Thursday, October 26, 2006

THE END IS HERE

Greetings unfortunate reader. If you are reading this, you are certainly near to tears, either from relief or because you are devastated. Lemony Snicket has written his last book! It was released on Friday, October 13, it is his 13th book, and we have seen all we will ever see of the Baudelaire orphans. I will tell you no more, except to say that the ending ... well it wouldn't be too much to tell you there's fog, a shipwreck and tasteless humor (and crumpets).

I am in the school of readers who does not love Lemony Snicket books and who scratches her head in wonderment when I read that it provided solace (Count Olaf? disasters at every turn?) to children after 9/11. However, I gladly hand it to all comers -- like Harry Potter, the series has drawn in and captured a whole generation of readers who often would rather stare at a screen than a page. Whew -- keep 'em coming Mr. Handler!

For die-hard fans, Mr. Snicket has also published "Beatrice Letters," and a CD of series-inspired music (imagine listening to that at bedtime!).

(Parents: here is a link is to an interview that the New York Times did recently with Daniel Handler [author of the Lemony Snicket books]. It is mostly targeted to adults, featuring a discussion about why he wrote the books, impact on the publishing world, etc. You may find it interesting: http://podcasts.nytimes.com/podcasts/2006/10/20/21bookupdate.mp3. Who knows, maybe your kid will, too.)