I read the first book in the Series of Unfortunate Events novels, rather enjoyed it. I had vaguely heard of them before, but I think I just figured they were on the same level as Harry Potter and never bothered to consider them. But the first one, at least, was really quite good. Reminded me of Edward Gorey in spirit. I rather enjoyed the asides to the reader offering practical definitions of certain words (like a post-modern Encyclopedia Brown), and the mysterious author's repeated admonitions to the reader to put away the novel. Nice to see that there's a good popular series of children's books on the market today. Looking forward to reading the next one (though of course I'm still three books behind in my Scottish Lit class and all...but today I'm better off worrying about my Latin exam, Lit can wait for Sunday).