the grim grotto

Book the Eleventh bought and completed. Those unfortunate Baudelaire orphans finally strike some good luck, and more info is given about the Snicket siblings. (There has to be a reason why all the families have three kids. Still working on that theory.) Absolutely no new intel on Beatrice, sadly. All in all, a wonderful installment with one tiny exception: the repetitive "water cycle" references-- though I know it's a device, and initally it was even quite funny-- but it gets tired the fourth time it appears. L.S. continues to make hysterical grown-up references, like putting Herman Melville's portrait on the kids' wetsuits and naming Widdershins' submarine the Queequeg. Though I must admit, I've never had the patience to tackle Moby Dick myself and owe my knowledge of the harpoonist's name to one of the greatest episodes' of the X-Files ever: Quagmire (yes, like the Triplets, coincidence?) wherein Scully takes her dog of the same name out to the woods with her where it gets eaten by a lake monster. (How's that for an unfortunate event?) Favorite snippets include the "tossed salad" way of defining people, a riff on the definition of the word "lousy," and Carmelita Spats' reintroduction to the series:

"Stop looking at my outfit!" she commanded the Baudelaires scornfully. "You're just jealous of me because I'm a tap-dancing ballerina fairy princess veterinarian!"