Post by Dante on Nov 1, 2017 3:38:09 GMT -5
In celebration of a recent (then-upcoming) appearance at Boston Public Library, Lemony Snicket provided a list of seasonally-appropriate macabre reading matter for the library to share.
Original list.
The Three Robbers
Tomi Ungerer
Three robbers terrify the countryside until they are subdued by the charm of a little orphan girl named Tiffany.
The Witches of Worm
Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Lonely, twelve-year-old Jessica is convinced that the cat she finds is possessed by a witch and is responsible for her own strange behavior.
The Magic Finger
Roald Dahl
Angered by a neighboring family's sport hunting, an eight-year-old girl turns her magic finger on them.
Half-Minute Horrors
An anthology of very short, scary stories by an assortment of authors and illustrators including Joyce Carol Oates, Neil Gaiman, Jack Gantos, and one that modesty prevents Lemony Snicket from mentioning.
The Blue Aspic
Edward Gorey
Ortenzia Caviglia is an undiscovered opera understudy whose lucky break results from the mysterious murder of the reigning diva. Upon hearing her sing, Jasper Ankle becomes her deepest admirer, undaunted by perilous weather and abject poverty in his quest to hear her sing. As Ortenzia's star rises, Jasper sinks further into despair, until performer and fan collide in true Edward Gorey fashion. Exquisitely illustrated with Gorey's signature pen-and-ink crosshatching, The Blue Aspic is a heart-wrenching and oddly hilarious tale of unrequited love and the dangers of celebrity.
Three Masquerades
Rachel Ingalls
Daniel Handler assembled this collection from Rachel Ingalls’ wide selection of novellas as a perfect introduction to her beguiling talent. I See a Long Journey and On Ice, novellas Mr. Handler considers basically perfect, originally appeared with a third, Blessed Art Thou, a story he considers to be in an entirely different tone. He felt that Friends in the Country from Ms. Ingalls’ later collection, The End of Tragedy, was a more natural companion to the two earlier works.
Lair of the White Worm / The Garden of Evil
Bram Stoker
"Lair of the White Worm" by Bram Stoker is a classic, horror fantasy novel. A young man moves to England and works with his uncle to expose a monster.
Devils in Daylight
Jun'ichiro Tanizaki
One morning, Takahashi, a writer who has just stayed up all night working, is interrupted by a phone call from his old friend Sonomura: barely able to contain his excitement, Sonomura claims that he has cracked a secret cryptographic code based on EdgarAllan Poe's The Gold-Bug and now knows exactly when and where a murder will take place -- and they must hurry if they want to witness the murder, because it's later that very night! Sonomura has a history of lunacy and playing the amateur detective, so Takahashi is of course reluctant to believe him. Nevertheless, they stake out the secret location, and through tiny peepholes in the knotted wood, become voyeurs at the scene of a shocking crime . . . .
Station Eleven
Emily St. John Mandel
One snowy night a famous Hollywood actor slumps over and dies onstage during a production of King Lear. Hours later, the world as we know it begins to dissolve. Moving back and forth in time-from the actor's early days as a film star to fifteen years in the future, when a theater troupe known as the Traveling Symphony roams the wasteland of what remains-this suspenseful, elegiac, spellbinding novel charts the strange twists of fate that connect five people: the actor, the man who tried to save him, the actor's first wife, his oldest friend, and a young actress with the Traveling Symphony, caught in the crosshairs of a dangerous self-proclaimed prophet.
Up Above the World
Paul Bowles
On the terrace of an eloborate hilltop apartment overlooking a Central American capital, four people sit making polite conversation. The American couple -- an elderly physician and his young wife -- are tourists. Their host, whom they have just met, is a young man of striking good looks and charm. The girl, who is his mistress, is very young and very beautiful. Sitting there, with drinks in their hands, watching the sunset, the Slades seem to be experiencing the sort of fortunate chance encounter that travelers cherish. But amidst the civilities and small talk, one remark proves prophetic. The host says to the American woman: "It's not exactly what you think." Masterfully -- with the poetic control that has always characterized his work -- Paul Bowles leads the reader beneath the surface of hospitality and luxury into a tortuous maze of human relationships and shifting moods, until what seems at first a merely casual encounter is seen to be one rooted in viciousness and horror.
Original list.
The Three Robbers
Tomi Ungerer
Three robbers terrify the countryside until they are subdued by the charm of a little orphan girl named Tiffany.
The Witches of Worm
Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Lonely, twelve-year-old Jessica is convinced that the cat she finds is possessed by a witch and is responsible for her own strange behavior.
The Magic Finger
Roald Dahl
Angered by a neighboring family's sport hunting, an eight-year-old girl turns her magic finger on them.
Half-Minute Horrors
An anthology of very short, scary stories by an assortment of authors and illustrators including Joyce Carol Oates, Neil Gaiman, Jack Gantos, and one that modesty prevents Lemony Snicket from mentioning.
The Blue Aspic
Edward Gorey
Ortenzia Caviglia is an undiscovered opera understudy whose lucky break results from the mysterious murder of the reigning diva. Upon hearing her sing, Jasper Ankle becomes her deepest admirer, undaunted by perilous weather and abject poverty in his quest to hear her sing. As Ortenzia's star rises, Jasper sinks further into despair, until performer and fan collide in true Edward Gorey fashion. Exquisitely illustrated with Gorey's signature pen-and-ink crosshatching, The Blue Aspic is a heart-wrenching and oddly hilarious tale of unrequited love and the dangers of celebrity.
Three Masquerades
Rachel Ingalls
Daniel Handler assembled this collection from Rachel Ingalls’ wide selection of novellas as a perfect introduction to her beguiling talent. I See a Long Journey and On Ice, novellas Mr. Handler considers basically perfect, originally appeared with a third, Blessed Art Thou, a story he considers to be in an entirely different tone. He felt that Friends in the Country from Ms. Ingalls’ later collection, The End of Tragedy, was a more natural companion to the two earlier works.
Lair of the White Worm / The Garden of Evil
Bram Stoker
"Lair of the White Worm" by Bram Stoker is a classic, horror fantasy novel. A young man moves to England and works with his uncle to expose a monster.
Devils in Daylight
Jun'ichiro Tanizaki
One morning, Takahashi, a writer who has just stayed up all night working, is interrupted by a phone call from his old friend Sonomura: barely able to contain his excitement, Sonomura claims that he has cracked a secret cryptographic code based on EdgarAllan Poe's The Gold-Bug and now knows exactly when and where a murder will take place -- and they must hurry if they want to witness the murder, because it's later that very night! Sonomura has a history of lunacy and playing the amateur detective, so Takahashi is of course reluctant to believe him. Nevertheless, they stake out the secret location, and through tiny peepholes in the knotted wood, become voyeurs at the scene of a shocking crime . . . .
Station Eleven
Emily St. John Mandel
One snowy night a famous Hollywood actor slumps over and dies onstage during a production of King Lear. Hours later, the world as we know it begins to dissolve. Moving back and forth in time-from the actor's early days as a film star to fifteen years in the future, when a theater troupe known as the Traveling Symphony roams the wasteland of what remains-this suspenseful, elegiac, spellbinding novel charts the strange twists of fate that connect five people: the actor, the man who tried to save him, the actor's first wife, his oldest friend, and a young actress with the Traveling Symphony, caught in the crosshairs of a dangerous self-proclaimed prophet.
Up Above the World
Paul Bowles
On the terrace of an eloborate hilltop apartment overlooking a Central American capital, four people sit making polite conversation. The American couple -- an elderly physician and his young wife -- are tourists. Their host, whom they have just met, is a young man of striking good looks and charm. The girl, who is his mistress, is very young and very beautiful. Sitting there, with drinks in their hands, watching the sunset, the Slades seem to be experiencing the sort of fortunate chance encounter that travelers cherish. But amidst the civilities and small talk, one remark proves prophetic. The host says to the American woman: "It's not exactly what you think." Masterfully -- with the poetic control that has always characterized his work -- Paul Bowles leads the reader beneath the surface of hospitality and luxury into a tortuous maze of human relationships and shifting moods, until what seems at first a merely casual encounter is seen to be one rooted in viciousness and horror.
