Daniel Handler AKA Lemony Snicket: I return to Toni Morrison's Beloved every five years'

My earliest reading memory is a blur of sounding out Dr. Seuss. I vividly recall a literary nightmare about moving trousers. Zilpha Keatley Snyder's The Headless Cupid became a beloved childhood book.

Encountering Charles Baudelaire's poems of late-night escapades unnerved and intrigued me repeatedly. Ralph Ellison's The Invisible Man captivated me in my 20s, and Raymond Chandler's work reshaped my view of masculinity.

Discovering Dino Buzzati's The Bears' Famous Invasion of Sicily during youth sparked a desire to become a writer. Returning to preferred books or authors, like Buzzati, in different life stages provides a sense of continuity.

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