Journal

A Series of Unfortunate Events

Posted on June 1st, 2005, in the afternoon

My family gave me the first book in 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' for Christmas. I held off from even looking at it for a couple of months, knowing full well that if I enjoyed it (and I knew I would) I would end up spending multiples of £6.99 for the rest of the hardback-only series.

I gave in a few weeks ago when I saw Waterstones had them all on 3 for 2. It's still a lot of money, but the books have a touch of brilliance about them that makes it almost worth it (a hard thing to admit for a card-carrying charity shoppist.) I'm now part way through 'Book the Tenth' of eleven released, with I think two more to come.

Here's a passage from book ten (I can't imagine it could possibly be a spoiler, but fair warning nonetheless) that sums up why I love these books:

"Can you give us a reason to trust you?" Violet said.

The scout looked down for a moment, and then turned his mask to face both Baudelaires. "One of you mentioned the word 'xenial,'" he said, "when you were talking with Bruce about that silly pledge. 'Xenial' is a word which refers to the giving of gifts to a stranger."

"He's right," Klaus murmured to his sister.

"I know that having good vocabulary doesn't guarantee that I'm a good person, " the boy said. "But it does mean I've read a great deal. And in my experience, well-read people are less likely to be evil."

Violet and Klaus looked at one another through their masks. Neither of them were entirely convinced by what the masked scout had said. There are, of course, plenty of evil people who have read a great many books, and plenty of very kind people who seem to have found some other method of spending their time. But the Baudelaires knew that there was a kind of truth to the boy's statement, and they had to admit that they preferred to take their chances with a stranger who knew what the word "xenial" meant, rather than exiting the cave and trying to find the headquarters all by themselves.

Lemony Snicket, The Slippery Slope

Dark, Dahlish humour, pantomime villainy, ridiculous adventure, an unfolding mystery, zany inventions, moments of genuine poignancy and an education in the English language all at the same time.

Even Dictionary.com comes up blank for 'xenial'.