Lemony Snicket

[Kell]

I'm thinking of getting hold of the Lemony Snicket Series of Unfortunate Events books. Has anyone read them? Are they any good?

 

I'll freely admit, the main reason I'm attracted to them is I love the author's name!

[Inanna]

After seeing the film I have considered getting them, but haven't as of yet

[Maureen]

I love the author's name!

 

Me too!! and I love saying it. Go figure!

[Kell]

You know what? I had assumed, from the name, that the author was a womna, but it's a guy! And apparently it's pronounced le-MOAN-ie, rather than LEM-onn-ie. Imagnie my surprise!

[knitnurse]

Kell, did you see him on breakfast tv the other morning? Nothing like you would expect, and he was really flummoxing the presenters as he was a huge character

 

My daughter loves these books. Actually, she is nearly 10. I wonder if she would like to come on here and chat to Tiger She usually doesn't want to do anything that's MY idea

[Michelle]

She'd be very welcome - and if it's all a bit overwhelming, she can post here in the Young Person's section.

[Louiseog]

I've read Lemony Snicket and they are really good, clever and well written while not being patronising.

[Copper]

They're Great! I'm up to book nine and I just love them!

 

They keep you interested because the have a great sense of adventure and mystery!

 

I found some of the books more enjoyable than others though but I had to stick with them to find out what happened next!

[Tiger]

I've never actually read a Lemony Snicket book, although I have one from the library ready to be read.

[Sugar]

I read the first one, and I'm going to buck the trend. I really didn't enjoy the experience.

 

I actually found the style was incredibly patronising - particularly the use of long words with a definition in brackets afterwards (which means...).

 

Wild horses couldn't have dragged me to watch the film, and there is no way I would read another. There are too many other *good* books out there waiting for me!

 

I can appreciate that they are really popular and that they are developing vocabulary and that ever elusive love of reading in a previously hard to reach group, but they are certainly not for me.

[Louiseog]

I read the first one, and I'm going to buck the trend. I really didn't enjoy the experience.

 

I actually found the style was incredibly patronising - particularly the use of long words with a definition in brackets afterwards (which means...).

 

Wild horses couldn't have dragged me to watch the film, and there is no way I would read another. There are too many other *good* books out there waiting for me!

 

I can appreciate that they are really popular and that they are developing vocabulary and that ever elusive love of reading in a previously hard to reach group, but they are certainly not for me.

Think you've got a point, I read mine with 11 yesr old who hates reading and so the patronising bit actually helped him and made him laugh, kids quite like being sarcastic don't they?

Don't have the broad appeal of HP for example

[bethany725]

I just read the first in the "Series of Unfortunate Events" line recently, and am not sure what to think.. It was a quick, fun read, but I don't feel a real PULL to continue on the 2nd. I really like some children's and young adult's books, but I think I'm figuring out I may prefer a book that provides some closure, rather than being part of a long-ish series.

 

I may sit in the library one day and read a few more of the books to see if it grabs me, and I DO want to see the movie.

 

Anyone else read these lately or remember anything from their reading?

[Weave]

I have always wanted to read them but never got around it, Lemony Snicket's real name is Daniel Handler.

[bethany725]

I read that, too, about his real name.. And just for curiosity's sake, I scoured through the copyright page and other misc pages in the book to see if he's ever mentioned by his real name. Nope! He really took it on as a complete pseudonym and seemed to never look back during this series. It's such a funny name!

[Weave]

I read that, too, about his real name.. And just for curiosity's sake, I scoured through the copyright page and other misc pages in the book to see if he's ever mentioned by his real name. Nope! He really took it on as a complete pseudonym and seemed to never look back during this series. It's such a funny name!

 

He really has! its a different but fun name

[leah86]

I've been meaning to get these books for a while..Me and boyfriend went to see this film when it was first realesed in cinema and we both loved it (surprise because boyfriend usually just likes films with voilence in them!) I subsequently bought the DVD and now my 2 year old daughter loves watching it with me! She oves the little baby in it Sonny, i think. This thread has made me anxious to get the series all over again,so have just made my boyfriend promise to buy them for me!!

[Stephanie2008]

I've never read the books. I saw the film first and didn't even realise that it was based on books. I'm going to look out for them in future.

[Kell]

Just to update - I did eventually read the first one but was sorely disappointed and haven't bothered with the rest of the series as a result of that experience.

[bethany725]

So some of you that have seen the movie enjoyed it much better than the books it seems, right?

I think that I'm not doing a great job grasping what character development is there in the books -- because when I've seen trailers for the movie, the characters seem so well thought out, and it's what attracted me to the story. These quirky, odd characters with strong defining characteristics. I'm not getting the same feel from the char development in the book.

[MissWhitlock]

I read the books when I was about..10 or so, they were the books that made me love reading in the first place. I thought them quite entertaining and easy reads, although I've already read them once. Most of it is just childish stuff though, and the Unfortunate Events that happen to the children are so unrealistic, it's funny.

 

And with the patronising writing, I didn't really think any of it back then. I thought it helped me with the meaning of words and stuff. Besides, I liked his style of writing. It was for children, easy stuff so that kids can understand and find some humour in it, that's why I liked it so much.

 

I thought the movie was good as a movie, but as an adaptation of the books, was quite bad. VERY bad. VERY VERY bad. In fact, one of the worst.

[Martz]

My 9 year old daughter has the complete set of these and loves them. I read the first one with her and quite enjoyed it, then she got all independant on me and wanted to read the rest herself so never got any further with them. Might have to borrow them and give them a go! xxx

[atticjnr]

I haven't seen the films, nor have I read any of the books yet but every time I go to the book shop I always end up looking at the Lemony Snicket series. I am intriguied by the name, the blurb and the title of the series.

I think eventually I will have a shot at reading them but until I am really pressed for something to read, after seeing some peoples reactions on here, I will leave them on the book store shelf.

[bethany725]

I was intrigued by the same things you were Attic, plus the characters that seem so great in the film from the trailers.

I went ahead and picked up the 2nd one yesterday at the library because a) it's free to check things out and it will make fine, easy reading on the train or between the two "serious" books I got at the library and c) I really want to like this series!

We'll see if its all in vain....

[MissWhitlock]

Yes, I get really intruiged by the blurbs and also the things at the end of the book that's like.. a clue to the next book or something. I like those things.

[Rawr]

I had heard about the books, but saw the film randomly beforehand, i would be really interested in reading the novels, i thought the film seemed quite interesting xD