Lemony Snicket
I had a chat with Lemony Snicket last night.If you have NO idea who that is, don't feel bad. It probably just means that you don't have kids, or that you have kids but your kids aren't cool. It's not too late. Don't despair.
Lemony Snicket is the nom de plume of Daniel Handler, author of "A Series of Unfortunate Events." The 13-book series details the misadventures of the three Baudelaire orphans. There is far more tragedy than triumph but the reader can never say that he/she hasn't been warned. Snicket all but begs us to put the books down and find something more palatable. Sadly the writing is too good, the story too compelling, the wordplay too much fun, the humor too...humorous. And so we are sucked in.
There is solace in knowing that we are not alone. Handler is the best-selling children's author in America. And the "America" qualification only exists because of one Ms. Rowling who dwells across the pond. The series has sold over 52 million books. And, oh, did I mention that I had a chat with him last night?
Handler is, as one would expect, pretty darn funny. He was quite experienced at glad-handing all the nice ladies from the Library Association at Fresno State. Also experienced at fending off their thinly-veiled flirtation. I was privy to many conversations among said ladies later and many of them mentioned Handler's "cute little cheeks." I was not there for the cheeks. I was at this private, pre-talk reception because I have a very cool mother-in-law with a lot of pull at CSUF.
I approached Handler with two books. One was for him to sign (my copy of the last book in the series, "The End") and one for me to read between the reception and the talk since I was flying solo on this mission. I had just started Abraham by Bruce Feiler. Handler grabbed it and looked it over. The subtitle of the book is "A Journey to the Heart of Three Faiths" and he asked if it was talking about Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. I confirmed that it was and joked that he was welcome to sign it if he wanted. He did, crossing out the scripture reference on the title page as he did. I noticed this later and kept my ears open for other indications of his spiritual bent. There were a few. It became obvious as the evening wore on that Mr. Handler was a lapsed Jew, fitting the stereotype of a 21st Century San Fransican. The disdain for conservatism oozed from each and every pore. Still, he was funny.
After signing "Abraham" (as himself, sadly...the forgery would have been better), he signed his own book: "27, III, 2007 Daniel Handler (allegedly L.S.)" I wandered off and chatted with some strangers (I knew next to nobody at this event but I found that middle-aged, book-reading women are quite easy to converse with...and since I am devoid of cute little cheeks, everything was on the up-and-up). Finally I saw a couple of good friends of my mother-in-law who I knew would want some updates on James. So I sat at their table for a few minutes.
It wasn't long until someone led Handler over to our table. One of the ladies was recovering from knee surgery and her friend was bringing the mountain to Mohammed ("Abraham" may be rubbing off on me). Handler was happy to sit with her and sign all of her books, chatting the while with all of us. The line followed him over and he remained seated next to me for about ten minutes, signing and chatting, chatting and signing. We talked about everything from kid's lit to "Throwing Muses" Oh, and "Hunkpapa." See? I'm conversant.
Soon he was spirited away for a sound check. Due to my mother-in-law's extremely high status in the CSUF cabal, I knew this was coming. Thus when he had to leave 30 minutes before the event was to end, I looked very cool when I glanced around at confused faces and said, "Sound check." At least, that is what I imagine "cool" would look like.
The talk was excellent. Well-written as one would expect. Handler charmed and amused. The kids (and there were many) were delighted as he incorporated audience-members into the talk. There was a brief question-and-answer period filled with exactly what you would expect if you've read any of his work: "Who's Beatrice? What is VFD? Is Lemony going to write any more books?" The answers were: "The woman to whom the books are dedicated. Three letters in the alphabet which stand for things. Yes."
I have to admit to being a little bugged throughout the evening by the crossed-out scripture. That seemed more important than anything else. And my antennae were raised quite high. But what a rare opportunity to get to discuss books you love with the man who wrote them. It was a real treat and I owe Grammie bigtime. If you've never read any books in the Snicket series, I do recommend them. They're not just for kids...in fact, Handler obviously has the older readers in mind quite often. They are light and fun but filled with a message that Handler revisited time after time last night: Things don't always turn out alright. Pluck is wonderful. But bad things still happen to plucky people. What really matters is how we handle the tragedy. That defines us far more than the tragedy itself.
Pretty deep thinking from a guy named Lemony.
posted by Thurman8er @ 7:23 AM
2 Comments:
And he's a pretty smart guy for someone with nice cheeks.
Our kids read one or two of the books in the series. They have read all of Roald Dahl's books (well, except for the ones I hid from them). They are charming.
Sounds like a fun evening. I've never been able to make two syllables go together and make a real word with anybody famous, so I'm very impressed.
Brady, I spent most of the evening thinking about all the witty things I WISH I'd said. I also wish I'd asked more questions about the books than about him.
At the talk, he heartily recommended all of Dahl's books. That didn't surprise me. I look forward to reading (some of) them with James. I may even get him a giant peach.
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