1. Christine, the lovely host of this meme, mentioned some books she was planning on buying for her baby. On that list was a book by Oliver Jeffers. Have I mentioned my thing for Oliver Jeffers before? No? Honestly, it’s got nothing to do with the devastating piercing blue eyes/dark hair combination. With an Irish accent. It’s all about the fact that he is a brilliant artist, who writes funny yet meaningful books for kids. Truly.
Anyways, my suggestion to Christine was this: Buy ALL THE OLIVER JEFFERS.
But if you were to limit yourself, here are my top five Jeffers picks (in no particular order):
1. Lost and Found
2. The Day the Crayons Quit (written by Drew Daywalt)
3. Stuck
4. The Heart and the Bottle
5. The Incredible Book Eating Boy
I may or may not have this hanging on my wall. And I may or may not sometimes wear this. I’ll stop now or you’ll think I’m bordering on weirdly obsessed.
2. I’ve been away for a week. Here:
Stay tuned and I’ll bore you with more pictures in the next week or so.
3. I’ve read a string of good books lately (including my first 5/5 book for the year). In my experience, reading comes in peaks and troughs… am I’m heading for crap?
4. I was away for the halfway point of the year, so didn’t have an opportunity to talk reading challenges. I’m not doing too badly but need to up my game on A Year in Re-reading (sorry Lianne!).
5. While we were away, each member of my family made a travel wish list (top-five places they want to visit in Australia and five overseas). What better time to plan your next holiday than when on holiday? And who doesn’t love a top-five list?
More Northern Territory featured (Kakadu, Darwin and the trip from Darwin to Broome), as well as Tasmania and snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef. My eldest son has a Grand World Soccer Tour mapped out (basically takes in two continents and eleventy hundred countries but counts as one trip – clever) and Hawaii, Italy and Germany were also on a few lists. Alas, no plans as yet.
7. I own quite a number of copies of Alice, all for the illustrations. Wish I had this Lisbeth Zwerger edition in my collection.
8. I’ve just discovered The Laborastory – what a brilliant idea. Count me in.
9. Keri Russell, in her hardcore Felicity days, is in Bon Jovi’s Always video clip. How is it that I never noticed? Bizarre (Rory agrees).
10. So Bon Jovi prompted me to buy the whole series of Felicity on DVD…
You bought all of Felicity on DVD? And you love Oliver Jeffers (and I definitely did NOT know what that man looked like. Goodness.)? You are winning at life. I knew we were friends for a reason.
$70 seemed like a bargain for all that Keri Russell and Scott Speedman.
My editor almost (but not quite) secured me an interview with Oliver Jeffers when he was last in Australia. I tried to explain to her that I would JUST DIE and probably not be able to get a single word out. I’m both glad and sad that it didn’t eventuate.
Gosh, who is the good-looking blonde on the right of the Felicity pic? Surely he went on to superstardom, but how is it that I don’t know who he is? Adrian Mole. Rock on.
It’s Scott Speedman. I think I love him. He might look familiar because he looks a lot like Anthony Starr.
Actually, look at this Starr/Speedman comparison – http://booksaremyfavouriteandbest.wordpress.com/2014/01/23/bookish-and-not-so-bookish-thoughts-13/
Just had a Men Mars Women Venus moment reading this – went scrolling back up for the ‘good-looking blonde’ – not what I expected! Do like Oliver Jeffers though – my daughter loved his books as a kid – our fav was How To Catch A Star!
Haha! (re: blond)
I love How to Catch a Star as well. And This Moose Belongs to Me…. Maybe I should have done a top ten?
I think I have a thing for Oliver Jeffers now – is he real? Surely not – the publishers have made him up.
*starting to wonder if I should have kept Oliver Jeffers a secret…* 😉
#2 – Gorgeous! Looking forward to the pictures 😉
#3 & 4 – Yay for your first 5/5 book this year! 🙂 And aww, no worries about the re-reading challenge! After the latest batch of books that came in, I realised I was also falling behind a bit in that RC (but surprisingly doing well in the Shakespeare one–well ahead of schedule xD)
#10 — I never watched Felicity all the way through. I should do that one of these days…
I love that place where you were “away.” Where is it? It reminds me of Arizona.
Love the Alice illustration…awesome!
Here’s “MY BOOKISH/NOT-SO-BOOKISH POST”
It’s Uluru (Ayers Rock) in Central Australia. Stay tuned for more pics 🙂
Haven’t even thought about Felicity in years, but I loved that show! Hmmm…perhaps a marathon is coming on?!
Definitely adding the rest of the Jeffers books to his wish list (yes, my 2.5 month old has a wish list).