A glorious, full-illustrated collection that delves deep into the inception, influences, and literary and historical underpinnings of nearly 100 of our most beloved fictional realms.

Literary Wonderlands is a thoroughly researched, wonderfully written, and beautifully produced book that spans two thousand years of creative endeavor. From Spenser’s The Fairie Queene to Wells’s The Time Machine to Murakami’s 1Q84 it explores the timeless and captivating features of fiction’s imagined worlds including the relevance of the writer’s own life to the creation of the story, influential contemporary events and philosophies, and the meaning that can be extracted from the details of the work. With hundreds of pieces of original artwork, illustration and cartography, as well as a detailed overview of the plot and a “Dramatis Personae” for each work, Literary Wonderlands is a fascinating read for lovers of literature, fantasy, and science fiction.

About:

Laura Miller is a journalist and critic. She is currently books and culture columnist at Slate.com. She was a cofounder of Salon.com, where she worked for 20 years, and is the editor of The Salon.com Readers Guide to Contemporary Authors. A regular contributor to The New York Times Book Review, her work has also appeared in The New Yorker, the Los Angeles Times, Time, and other publications. She lives in New York. Her new book is The Magician’s Book:A Skeptic’s Adventures in Narnia.

MY THOUGHTS:

I received this book in exchange for my honest review.

Wow! A fantastic summary for each classic book that shaped the literary world of today.  Full of gorgeous artwork/pictures and astonishing insights that I was suddenly enlightened about many literary works I had missed or hadn’t gotten around to reading yet.

This is an educational book, informative and perfectly laid out for all readers to appreciate.  The book jacket is also gorgeous.  I was skeptical at first if I’d like it, but I couldn’t stop reading this book until it was finished.  Even the stories I was very familiar with had bits and pieces included in Miller’s summations that I found interesting and enjoyable.

The book is broken into the following main sections:

Ancient Myth & Legend

Science & Romanticism

Golden Age of Fantasy

New World Order

The Computer Age

These sections are broken down even further in many sub-sections and all are followed by a great introduction written by Miller. The artwork is astonishing, large and vivid with bold colors and incredible talent.  I loved the whole package and highly recommend this book to all.

I gave it, wishing I could give more: