Lemony Snicket Comes Back with (Almost) All the Right Responses

Known for his Series of Unfortunate Events on the trials and tribulations of the four Beaudelaire orphans, Lemony Snicket is back with the first of a new series, All the Wrong Questions, starting with "Who Could That Be at This Hour?".  Narrated by the almost-thirteen-year-old Lemony Snicket (spelled the way it sounds), who is graduated from an unusual education to become the Apprentice of a Chaperone, except for one glaring error, the series promises to be mysterious, fast-paced and full of delightful wordplay and literally references that cheeky almost-any-aged readers would adore.

In this introductory story, Lemony Snicket has his own agenda for his time as Apprentice, but is foiled by the change of plans, his Chaperone S. Theodora Markson whisking him out of the unnamed City to a nearly deserted village called Stain'd-by-the-Sea.  They cross an inlet that has been drained of its water so that the village's name is already wrong -- it is no longer by the sea.  The village had the reputation of providing the blackest, most staining ink, derived from scared octopi.  Rumor has it that that's falling by the wayside, also.

The village consists of a lot of abandoned buildings, a lighthouse which used to house the newspaper, a public library cum police station which used to be City Hall, The Lost Inn and a promising independent coffeeshop called The Black Cat.  It is scarcely populated with characters who are sinisterly colorful: Prosper Lost whose inn's lobby houses a statue when described by Snicket sounds suspiciously like the ancient Greek statue famously known as Venus de Milo and a lone telephone which seems to be continuously in use; Pip & Squeak -- two young boys who drive their father's taxicab around, taking tips for fares (useful ones like, "Next time you're at the library, check out a book about a champion of the world" are much appreciated); the Officers Mitchum -- partners in crime-fighting and domesticity, Dashiell Qwerty, who has been the sub-librarian of Stain'd's public library since the last one left, because the town can't afford a permanent librarian, et al., et al.

This new effort by Lemony Snicket (albeit his almost-twelve self) is a wonderfully fun ride for the seriously philosophical and promises to be an equally intriguing series.

And, what's that one "glaring error" in the book?  Well, that's the wrong question.

All I Want For Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa... Is (Are?)

Peace, Love, Good Health and Good Cheer!

However, I hope that everyone else wants a printed bound book, or perhaps an audio for the drive to Grandma's.  The poem -- "Over the River and Through the Woods," which I had learned as a schoolchild in song form, is actually about Thanksgiving (more on that wonderful holiday in a different post).

Hanukkah this year begins early, right at the same time as Advent, and right before Downtown Dixon's 22nd Annual Christmas Walk, always on the first Friday of December.  In recent years there has been a split of opinion on whether Friday night or Saturday morning is the better time for celebrating Christmas, with Santa and chestnuts roasting on the open Weber grill.  It was traditionally a time for shopkeepers in Downtown Dixon to showcase wares for sale: gift-giving, decorating and partying ideas for the holidays.  Besides being a wonderful evening out (especially when the weather was lovely), it became a time for tweenies to let loose.  Their behaviour became a little difficult to deal with, especially with the proliferation of the aerosol string that seems so fun and so funny to that age group -- too old for sitting on Santa's lap or even following the parents around while they oooh and ahhh at decorations and previously mentioned wares, yet too young to wander too far away on their own.  So, the event in the last couple or so years has been a great compromise -- an 18- or 30-hour affair.  Books on First really gears up for the Friday night event, in which we sell a tremendous amount of hot chocolate.

Of what we don't sell a tremendous number are holiday titles, traditional like Over the River and Through the Woods or newer ones, like Lemony Snicket's The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming which bridges the Jewish/Christian/secular divide.  We do have an incredible selection, including Doctor Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas (which actually started life as a television special before becoming a book), Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol as a pop-up "paper engineered" by Bruce Fischer and In the Dark Streets Shineth, A 1941 Christmas Eve Story as told by David McCullough.

And to mention a favored audio: NPR's Holiday Favorites, a CD featuring David Sedaris's "Santaland Diaries" and other humorous and heartwarming pieces for the holidays (including Hanukkah and Kwanzaa).  This audio, however, does not have the formerly perennial holiday airing recorded by John Henry Faulks.  I would have liked to see a revival of the now politically incorrect rendering of “the wonderfulest Christmas in the United States of America.”  This is the opposite of "Over the River and Through the Woods," in that I have talked with someone who thought the story was told at Thanksgiving time, because she remembered the black and white families sharing dinner together.  I recalled (correctly this time) that this was a Christmas story, because I remembered the boy getting an orange from Santa and "stripey" candy.  I have not heard this aired in years, while she recalled hearing it just last year.  While not "PC," the story not only represents a tradition, but reflects America at a different time in our history, when we honestly talked about racial discrimination (government Christmas gifting maybe not available for colored folks) and poverty (maybe this was a family who doesn't have Christmas) and the glories of FDR's New Deal for which we Americans could be proud.  In this age of Tea Party ranting about "runaway government," but no one willing to share the hurt, all of this frankness certainly is no longer Politically Correct.