Like a lot of people whose children were small in the 2000s, I read [Daniel Handler] books out loud and I loved them.

Bad circumstances have a way of ruining things that would otherwise be pleasant.

It is a lonely feeling when someone you care about becomes a stranger.

If you have ever lost a loved one, then you know exactly how it feels. And if you have not, then you cannot possibly imagine it.

It looked exhausting and pointless, two things that should be avoided at all costs

Normally it is not polite to go into somebody’s room without knocking, but you can make an exception if the person is dead, or pretending to be dead.

I'd finished the first two [books] and they were going to to be published, and [editor] said, "We need you to write a summary that will drive people to these books." And it took forever. I couldn't think of a thing to say. I looked at the back of other children's books that were full of giddy praise and corny rhetorical questions, you know, "Will she have a better time at summer camp than she thinks?" "How will she escape from the troll's dungeon?" All these terrible, terrible summaries of books, and I just couldn't.