Lemony Snickett: The Unauthorized Autobiography

Lemony Snickett: The Unauthorized Autobiography, Harper Collins Publishers, New York, 2002.

This is more of the same as the Unfortunate Events series.  However in this case there is no plot.  There is a chapter where a person disguised as a cow is wandering around to discover what happened to Uncle Monty’s reptile collection.  This book has the same style, of just wandering form this to that without any reason.  The Unfortunate Event books had a plot.  This does no, but is written in the same style.  The only part I enjoyed was the explanation of why the telegraphs sent by the Baudelaire children were unanswered.  The answer is that the bank was convinced that telegrams could cause harm.  Many people were easily manipulated which allowed the unfortunate events to take place. 

Movie review: ***^Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events (2004)

This movie of Lemony Snicket's Unfortunate Events takes scenes from the first three books.  It also adds a few scenes.  It comes back to the end of the first book for its ending.  Not being true to the story, this movie is true to the characters.  The three Baudelaire children are wonderful.  Jim Carry makes an excellent villain as Count Olaf.  And the relatives are wonderful, Meryl Streep as Aunt Josephine and Bill Connolly as Uncle Monty.  The scenes with Uncle Monty are my favorite.  I really enjoyed the most deadly viper.  I still do not like the forced wedding.  Catharine O'Hara plays Justice Strauss.  In the movie the wedding is foiled differently than in the book.  In this case Klaus comes to the rescue rather than a left handed signing.  I have fun with this story.

Picture Book review: Lemony Snicket's A series of Unfortunate Events Behind the Scenes with Count Olaf

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events: Behind the Scenes with Count Olaf, Harper Entertainment, New York, 2004.
This is a pictorial behind the scenes at the making of the movie, from the viewpoint of Count Olaf.  Count Olaf has a very interesting perspective on life, and this book provides a look into that character/  Of course the movie Count Olaf was portrayed by Jim Carrey.  We get costuming pictures, sets and other interesting aspects.

Book Review: The End: A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket

A Series of Unfortunate Events: The End by Lemony Snicket, illustrated by Brett Helquist, Harper Collins, New York, 2006.
I finished this series a few weeks back, but always have a hard time with finishing a series when I have enjoyed the characters so much.  In this case the characters are the Baudelaire orphans Violet, Klaus and Sunny; and also Count Olaf.  These four go to the end of the book.  Olaf releases the deadly spores of the Medusoid Mycelium, and refuses to take the antidote apple until it is too late.  He succumbs.  The orphans only discovered the antidote by reading the history their parents had written.  The orphans try of also save Kit Snicket who is in labor.  Again the deadly spores over come her, but not before they are able to help her deliver a healthy baby.  In this way, the story marks the end of one adventure, and the beginning of another.  The orphans are thrust into the parenting role rather quickly.
I have enjoyed the characters immensely, but was disappointed with so many questions still being left unanswered, particularly with regards to the Quagmire triplets.  We find out the went to confront some strange beast, but that is the last we know of them.

Book Review: The Penultimate Peril by Lemony Snicket

The Penultimate Peril: A Series of Unfortunate Events Book the Twelfth by Lemony Snicket, illustrated by Brett Helquist, Harper Collins Publishers, New York, 2005.
Here is the continuing sage,  and penultimate means the next to last peril.  In this book, our orphans seem a bit different than who they have been.  They make it to the last resting place, the Hotel Denouement.  Her they are set up as Concierges and spies.  They watch, but when there is so much to see, it is hard to figure out what is happening.  The are blamed for another murder, as the harpoon gun goes off as they are taking it from Count Olaf.  They see an ally struck dead as a result.  They at the same time determine to take things in their own hands, and help Olaf put fire to the hotel.  Who knows who escapes, but it does serve as a signal to their friends that things are not safe.  The help Count Olaf make his escape, leaving with him.

Book Review: The Grim Grotto by Lemony Snicket

The Grim Grotto: A series of Unfortunate Events Book the Eleventh by Lemony Snicket, illustrated by Brett Helquist, Harper Collins, New York, 2004.
These books increase in intensity as the go along.  This on we almost lose Sunny, who ingests a poisonous fungus, and only when Violet, Sunny and Klaus working together are they able to come up with an antidote.  Again our heroes orphans are in trouble through out, this time in a submarine.  And again they are betrayed by people the think should be on their side, and stand up to the evil Count Olaf.

Book Review: The Slippery Slope: A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket

The Slippery Slope: A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the Tenth by Lemony Snicket, illustrated by Brett Helquist, Scholastic, New York 2005, Harper Collins, New York 2003.
The tenth installment of the Unfortunate Events keeps the same general flavor, with new perils, and meeting a new friend.  The Baudelaire Orphans continue pursuing the mystery of what VFD might stand for, and what does the organization mean to them.  The make a new friend, the third member of the Quagmire triplets.  And together the find the headquarters for VFD; but only after it has been burned to the ground by cohorts of Count Olaf.  The two who burned the headquarter are so evil even Count Olaf is scared of them.  They are going to take Olaf's gang to new levels of despicability.  The Baudelaires, Violet and Klaus at the headquarters sifting through the remains, and Sunny with Count Olaf's men serving as cook, and being a spy, both discover that there is still hope.  The followers of VFD are going to meat for a meeting.  However, the destiny of our heroes is imperiled at the end, as the toboggan away from Olaf and his evil cohorts, but end up in a river, and separated from the Quagmire Triplet.  I am enjoying these books, and appreciate the dry humor of Snicket.  He is always advising his readers go away, so as to avoid a sad story, and I just keep coming back for more.

Book Review: The Carnivorous Carnival by Lemony Snicket

The Carnivorous Carnival: A Series of Unfortunate Event Book the Ninth by Lemony Snicket, illustrated by Brett Helquist, Harper Collins, New York 2002, Scholastic 2003, New York, 2003.
The adventure takes us now to a carnival, with a fortune teller, and three new coworkers who should be friends, but things don't turn out that way.  There is also Count Olaf with a pack of lions, and he wants to improve attendance at the carnival by giving people a live show of a lion eating someone.  It does bring the crowds, and the lions get there way, but not with the intended victims.  This is again a story of betrayal, and outright abuse as Count Olaf and Esme, his girlfriend, continue to seek the Baudelaire fortune.

Book Review: The Hostile Hospital by Lemony Snicket

The Hostile Hospital: A Series of Unfortunate Events Book the Eighth by Lemony Snicket, illustrated by Brett Helquist, Harper Collins, New York 2001, Scholastic, New York, 2002.
I keep coming back to the Series of Unfortunate Events.  Each book the author says the reader should go elsewhere because of the depressing events which happen to the Baudelaire orphans, but I keep coming back.  I think it is because I like the characters, Violet the inventor who ties her hair in a ribbon when she wants to think, Klaus the scholar, who loves books, and then Sunny, the baby who likes to chew things.  These three character make for an interesting read.
In this book, the orphans are escaping from an accusation that they are murderers, which was promoted by the real murderer, Count Olaf.  They seek refuge in a hospital, sleeping in the unfinished side.  They are looking for the "Snicket File" which hopefully will shed more light on their circumstances.  They only find one page, and this page gives them hope on of their parents may still be alive.  However, they are again caught in a web created by Count Olaf.  In stealing the keys to the hospital library, looking for the file, they violated the trust of the caretaker.  However when Olaf burns the library, and the hospital, they are blamed for much more.  Mixed in her is the almost cerebral decapitation of Violet, as part of an operation in the hospital.
Our orphans stay in a miserable circumstance, which only gets worse.

Book Review: The Vile Village: Series of Unfortunate Events: Book the Seventh

The Vile Village: Series of Unfortunate Events: Book the Seventh by Lemony Snicket, illustrated by Brett Helquist, Harper Collins, New York, 2001.
This is the continuing sage of the Baudelaire children.  The big the Vile Village because it is called V.F.D.  In this case the initials refer to Village of Foul Devotees.  The town is infested with crows, and the village members almost worship them.  There is one thing worse than crows every place, and that is Count Olaf and his henchmen, who also show up.  However, they keep getting messages from Quagmire triplets.  Klaus has to put the messages together, to discover where they triplets are, so they can be rescued.  At the same time they must rescue themselves.  The Village is their guardian, but actually it is just Hector who cares for them.  Hector is afraid of the town council, so goes along with the purpose of the Baudelaires is to clean after everyone.
In this  book, the children do better at rescuing than saving themselves.  The are accused of a murder, of Count Olaf no less, who actually murdered Jaques Snicket, who had information for the children.  However he isn't allowed to deliver his message before he is murdered, and the Baudelaire children are framed.
The Baudelaires and the Quagmires, and Hector attempt to make their escape in the invention of Harold which Violet improved.  A self sustaining floating vehicle.  In the end, the Quagmires escape, and the Baudelaires get away on foot in the end, and just miss the Quagmire notes which have more information on VFD.
Each book the kids are frustrated in finding information abut their parents, the fire, and who is this Jaques Snicket that had a message for them.
There is plenty to keep you coming back for more of this, even though the author sends you away at the beginning of each book.

Book Review: The Ersatz Elevator: A Series of Unfortunate Events Book the Sixth

The Ersatz Elevator: A series of Unfortunate Events: Book the Sixth, by Lemony Snicket, illustrated by Brett Helquist, Harper Collins Publishers, New York, 2001.
I keep coming back to these books, and the reason I think is because of the characters, the three orphans, and the evil Olaf.  However in this book we are introduced to a new villain, the Count's girlfriend, Esme.  She is evil as he, and very devious besides.  In this case, the orphans must climb down and elevator shaft (a fake elevator, to rescue their friends the Quagmire Triplets.  However in this they don't succeed, and they almost end up falling to the bottom.
Strange thing the discover, a tunnel leading from the apartment complex of Esme, their guardian, to the ruins of their home that was burned.
Again lots of fun, with peril and problem solving, which things make for a good book.  The illustrations are unique in that the give a different angle to look at things.

Book Review: The Austere Academy: A Series of Unfortunate Events 5

The Austere Academy: A Series of Unfortunate Events: Book the Fifth by Lemony Snicket, illustrated by Brett Helquist, Harper Collins Publisher, New York, 2000.
Thins become even more unfortunate for our orphans, however in this book they make some friends; only for them to be snatched away.  The austere academy is Prufrock Preparatory, and a good environment for children it is not.  The vice principle, Mr. Nero should not be anywhere near children.  And belittling of orphans seems to be encouraged, and in fact is promoted and conducted by the vice-principle who forces the Baudelaires to live in a shack, with mold and toe pinching crabs.  When the school gets a new gym teacher things go from bad to dreadful; and we can all guess who that teacher is.  The gym teacher requires the children to run laps all night, so there is no way they can do their school work during the day--they are just too tired.  So they can't figure out what the plan of Count Olaf might be.

Book review: The Miserable Mill: A Series of Unfortunate Evens Book the Fourth

The Miserable Mill: A Series of Unfortunate Evens Book the Fourth by Lemony Snicket, illustrated by Brett Helquist, Harper Collins Publishers, New York, 2000.

this is the most disturbing of the Unfortunate Book to this point, because this book uses hypnotism, and manipulating of one of the siblings to do evil work.  In this book the caretaker for the children is indifferent and aloof, and abusive.  He requires the children to work in bad conditions, does not feed them properly, and never even divulges his name, nor his face at it is always surrounded by cigar smoke.
However it is the optometrist and her secretary that are the big problem in this book.  Their office is shaped like the tattoo of an eye on the Count's ankle.  Even though their caretaker promises to keep Count Olaf away, he is their disguised as a secretary spying on the children.
Klaus is hypnotized, and violet must find a way to save hime by reading.  For his part, Klaus has to invent something to save the day from a terrible accident.  Sunny uses his teeth as a sword in a vicious sword fight.

Book Review: The Wide Window: A Series of Unfortunate Events: Book the Third

The Wide Window: A Series of Unfortunate Events: Book the Third, by Lemony Snicket, illustrations by Brett Helquist, Scholastic Inc, New York, 2000.
This is the continuing sage of the Baudelaire children and their nemesis Count Olaf.  In this story, the children are placed with a well meaning guardian, but who is so overwhelmed by her own fears she is unable to provide a good home.  They always eat cold food because she is afraid of the stove.  She is also afraid of the phone and just about everything else.  This is since her husband was eaten by leaches which live in the lake lake next to their home.  In the end, she runs away and hides, leaving everyone thinking she had committed suicide.  They important lesson the children are learning is that as a team they are pretty formidable.  However they each have their own part to play, even Sunny the baby.  Violet figures things out, Klaus knows about books, and maps, and Sunny is good as just doing what needs to be done.  The banker continues to be a fool, and often makes decisions which are harmful to the children.  And the Count keeps coming back, this time as a sea Captain.
I am still having fun with this series of books.
I have been looking more closely at the illustrations in light of the illustrator being a graduate of BYU.  The front cover has a color picture and the rest is sketches.  However I am intrigued how with lines, a person can make ruffled clothing, or waves of an angry ocean.  very well done.

Book Review: The Reptile Room: Series of Unfortunate Event 2

The Reptile Room: A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the Second by Lemony Snicket, illustration by Brett Helquist, Harper Collins Publisher, New York, 1999.
This book continue the tragic story of our three orphans.  In this case, they are taken in by a kind guardian, Uncle Monty, who studies snakes.  He has collected snakes from all over the world.  Everything goes well until he hires a new assistant.  However the new assistant is actually Count Olaf.  The orphans have a terrible time convincing anyone of his identity, and then it is too late, Uncle Monte dies from an apparent snake bite, and the assistant (Olaf) is in a rush to take the orphans on a trip to Peru, where he can get their money and dispose of the kids.  Will no one come to their rescue, or if not how can the three siblings make thing right?  I am having great fun with this series, and with the personalities of the three children.

Book Review: The Bad Beginning or, Orphans (A Series of Unfortunate Events No. 1)

The Bad Beginning or, Orphans: A Series of Unfortunate Events No. 1, by Lemony Snicket, illustrations by Brett Helquist, Harpertrophy, New York, 1999.
This is the beginning of this series of 13 books.  In this we are introduced to three children, the Baudelaire children, Violet, Klaus and Sunny, who are made orphans in the first chapter.  They have inherited a large fortune, which is the only reason anyone takes an interest in them.  Certainly Mr. Poe from the bank, really is not interested in their welfare, but his status at the bank with handling a large account.  And definitely no Count Olaf, who schemes of getting his hands on the money.  Mr. Poe appoints the Count as their legal guardian.  The judge who lives next door would take an interest, but the cannot live with her as she is not a relative.  The parents will, before being burned in a fire, states they must be raised by relatives.
In this book terrible things happen.  they are made to live in deplorable conditions, they are set to do excessive amounts of work, but worse Klaus is hit, Sunny is locked in a cage, and Violet is force to marry the Count.  It seems they have no where to turn, and those who should have protected them fail to do so.
Lemony Snicket's style of writing is very catching.  He often goes down, "you shouldn't read this book" etc.  He also has an interesting way of explaining words.

TV Review: A Series of Unfortunate Events (2017)

I thoroughly enjoyed this 8 part series taken from the Lemony Snicket books.  the first two episodes are entitled, the Bad Beginning.  And it really is a terrible beginning.  While at the beach, the Baudelaire children, Violet (Malina Weissman), Klaus (Louise Hynes), and Sunny (Presley Smith)  discover that their parent have perished in a fire, and they are farmed by the bank to Count Olaf (Neil Patrick Harris), who is their closest relative (lives closest) rather than a relative they may have actually met.  Patrick Warburton as Lemony Snicket narrates.  Count Olaf is not a good man, and he will stop at nothing to get his hands on the Baudelaire fortune which is  tied up in trust until violet comes of age.  The Count figure to outwit the banker, Mr. Poe (K. Todd Freeman).  He has had his way so far with his terrible acting company (henchmen).  In the first episode Joan Cusack guest stars as the neighbor who is a judge.  The children wish she could rescue them.  The schemes cooked up by the Count are terribly devious, including his marrying violet, while he holds Baby Sunny as leverage.  Plenty of unfortunate events take place in this movie to keep it entertaining.  The "Turn Away" song at the beginning of each episode is quite entertaining by itself.  Neil Patrick Harris sings the theme song for each episode in the character he has taken.  The Count is like a bad cat that keeps coming back.  In the first he plays himself, an actor, the second he portrays a scientist's assistant, and actually murders the scientist.  the third he is a sea captain with a peg leg, and the fourth he is in drag as the secretary to an optometrist, who is a former love.  There adventures carry them through a lizard room, a cliff by a lake, and finally to a factory where the worker work for nothing.  This is very entertaining.  It is available through Netflix and appears to be a made-for-Netflix series.