books like : alice in wonderland

[Dave]

And I'll second your second!

Noon's worlds are certainly ... errr... strange and new.

I'll third your second. But aren't most of his books set in Manchester - weird, alternative, distopian, future Manchesters, and certainly very strange!

That's a good list there. Mostly children's fiction though, and I agree with chrispenycate that Lewis Carrol's poetry and satire take it to another level. I think the concept of 'whisking characters away to another world' is a well-worn one. It was mentioned in the thread here on fantasy cliches. Another example of that in adult fiction would be 'The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant'.

 

[Fahim]

If you like allegorical, then I second C. S. Lewis' Narnia series. Of course, I never got the allegory when I first read and re-read the series over and over as a teenager. In fact, I still don't get some of the stuff that people read into Narnia but that's a topic for a different thread

 

[Gav]

I'll third your second. But aren't most of his books set in Manchester - weird, alternative, distopian, future Manchesters, and certainly very strange!

Well; yeah, but Automated Alice is entirely appropriate for this thread. Possibly the most appropriate as it captures so much of Alice in Wonderland and puts a nice spin on it.

I find it weird that not many people I know have read Jeff Noon's stuff. Talented writer and an entertaining read.

 

[Ragnar]

I find it weird that not many people I know have read Jeff Noon's stuff. Talented writer and an entertaining read.

Me too. I've tried in the past to be a bit evangelical and try to introduce people to his work but I've had little success - people think he's too weird. I guess there's no accounting for taste.

 

[Who's Wee Dug]

Terry Brooks: Magic Kingdom of Landover series
#1 Magic Kingdom for sale - sold
#2 The Black Unicorn
#3 Wizard at Large
#4 The Tangle Box
#5 Witches Brew

Amusing and fits your criterion.

Forgot to add.
Gordon R Dickson:The Dragon & the George Series 9 books can be read as stand alone if you read the 1st one.

 

[Talysia]

In terms of "person finding themself in a strange new world", I'd suggest The War of the Flowers by Tad Williams. It's quite a bit darker than your average fairy tale, though.

 

[manephelien]

The original fairy tales were dark, until Disney sanitized them.

I would second C. S. Lewis and Narnia.

The Barbed Coil by J. V. Jones is another possibility. It may be a bit darker than you'd prefer, though.

 

[Winter Lord]

The original fairy tales were dark, until Disney sanitized them.

I would second C. S. Lewis and Narnia.

The Barbed Coil by J. V. Jones is another possibility. It may be a bit darker than you'd prefer, though.

Actually, the Victorians did it first, and Disney continued the tradition.

 

[murphy]

The Little Country by Charles de Lint.

 

[Gav]

The Barbed Coil by J. V. Jones is another possibility. It may be a bit darker than you'd prefer, though.

Why is this like Alice in Wonderland?