the world is quiet here

{ illustration by Brett Helquist, borrowed from thequietworld.com }

i love reading aloud. i discovered this fact while trying to keep myself awake as i made my way through Milton's Paradise Lost. since then i have read aloud half of Jane Eyre to a roommate and various pieces of books to siblings, from Gormenghast to Neverwhere.

recently i've been reading A Series of Unfortunate Events to my brother. this series is one of the rare cases in which i've resisted reading something purely because of all the hype. i saw the film but don't remember it. i've picked up copies of the books in various friends' houses, wondering if i really should read them after all. i grew out of long series like this one quickly, and i harbor a slight prejudice against their insidious habit of repeating themselves at the beginning of every installment about who the characters are and what they were last doing. but i figured, if i were reading them aloud to a brother, that i couldn't be blamed for choosing silly books of my own volition. i figured it was a perfect excuse to see if these books were really any good.

to be random (and because the library doesn't always have all 13 of the silly things at once) we started with book the fourth, The Miserable Mill. today we finished book the tenth and began book the eleventh. they are silly books, but sometimes the silly is brilliant. they are kid's books, but sometimes that simplicity is endearing.

altogether i think the execution of the series is admirable. there is mystery, there is comedy, and while there is also a great deal of tedious suspense, there is also a subtle and because subtle, sweet, morality about it. in book ten the unfortunate orphans discover the remains of a library, where the motto 'life is quiet here' is carved over the entrance. Mr Snicket goes on to ramblingly describe this philosophy, and predictably it resonates, i'm sure, with all people who like to sit and read. it reflects a human need for solitude and meditation and quiet places to think about things. it certainly reflects my hatred of too much noise. that by itself has made reading these books worthwhile to me, hype or no hype.

reading aloud is not a totally quiet activity, but it does require a bit of peace if it's going to work. i have tried to read to my brother over the insanity of our breakfast table. useless.