Baudelaire Three vs. Potter

Several folks had tried to get me to read Lemony Snicket before I actually did. Two in particular are among my smartest friends. (She thinks it is great, as does perhaps my most well-read friend). I've just started reading again - due in some part to my new book club member status and in large part to my son leaving toddlerhood. There is no denying, though, that seeing this moved me along.

Of course one wants to read the book before the movie comes out. One often ends up reading the book even after seeing the movie, but that delicious intellectual smugness is not near as omnipresent as when one can say, with firm and really honest conviction, "I preferred the book."

I have preferred the book on many an occasion. Maybe even all occasions - but there are some treasures in movie adaptations. Long ago, I sent out an online poll to my Austenesque friends asking them to rank the Austen movies and books. The results were funny and very differing. I, for one, would put "Mansfield Park" near the top of both lists, whilst Lynn rated "Pride and Prejudice" (the BBC miniseries, which is not officially a studio release but perhaps more cool and worthy of smugness) her favorite.

(Which brings me to my rant, and you knew it was coming: RIGHT ON, BOB!)

(O.K., I can't just say one thing about that. She is TOO YOUNG and TOO LANKY and NOT RIGHT! Yes indeed, LilMissCabbie!)

So back to my post's title and presumed subject: Lemony vs. J.K. They are different, for sure. But they are similar, and the movie looks and feels like an American Potter enterprise (Jim Carrey=Alan Rickman, Meryl Streep=Maggie Smith). "A Series of Unfortunate Events" may have started as vocabulary lessons for tots - and maybe an introduction to sorrow and horror. H. Potter gets more sorrowful and horrific as one delves further into the series - a fact we Potterites have accepted and even respect. Both books feature the plucky heroes and heroines we crave and they both have moments of laugh-out-loud humor. At this point I am only in book 2 of "A Series" so I must stay with it....volume one was quite slim....but I know I don't care for the Baudelaire orphans like I care for Harry. Not yet.

It would probably be quite un-American of me to prefer Potter, but most of my stances seem to be un-American anyway.

Comments?