AND THEN? AND THEN? WHAT ELSE?

The acclaimed author muses on personal events and reading experiences that have uniquely shaped his writing and outlook on life.

With his inimitable wit and candor, Handler, aka Lemony Snicket, crafts an exceptionally companionable memoir sure to delight and perhaps even challenge both existing fans and readers new to his work. The author vividly recounts a diverse array of experiences, from seemingly random occurrences to deeply personal moments—e.g., a troubling incident of childhood sexual assault at a museum and a succession of debilitating seizures in his youth. He constructs a subtly, even slyly instructive manual on living an unapologetic, fruitful existence. Interwoven with Handler’s memories are considerations of some of the writers who have influenced his work, such as Nabokov, Baudelaire, Elizabeth Bishop, and Roald Dahl. These are equally matched by pop-culture influences such as the films Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (“a bad movie”) and Plan 9 from Outer Space (“a famously terrible movie”). In trying to explain how inspiration arrives, the author serves up a uniquely eccentric template: “Little bits from all over the place, mostly literature—scurry into my mind and I scurry after them. They are not original ideas—not because they are not original, although of course they aren’t; it’s because they’re not ideas. Not yet. In the beginning they are just things.” Finally, Handler deftly confronts recent literary issues, specifically censorship and a gnawing tendency to admonish “problematic” authors. His keen insights cut through the controversies, and he delivers a blunt summation: “Books are like people in this way. And if you find yourself feeling that the book is problematic, all that means is that you have a problem with it, and that’s easily solved. Leave the book behind…and go home.”

A fully captivating memoir rich with insights on reading, writing, and life itself.