My Storytelling Mind

This is the fourteenth post in a series leading up to the premiere of Netflix's 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' on January 13, 2017. The series will cover each of the 13 books and 'Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography.' Be warned: there are spoilers ahead. The autobiography was released before the ninth book in the series, The Carnivorous Carnival . Although it's declared "unauthorized," it is in fact officially and takes us on a journey to learn about our ever-vigilant author and the mysterious VFD organization. Made of compiled facsimile documents, clippings, and blurry photographs, this book does answer some questions ASOUE series readers would have. Unfortunately, the book also brings up a whole new medley of questions. We get glimpses of events in the pasts of several adults in the series, and some explanations for actions they took that were previously incomprehensible. The autobiography also explains the eye tattoo, so wel...

This is the thirteenth post in a series leading up to the premiere of Netflix's 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' on January 13, 2017. The series will cover each of the 13 books and 'Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography.' Be warned: there are spoilers ahead. The Baudelaires and Olaf shipwreck on an island, where the siblings are welcomed by a girl named Friday; Olaf is shunned. Island facilitator Ishmael takes in the Baudelaires and introduces them to the island's strangely oppressive customs, which the siblings secretly defy. Kit Snicket and the Incredibly Deadly Viper also wash up on the shore, and Olaf attempts to pass himself off as Kit to the islanders. For the first time in the entire series, the adults see right through his terrible disguise. Eventually, the children (for holding "contraband" items) and Olaf are kicked out of the community. However, the Baudelaires discover Ishmael's hypocrisy, in addition to his corruption an...

This is the twelfth post in a series leading up to the premiere of Netflix's 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' on January 13, 2017. The series will cover each of the 13 books and 'Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography.' Be warned: there are spoilers ahead. This is the second-to-last Baudelaire adventure our melancholy author writes for us. Here, with some introduction from Kit Snicket, the Baudelaires begin work as concierges at the enigmatic Hotel Denouement, just as the intriguing VFD meeting brings together several familiar characters from the Baudelaires' story. Tasked with discovering if J.S. is villain or volunteer, the Baudelaires must also contend with identical twin managers - one who is a villain named Ernest and the other who is a volunteer named Frank. Violet completes a task for Esme Squalor and Carmelita Spats, involving a harpoon gun, and discovers J.S. might spoil Esme's party; she also overhears that Esme's unusual glasses ...

This is the eleventh post in a series leading up to the premiere of Netflix's 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' on January 13, 2017. The series will cover each of the 13 books and 'Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography.' Be warned: there are spoilers ahead. The submarine "Queequeg" saves the Baudelaires from the river, and they meet eccentric Captain Widdershins, his aspiring mycologist stepdaughter Fiona, and the ship's cook, Phil, whose optimism you may recall from The Miserable Mill. Sailing under the motto "He (or she) who hesitates is lost," the Queequeg crew are searching for the mysterious sugar bowl. Thanks to Klaus' interpretive work with some tidal charts, he determines it to be in the Gorgonian Grotto. Count Olaf is still in pursuit, with his own octopus-shaped submarine, but there is also a suspicious question-mark-shaped sub that continually drives the villain off. Fiona discovers, in her mycological textboo...

This is the tenth post in a series leading up to the premiere of Netflix's 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' on January 13, 2017. The series will cover each of the 13 books and 'Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography.' Be warned: there are spoilers ahead. With Sunny held hostage by Olaf and Esme, Klaus and Violet must make their way up Mortmain Mountain, surviving the cold and the rather odd group of Snow Scouts. This makes the return of Carmelita Spats and the introduction of someone working with VFD. Olaf's troupe grows as two unknown villains, whom Olaf seems afraid of, arrive and begin dispensing advice and "in" cigarettes. A story of fire and ice, The Slippery Slope leads the way to deeper, darker secrets. This time the disguise is worn by Quigley Quagmire, the missing and presumed dead Quagmire triplet. The codes, usually abbreviating to VFD, are used by nearly everyone from each direction. Through the Vertical Flame Diversion ...

This is the ninth post in a series leading up to the premiere of Netflix's 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' on January 13, 2017. The series will cover each of the 13 books and 'Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography.' Be warned: there are spoilers ahead. Hiding in the trunk of Olaf's car leads the Baudelaires to the Caligari Carnival, where he and Esme seek the mysterious Madame Lulu, owner of the carnival and a fortune-teller who might know the whereabouts of the Snicket files. The Baudelaires try their hands at disguises again, they learn something more about VFD, and more people tragically die. In addition to the cruelty surrounding the 'freaks' and abused lions, the Baudelaires discover the cruelty of the truth that no person is truly noble or good. With limited disguise resources, the siblings still manage convincing 'freaks' costumes: Violet and Klaus become two-headed Beverly and Elliot, while Sunny becomes Chabo the ...

This is the eighth post in a series leading up to the premiere of Netflix's 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' on January 13, 2017. The series will cover each of the 13 books and 'Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography.' Be warned: there are spoilers ahead. On their first misadventure entirely on their own, the Baudelaires travel to the Heimlich Hospital, home of a Library of Records that might hold clues about VFD and the Baudelaires themselves. Unfortunately, Olaf and Esme know all about the records and are intent on destroying any incriminating them. When Violet is captured, Klaus and Sunny use anagrams and amateur disguises to help her escape from a deadly craniectomy. Although they escape the hospital, they aren't yet much closer to discovering the truth. The dynamics of the Baudelaire story have clearly changed at the start of this eighth installment. Instead of Olaf fiendishly following the Baudelaires, the Baudelaires have struck out on...

This is the seventh post in a series leading up to the premiere of Netflix's 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' on January 13, 2017. The series will cover each of the 13 books and 'Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography.' Be warned: there are spoilers ahead. In a take on the well-known saying, "It takes a village," the Baudelaires are to be cared for by the village of VFD, provided they do several daily chores and do not break any of the multitude of rules. The siblings, with the help of handyman Hector, begin discovering a series of couplets, clues that could lead them to the Quagmires. When a captured man named Jacques Snicket is declared to be Count Olaf, sentenced to death by fire at the stake, and then found dead in his cell, the entire village proves itself to be just as frustrating and inept as the rest of the adults in the series. Utilizing mob psychology and the last in a series of bad disguises, Count Olaf manages to execute a Sn...

This is the sixth post in a series leading up to the premiere of Netflix's 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' on January 13, 2017. The series will cover each of the 13 books and 'Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography.' Be warned: there are spoilers ahead. Orphans are in this season. Esme Squalor, and her husband Jerome, are the Baudelaires' new guardians. Life at 666 Dark Avenue means a penthouse apartment, an affinity for fashionable fads, and dining out at places with waiters dressed like fish. Unfortunately, this building hides a secret passage in an elevator shaft, a cage with two triplets, and a questionable auction with Lot VFD. Bizarrely, The Ersatz Elevator is the most normal book of the series. There is a steady home, a disorganized but generally interested adoptive couple, new clothes, and a generally non-stressful environment. Of course, that changes. But the point is that this was a promising home until Esme Squalor's true natu...

This is the fifth post in a series leading up to the premiere of Netflix's 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' on January 13, 2017. The series will cover each of the 13 books and 'Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography.' Be warned: there are spoilers ahead. In terms of child care, The Austere Academy is almost a redemptive misadventure for Mr. Poe, as he's endeavoring to get the kids back into some sort of regular life by attending school again. However, the school puts the Baudelaires, as orphans, at a complete disadvantage throughout the entire book. With the self-absorbed violin-playing Principal Nero, the oblivious and ridiculous teachers, and the cruel Carmelita Spats, the children are destined for a terrible educational experience. Aside from the oppressive nature of The Austere Academy , this book is unique in one important regard: The Austere Academy introduces friendship for the Baudelaires. Here, among crab-infested shacks and night se...

This is the fourth post in a series leading up to the premiere of Netflix's 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' on January 13, 2017. The series will cover each of the 13 books and 'Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography.' Be warned: there are spoilers ahead. The Miserable Mill , compared to the rest of the series, seems a bit out of place. The children are taken to live and work at a logging mill. Aside from the clear child labor and general labor law violations that follow, it's not really clear why Mr. Poe brings the children here, allows them to work here, or is so incredibly oblivious to the obvious child abuse. Supposedly it has to do with a "fair deal," wherein the dubious Sir "protects" the children from Count Olaf as long as the siblings work there. This is the first book in the series in which Count Olaf pulled in some outside help. Dr. Orwell, an optician who specializes in hypnotism, works with Olaf to sabotage the ...

This is the third post in a series leading up to the premiere of Netflix's 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' on January 13, 2017. The series will cover each of the 13 books and 'Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography.' Be warned: there are spoilers ahead. Again, the Baudelaires must relocate to the home of a new guardian, an Aunt Josephine. Aunt Josephine is in love with grammar and afraid of everything else, perhaps proving the mind-altering theory of solitary confinement. Her husband, Ike, was eaten by leeches in the lake, which is overlooked by Aunt Josephine's house literally on a cliff. Count Olaf pursues the Baudelaires yet again and the siblings display their incredible sense of ingenuity in the face of adults' willing ignorance. The Wide Window discusses themes and motifs like irrational fear, trauma, allergies, bad disguises, code-breaking, and how you shouldn't eat before traveling on a lake filled with leeches. Snicket suggest...

This is the second post in a series leading up to the premiere of Netflix's 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' on January 13, 2017. The series will cover each of the 13 books and 'Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography.' Be warned: there are spoilers ahead. The Reptile Room , the second installment of Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, continues the darker themes that will remain throughout the series and solidly cements Count Olaf's villainy. With Count Olaf having escaped in the first book, Mr. Poe finds a new guardian for the Baudelaire siblings. This time, although we know Mr. Poe does hardly any research into guardians or legal jargon, Mr. Poe seems successful in his attempt to find a proper guardian. Dr. Montgomery Montgomery, a herpetologist (that's the study of reptiles), would indeed be the ideal guardian for the Baudelaires, valuing Klaus' love for books, Violet's talents as an inventor, and Sunny's interes...

This is the first post in a series leading up to the premiere of Netflix's 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' on January 13, 2017. The series will cover each of the 13 books and 'Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography.' Be warned: there are spoilers ahead. Lemony Snicket (AKA Daniel Handler) has one of the most fascinating writing styles you will ever read. Somewhere on the spectrum between existentialism and realism, A Series of Unfortunate Events covers the surprisingly unsoftened story of the Baudelaire orphans: Violet, Klaus, and Sunny. The first book, noticeably shorter and simpler than the following increments in the series, starts at the beginning, which is shockingly bad. When the orphans lose their parents, and home, in a house fire, their parents' executor, the coughing and inept Mr. Poe, sends them to live with odious and villainous Count Olaf.  The Bad Beginning focuses on a short span of time, from the orphans' introducti...

With daily prompts up and running again, and me spending more time reading on public transportation (and being a massive dork), I couldn't help being super excited when Netflix released the first teaser trailer for the upcoming show. That excitement reached peak levels this morning when I found out about the official website . Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events was a major part of my childhood library. It was a fantastical series that didn't worry all that much about frightening or shocking any children that might stumble across the books. It also served as a significantly more fun dictionary for avid readers. With the new series starting up in fourteen weeks, I decided to start a series of my own. Each week, I'll read one of the books: starting with Bad Beginning on October 13th , and continuing through all 13 books in the series and Snicket's own Unauthorized Autobiography . Stay tuned for reviews every Thursday from October 13th through J...