Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, aka Lewis Carroll, b.1832 at Cheshire, England.

One day Alice came to a fork in the road and saw a Cheshire cat in a tree.
“Which road do I take?” she asked.
“Where do you want to go?” was his response.
“I don’t know,” Alice answered.
“Then,” said the cat, “it doesn’t matter.”

Other Lewis Carroll posts to cause you to lose your way:

Of Snarks and Quarks

Lewis Carroll’s Birthday: 2006

Radio Jabberwocky

“The horror of that moment,” the King went on, “I shall never forget!”
“You will, though,” The Queen said, “if you don’t make a memorandum of it.”
This is so appropo of my life and memory. The 3M’s, middle age, menopause, and memory loss, are my constant companions.

“The rule is, jam tomorrow and jam yesterday – but never jam today.”

“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.”

“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”

“The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master – that’s all.” Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll

If you’ve never read Mr. Carroll’s masterpieces, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There, you really, really should do so immediately.

Some (perhaps) motivational facts to get you to pick up a copy of Alice:
Queen Victoria and the young Oscar Wilde were among the first avid readers of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
You could host a Mad Hatter Tea Party.
Lewis Carroll, aka Charles Dodgson, was a mathematician, a scholar, and an amateur photographer. There is no evidence that he was a pedophile, although he did enjoy the company of little girls.
“Dodgson was devoted to games as croquet, backgammon, billiards and chess, enjoyed conjuring and card tricks and invented many mathematical and word puzzles, games, ciphers and aids to memory.” (Source: Lenny’s Alice in Wonderland site)
“Through the Looking Glass” is the third season finale of the ABC television series Lost, consisting of the twenty-second and twenty-third episodes of the TV program. Therefore, you can read either Alice in Wonderland or Through the Looking Glass as a part of the LOST Books Challenge.

And then there’s always a dissenter in the bunch. Author Terry Pratchett has said of Alice: “”I didn’t like the Alice books because I found them creepy and horribly unfunny in a nasty, plonking, Victorian way. Oh, here’s Mr Christmas Pudding On Legs, hohohoho, here’s a Caterpillar Smoking A Pipe, hohohoho. When I was a kid the books created in me about the same revulsion as you get when, aged seven, you’re invited to kiss your great-grandmother.”

Don’t listen to him (even if you like Mr. Pratchett’s books). Alice is very funny, witty, and quite undated. The observations of Humpty Dumpty and the Cheshire Cat are endlessly applicable to current events.

Janet at Across the Page just read Alice for the first time, and here are her thoughts.

‘It’s a cravat, child, and a beautiful one, as you say. It’s a present from the White King and Queen. There now!’
‘Is it really?’ said Alice, quite pleased to find that she HAD chosen a good subject, after all.
‘They gave it me,’ Humpty Dumpty continued thoughtfully, as he crossed one knee over the other and clasped his hands round it, ‘they gave it me–for an un-birthday present.’
‘I beg your pardon?’ Alice said with a puzzled air.
‘I’m not offended,’ said Humpty Dumpty.
‘I mean, what IS an un-birthday present?’
‘A present given when it isn’t your birthday, of course.’
Alice considered a little. ‘I like birthday presents best,’ she said at last.
‘You don’t know what you’re talking about!’ cried Humpty Dumpty. ‘How many days are there in a year?’
‘Three hundred and sixty-five,’ said Alice.
‘And how many birthdays have you?’
‘One.’
‘And if you take one from three hundred and sixty-five, what remains?’
‘Three hundred and sixty-four, of course.’
Humpty Dumpty looked doubtful. ‘I’d rather see that done on paper,’ he said.

Unless you share a birthday with Mr. Dodgson, I hope you have a very happy un-birthday today!