Alchemist Magicaladded a note 8 years ago

debut in 1951? really? By 1951 Alice had been following white rabbits down their holes for at least half a century!

Igor, I think Tatiana means the Disney's Alice :)

there's no such thing as Disney's Alice! There's only one Alice and several pale reflections of her glorious self =)

1865 according to wikipedia. The Disney's one is the one I picture in my head though. When I was a teen I used to collect Disney stamps for an album and there were plenty of these Alices in my album. I have no idea where my Alice in wonderland book is. What comes to my head now, why a novel from 1865 was fun to read for a girl in about a century later? Why some kids find boring old books? I tried to read to my nephew one of the short stories from an italian old book the other day, he didn´t even have the patience to listen to it. Is it techno what has done something to his genes? ... just wondering.

Thank you, Tatiana for bringing nice memories! :-)

there are old books, and there are old books, Marissa. I never came to reading Alice when I was a kid. I've seen the cartoon, not sure about Disney, but the Russian one - definitely. So when I finally read Alice in wonderland, I was at least 20. I just loved the book. I've read it in English. So the first thing I did after reading was to rush to a book store for a Russian translation - I was wondering how on earth could this be translated. Because a lot of things there - they're brilliant, but only in English. and I wasn't able to come up with a Russian translation that made sense =)

also there is, of course, taste for books. I love reading, but this love came to me rather late, just before I finished high school. before that I wasn't reading much. I never was able to make myself to read Russian classics. not when I had to in school, not later. I just don't like it.

Igor,

You are right. Old books are not all the same.I just wish my nephew would be closer to books than to his tablet. (sigh) I have only read the Spanish version and I was very little. Now I wonder what will be like to read it now and in English. Russian classics...geez. I dunno. I remember my mom used to read me Russian stories (cuentos rusos) I just cant remember what were they about. (bummer). :-(

the were most likely Russian fairy tales, Marissa. Old folk tales about witches (Baba-Yaga), dragons (Zmei Gorynych), princes (Ivan Tsarevich) and princesses (Vasilisa Prekrasnaya, Vasilisa Premudraya, Mar'ya Morevna, Mar'ya Iskusnitsa, there was a great variety of princesses, com to think of it). If it were the case you might find something familiar, if you read "Monday begins on Saturday" I've told you about. As I said the book is full of folk tale characters.
Russian classics is another thing altogether. Those are mostly 19th century authors, like Lev Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Anton Chekhov and a lot of others. They are revered here in Russia, and you kind of have to read them to call yourself intelligent and educated person. I wasn't able to. I prefer authors with a bit more imagination than that. The only two books I really enjoyed reading in school we're "Master and Margarita" by Bulgakov and "Us" by Zamyatin.

Master and Margarita is one of my favorite books too.But Leo Tolstoy wrote the novel which makes people think about life.I mean he shows what we should appreciate like family,love,friendship.I adore Natasha Rostova, she is the purest girl,she lives for her family.

Tolstoi! Famous ! Dostoyevsky and Chekhov...all famouse because of Russian. ;-) Thank you for your suggestions. :-)

***famous