I have never read the books of Alice in Wonderland or Through the looking glass from end to end, but I know the story from films. I have a copy of both books and often dip in and read favourite passages. The below extracts resonate for me, particularly at times of stress, but also regarding more mundane things.

What are your thoughts? Are there any books which resonate with you?

Through the looking glass Chapter II 'The garden of live flowers' by Lewis Carroll.

Alice never could quite make out, in thinking it over afterwards, how it was that they began: all she remembers is, that they were running hand in hand, and the Queen went so fast that it was all she could do to keep up with her: and still the Queen kept crying “Faster! Faster!”, but Alice felt she could not go faster, though she had no breadth left to say…

She felt as if she would never be able to talk again, she was getting so much out of breadth: and still the Queen cried “Faster! Faster! And dragged her along. “Are we nearly there?” Alice managed to pant out at last.

“Nearly there!” the Queen repeated. “Why, we passed it ten minutes ago! Faster!” And they ran on for a time in silence, with the wind whistling in Alice’s ears, and almost blowing her hair off her head, she fancied.

“Now! Now!” cried the Queen. “Faster! Faster!”. And they went so fast that at last they seemed to skim through the air, hardly touching the ground with their feet, til suddenly, just as Alice was getting quite exhausted, they stopped and she found herself sitting on the ground, breathless and giddy. The Queen propped her up against a tree, and said kindly, “you may rest a little, now”

Alice looked round her in great surprise, “Why I do believe we have been under this this tree the whole time! Everything is just as it was!”

“Of course it is,” said the Queen... ” Now here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!

Daisy 

A Moodscope member