embodies the best and worst of Mr. Burton’s filmmaking tendencies even as the actor brings his own brand of cinematic crazy to the tea party” (Dargis). Depp is the perfect person to play that role if you ask me because he has shown time and again that he is great at playing the role of a scatterbrained, slightly demented character. The movie is actually supposed to be a sequel to Alice in Wonderland. Alice falls down the rabbit hole again, so to speak. The special effects could be better, but it was still pretty good. It had all the old, crazy characters, complete with the queen who wants to cut off everyone’s head. This story, though, has the giant monster called the Jabberwocky that Alice must slay in order to save Wonderland. It’s a good movie.

        So, take a break from the real world, and get lost in Carroll’s fantasy of crazy and impossible things. You won’t regret it.

        “What is the use of a book without pictures or conversations?”

        --Lewis Carroll

Ender's Game

So, Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. It’s one of those books that most people had to read because of high school English class, right? When I first had to read the book, I absolutely hated it; it was just so confusing and seemed completely pointless and unrealistic to me. Plus, there was the fact that I was being forced to read it for school. I always hated school books, mostly on principle: I would have much rather read a book I had picked out myself. A couple years later, though, I decided I wanted to read it again. Crazy, right? I have no idea what was going through my head. That second time I read it, of my own volition, I completely loved it and have reread it several times now.

The book was published in 1985, but Card wrote it in the setting of a futuristic society. They have super-advanced technology, battleship schools in space, civilizations that have colonized and are living on other planets...and they’re in the middle of a war with a species of aliens. In this society, the

government has begun to breed military geniuses to ensure that they win the battles to come. Ender Wiggins is one such genius that the government chooses to exploit. Ender’s Game is full of action. I mean, it’s about a kid that gets sent away to battle school. How could that not be full of action? Another plus: it has the kind of sarcastic humor that will have you laughing out loud. I for one have had this happen to me on multiple occasions, usually in the middle of class or some other crowded place. People give me a lot of weird looks when I do this, but If I’m laughing, it means I am enjoying my book, so I tend not to notice the stares of the people around me.

Now, why do I say you should have this book on your reading list? Well, first, if you are into science fiction, this is definitely a book you should read. For those of you who don’t just pick up a book because of its genre, there are plenty of other reasons you should find your way into Card’s fantasy world. Though you may not realize it when you choose a book, read a book, etc…, some of the most interesting books are ones that you can relate to. Ender’s game is a perfect book for young adults like myself to relate to. The story is full of a child’s struggle through a new school. Ender may be younger than most of us, but high school is full of bullying. Even in college or later in life you will run into those people who enjoy tormenting others and getting what they want. And everyone knows about cliques. This story is full of them. It’s all about the terrors of school and Ender’s way of fighting through it, all rolled into a single book. Also, a main idea that you will see throughout the book is about choices and the consequences of those choices. “We live in a world of tradeoffs and hard decisions with which consequences we have to live with”(Real Detroit Weekly) says I. Mocko in a review. We all know about choices right? Now that we are becoming adults and heading out on our own, we are making a lot of choices, and we are having to live with the consequences.

Card actually wrote multiple books about Ender’s story, though I regret to inform you that I have not read any of them. They are actually my reading list, but being busy with college, I haven’t gotten to them yet.

While I haven’t read all the books, I did see the Ender’s Game movie that premiered last November. Now, everyone knows that when they make a book into a movie, they cut out a lot of information in order to compact it into a single movie. When they made Ender’s Game into a movie they cut out a lot. It was still a good movie, and I liked it very much. It is definitely a movie you should see. Though I suggest reading the book first. “The film tries too hard to straddle the line between assuming viewers are familiar with the details and bringing new viewers up to speed.”(entertainment.sladshot.org). I didn’t find it at all confusing, watching the movie, but that may be because I had already read the book and knew what was going on. I find it completely reasonable, though, for viewers who have not read the book to be a little confused at times.

Ender’s Game is thought provoking and a great read. It will provide you with a great distraction, a much needed break, from all the work of everyday life. Dive into Card’s mesmerizing world. You won’t be disappointed.

“I buy way too many books”

--Orson Scott Card

JUMPER

Jumper. Isn’t that a depressing title? I mean, honestly, what’s the first thing you think of when you hear/read it? Personally, when I read the title it makes me think of some poor, suicidal nut-job climbing over the railing of a balcony of some building and jumping to a death not unlike that of a bug going splat! against a car’s windshield. When you actually open the book and read it, though, you will pleasantly surprised to find out that isn’t what the story is about at all. It’s actually about a young boy, Davy, whose mother left him with his abusive father. He finds out he has the ability to travel anywhere in the world in the blink of an eye--as long as he has already been there before. He can travel the world in the blink of an eye. Conveniently, he discovers this power during one of his father’s more aggressive moments. It saved his life.
Steven Gould’s Jumper is a really good read if you ask me. It has a lot of action to keep guys interested with just a touch of romance to satisfy the ladies reading it. It definitely isn’t boring. But why should you as a teenager, a college student, a young adult, read this book? Well, of course, you should read it because it is a really good book, a great story, but that is not the only thing that makes it desirable. For one, it is full of things people our age can relate to. Sure, not all of us ran away from home because of an abusive home life like Davy did, but now that we are becoming adults, we are finding out what it is like to branch out on our own, to move to new places and fend for ourselves without parents to buy everything for us anymore. College

in particular is a time where people find themselves and explore new things, just like Davy does throughout the story. He experiences life, just like we are doing now, though his life has a bit of a twist to it. I mean, I know I can’t rob a bank just by picturing myself inside the vault and simply ‘jumping’ there like Davy does. And as you can probably guess, Davy gets into some trouble, makes mistakes, just like real life people do. This book is pretty realistic for how unrealistic it is, if you know what I mean. In a review, Greg Kim even says “I can imagine the setting in modern time although it was written in 1992” (Goodreads.com). I find it much more enjoyable to read something that sounds like it comes from today’s world, and I can easily see this story taking place in today’s society.
To the people who have already read this book: read it again. If you are currently in between books and do not know a good book to read next, this is a good book to fall back on and read over. Sure, you know what is going to happen, but maybe you missed something. Every time I reread a book, i find some detail that I overlooked before, and it makes me think “I don’t remember that!”. So read it again. If nothing else, reread it because you loved it the first time, and you know it will still be a good book just like it was before.

         Jumper was actually made into a movie, starring Hayden Christensen as Davy. It first came out in 2008. Maybe you’ve seen it? Reviews of the movie will tell you things like ‘it’s a terrible show with a crazy story line’. Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 16% saying it “[Features] uninvolving characters and [a] loose narrative, Jumper is an erratic action pic with little coherence and lackluster special effects” (rottentomatoes.com). I for one, though, didn’t think the movie was half as bad as they say it is. I actually liked the special effects and the story line was not all that confusing to me. While I thought the movie was good, the book is definitely better. Aren’t the books always better than their movie counterparts? Half of it is because, with a book, you get to escape into another world where you decide things like what the people look like and where it takes place. You can even imagine yourself as the main character. Anything is possible with a book.
​

          "The most erroneous stories are those we think we know best-- and therefore never scrutinize or question."
          --Steven Gould

About Me

       Welcome to my blog, Psycho Babble. I guess I should explain the title a little bit, shouldn't I? Well, I came up with the name Psycho Babble because it kind of fits my personality. My friends are always telling me how crazy they think I am. But really, aren't we all a little crazy sometimes? That's just life. So I just want this blog to be a way for me to get some of the random, crazy babbling out of my head, but in an orderly manner, if you know what I mean. Maybe there are even people out there like me who will actually be able to make sense of it.

       This first post is just going to be a kind of informal introduction about me, about the blog...stuff like that.

       So, first thing's first: I'm Alex, and I'm a freshman in college, majoring in Criminal Justice. I love college; it is so much better than any schooling I have experienced so far. A few hobbies of mine would be soccer, which I played in high school. I kind of miss it. I also do archery, and that's pretty cool. I also tap dance. Of all my hobbies, though, the one that I love the most would have to be reading. I am a total bookworm, through and through. I, personally, think being a book nerd is my best quality.

       So, yes, I love to read. If I have a book on my person, then I'm happy. Being a freshman in college, though, does not leave me with very much time to sit down with a good book. I definitely do not have as much time as I'd like, that's for sure. It also sucks when I don't know what to read next. I mean, I don't want to waste my time on a book that isn't even good. I'm sure other people feel the same way, right?

       That's my purpose for my next few posts: I want to give teenagers and college kids like me a few good books that are definitely not a waste of time. I'm going to show you the next five books that should be on your reading list. I'll even give you a sneak peek. The next five books you should read, even if you have already read them, are: Jumper, Ender's Game, Alice in Wonderland, Divergent, and The Host. Don't worry, I'll tell you why you should read them later.

     "It is with the reading of books the same as with looking at pictures; one must, without doubt, without hesitation, with assurance, admire what is beautiful"

       --Vincent van Gogh