The Bad Beginning

Book Details

71.4% complete

Author(s):

Lemony Snicket

First Pub:

1999

Genre(s):

Children's Book; Fantasy

First Read:

2022

Times Read:

1 time

Rating:

Chapters:

13 chapters

Internal ID:

13350

Series:

The Reptile Room

Series of Unfortunate Events*

#1 of 13

Series of Unfortunate Events*

A series of children's books by Lemony Snicket.

View this series in the book list

1) The Bad Beginning
2) The Reptile Room
3) The Wide Window
4) The Miserable Mill
5) The Austere Academy
6) The Ersatz Elevator
7) The Vile Village
8) The Hostile Hospital
9) The Carnivorous Carnival
10) The Slippery Slope
11) The Grim Grotto
12) The Penultimate Peril
13) The End

Copyright:

Dedication:

To Beatrice -
darling, dearest, dead.

First Sentence:

If you are interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book.

Last Sentence:

May contain spoilers

The car drove further and further away, until Justice Strauss was merely a speck in the darkness, and it seemed to the children that they were moving in an aberrant - the word "aberrant" here means "very, very wrong, and causing much grief" - direction.

Comments:

No comments on file

Extract not on file

Added: 01-Aug-2022

Last Updated: 02-Oct-2024

01-Jan-1999

HarperTrophy

Hardback

Date Issued:

Cir 01-Jan-1999

Format:

Hardback

Cover Price:

$8.95

Pages*:

162

Read:

Once

Reading(s):

1) 6 Aug 2022 - 21 Aug 2022

Cover Link(s):

amazon.com

Internal ID:

12782

Publisher:

HarperTrophy

ISBN:

0-064-40766-7

ISBN-13:

978-0-064-40766-3

Printing:

Country:

United States

Language:

English

Credits:

Alison Donalty - Cover Design
Brett Helquist - Cover Artist
Brett Helquist - Illustrator
Margaret Wagner - Typography

Dear Reader,

I'm sorry to say that the book you are holding in your hands is extremely unpleasant. It tells an unhappy tale about three very unlucky children. Even though they are charming and clever, the Baudelaire siblings lead lives filled with misery and woe. From the very first page of this book when the children are at the beach and receive terrible news, continuing on through the entire story, disaster lurks at their heels. One might say they are magnets for misfortune.

In this short book alone, the three young-sters encounter a greedy and repulsive villain, itchy clothing, a disastrous fire, a plot to steal their fortune, and cold porridge for breakfast.

It is my sad duty to write down these unpleasant tales, but there is nothing stopping you from putting this book down at once and reading something happy, if you prefer that sort of thing.

With all clue respect,

Lemony Snicket

Cover:

Notes and Comments:

First Edition, 1999
Copyright page lists LCCN 99-14750
Fifth printing based on the number line
Canada: $13.50

01-Jan-1999
HarperTrophy
Hardback

Book Links

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Author(s) Links

Official website

Lemony Snicket on Good Reads

Lemony Snicket on IMDB

Lemony Snicket on The ISFDB

Lemony Snicket on Library Thing

Lemony Snicket on Twitter

Author(s)

Lemony Snicket
Birth: 28 Feb 1970 San Francisco, California, USA

Notes:

From The Vile Village:

LEMONY SNICKET is the author of quite a few books, all dreadful, and has been accused of many crimes, all falsely. Until recently, he was living someplace else.

Awards

No awards found

I try to maintain page numbers for audiobooks even though obviously there aren't any. I do this to keep track of pages read and I try to use the Kindle version page numbers for this.
Synopses marked with an asterisk (*) were generated by an AI. There aren't a lot since this is an iffy way to do it - AI seems to make stuff up.
When specific publication dates are unknown (ie prefixed with a "Cir"), I try to get the publication date that is closest to the specific printing that I can.
When listing chapters, I only list chapters relevant to the story. I will usually leave off Author Notes, Indices, Acknowledgements, etc unless they are relevant to the story or the book is non-fiction.
Page numbers on this site are for the end of the main story. I normally do not include appendices, extra material, and other miscellaneous stuff at the end of the book in the page count.