A-Z Books My Parents Enjoyed: C is for Carroll

For most of my youth, my mother read to me. And generally speaking, I preferred my mother as reader. Unlike my father, my mother understood how I could do several things at once: listen to her read while I drew pictures, finished a sculpture for art class, did the dishes...

My father thought I wasn't paying attention. I had to sit and listen, which was hard. 

When it came to Alice in Wonderland, however, my mother didn't want to be the reader. She didn't particularly like the books. So she sent me to my dad. He loved them, and he read me both: Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass. 

It turns out that with these books, I'm more like my mom. I've reread the books since I was a child, but I don't particularly like them (of the two, I do prefer Alice Through the Looking Glass). My father enjoyed the "then this happened" story while I have always preferred a well-written plot that holds together. He also enjoyed the puns and riddles and such. 

Despite my indifference to the books (overall), I have nostalgic feelings about them. Both my father and I enjoyed acting in plays. In church camping trip talent shows, my father and I performed the poem by the White Knight and "You Are Old Father Williams." Years later, he was still able to recite the latter poem by heart.