Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can't Avoid by Lemony Snicket
Publisher: HarperCollinsNo. of pages: 176
ISBN: 978-006-1240-06-5
Verdict: 4/5
In a nutshell
The bitter truth about life is that it's tough, rough and unfair. And who best to reveal these truths in hard, cold, words, but Lemony Snicket himself? If you've always loved the way he wrote his books, then you might like this too.
This book is divided into 13 topics - Home, Family, School, Work, Entertainment, Literature, Travel, Emotional Health, Affairs of the Heart, A Life of Mystery, The Mystery of Life, An Overall Feeling of Doom that One Cannot Ever Escape No Matter What One Does and Miscellaneous, and wrote quotes based on these topics. Something like what you read in fortune cookies.
As usual, Snicket didn't steer from his normal satirical self. So you'd pretty know what to expect if you've read his stuff before.
What I liked
Some of them were quite smart, and some, pretty amusing. These are some of my favourites:
On Literature:
"No matter who you are, no matter where you live, and no matter how many people are chasing you, what you don't read is often as important as what you read."
On Travel:
"There are times to stay put, and what you want will come to you, and there are times to go out into the world and find such a thing yourself."
On Entertainment:
"It is one of life's bitterest truths that bedtime so often arrives just when things are getting interesting." (Yeah, especially when reading a good book or when a great show is about to start on TV!)
On Family:
"Temper tantrums, however fun they may be to throw, rarely solve whatever problem is causing them."
The 2nd last topic which has a very long title :P
"There are some who go through life with a shadow hanging over them, particularly if they live in a building which has long, wide awnings. (KAKAKAKAKAKA :P)
Miscelleanous:
"It is unnerving to be proven wrong, particularly when you are really right and the person who is really wrong is the one who is proving you wrong and proving himself, wrongly, right. Right?
There are quite a few that I like in Miscelleanous. You gotta read it! Some are pretty smart and funny! :) But some are quite urm...well, just skip 'em :P
To note
If you're into Tony Robbins's stuff or books of similar nature, then I suggest you stay far from this, unless you got tired of those stuff, and you're in dire need of something light and entertaining to read :)
Comments
Btw did u catch Alice the movie already? How is it compared to the book? I haven't had a chance to watch in Korea yet..
I've seen Alice in Wonderland and I loved it despite the unfavourable reviews. It's not entirely based on the story...more like when Alice is older and she falls into the hole again...only this time, she can't really remember she has ever been there before... :)
I tend to like anything that is a collaboration of Tim Burton and Johnny Depp :)
Btw, are the books sold in Korea cheap?
I haven't checked out Korean international bookstores yet. There's one big one called Kyobo, but I haven't been there yet. Now I am just borrowing free novels from my church's expat library. Don't hv to spend any $$!!
Yea lah borrowing books can help save $$ or you and your frenz can juz exchg books! ;)