I stumbled across this 30 day book challenge by The Chronicles of Radiya and decided to give it a try. Hopefully it will lead to 30 consecutive days of blogging that liven up the blog a bit and give us a chance to get to know each other a little better.
Day 2: A Book That You’ve Read Again and Again
Lemony Snicket is one of my favourite authors of all time. I fell in love with A Series of Unfortunate Events when I was younger, and when looking for other works by this author, I stumbled across Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can’t Avoid. This collection of aphorisms is dark, hilarious and strange – like Chicken Soup for the Soul with a healthy dose of sarcasm and wit – and is my go-to book when I’m feeling down.
Here are just a few stellar pieces of advice that Snicket has to offer:
“Everyone, at some point in their lives, wakes up in the middle of the night with the feeling that they are all alone in the world, and that nobody loves them now and that nobody will ever love them, and that they will never have a decent night’s sleep again and will spend their lives wandering blearily around a loveless landscape, hoping desperately that their circumstances will improve, but suspecting in their heart of hearts, that they will remain unloved forever. The best thing to do in these circumstances is to wake someone else up, so that they can feel this way, too.”
“Taking one’s chances is like taking a bath, because sometimes you end up feeling comfortable and warm, and sometimes there is something terrible lurking around that you cannot see until it is too late and you can do nothing else but scream and cling to a plastic duck.”
“Just because something is traditional is no reason to do it, of course. Piracy, for example, is a tradition that has been carried on for hundreds of years, but that doesn’t mean we should all attack ships and steal their gold.”
“Never trust anyone who has not brought a book with them.”
“There are those who say that life is like a book, with chapters for each event in your life and a limited number of pages on which you can spend your time. But I prefer to think that a book is like a life, particularly a good one, which is well worth staying up all night to finish.”
Which books have you read again and again?
This one has been on my list for a really, really, really, really long time. He’s so insanely quotable and manages to be dark and funny and intelligent and honest all at the same time – it’s mental. I really should get around to reading it. :\
Thanks for the reminder! 🙂
You definitely need to read it! A lot of the quotes in it are from A Series of Unfortunate Events, but they’re just as excellent the second time you read them. If my writing were nearly half as good as his is, I’d be one happy camper, haha.