Thanks to Katy at A Few More Pages for hosting this meme. To participate, share the first line or two of the book you are currently reading and, if you feel so moved, let us know what your first impressions were based on that first line.
Charles Dodgson, who you know better as Lewis Carroll, based his Alice in Wonderland character on a real-life little girl he knew, named Alice Liddell. Alice I Have Been is the fictionalized life story of Alice Liddell. (That is, as I understand it, squarely fiction, although I can’t speak to where the line is drawn – especially not having read much of the book yet!) I have heard about this book for some time and am glad to finally be picking it up. It begins:
But oh my dear, I am tired of being Alice in Wonderland. Does it sound ungrateful? It is. Only I do get tired.
Makes sense to me; fame is tiresome, I’m told.
I am enjoying the tone of this book so far very much; the child-narrator we begin the book with feels very believable to me. My only concern at this point is the extent to which Dodgson feels like an icky child-groper! Tell me I’m wrong?
What are you reading this weekend?
Filed under: book beginnings | Tagged: historical fiction, misc fiction |
pagesofjulia 
Hi Julia,
Actually I think that this is a really interesting concept for a book and I may just be intrigued enough to give it a try, although I usually make it a point never to read memoirs.
I checked out the full synopsis and author page and see that there is a second book in the series, about Mrs. Tom Thumb.
The cover art on both of the books is fantastic as well, so I hope that you enjoy your read.
Have a good weekend,
Yvonne
Thanks for stopping by, Yvonne. I wonder what your reservation with memoirs is, and whether it helps that this one is fiction?
This sounds like a really interesting book concept, and it does have a very good beginning 🙂
I’ve heard he was a little iffy around the kiddies.
Sounds like it could be a very good book, though!
[…] I spoke too soon in last Friday’s book beginning. The child-narrator I said sounded believable quickly took a turn in the other direction. Young […]