Monday, January 23, 2006

A Series Of Unfortunate Events

Recently, I have been very addicted to reading a series of books named 'A Series Of Unfotunate Events'. Yes, I got to know this book from the movie by Jim Carey. The movie was not bad but the books were fantastic!!!

There were already 12 books published and I have bought 7 books. Now, I am searching for the 8th. Unlike other children's book, this book is described by the author as gloomy, sad, disturbing and is not suitable to those with a weak heart. In fact, these books were extremely funny and and Lemony Snicket, the author, is so so witty at writing.

Here is an introduction of the books written by Lemony Snicket:

Dear Reader,

I'm sorry to say that the book you are holding in your hands is extremely unpleasant. It tells an unhappy tale about three very unlucky children. Even though they are charming and clever, the Baudelaire siblings lead lives filled with misery and woe. From the very first page of this book when the children are at the beach and receive terrible news, continuing on through the entire story, disaster lurks at their heels. One might say they are magnets for misfortune.

In this short book alone, the three youngsters encounter a greedy and repulsive villain, itchy clothing, a disastrous fire, a plot to steal their fortune, and cold porridge for breakfast.

It is my sad duty to write down these unpleasant tales, but there is nothing stopping you from putting this book down at once and reading something happy, if you prefer that sort of thing.

So you see, his writing style is different from other authors and instead of promoting his book, he seems to be telling people not to read his sad stories.

I decided to include an excerpt of the book:

The book you are holding in your two hands right now -- assuming that you are, in fact, holding this book, and that you have only two hands -- is one of two books in the world that will show you the difference between the word “nervous” and the word “anxious.” The other book, of course, is the dictionary, and if I were you I would read that book instead.

Like this book, the dictionary shows you that the word “nervous” means “worried about something”--you might feel nervous, for instance, if you were served prune ice cream for dessert, because you would be worried that it would taste awful--whereas the word “anxious” means “troubled by disturbing suspense,” which you might feel if you were served a live alligator for dessert, because you would be troubled by the disturbing suspense about whether you would eat your dessert or it would eat you. But unlike this book, the dictionary also discusses words that are far more pleasant to contemplate. The word “bubble” is in the dictionary, for instance, as is the word “peacock,” the word “vacation,” and the words “the” “author's” “execution” “has” “been” “canceled,” which make up a sentence that is always pleasant to hear. So if you were to read the dictionary, rather than this book, you could skip the parts about “nervous” and “anxious” and read about things that wouldn't keep you up all night long, weeping and tearing out your hair.

But this book is not the dictionary, and if you were to skip the parts about “nervous” and “anxious” in this book, you would be skipping the most pleasant sections in the entire story. Nowhere in this book will you find the words “bubble,” “peacock,” “vacation,” or, unfortunately for me, anything about an execution being canceled. Instead, I'm sorry to say, you will find the words “grief, “despair,” and “woeful” as well as the phrases “dark passageway,” “Count Olaf in disguise,” and “the Baudelaire orphans were trapped,” plus an assortment of miserable words and phrases that I cannot bring myself to write down. In short, reading a dictionary might make you feel nervous, because you would worry about finding it very boring, but reading this book will make you feel anxious, because you will be troubled by the disturbing suspense in which the Baudelaire orphans find themselves, and if I were you I would drop this book right out of your two or more hands and curl up with a dictionary instead, because all the miserable words I must use to describe these unfortunate events are about to reach your eyes.

The above was taken from the first chapter of the 6th book which I am reading now, titled "The Ersatz Elevator: Book the Sixth ".

Trust me, this book is really entertaining and I am already hooked on it. I hope to buy all the books soon!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

he has a unique way of introducing his books
you are into his sixth book already?

Miko said...

yup... the 6th book is very very funny!! The first 4 books are a bit boring but it gets better from the 5th onwards. Try it if u have time.