Author: CHINA ALEXANDRIA LIVING THE DREAM

AUTHOR OF ROMANCE, CRIME DRAMAS AND POETRY SET IN GLASGOW, ITALY AND BRAZIL ALSO AVAILABLE ON KINDLE china.alexandria33@gmail.com THE RICHEST MAN ON EARTH THE YOUNG SHEPHERD LOOKED UP TO THE HEAVENS AND SMILED HE THANKED THE JEWELLED SKY FOR HIS GOOD FORTUNE HIS WIFE, THEIR TWIN BOYS,FOUR SHEEP AND TWO GOATS. THE JEWELLED SKY LOOKED DOWN ON HIM AND SMILED KNOWING MANY HAD THANKED IT FOR THEIR GOOD FORTUNE THINKING THAT THEY OWNED THE RICHES OF THE WORLD BUT ONLY THE YOUNG SHEPHERD WITH HIS WIFE, TWIN BOYS ,FOUR SHEEP AND TWO GOATS WAS TRULY THE RICHEST MAN IN THE WORLD. BY CHINA ALEXANDRIA AUTHOR

Wow! It’s Italian, by Hilda and Laurie Inglese

ANZ LitLovers LitBlog

Yesterday I went to a pasta cooking class, an event organised by the Kingston Library at its Clarinda branch. The presenters were husband-and-wife team Hilda and Laurie Inglese who used to run a cooking school in the Yarra Valley. I learned why our ravioli fall apart, and I learned a few tips for making great pasta – the most important of which is that you should roll the pasta at least 20 times, maybe more, and that you should always, always, always weigh the ingredients so that you get the ratio of flour and liquid right. (Did you know that in a packet of a dozen, eggs can vary by 6 grams from smallest to largest? If you’re working with only 100g flour and the 50g egg is only 44g, that’s enough to spoil your pasta.)

And I bought the cookbook: it’s called Wow! it’s Italian, because that’s what Hilda’s cooking students used…

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Three Decades On, Lake House and Daylesford by Alla Wolf-Tasker

ANZ LitLovers LitBlog

Now that I’ve published my Best-of lists for 2018, I wasn’t going to read any more Australian books because I have a swag of library books by overseas authors to get through. I was going to browse through this one in the new years and (maybe) try some of the recipes but it’s due back tomorrow and I can’t renew it. Needs must.

Three Decades On, Lake House and Daylesford is a drop-dead, totally gorgeous, coffee-table book of food porn. I’m sure author Alla Wolf-Tasker won’t mind me saying that because she’s aware that it’s not an everyday cookbook. This is what she says in her introduction:

Is this a cookbook? It depends on who you are. I’m sure there’s enough use of dehydrators, iSi guns and sous vide in the recipes to put off all but the most dedicated domestic cook. Some of our guests, on the other hand…

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Recipe: Orange Spiced Gingerbread

Picking the Day

Xmas Day 4

Oh God. I am such a sucky blogger! I am doing the unthinkable – recycling one of last year’s festive posts because I’m too lazy to write a new one – WHO EVEN AM I??? To be fair, it isn’t because I’m lazy. I would give anything right now to be able to sit down and work on my content, but this is the busiest time of year for us at work, all my festive socialising now has to be done 50 miles away from where I live and we also decided to do MORE redecorating, because we hate ourselves. Amidst all this lovely chaos that seems to be my life right now, I seem to have run out of ready to go content, and I’m ashamed to say the blog has just had to take a bit of a back seat. I very much hope to get back on…

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First Line Fridays: An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks and Sara Pekkanen #firstlinefridays #tarheelreader #thranonymous @sarahpekkanen @greerkh @stmartinspress #bookbestiesananonymousgirl #ananonymousgirl

Jennifer ~ Tar Heel Reader

TGIF, everyone! First Line Fridays is a fun way to share from books on your TBR.

Today my first line is from a book I am starting this weekend (absolutely cannot wait!!!!):

You’re invited: Seeking women aged 18 to 32 to participate in a study on ethics and morality conducted by a preeminent NYC psychiatrist. Generous compensation. Anonymity guaranteed. Call for more details.

I’m a huge fan of these two authors! Their first book, The Wife Between Us, was a favorite of mine last year, and I’ve been eagerly anticipating this one! I cannot even begin to describe my excitement over this book! I’m buddy reading this, and I’ll be sharing some thoughts…on my birthday next week! So stay tuned!

Synopsis from Goodreads:

The next novel of psychological suspense and obsession from the authors of the blockbuster bestseller The Wife Between Us
Seeking women ages 18–32 to participate in a…

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Book Review: The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin

TwoNightStands

Image result for the immortalists The premise of this book is amazing. It’s 1969 and 4 siblings go see a traveling psychic who claims to be able to tell people when they will die, right down to the age and exact date. With this information – Daniel, Varya, Klara and Simon- go ahead and live their lives with this information with Varya the only one who shares her age. They live their lives not knowing whether it was living out a destiny or a self-fulfilling prophecy. The book follows the life of each sibling and gives more insight into how they live.

With such a captivating cover, I feel like I saw this book everywhere and I had high hopes for this but unfortunately, this book was a let down. It had my interest in the beginning and I was curious to see how they would go ahead with life having an alleged expiration date…

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Waders~

Cindy Knoke

California has about 668 species of birds. The Holler, and nearby environs alone, account for approximately 500 of them.

The Holler is ‘for the birds,’ including these amazing oystercatchers, which I rarely see.

Little Blue Herons can be found near the coast, and are seen less often, closer to The Holler.

Majestic Great Blue Herons are common.

They sometimes show up at our front door!

Sandhill Cranes stand over four feet tall and are further afield.

They winter at The Salton Sea.

Snowy Egrets are everywhere. This guy was near the coast.

His green crab lunch was a bit hard to swallow!

Cheers to you from The Holler’s wonderful waders~

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8 Books I Want to Read in 2018

Bookish Wanderess

eight books I want to read in 2018

This are a few books that have been on my tbr for a while and that I want to read before 2018 ends. Here they are:

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

This is the book that has been on my Goodreads tbr shelf for the longest time, I have heard great things and I think it’s finally time to read it.

1984 by George Orwell

I tried to read this once, I read the first few pages and decided that I wasn’t in the mood to read it. BUT since then I bought a copy of the book (before it was a library book) and my boyfriend read it before I did, he really liked it and I promised that I would read it so we can discuss it. This needs to happen really soon!

The Diviners by Libba Bray

This book has been on my tbr…

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Review: God of War by J.M. Barlog

Servillas Speaks

“When fear seizes you, Atreus, that is the moment you must become fearless.”

★★★★✩

I was given this book by Titan Booksin exchange of an honest review.

I am a gamer and love playing games for their stories. God of War has been on my to-play list ever since the fourth game was announced, only to find out that it is Playstation only (I am a PC gamer). A bummer, but that makes this novelization of God of War 4 even better for me to experience the story.

Going in this book, I knew next to nothing about Kratos, the God of War. I knew he’s a Spartan god, son of Zeus, and at the time of this book he has been living in Norway for some time. But it really hasn’t been a problem while reading this. The events of this book aren’t related to anything…

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Weekend Weathervanes: Soldier Taking a Knee

Everyone Has a Story

Now I know what to do with those photos – “thanks” to Heather Wilkinson Rojo at Nutfield Genealogy; she blogs Weekly Wednesday Weathervanes in New Hampshire. Please check out her page and enjoy the many unusual weathervane photos and be entertained with a history lesson. It’s amazing at what you can encounter in your travels – You Just Need To Look Up!

Weekend Weathervanes

Soldier Taking a Knee

While stopping for coffee in Newtown, CT. this weathervane caught my eye… coffee had to wait, as I quickly exited the car for photos! This one was perfect to save for a special day, and I’ve chosen Dec. 7th, 2018… a day we think back on all our men and women who lost their life at Pearl Harbor! More than 2,300 Americans lost their life that day, while many more were injured… we will never forget! President Franklin Roosevelt called December…

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2019 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards shortlists

ANZ LitLovers LitBlog

The 2019 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards shortlists were announced today.

Shortlists

Fiction
Flames by Robbie Arnott (Text Publishing), see my review
Ironbark by Jay Carmichael (Scribe Publications)
The Fireflies of Autumn: And Other Tales of San Ginese by Moreno Giovannoni (Black Inc. Books) see my review
The Death of Noah Glass by Gail Jones (Text Publishing)
Too Much Lip by Melissa Lucashenko (University of Queensland Press) see my review
The Madonna of the Mountains by Elise Valmorbida (Faber & Faber)

Non-fiction
No Friend But the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison by Behrouz Boochani (Picador Australia)
Staying: A Memoir by Jessie Cole (Text Publishing)
The Arsonist: A Mind on Fire by Chloe Hooper (Penguin Random House Australia) see my review
Eggshell Skull by Bri Lee (Allen & Unwin)
Miss Ex-Yugoslavia by Sofija Stefanovic (Penguin Random House Australia) see my review
Axiomatic by Maria Tumarkin (Brow Books)

Drama
The Almighty Sometimes by…

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