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…
