What I'm Reading: Roundup

A quick roundup of some the things I've been reading:

The Reptile Room The second book in the Series of Unfortunate Events series. I read the first one but it must have been before I started this blog as I couldn't find an entry for it.

The series follows the Baudelaire children--14-year-old Violet, who loves inventing; 12-year-old Klaus, who's read thousands of books; and infant Sunny, who has really sharp teeth. The Baudelaire children are orphans and must fend off the dastardly Count Olaf, who wants to worm his way into the great fortune the children are due to inherit when they come of age.

In this book, the children go to live with their kindly Uncle Monty, a herpetologist (snake researcher!). Unfortunately, Uncle Monty has hired a new assistant, Stephano, who is really Count Olaf in disguise, though nobody believes the children when they try to explain this. When Uncle Monty turns up dead of snakebite, it's up to the children to prove Count Olaf is the murderer.

The series specializes in black humor, when horrible things happen to the Baudelaire children with such regularity that it becomes humorous. Maybe it sounds morbid for a kid's series, but my third-grade daughter loves it. It helps that the children are brave and plucky and polite, despite all their misfortune. I think it's great--the author, Lemony Snicket, strikes just the right balance in tone so it's not too scary but not too tame for late elementary-schoolers.

Silman's Complete Endgame Course--The latest book I'm reading in my not-especially effective quest to become a better chess player. This, by Jeremy Silman, is the recommended book for learning about endgames.

What I like about this book is that chapters aren't organized thematically, but rather progress according to your rating level. The first couple chapters cover endgames beginners are mostly likely to encounter, with each succeeding chapter increasing in sophistication. It makes a lot of sense-- you don't have to waste a lot of time early on learning about weird endgame situations you'll hardly ever run into unless you're a grandmaster. Kind of a dry subject, but written with a lot of humor to make it easier to read.

Complete Peanuts: 1989-90 Oh my, Schulz was getting soft in his own age. This volume has tons of sentimental strips with Charlie Brown sitting under a tree with Snoopy or just holding him in his lap, deciding at one point he wants to give up school so he can stay home and keep his dog company. Of course, this doesn't work out. Charlie Brown also finds a girlfriend in this volume! He meets her at summer camp. Unfortunately, he's so nervous when he first meets her he introduces himself as Brownie Charles. Later, at home, he's disappointed when she doesn't write him any letters. But actually, his sister Sally has been telling the postman to take the letters back because no one by the name "Brownie Charles" lives there.

Sally's not impressed

I liked the introduction of a new relative of Snoopy's, Olaf. (Not related to Count Olaf from The Reptile Room, presumably.) There's an ugly dog contest, and Lucy tries to get Snoopy or Spike to enter it, but they refuse. However, there's another brother who just may fit the bill:

Is this dog ugly enough to win?

There's another good sequence when Marcie is about to crack from the pressure her parents put her under to get good grades in school, and spends a few days at Charlie Brown's house. Still, it seemed like this edition didn't have as many longer story arcs as recent volumes. And, as ever, we're in the slow decline from the strip's heyday that's been going on for at least 15 years. Still, Peanuts on a bad day is better than most comic strips at their best.