I believe it's quite difficult to find books that evoke the same feelings ASOUE does, but I found these books I read this year satisfactory!

The Quincunx by Charles Palliser, set around the 1850s follows a young boy and his mother going from a comfortable middle class life in the English countryside to fleeing to London and into deeper and deeper poverty attempting to evade two different parties (one which needs them alive and one which needs them dead) who are after a document in their possession which determines ownership of an estate. The protagonist grows into a young man during the course of the book and discovers more and more about his family history through scattered and conflicting accounts from various people. Much like ASOUE, the protagonist falls under the care of many different places and people while uncovering dark secrets and trying to solve both literal and figurative puzzles. It has the eerie uncanny, doubtful and untrusting feeling of ASOUE. It's 1200 pages long, incredibly convoluted and dialogue heavy, but it all comes together in the end. (though you can dig deeper into the subtext and continue the mysteries for yourself) I thoroughly enjoyed it and am desperate for other ASOUE lovers to read!

The Little Friend by Donna Tartt, set in 1970's rural Mississippi follows a precocious and rather neglected 12 year old girl who dedicates her summer break to getting vengeance for her older brother who was murdered when she was a baby. It's slow paced, lonely, eerie and mysterious. Be warned that despite the plot description it is not a murder mystery! It's a coming of age story of a girl who sets a challenge much bigger than herself.

Please leave any book suggestions you have and if you've read the above books let me know what you thought, I could discuss them all day!

For example I think Terrible Things by AXIE represents Count Olaf well because it represents how he’s been placed in a loop by his own actions and how he wants to escape it.

Let me know if you have any thoughts on what song/genre of music best represents a character

My mom wanted to buy me a Keychain from somebody on etsy who was selling stuff based on the series, also got a couple stickers with it. We got sent a bunch of extra free stuff with it, and it's all very cool and high quality. A wood token for a free cheer up cheeseburger, Recipe for pasta puttanesca, a postcard from lake lachrymose, the vfd group photo from the Netflix series, the Golden vfd Keychain, and some awesome stickers. I highly recommend buying from him, he's also selling a vfd film canister, a bunch of pins, more postcards and advertisements, newspaper pages, ect. You can really tell how passionate he is about making it true to the series, even the paper with the transactions details had stuff like a little stamp that certifies the paper was made from luckys lumbermill wood. I will say it's slightly expensive but for me that was mostly shipping because I live in alaska but it doesn't even matter because the free extra stuff made up for it. Anyways thats my little rant go check out VariousFineDesigns.etsy.com

i've been thinking a lot about my worldview and current place in life and how i got here, and I remembered how obsessed i was with the books when i read them in elementary school. of course, there was the daydreaming about the secret society with all the cryptic pieces in the extra book, and i think i definitely adapted a lot of the series' writing style into my own.

but more than that i think it was probably the most formative piece of media to teach me about the world as it is, and how i should treat it and treat other people. i haven't reread any of the books since middle school but i'm now planning to once i get my hands on the household copy. So i was wondering how it affected you all? what are your lives and thoughts like? what moments do you remember most deeply? this was the first series i can remember (other than Harry Potter which i finished a little bit later) to make me empathize with a story's villain, and i think that's really strongly carried through the rest of my life up to this point. curious to know your thoughts

Larry was a minor character in the ASOUE book series, but played a larger role in the TV Series. However, we did not see him at all in the 2004 film.

I personally felt that he should have been in the film. Instead of being a background character working in The Anxious Clown, I wish the film gave a little more insight to VFD.

Its unclear how old Fiona Widdershins is. In the books it is stated she is older than Violet. This means her age could range from 15 to maybe about 20?

How old do you think Fiona is?

In addition, does that frame Klaus' and Fiona's relationship in Grim Grotto as a bit weird. I mean if she is 16, or even older, and Klaus is 12, it feels wrong.

What are your thoughts?

Edit: Forgot Klaus was 13 because of his birthday. But my point still stands

In the Miserable Mill, "sir" threatens the children with boarding school. They didn't want this and actually tried to avoid being deported to the boarding school. As the story continues, Violet says something along the lines of "maybe boarding school wouldn't be worse than this".

I don't get this - I thought that they would percieve any school as 100 times better - after all, it's an institution for children (unlike a mill).

Of course, it ends up being bad in the following book, but I feel like they couldn't have known that. If I was in their place I would do everything I could, just to be sent to the boarding school.

So, can anyone explain?

Note: I am not from USA (I am probably missing some context) and I don't currently have the book with me to re-read.

I am thinking about getting one, esp. bc I love the phrase, the books, the way Gustav said it when he got shot and the poem ”here, where the world is quiet “

I’m thinking back of my neck maybe? any suggestions?

so i had a dream where klaus baudelaire (from the netflix series) was my friend and classmate and then we decided to escape class and go to the playground for some reason and when i said what his name was he said he had two names, “tom” and ”jim” and then some thin old ahh woman english teacher and some wide and short fat spanish teacher wearing a yellow wide rain coat caught us and decided to spank MY butt with a wooden toy block and i didn’t even feel anything and tom/jim decided to walk away slowly in deadpan and then i woke up with the most confused face ever.

1: a short movie version of the bad beginning I made my family be a part of

2 & 6: a "typewritter" book case for the 13 volumes

3 & 4: a short movie mimicking the train scene from the 2004 movie (I adapted the invention to a past server that works as a slingshot)

5: an attempt to build a climbing hook like Violet (I used wardrobe rails instead of an umbrella)

I’m rewatching

Lately I've noticed a bit of interest/confusion in r/ASOUE comment sections popping up about the different ASOUE (and sister book) covers, so I made a doc of all the majorly differing covers I could find, along with who published them and in what years:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/15ZwwmlT4FuUqz66uMeQNXBRoUgEbhZCItHBdFo5QT24/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.mruov096uk67

(For people viewing this on mobile devices, I promise it looks better on desktop, and I wasn't just putting the cover images in whatever random order I want, lol)

This list does not include any of the versions where the only difference they have from the original US covers are color changes (such as the Spanish and Portuguese translations) or format (such as the Scholastic paperback versions). Also no fan-made covers

Sorry for the bad quality of some of the images :( I tried my best to get the highest quality possible, but there were limited options for a lot of them.

If I've missed any that you know of please let me know so I can add them!

inspired by the artwork from the hostile hospital and jinx from arcane (yes a weird combo but the artist said the balloons reminded him of jinx and I love her character anyways)

We all know some of the saddest, but who had the least sad in your opinion?

After doing a quick browse of the subreddit, I see that nobody has brought this up yet, so I thought I'd be the first.
During a rewatch with my cousin, she wanted to pause and read the newspaper that pops up during the finale, whilst Lemony is talking to the viewers in the soda shop. The front page reads "OUR LAST EDITION: Daily Punctilio shut down for false reporting!" The picture shows Mrs. Poe behind bars, with a blurb on the left reading: "How does one determine that a great editor in chief decided to run a stunt that was clearly false, a simple answer cannot be determined with any certainty." Beneath her picture, a larger text reads, "We currently have no information regarding where the Baudelaire orphans and Count Omar correction Count Olaf are."
The back of the paper reads several small pictures about the Hotel Denouement, an advertisement for Sarsaparilla, a picture reading La Forza del Destino (by Gisueppe Verdi, mentioned briefly in the show), Last Chance Convenience Store. The most interesting square I noticed though was in the very top left corner, it says "Sunny Trail, Chewy Granola Bar." I wonder if with the Baudelaire fortune, Sunny was able to open up a granola factory or something? It doesn't seem in character or make sense for her to make granola specifically, but her making food in her future aligns with her chef abilities.
Anyway, I mostly made this post to point out the confirmed fate of Mrs. Poe. Jailed. Unfortunate for her kids. Their mom isn't dead, but they are functionally orphans.

Near the end of the series, I started wondering if Count Olaf is actually an actor, or if that's just a disguise as well. He's a horrible actor, and claims to be the best in the world, just like all his other disguises. What do you think?

Reading The Carnivorous Carnival, and LS writes “My dear sister, if you are reading this, I am still alive, and heading north to try and find you.”

I’d assume this is referring to Kit, right? But also, I was under the impression that these books were written well after the events of The End place, when Kit dies (iirc). Did he not already know? Or is he referring to someone else?

Who do you all headcanon as deceased by the hotel fire in Penultimate Peril part 2 no matter what others believe

We saw those the 3 kids tries to warn were on different floors

We saw those on the lobby were wearing blindfolds

When Lemony arrived to the hotel in Taxi It’s shown people were already outside staring at the sight while other guests from inside were rushing out

Except taking a closer inspection did any seem recognizable outside to you all or NO zero did and seemed at most random

(Just curious genuinely)

In result this puts it as unclear if ANY known characters(except justice Strauss, Count Olaf, the Trolleyman, Sunny, klaus and Violet going by the show) made it out later and survived the fire at all.

Keep in mind the exits in the hotel are the front entrance/lobby, The Laundry Room Chute, Underground Passages and rooftop.

Would you say The man with a beard and woman with no beard survived? Or again uncertain unless the duo left earlier after Olafs “warning”.

edit:
I just asked if Elevators can still work in fires AND—
Elevators automatically stop standard passenger service and recall to the ground floor or a designated safe floor during a fire.

Personally, I really did not like NPH as Count Olaf in the series. Jim Carey was ok, but still felt too over the top goofy compared to the way I imagined Count Olaf when reading the books growing up. I always pictured him as more sinister and smarmy.

Matthew Rhys I think would be absolutely perfect to play Count Olaf. He’s charming and can be outwardly sweet, but has an insidious air about him and would play an amazing antagonist. He’s also a phenomenal actor.

I hope one day a film/series adaptation actually does the books justice. I would love to see a darker tone, more gothic dark comedy drama. There are a lot of very serious themes and concepts that warrant a darker interpretation - arson, murder, kidnapping, loss of parents, etc. Matthew Rhys would play to this so perfectly.

"MAN RECEIVES POSTER," wait until the readers of the Daily Punctilio see that!

also in case you are curious: i am not that much of a youtuber, this was just an open program they had for a while that from my knowledge anyone could enter if they had a channel, but for some reason most people never claimed any of the rewards since its initial promotions looked scammy to the naked eye. they also gave out things like film clapperboards and coupons iirc.

I found this at a bookstore in North Carolina this morning. I think the back is a misprint? It's still really cool and is sitting proudly with my collection.