Part memoir, part commentary on creating, I enjoyed reading through this. I only know of his work, a series of unfortunate events, from childhood, but interesting to read none the less.

I am a fan of Daniel Handler—his writing for children and adults—and will admit to once waiting over four hours in line at my local bookstore so that "Lemony Snicket's representative" could stamp a copy of his book. I should mention that I was fully grown at that time, and using my friend's son (also a fan) to rationalize my place in line, as my children were too young at the time to care (or to be able to read).

So of course I grabbed this book when NetGalley offered it. And, like the 4-hour wait in line, this book was totally worth it. Handler's story is intimate and engaging., and often hilarious and dark (see the one about Edward Gorey). His knowledge of books, authors and other cultural touchstones is vast and inspiring. But really, my love for this book can most neatly be summed up with this one section I bookmarked, if not merely for the contents of the quote but for the fact that I very, very rarely bookmark anything I read on my kindle...

"One afternoon we found a used bookstore— one of those big cavernous ones with towers of tomes everywhere and one cranky man who doesn't want to help you. The prescribed thing to do, of course, would have been to walk hand in hand through the place, a new couple cutely oohing together over favorite titles. But we were not f-ing around. We were both mad for literature and needed to comb savagely through the store's stacks like parallel raccoons. "See you in an hour or so," my wife—my new girlfriend, then—said to me, and as I watched her head to a dusty mass of surrealism, I decided that this was the woman I was going to marry."

What could I possibly add to that?

I read this book slowly, but not because I didn't enjoy it. In fact, I enjoyed it quite a bit. It was just that the essay-style of writing lent it well to be able to put down and pick back up again later. I love Daniel Handler's writing style and he is incredibly well-read. I felt proud of myself when I had heard of and/or read one of the books he mentioned in his memoir! He is such a unique author, and his experiences and the candor with which he told his story made me like him all the more. A definite recommendation for anyone who loves the written word because, if nothing else, this is lyrically and poetically written.

Odds are high you read Handler as a kid (he wrote A Series of Unfortunate Events), so I was interested to see him turn the mirror back on himself, and see what he had to say about writing besides. Took this in small doses, and liked what I found here. Definitely worth a read.

"𝘓𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘢𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘶𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘪𝘳𝘤𝘭𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘴𝘢𝘥 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝘪𝘧 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩—𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘪𝘳𝘤𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵…𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘱 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺.
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴. 𝘓𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦—𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢 𝘣𝘺𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨—𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢𝘴 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘸, 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘢 𝘱𝘪𝘦𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘳, 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺—𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘢 𝘣𝘺𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴."

This is the kind of book that makes me love reading, writing, and the role of the writer. It's a tough job, and Handler shows us all the ways in which it comes together.
From love. From trauma.
From fear. From excitement.
It's all here.
It's Handler at point blank. Incredibly honest. Learned things that I think have been meaning to come to surface for a long while. From Barthes to 𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘯 9 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘖𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘚𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦, Handler talks about why he loves Baudelaire and rejects cancel culture. He comes from the school of read everything. See how it works. See how it's done. Do better.

It's this year's A Horse at Night: On Writing but without all the seriousness.

Funny. Informative. Full of surprises.

*loved his list of favorite books/films at the end of the book. if you get the chance, go out and look to the back for the list, but as an appetizer:

- "𝘊𝘩𝘦𝘰𝘯 𝘔𝘺𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘨-𝘬𝘸𝘢𝘯, Whale, 𝘪𝘯 𝘊𝘩𝘪-𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨 𝘒𝘪𝘮’𝘴 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘈 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤 𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘤, 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯’𝘵 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘥𝘰𝘸. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦, 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬."

-and his favorite Murakami is A Wild Sheep Chase

p/s: will be writing DB in all of my manuscripts from now on <3

I had just finished watching the "Lemony Snicket" series with my daughter. The entire time I read this book, I heard it in the narrator's voice. It was perfect. "A Series of Unfortunate Events" is a remarkable piece of unique art. I'd write a thesis about it and its many layers. Handler's memoir really told the story of a brilliant human with his own dark stories. I was blown away by his intelligence and the way he incorporated other literary work, as his inspiration, but also in this book. I keep talking about how fascinated I was with "And Then? And Then? What Else?"

And Then? And Then? What Else? is Daniel Handler’s (best known as Lemony Snicket, author of A Series of Unfortunate Events) memoir.

As always let’s start with the good: I liked learning where he got different bits of inspiration for The Basic Eight and A Series of Unfortunate Events. A Series of Unfortunate Events is my favorite series of all time so knowing more information about how it came to be is delightful. I learned about how his parents’ love story inspired the Baudelaire parents’ love story. I learned about his love for Charles Baudelaire. I learned about how he came up with the title “A Series of Unfortunate Events.” I learned about how he communicated with conspiracy theorists and it helped him with writing The Basic Eight. But the majority of this book is not these things.

It’s hard to describe how reading this book feels. Have you ever been cornered by a drunk guy who’s really smart and rambles at you for a loooong time about random topics even though you don’t care and you’re trying to politely leave? And I don’t mean a guy who just thinks he’s smart. I mean a guy who’s actually smart. Yes he’s telling you things that could be interesting in theory, in a different circumstance. But he’s drunk. He’s bad at communicating. It feels like he’s holding you hostage. That’s what reading this felt like. It was coherent I guess. There were a bunch of little stories about his life. But wow. I did not care about them. I don’t think he did a good job at telling/showing me why I should care about the things he was telling me. Through every chapter I thought “Ok… now what is this leading to? What are you really trying to teach me?” and I could never find an answer. And I should’ve been able to find an answer! The publisher claims that this book provides inspiration for aspiring writers! Where was the inspiration?!?!

Also he’s very clearly bad at handling criticism which came through in a few chapters. It’s always pretty annoying to find out that authors are bad at taking criticism.

And Then? And Then? What Else? has a pretty high Goodreads rating so clearly I’m an outlier here. But I don’t recommend this even if you’re a big time Lemony Snicket fan like I am.

Part-memoir, part-craft exploration. This book is written by an author whose voice is like no other. As someone from the Bay who lived in San Francisco for several years, the mentioned landmarks tickled me. As a millennial whose love for the macabre started in elementary school, it was a pleasure to explore the mind of the author who wrote "The Series of Unfortunate Events." This book is excellent for millennial writers.

Feels absurd to say it for a book so new but I'm pretty sure this is one of my all-time favorite books. Not to say it's the best I've ever read, or that everyone else will like it, but if you're a bookish person, if you've grown up and been shaped by reading and continue to let that happen, Daniel Handler's life-in-books will pluck the best possible song off those strings. It's funny, conversational, moving and haunting (with some particularly powerful chapters about Handler's past and somewhat ongoing mental health issues), and the best of it comes when, toward the end, Handler provides the most salient, clear-headed, compassionate dose of opinionizing I think he's ever done in print.

Outstanding outstanding outstanding. I love. And I can see this book having legs along the lines of Stephen King's ON WRITING.

This was a very fascinating book and now I understand where he got his ideas for l Lemonade snickers. He wrote these books based on his childhood. And in the books he used to read as a child. And adult.. He had a very difficult upbringing, but he seemed to get through it when he read different books and he could Express yourself through this.. You also did mushrooms, which helped him see things in a different light and Cause problems later in life. He ended up in a mental hospital because he couldn't really Express. His emotions or difficulties, but he overcame a lot of these obstacles.. I think it's really interesting. How he took different authors when he had certain problems or ideas. And this really showed in his writing.. I think people don't understand people like that because they go outside themselves and they look at things very different.. I can relate to that because I've been alone all my life. And I can see things in people and realize what they're going through.. I am more people read this book. Now I understand where he's coming from in his writings when I read his books. Cause when I read them. I really didn't understand what was going on but now I understand now.

I have never read any books by this author but I was curious and decided to request this book. I was shocked I was approved and once I started reading I got sucked in pretty quickly. The author has a unique voice so I can see why his books are so popular. it was cool to see how he got his start and to learn the other works that inspired and shaped his writing. I didn’t expect to learn so much about him but I’m glad he was open about his life experiences. Definitely learned how to look at things in a new way. This was a thought provoking read about a very interesting mind. 4.5

It's difficult for me to figure out how many stars to give this one; it's more for the writers (I am just a normie reader). Many of the essays outline inspiration, process, how Handler "got here". The whole thing is very candid, bordering on oversharing. Handler also uses some ink to defend? explain? justify? some of his past questionable behavior in a way that's icky. I do appreciate Handler's openness about his mental health and some other tough topics, but it's overshadowed by the rest.

Thank you, Liveright and Netgalley, for an advance ebook in exchange for a fair review.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing this eARC.

Part memoir, part writing advice, part something else entirely, And Then? And Then? What Else? chronicles moments from Daniel Handler's (Lemony Snicket) life interspersed with his thoughts and observations on writing and literature.

I was really excited for this book, and I think it's important to talk about why. While I enjoyed A Series of Unfortunate Events as much as anyone, the thing that has kept my little writer heart parasocially attached to Lemony Snicket for years is a pep talk he wrote for National Novel Writing Month in 2010. Though it is a pep talk, he approaches the subject in a way which has always felt genius to me: basically, you should just give up. As a writer, it's one of the most motivating things I've read, and I return to it frequently for the inspiring rage and desire to succeed that it fuels in me. So when I read that this book would be part inspiration for aspiring writers, I thought I'd find something like this pep talk, only longer form.

Alas, that is not what this book is. It's not the next "On Writing," and it's not my favorite writing pep talk. Sometimes, it hardly feels like a memoir, either. If I were to call this anything, I'd say it's a character study, only it's Daniel Handler studying himself, and he is very often interrupted by Daniel Handler rambling on about one thing or another as it strikes his fancy. While I think this could have done with another round of editing, I think more than that, it needed a complete overhaul of structure. It was just... hard to keep up with, and that made it kind of disappointing.

Beyond my disappointment with this book as an overall read, I don't know that I found much of the little writing advice here helpful. If anything, after reading this book, I think I could be convinced that the Unfortunate Events books were more a stroke of luck than the first herald of a new literary genius. Handler certainly has a lot going on in his brain, and he does draw some unique connections, which means he's often writing stories that probably only he could come up with, and that's great! But "think really hard about a lot of things" doesn't really make for a followable example of writing skill.

Anyways, I think a lot of readers will really enjoy this. It's definitely an interesting look at Handler's mind, and I don't want to sound like I'm arguing this book isn't worth reading. In fact, I think it generally is! I just wish it had lived up to at least one of my expectations. (I was also NOT a fan of his little dig at The Hunger Games, but that's a me problem)

And Then? And Then? What Else? is an interesting look into Daniel Handler's life, works, and inspirations. I enjoyed the parts where he talked about his approaches to writing. At times the book is a bit chaotic topic-wise, but I overall really enjoyed the writing.

I very much enjoyed this author's stream of consciousness essays and inimitable style. This book is probably nostalgic for people who grew up reading Lemony Snicket books. I think I'm a little outside the target audience for the autobiographical aspect, but when I look at this more as a craft book, I found these essays to be a great reminder not to grow up.

Like many child readers in my generation, A Series of Unfortunate Events was formative for me. Lemony Snicket was an uncanny figure in my developing mind, a mysterious person who somehow existed in both real life and in the gothically fantastical world of the Baudelaires. This blur between fiction and reality was absolutely thrilling to me.

Zoom forward to now. I’m an emerging writer looking for some guidance. My prefrontal cortex is fully developed (I think). Now, in steps the man behind all the magic (Daniel Handler!) and he writes things this grown-up version of me finds thrilling, too!

He talks about words and books and music and life experiences and society in such a humble, honest, and insightful way. I walked away with tidbits and tools that I’ll apply to my own writing, and I also walked away with plenty of enticing musical and literary recommendations. Definitely want to put this in the hands of all former child Lemony Snicket fans. May we all grow up to be fans of Daniel Handler, as well.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher!

As someone who read A Series of Unfortunate Events at a very formative age, I was excited to read Daniel Handler's latest series of essays—and though I think there could have been more fleshing out at certain points, I was not disappointed.

Handler's distinct windy and whimsical writing is on full display in And Then? And Then? What Else? It's not a linear collection, but instead Handler picks through his various points of his life, from childhood to adulthood, and examines the moments that helped shape him as a writer.

I love reading about how his mind words—the way he talks about engaging with literature and words is just fascinating. But I think the biggest point for me was that I felt like Handler could have dived in a little deeper in certain places. He'd either skirt over something, briefly mention it, and then just move on while I was still reeling from whatever he wrote.

Overall, I really enjoyed And Then? And Then? What Else? and was thrilled to have gotten an opportunity to read an arc.

The real Lemony Snicket is like a smutty, tubby singsong Patrick Bateman (lunatic has to be the most used word in this book after all) and I want to marry him as much. The dry humor with observational, absurd-(un)spooling run-ons is as present here in memoir as his fiction. (I’ve read all 13 Series of Unfortunate Events, the secret half issue, The Unauthorized Autobio, Watch Your Mouth and All the Dirty Parts). I forever love his personification: remorse being a lice-scraping beggar, a library mulling over and spitting out its display cases, cutting book ideas down to PJs, index cards forming little party cliques. As useful as Stephen King’s On Writing but far more fun.

Onto the neat meat and potatoes: Big man hails from San Fran and yes the Unfortunate Baudelaire kids are named after the Flowers of Evil poet he read when he was also 12. Movie producers didn’t like any of his 9 Unfortunate scripts even though he started as a critic, so then fired him. Then offered to re-hire him but by the time he flew back, they said never mind, let’s get your input for free. He also doesn’t like sugary humdrum writing or pretentious talk of a process. He just knows what he likes and Frankenstein-stitches together the ironic inspo. It’s relieving he says he looks back on his published work and sees all he could’ve done better when I hear so few other artists admit it. Yet what’s pleasing is the traceable time capsule of his influences in such.

The goal is to be interesting in the confounding confidence of the prose. To quote a quote: “writing that unsettles the reader’s historical, cultural, psychological assumptions, the consistency of his tastes, values, memories, brings to a crisis his relation with language.” Which at times also makes me question if this book is half fictional like Bret Easton Ellis’ Lunar Park. Especially when the author mentions, in college, he would hallucinate the pasty creatures from his dreams he’d assist w/ in murdering. He’d seize bad right on campus and not be able to even read signs for months! Drs thought he may be schitzo and this worsened by a cycle of not sleeping.

Much of this book is him deciphering texts and pointing out his fav tidbits and how they relate to his philosophy. Sparingly sprinkled is his concrete history (given how enigmatic Lemony is—go figure). I do like the bits of how his father and uncle were affected by the holocaust to remind us how recent that was and the candidness of saying his family probably slightly embellished stories of selling everything and stowing away diamonds in shoes to escape camps—because my family certainly would.

In his terse, uniquely earnest style, we learn of his molestation at a museum, disturbing phrases from high school friends that inspired his not-exactly-for-children’s books. We—and this part is flity , could use more filling in—see the first two Unfortunate books were no immediate success. His two books before that were meagerly supported by agents and audiences but enough to build a stir. People were intrigued by his theatrical presence on stage: an enigmatic accordion player pretending not to be the author.

More so, we hear about all he speculates about his parents though he was never an orphan like his books. He’s fascinated by marriage secrets. Thus, he prank-scribbles lies for friends in honeymoon cards, witnesses affairs at parties, is curious about the ex at his father’s funeral or his mother’s unaddressed late first husband to inspire his relationship stories. We also learn he seemed to start with only vague and maybe queer ideas about a count for a book called A Series of Unfortunate Events—and his pen name came from something he blurted on a prank phone call.

It’s as abrupt as it sounds: being 14 in gay clubs no one kicks him out of and instead call him sexy and offer drugs or their mouths. These blips often raise more questions than they answer. What he does seek to remedy though is a few of his small public speaking scandals that always seemed to involve well-meaning jokes and bitter writers with bad reviews. Though oftentimes his Cali college male feminism seems suspiciously heavy handed so I see their reservations—yet he’s a pretty (lovably) honest pervert so I don’t see what skeletons could be unearthed.

Not every single essay in this collection is a winner, but there are some great ones sprinkled in. I know it'll still be a hit in our library so we will buy a few copies to start.

Not every essay in this book hits, but when it hits, it HITS. I will always be intensely captivated by Daniel Handler’s authorial voice (as himself and as Lemony Snicket) and I really enjoyed some of the more focused chapters of this narrative, especially the ones that circled around the epicenter of the point and became clear in the last few paragraphs. I appreciate the honesty of the work as well, for better or for worse, and I truly loved the philosophical elements as the work became almost an annotated bibliography of sorts.