Why I Read by Daniel Handler

Here's the sixth installment of our "Why I Read" series; today's essay comes from Daniel Handler, an early contributor when we started asking this question of authors a few years ago.

We'll get right to it, but I have to say how much we at Green Apple feel privileged to publish original work by these esteemed authors in our email newsletter (sign up here) and on our blog. I mean, Daniel Handler has sold tens of millions of copies of his many and varied books, he's a dad, he plays the accordion, and he has time to act (see below) and write original essays for Green Apple? Too cool.

Here's Daniel Handler's (2006) "Why I Read:"

When I was five it was Bartholomew and the Oobleck. When I was six it was Witches Witches Witches. When I was seven it was Ramona The Brave. When I was eight it was The Bears’ Famous Invasion Of Sicily. When I was nine it was The Headless Cupid. When I was ten it was The Last Battle. When I was eleven it was The Blue Aspic. When I was twelve it was Fish Preferred. When I was thirteen it was And Then There Were None. When I was fourteen it was Clock Without Hands. When I was fifteen it was Geography III. When I was sixteen it was the Alexandria Quartet. When I was seventeen it was Mrs. Caliban. When I was eighteen it was The Flounder. When I was nineteen it was City Of Glass. When I was twenty it was Anagrams. When I was twenty-one it was Lolita. When I was twenty-two it was Lolita again. When I was twenty-three it was Beloved. When I was twenty-four it was The Folded Leaf. When I was twenty-five it was the 27th City. When I was twenty-six it was The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. When I was twenty-seven it was Blindness. When I was twenty-eight it was The Black Brook. When I was twenty-nine it was 30. When I was thirty it was The Annunciation. When I was thirty-one it was The Faithful Narrative Of A Pastor’s Disappearance. When I was thirty-two it was The Long Goodbye. When I was thirty-three it was Why Did I Ever. When I was thirty-four it was Jackstraws. When I was thirty-five it was Seek. When I was thirty-six, so far, it’s The Unsettling.

Want more? Previous participants also include Beth Lisick, Susan Choi, Peter Rock, T.C. Boyle, and Dave Eggers. Why do you read?

Oh, and we can't resist showing this again: