Alice in Wonderland

So I just read Alice in Wonderland for the first time and it made me remember one of the curiosities of getting older. Every now and again, as adult we reminisce and go read something form our childhood, or watch something from our youth. Normally we laugh and wonder why we even found the thing interesting. Once in a while, we're a little disturbed that we were exposed to something at such a young age. Lately, since I now have a child, I've been turning a critical eye towards nursery rhymes and how really sick THEY are. But those are all topics for another day.

My concern with Alice in Wonderland doesn't fall into any of those categories. While I was reading this book I found myself getting more and more confused with each turned page...and I'm an adult! My confusion derives from a genuine inability to understand how the book became a CLASSIC! The writing is erratic, at best, and the descriptors are clunky and full of adult references. What kid picks up this book and enjoys reading its complex prose?

So here is my question for people: have you ever actually READ Alice in Wonderland or is the Disney movie your point of reference. I think that a lot of people haven't actually read the book. I didn't until today and I'm 41! The Disney movie (as is normal) is far more kid friendly than the original manuscript and i think most people think that it's a direct translation. I wonder if the Lewis Carroll's 'Alice' was considered a classic and Disney decided to animate it or someone at Disney thought that it would make a good movie and popularized an obscure book. I'm just really confused because I would never read the book that I just read to my daughter! It would cause too many questions!

So how did Alice in Wonderland become such a big part of our culture? Someone PLEASE tell me as I begin to read "Through The Looking Glass"....