esmemoria – Page 30 – Cannonball Read 17

A Will, A Murder, My Apathy

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

February 1, 2021 by esmemoria 13 Comments

Ellen Raskin’s The Westing Game is not a bad book. It has a lot of cliched mystery elements though: strangers brought together by a mysterious benefactor, a murder, a will reading, etc. It has the trappings of an Agatha Christie novel, but less skilled. In the beginning a group of people from all walks of life each receive a letter offering them a luxurious apartment for a modest price. The letter is signed by someone they don’t know, but the offer is so good none […]

Motley and Mysteries

The Mysterious Mr. Quin by Agatha Christie

January 30, 2021 by esmemoria Leave a Comment

“The trouble is that we are not content just to see things—we will tack the wrong interpretation onto the things we see.” – The Mysterious Mr. Quin Another Cannonballer recently reviewed this book, and it prompted me to read it again. The Mysterious Mr. Quin by Agatha Christie is a bit of an anomaly in her oeuvre. Mr. Quin is a mysterious character with almost supernatural abilities to come and go. Mr. Satterthwaite, the book’s third person narrator and an inveterate scholar of the human […]

The End is Never the End

The End by Lemony Snicket

January 26, 2021 by esmemoria Leave a Comment

The final, and 13th, book in A Series of Unfortunate Events is fittingly titled The End. It has taken me about a month to finish the entire series and I confess by this book some of the story’s tics had worn me down a bit. I was no longer entertained by the constant definitions of words and phrases for humorous effect. The Baudelaire orphans, I felt, had become predictable and even a little boring. I enjoyed the villain Count Olaf more than the main characters. […]

A YA Book that Quotes Richard Wright

The Penultimate Peril by Lemony Snicket

January 24, 2021 by esmemoria Leave a Comment

Who knows when some slight shock, disturbing the delicate balance between social order and thirsty aspiration, shall send the sky-scrapers in our cities toppling? — Richard Wright, Native Son The Penultimate Peril is the 12th book–the penultimate book–of A Series of Unfortunate Events. For my reviews of the 10th and 11th books, go here and here. The travails of the Baudelaire orphans continue in The Penultimate Peril, and if anything, get darker. The book takes place in the Hotel Denouement, where the children take on […]

We All Live in a Broken Submarine

The Grim Grotto by Lemony Snicket

January 17, 2021 by esmemoria Leave a Comment

The Baudelaires drifted along in cold, dark silence, feeling afraid and confused and strangely lonely. – The Grim Grotto After reading Book 11 The Grim Grotto in A Series of Unfortunate Events, a heretofore unknown thalassophobia has seized me. Maybe that’s why this book in the series seemed the darkest thus far. For background on the series, see my review here. Calling this the grimmest book of the series is saying something. The Baudelaire orphans have been on the run from the villainous Count Olaf […]

Reading this Series is a Slippery Slope of Delight

The Slippery Slope by Lemony Snicket

January 2, 2021 by esmemoria Leave a Comment

Fate is like a strange, unpopular restaurant, filled with odd waiters who bring you things you never asked for and don’t always like. – The Slippery Slope The 13-book series “A Series of Unfortunate Events” is conversely the most fun I’ve had reading in ages, written by Lemony Snicket (the pseudonym for author Daniel Handler) (by pseudonym I mean a different name and persona) (that aside is inspired by one of the recurring conventions in the series) (all will be revealed soon). The series follows […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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