A Series of Unfortunate Events
though so far i can speak only of the first seven novels in the series by lemony snicket, mark me as an enthusiastic fan. surprised i’ve not heard more for these books in liberty circles. hell, book seven — The Vile Village (2001) — is nearly a frontal assault on the “it takes a village” ninny talk of the sadly not bygone clinton parasite squad. throughout each book “adult” bureaucracy is mocked, children left to exercise skill and solve problems (albeit in the extreme). the absurd recurrence of the same villain throughout the series (first seven books at least) quickly transcends predictability, into joyful expectation, and the presumed child audience is always treated intelligently. have busted out laughing plenty of times. some tire of the repeated shtick (e.g., words used are often defined, sometimes humorously), but i dig it okay.
doom, doom, and more doom. you were warned. you are warned every few chapters. nobody to blame but you, reader. 
oh, and — unlike me — give lemony snicket as reader a fair chance if you get the audiobook version. for a few books he replaces temporarily the nearly perfect tim curry, and it’s a shock to make the transition. stick with it though, because he has some wacky voices that later make up for his, erm, sorta bleh read. it’s even worse when you don’t know he’s the cool daddy-o behind the series. man, was i bummed at first. then after returning to curry a few books later, i sorta missed the ol’ LS. gloomy music of The Gothic Archies is cool, regardless.