90th out of 820 books
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1,021 voters
Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can't Avoid
Lemony Snicket's work is filled with bitter truths, like: 'It is always cruel to laugh at people, of course, although sometimes if they are wearing an ugly hat it is hard to control yourself.' Or: 'It is very easy to say that the important thing is to try your best, but if you are in real trouble the most important thing is not trying your best, but getting to safety.'
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Hardcover, 168 pages
Published
May 1st 2007
by HarperCollins
(first published April 24th 2007)
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When I first saw this book, I thought to myself, "What a waste. It's one of those silly quote books, with at most a paragraph a page. Harumph." Yet once I was half-way through, I found myself thinking, "Every kid needs to know these things, preferably with as little pain as possible. This book is that painless means by which one may inform them, gently, of the inherent unfairness and occasional joys of life." By the time I was finished, I wished I could hop into a time machine, travel back in ti...more
Jul 25, 2008
Becky
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
anyone who enjoyed Lemony Snicket's random quotes in A Series of Unfortunate Events.
Shelves:
coffee-table,
wish-list
This book is hilarious! It has many random bits from the Series of Unfortunate events. I think this book would make a great book for the coffee table, because you could open it up and giggle at it without having to read a whole story. I just recently read the series of unfortunate events and it was fun to find quotes that I had read aloud to my roommate.
This book is full of very short snippets of Snicket wonderfulness. It took me about 1 hour to read, and that was with me stopping to giggle and interrupt my friend (who was also reading) every 3 minutes to read aloud something.
Very funny, very insightful. I think anyone with a twisted sense of what is wonderful and terrible will enjoy this.
Very funny, very insightful. I think anyone with a twisted sense of what is wonderful and terrible will enjoy this.
I just happened upon this quirky litle book in the store where I 'moonlight' on the weekends. There was one copy face-out on a display table with other books with titles like "7 Secrets of Success" or "6 Lessons on Life" ...
This one obviously stood out among the others, with its simply clean cover and of course, the interesting title. I picked it up to find out more.
It didn't take very long to read through the entire book. With chapters laid out on different aspects of one's life (Family, Hom...more
This one obviously stood out among the others, with its simply clean cover and of course, the interesting title. I picked it up to find out more.
It didn't take very long to read through the entire book. With chapters laid out on different aspects of one's life (Family, Hom...more
I just happened upon this quirky litle book in the store where I 'moonlight' on the weekends. There was one copy face-out on a display table with other books with titles like "7 Secrets of Success" or "6 Lessons on Life" ...
This one obviously stood out among the others, with its simply clean cover and of course, the interesting title. I picked it up to find out more.
It didn't take very long to read through the entire book. With chapters laid out on different aspects of one's life (Family, Home,...more
This one obviously stood out among the others, with its simply clean cover and of course, the interesting title. I picked it up to find out more.
It didn't take very long to read through the entire book. With chapters laid out on different aspects of one's life (Family, Home,...more
This is not a novel.
But it begins with a story of a woman who lives a somewhat dull day-to-day life and wonders if there is more to life than just doing the same routine and wonders what else there is to learn. She hears from her husband (who heard from her mother, who heard from her third grade teacher) of a man high in the mountains who can answer all the questions she has about life. She sets out to find him, but when she does, she finds out he is not who she thought and goes back home to fin...more
But it begins with a story of a woman who lives a somewhat dull day-to-day life and wonders if there is more to life than just doing the same routine and wonders what else there is to learn. She hears from her husband (who heard from her mother, who heard from her third grade teacher) of a man high in the mountains who can answer all the questions she has about life. She sets out to find him, but when she does, she finds out he is not who she thought and goes back home to fin...more
I can't get enough of Lemony Snicket's dry, droll humor. In Horseradish, Lemony gives a collection of life's bitter truths. Here are some of my favorite quotes:
"Never trust anyone who has not brought a book with them."
"It is a curious thing, the death of a loved one. We all know that our time in this world is limited, and that eventually all of us will end up underneath some sheet, never to wake up. And yet it is always a surprise when it happens to someone you know. It is like walking up the st...more
"Never trust anyone who has not brought a book with them."
"It is a curious thing, the death of a loved one. We all know that our time in this world is limited, and that eventually all of us will end up underneath some sheet, never to wake up. And yet it is always a surprise when it happens to someone you know. It is like walking up the st...more
Back in elementary school I had a huge love for the Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket, I would read these books over and over again and once I had read the whole series over and over again I finally pushed the books aside and moved onto bigger and better things. However, the other day when I was going through a pile of $1.00 books in an old book store I came across this book by Lemony Snicket, quickly a feeling of nostalgia came over me and I was forced to run to the clerk and purch...more
Horseradish was recommended to me by my ten year old daughter. We came upon it in the juvenile non-fiction section of a branch library. (While I prefer the vast array of choices available at our downtown library, there's something to be said for a small library where you can wander through the stacks in minutes instead of hours.) My daughter finished the book the same night she got it and has been encouraging me to read it ever since.
I've not read all of Lemony Snicket books, but the one or two...more
I've not read all of Lemony Snicket books, but the one or two...more
Jan 14, 2011
Briana
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Lemony Lovers =)
Recommended to Briana by:
Some random bubbly patron <3
Read 95% of the book with a smile on my face. Snicket is rare, wonderful, and refreshing!!
Eight of my fave "truths you can't avoid":
Perhaps if we saw what was ahead of us, and glimpsed the crimes, follies, and misfortunes that would befall us later on, we would all stay in our mother's wombs, and then there would be nobody in the world but a great number of very fat, very irritated women.
It is one of life's bitterest truths that bedtime so often arrives just when things are really getting intere...more
Eight of my fave "truths you can't avoid":
Perhaps if we saw what was ahead of us, and glimpsed the crimes, follies, and misfortunes that would befall us later on, we would all stay in our mother's wombs, and then there would be nobody in the world but a great number of very fat, very irritated women.
It is one of life's bitterest truths that bedtime so often arrives just when things are really getting intere...more
How could I not give this a positive review with such obvious panders as:
Never trust anyone who has not brought a book with them.
and
A good library will never be too neat, or too dusty, because somebody will always be in it, taking books off the shelves and staying up late reading them.
Because even though those examples aren't what give Snicket's collection their depth,
One of the remarkable things about love is that, despite very irritating people writing poems and songs about how pleasant it is,...more
Never trust anyone who has not brought a book with them.
and
A good library will never be too neat, or too dusty, because somebody will always be in it, taking books off the shelves and staying up late reading them.
Because even though those examples aren't what give Snicket's collection their depth,
One of the remarkable things about love is that, despite very irritating people writing poems and songs about how pleasant it is,...more
I chose to read "Horseradish" in part because of the hilarious cover and in part because I've heard so many great things about Snicket (and loved his picture book,The Composer Is Dead) but his Series of Unfortunate Events has never really appealed to me. This is supposedly a "bouquet of alarming but inescapable truths [from Snicket's work:] along with selections from his unpublished papers and remarks he has made at dinner parties and anarchist riots, in order to remind the reader that even the...more
There are some truths in life that are unfortunate, but some of them are still worth knowing. This book presents some of them, along with some that are slightly less unfortunate.
Mostly I read this because I looked up other books Lemony Snicket had written after his Series of Unfortunate Events, which I have enjoyed for many years. This was apparently his first project after finishing up with the Baudelaires' saga, and it contains mostly tidibts from the series itself, as well as (I think?) some...more
Mostly I read this because I looked up other books Lemony Snicket had written after his Series of Unfortunate Events, which I have enjoyed for many years. This was apparently his first project after finishing up with the Baudelaires' saga, and it contains mostly tidibts from the series itself, as well as (I think?) some...more
O Lemony Snicket how I love you! He's like the Tim Burton of books! This book is a book of quotes-bitter truths you can't avoid! :) My two favorite quotes from this book-
"Everyone, at some point in their lives, wakes up in the middle of the night with the feeling that they are all alone in the world, and that nobody loves them now and that nobody will ever love them, and that they will never have a decent night's sleep again and will spend their lives wandering blearily around a loveless landsca...more
"Everyone, at some point in their lives, wakes up in the middle of the night with the feeling that they are all alone in the world, and that nobody loves them now and that nobody will ever love them, and that they will never have a decent night's sleep again and will spend their lives wandering blearily around a loveless landsca...more
A little book of aphorisms, which I presume is intended either to be sincere but wry, or a parody of the little-book-of-pensees genre. Since the volume is attributed to Snicket, whose ouvre is extensive and whose voice is distinctive, it is regretable that the majority of these large-type entries are neither funny nor apt. Some simply read like bland, generic self-help aphorisms. I expect more from the man who introduced the word "cakesniffer" to my vocabulary.
The title, Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can’t Avoid is only relevant to a short section at the start of the book, the small section at the start talks about a woman’s misled journey to the top of a mountain looking for a ‘wise man’. As soon as she’d gotten to the top she asked the ‘wise man’ of what life is really about, since she had done nothing with her life so far and neither had her husband. Although the hike took many months she had failed to find the ‘wise man’ since he actually known a...more
In a Nutshell: Sage advice on the tough truths of life.
-There are those who say that life is like a book, with chapters for each event in your life and a limited number of pages on which you can spend your time. But I prefer to think that a book is like a life, particularly a good one, which is well worth staying up all night to finish.
- A good library will never be too neat, or too dusty, because somebody will always be in it, taking books off the shelves and staying up late reading them.
-Somet...more
-There are those who say that life is like a book, with chapters for each event in your life and a limited number of pages on which you can spend your time. But I prefer to think that a book is like a life, particularly a good one, which is well worth staying up all night to finish.
- A good library will never be too neat, or too dusty, because somebody will always be in it, taking books off the shelves and staying up late reading them.
-Somet...more
This book is wonderful (or should I say terrible?) in typical Lemony Snicket fashion. Broken up into segments such as "School," "Literature," "Family," and "An Overall Feeling of Doom that One Cannot Ever Escape No Matter What One Does," Snicket offers short anecdotes meant to... what? Inspire? Depress? Amuse?
I suppose they do all three in turn.
This is the perfect book for fans of A Series of Unfortunate Events who are hankering for more Snicket even though the series has ended. I suppose it's...more
I suppose they do all three in turn.
This is the perfect book for fans of A Series of Unfortunate Events who are hankering for more Snicket even though the series has ended. I suppose it's...more
4.7
Hilariously profound. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Favorite quotes:
“It is a curious thing, the death of a loved one. We all know that our time in this world is limited, and that eventually all of us will end up underneath some sheet, never to wake up. And yet it is always a surprise when it happens to someone we know. It is like walking up the stairs to your bedroom in the dark, and thinking there is one more stair than there is. Your foot falls down, through the air, and there is a sickly moment...more
Hilariously profound. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Favorite quotes:
“It is a curious thing, the death of a loved one. We all know that our time in this world is limited, and that eventually all of us will end up underneath some sheet, never to wake up. And yet it is always a surprise when it happens to someone we know. It is like walking up the stairs to your bedroom in the dark, and thinking there is one more stair than there is. Your foot falls down, through the air, and there is a sickly moment...more
Lemony Snicket has an offbeat, sometimes twisted view of the world, and it is definitely on display in this collection of truisms. "Never trust anyone who has not brought a book with them." and "One of the world's tiresome questions is what object one would bring to a desert island, because people always answer 'a deck of cards" or 'Anna Karenina' when the obvious answer is 'a well-equipped boat and a crew to sail me off the island and back home where I can play all the card games and read all t...more
I so enjoy Snicket's style of writing, his doom and gloom with a twisted humor that always makes me laugh out loud! Straight from the back cover "Life is a turbulent journey, faught with confusion, heartbreak and inconvenience. This book will not help." This book contains a bouquet of alarming but inescapable truths....
I read this book in one day in two sittings. It's not nesisarrily difficault and the largest chunk of writing is the Introduction.
This book was good and I really approved of the way the author spoke because I had read some of the "Series of Unfortunate Events" (A series I really need to start over and actually complete) and recognized word usage and tricks.
The bitter truths I found not all to be actually bitter, and for the record, I love horseradish, it reminds me of pickles.
I found some of the...more
This book was good and I really approved of the way the author spoke because I had read some of the "Series of Unfortunate Events" (A series I really need to start over and actually complete) and recognized word usage and tricks.
The bitter truths I found not all to be actually bitter, and for the record, I love horseradish, it reminds me of pickles.
I found some of the...more
This little book is a collection of quotes, phrases and stories divided up into categories, and as the title suggest, some are bitter truths tinged with humour whilst others are steeped in simple wisdom.
For those that don't know, Lemony Snicket is a pen name and some will have heard it associated with A Series of Unfortunate Events, a children's series narrated and penned by Lemony Snicket.
This book, Horseradish - Bitter Truths You Can't Avoid is a collection of short writings, each confined to...more
For those that don't know, Lemony Snicket is a pen name and some will have heard it associated with A Series of Unfortunate Events, a children's series narrated and penned by Lemony Snicket.
This book, Horseradish - Bitter Truths You Can't Avoid is a collection of short writings, each confined to...more
It's not what I'd call a book, per se (did I even use that correctly??) - more like an alarming collection of even more alarming quotes that literally made me laugh out loud.
"Taking one’s chances is like taking a bath, because sometimes you end up feeling comfortable and warm, and sometimes there is something terrible lurking around that you cannot see until it is too late and you can do nothing else but scream and cling to a plastic duck."
"Perhaps if we saw what was ahead of us, and glimpsed...more
"Taking one’s chances is like taking a bath, because sometimes you end up feeling comfortable and warm, and sometimes there is something terrible lurking around that you cannot see until it is too late and you can do nothing else but scream and cling to a plastic duck."
"Perhaps if we saw what was ahead of us, and glimpsed...more
I really enjoyed this book and am seriously considering buying a copy. It's nice to have a book of this nature around when one is feeling down. Lemony Snicket is a genius of epic proportions. Here are some of my favorite quotes:
"A long time ago, there was no such thing as school, and children spent their days learning a trade, a phrase which here means 'standing around doing tedious tasks under the instruction of a bossy adult.' In time, however, people realized that the children could be allowe...more
"A long time ago, there was no such thing as school, and children spent their days learning a trade, a phrase which here means 'standing around doing tedious tasks under the instruction of a bossy adult.' In time, however, people realized that the children could be allowe...more
Also Found On: A Book and A Record
What a fun little book! I was recommended to this by a girl I work with who has a love of non-fiction. Lemony Snicket delivers such a fun treat hiding amongst the Dewey decimals. Filled with little quotes and thoughts that are full of the dry humor and wit that Snicket is known for. This is the perfect coffee table or nightstand book, because every single page is filled with something fun and enlightening to read. I definitely recommend it if you’ve got an hour...more
What a fun little book! I was recommended to this by a girl I work with who has a love of non-fiction. Lemony Snicket delivers such a fun treat hiding amongst the Dewey decimals. Filled with little quotes and thoughts that are full of the dry humor and wit that Snicket is known for. This is the perfect coffee table or nightstand book, because every single page is filled with something fun and enlightening to read. I definitely recommend it if you’ve got an hour...more
I normally don't like this kind of books and don't think it's worthwhile to read, but this was just perfect. I seriously doubt that I'll ever be able to rate this author's works with anything less than 5 stars. Every single "aphorism" in this (sadly) short book is written in such a brilliantly hilarious way that makes the saddest and bitterest truths of life not so sad and bitter and the routine moments one normally doesn't pay attention to every day are described in the most unexpected way. The...more
One of my favorite books that I frequently refer to for words of wisdom. Or sometimes just words... When I accidently spilled coffee on it at work, one of my Mr. Smarty Pants co-workers told me to "throw it away"! How totally unacceptable! So, I threw him away instead! (But that's another story that may or may not be on the evening news!) Now, not only is my book full of very useful information, but it smells good, too! (And will serve me well if there is ever a coffee shortage!) Don't ask me wh...more
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| The Most Awesome ...: Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can't Avoid | 2 | 3 | Jan 24, 2013 05:33am |
Lemony Snicket is the pen name of American novelist Daniel Handler. Snicket is the author of several children's books, serving as the narrator of A Series of Unfortunate Events (his best-known work) and appearing as a character within the series. Because of this, the name Lemony Snicket may refer to both a fictional character and a real person. This article deals primarily with the character.
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“Never trust anyone who has not brought a book with them.”
—
13,242 people liked it
“Everyone, at some point in their lives, wakes up in the middle of the night with the feeling that they are all alone in the world, and that nobody loves them now and that nobody will ever love them, and that they will never have a decent night's sleep again and will spend their lives wandering blearily around a loveless landscape, hoping desperately that their circumstances will improve, but suspecting, in their heart of hearts, that they will remain unloved forever. The best thing to do in these circumstances is to wake somebody else up, so that they can feel this way, too.”
—
4,847 people liked it
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