Apparently Count Olaf's blog is owned by....

... none other than Paramount pictures. Should have known, but read the books anyway. You'll enjoy them

Count Olaf really exists?

Not only does he exist, he has his own blog. And it seems he's going to be a movie star.

You might be wondering who Count Olaf is. None other than the wicked uncle who realises that he can inherit a fortune from his orphaned nieces and nephews, the Baudelaire children. He once tried to marry his niece in a huge theatrical event and was quite nicely thwarted in the end. This was after he had her locked up in a tower for a while (Rapunzel! Rapunzel!, ... well, you know how that goes).

Why is this interesting? Well, perhaps you've never heard of Lemony Snickett and his books, A Series of Unfortunate Events. Why did I start reading these books? Well, the blurbs on the back cover of all of these books are tantalising and the the books look like something my parents might have read, i.e. ragged trimming on the pages, hard cover and very old fashioned (sort of Enid Blyton, Noddy, but we can't go there anymore because apparently now it's politically incorrect), we're talking 1930s here. And the illustrations by Brett Helquist add to the experience because who puts illustrations into books anymore, unless they're aimed at kindy children.

I've just retrieved the latest release, The Grim Grotto, from the loo, where my son, Aaron, has it parked for reading at his most convenient moments. The blurb reads, Unless you are a slug, a sea anemone (spelling?), or mildew, you probably prefer not to be damp. You might also prefer not to read this book. All the blurbs are like this. For example, Don't buy this book, or Put this book down immediately. One of the books actually has a reversible jacket that can be turned around so when you're reading it in public, it looks as though you're reading a happy book about a carnival.

The other reason I like these books are because they have Aaron entranced. He's read the whole series (he's way up on me) and he waits with baited breath for the next one to be released. Now, for someone who reads only Harry Potter and Spellbinder over and over again, that's a breath of fresh air for a parent who loves to read and wants to instil that love of reading into her children.

Do yourself a favour and next time you're in BIG W, buy the first one. And then see if you're not compelled to read the next one.