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The Bad Beginning - Lemony Snicket

★★★★
 I was ridiculously ill with a sinus infection when I found this on the living room sofa like a literary present to the part of me that wanted to be a kid, reading in bed while my mom brought me something hot to drink.  I had to make my beverage myself, but finding the book was a really nice treat.  It was Kristen's and I stole it for the 2 hours it took me to read. 
The Bad Beginning is a short little novella and a great read.  Having never seen the movie, I was still able to very vividly conjure up images of the characters.  The descriptions are not particularly thorough,  but the details Mr. Snicket (a pseudonym) does provide are incredibly evocative and allow you to fill in all the gray areas with the physical characteristics you think go along with his opinionated descriptions.   The writing is clever enough to be entertaining for an adult, but simple enough to be appropriate for children.
I was really surprised by how many things I've read about people not being sure if they wanted to read the books to their children.  Yes, the baby gets put in a cage, and at one point (spoiler alert) the villain hits one of the kids.  There is also some child marriage, and a stupid but kind government official.  The adults are generally not helpful.  I guess I understand why parents would want their kids to be ignorant to all these things as possibilities, but don't most kids think adults just don't know what's going on most of the time?  I don't find any of these things particularly surprising, and I can't wait to read this to my nephew this summer.  He's 8, and I think he'll love it.
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