Really enjoyed the first third of this series, but the books have really become formulaic at this point, even with a long time between picking them up. At this point, I'm not really finding them enjoyable and am continuing only because I'd like to see how they end. Right now I feel like I could have skipped from book three to book 13 without missing a whole lot. ( )

the siblings go to a carnival and pretend to be freaks.

With Number 9 in the Series of Unfortunate Events, the ongoing saga gets even better. Count Olaf and his girlfriend Esme Squalor are ever more nefarious. The poor orphans manage to outwit them only by disguising themselves as a two headed Carnival freak and Chabo the Wolf Baby. And while with the Carnivorous Carnival, the orphans encounter sloppy eating, a confusing map, an unruly crowd, hungry lions, and an ambidextrous person. But wait, they might not be orphans after all!

Lemony Snicket is a genius, and that's all there is to it. ( )

It was when I was trapped behind the waterfall, and my opponent approached me, bearing a foil, that I, having nothing but a tattered umbrella with which to defend myself, thought it best to distract him until my helicopter arrived.

"Have you heard of the Caligari Carnival?" I asked. He had not, or he was as fabulous a liar as he was a swordsman and interior decorator. There was a reason my parents had given me the middle name Scheherazade, and it wasn't because I was married to Shahryar (we were just friends).

"It was a carnival in the hinterlands. A group of orphans who had otherwise lived a miserable life found themselves there. They had nowhere to go, for it was in the middle of the hinterlands, and their vile opponent Count Olaf was close enough to capture them once more. They asked themselves a serious question: 'What would Olaf do?' Their answer: disguises.

"They disguised themselves as carnival freaks, Violet and Klaus, the oldest and middle orphan, respectively, posed as a two-headed individual, while Sunny, their baby sister, wore a beard and disguised herself as a wolf child. Thus, they were able to seek employment from Madame Lulu, and worked along other suck 'freaks' as Hugo the Hunchback, Colette the Contortionist, and the Ambidextrous freak Kevin.

"Madame Lulu, who was more than she initially appeared to be, had a penchant for giving the people what they want. The people want to gawk at freaks: give them freaks. The people want to see lions eat said freaks: give them lions. The people want to know more information about the Snicket file: tell them that one of the Baudelaire parents (the parents of our orphans) is still alive and well, hiding out in the mountains. Lulu would give the people what they wanted, even if it wasn't honest, or helpful to everybody involved."

He then asked whether he would like this book. I told him that he probably would, as he has a fascination with learning of others' miserable lives. It somehow makes him feel better. He asked if his mother would like it, or his adolescent daughter. I said "yes," knowing them both to have the same fascination as he.

By that time, my helicopter had arrived. The umbrella did help defend me a bit, but I find I'll have to get a new umbrella before too long. As I clung to the rails of the helicopter, drifting away from my adversary, I couldn't help but wonder if I had it lucky compared to those poor orphans. ( )