A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket

I own and have read every single A Series of Unfortunate Events books by Lemony Snicket. I remember it was the first books I actually really enjoyed reading for fun. And also the first books where I wrote down words I didn't know and then I looked them up.

I first discovered A Series of Unfortunate Events from my elementary school. We would get these Scholastic Book magazine type things where we could order books. God help the kids these days; I doubt schools even do that anymore. Regardless, I ordered my first A Series of Unfortunate Events book (The Bad Beginning) there and kept doing it until I changed schools. My new middle school didn't give out the Scholastic thing. Because of that, I took to Barnes & Noble for my A Series of Unfortunate Events fix. I wanted every book. Not to mention I wanted them all to myself to point where there are two copies of The Wide Window, The Miserable Mill and The Carnivous Carnival in my house. I was so selfish back then I wouldn't let my older brother read my copies of the series. So my mom resorted to buying him his own copies. It's actually the one series we both love. He's read all the Harry Potter books, but doesn't like Harry Potter.

Now, I'm going to try and explain this as best I can. I LOVE the title of every book. Lemony's titles were simple, but packed with symbolism which I loved. I also loved Lemony Snicket's alliteration. I thought that was the coolest thing ever as a kid. And I still do! Alliteration never ceases to put a smile on my face. If my memory serves me, he also did it with some characters in the books. The one that sticks out the most is the triplets young Violet, Klaus and Sunny met at boarding school in The Austere Academy. I think all the triplets' names started with Q's. That blew my mind as a child. I kid you not. Also I liked how he named the characters to fit their personality. Very subtle, very unique.

By far, the saddest book in the series for me is The Slippery Slope. It was all about Sunny. I don't want to give anything away, but it's powerful. A Series of Unfortunate Events was the first series and quite frankly the first books where I read about unhappy endings and children being orphaned. I learned a lot of words, idioms/phrases and life lessons from reading A Series of Unfortunate Events and I'll never forget them. I learned what you really get is more questions than answers and you're as good as you make yourself. I mostly learned that it's real out here in the streets. I hope Snicket didn't write from his own experience because then I'd be totally bummed out.

I've heard of some people rereading the series every year. I wish I had the time for that! I've only read the series once and that was a long time ago; maybe eighth grade. That all has to change.

If I had to pick a favorite book from the series it would have to be... I literally cannot pick one! I've looked them over; at the covers, said the titles out loud, recalled what happened. And I just can't do it. Don't make me pick! Don't make do it! Please! If I had to pick a favorite character, it'd be Violet, while I was reading it, but Klaus now. I absolutely loved Violet as a kid because she was kickass girl! She was smart as all hell and could invent anything. She was MacGyver, but the preteen girl version. Now if I'm honest, Klaus would be my favorite character because he reads a lot and can recall the information at any given moment. I have to say that is me now.

I also went to see the Nickelodeon film of the series with my mommy (!). I didn't like it. I didn't like how they didn't dedicate one film to one book or how they used the ending of the first book to end the whole film. I really didn't like how they barely stuck to the books and shoved the first three books into one film. I came out of the theatre as a ten year old girl like, "WUT? That was the best they could come up with?!" You know how I like to see a difference between book and TV/Film interpretation?  This was not one of those times. And I'm SO glad they did not make more films based on the books. One was enough and enough was too much.

Lemony Snicket is my favorite author from childhood. I have yet to read a series that is as unique and innovative as the A Series of Unfortunate Events series.

If you haven't read this series or even heard of it, shame on you! I hope that rock you're living under is comfortable and don't even bother crawling out of it.

The Master List of A Series of Unfortunate Events Books:

1. The Bad Beginning
2. The Reptile Room
3. The Wide Window
4. The Miserable Mill
5. The Austere Academy
6. The Erstaz Elevator
7. The Vile Village
8. The Hostile Hospital
9. The Carnivorous Carnival
10. The Slippery Slope
11. The Grim Grotto 
12.  The Penultimate Peril
13. The End

Ending with thirteen books in the series, Lemony? I see what you did there.

This post is making me want to drop everything and reread the series! If that actually does happen, I'll definitely make a post comparing reading them then to reading them now.