Down Under Views

Recent Enjoyable:

What’s the most enjoyable, most fun, most just-darn-entertaining book you’ve read recently?

(Mind you, this doesn’t necessarily mean funny, since we covered that already. Just … GOOD.)

Hmm. I honestly think I am getting way too picky about my books lately. I’m constantly assessing them with my editor ‘hat’, so to say, so I’m not letting myself just sit back and enjoy what I’m reading.

That being said, I think the most enjoyable read I have had recently is The Art of French Kissing by Kristin Harmel (which I am reviewing Friday). The more I read of the book, the more I forgot about my editor ‘hat’ and just kept turning the pages because I wanted to see what would happen next.

I would say more, but I think I shall leave the rest to the review…

Welcome to this week’s (and the first ever) By Any Other Name book game!

I am so happy to announce that we have had our first ever winner for the Wednesday book game on Down Under Views.

Congratulations to Laura G. of Reviewing Whatever!

I’ve already sent Laura an email. If she doesn’t respond by the time the next challenge goes up (next Wednesday) I will pick a winner even if we don’t get to the right number of titles. Because we had a winner last week, I’m going to make it a little harder this week…

If you’re new to the challenge, this is a game from my dear friend Calliope that gets us to play with book titles.

The game works like this:

1. Each week I will choose and a book title that features that word.
2. Then it’s your turn to come up with book titles containing the same word, without duplication (yes, that includes my titles). The author would be nice, too, in case I want to check it out.
3. If you make it to the challenge number of titles (make sure you read the challenge section each week because it can change), then I will draw one name from all the participants and that person wins!

It’s really not complicated. I pick a word and you list titles with that word. Easy peasy.

The current challenge:

Titles to Reach: Eight
Titles Per Person: Two

What can you win? The winner receives any one of the books on this page along with a bookmark (or two!).

I’ve decided this is a much better way of doing things rather than offering the SAME book over and over. Plus, I will be adding to the giveaway shelf as much as I can, so keep checking in to see what’s on offer.

So if you’d like a chance to win, join in!

If you don’t reach the goal, we’ll try again next week. If you reach the goal, I’ll have a brand new challenge for you next Wednesday where you’ll get another chance to win a book – regardless if you have won a book previously!

The word this week is:

Moon

I Say: Moon Goddess by Jim Melvin

You Say…

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

1. Grab your current read.
2. Open to a random page.
3. Share two (or three or four, if you’re me) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page.
4. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
5. Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

From the book I’ll be reviewing on Friday, The Art of French Kissing by Kristin Harmel:

“Gabe’s eyes flashed angrily and he said something to Guillaume in rapid French, and Guillaume laughed and answered. Whatever he said made Gabe look even angrier, and he barked another few unintelligible phrases at my annoying pop star.”

And one from my current read, Why the Chinese Don’t Count Calories by Lorraine Clissold

In Chinese dietary therapy, which is a branch of traditional Chinese medicine, foods are also classified as yin and yang. Yin foods sink down and assist the functioning of the internal organs, while yang foods generally rise up and out towards the body surface, and can contribute to indigestion, skin problems and headaches if taken in excess.

Hello and welcome to the first ever What I’m Reading. Every now and then I put up my massive list of books that are on my TBR self. (Yeah, I was eventually forced to by a shelf.)

Since my old site locked down, I’ve had an influx of books to review come in (how the heck does that work?), so I figure it is about time to refresh the list…

Newly Arrived:

Reading:
Writing as a Sacred Path – Jill Jepson
Why the Chinese Don’t Count Calories – Lorraine Clissold

Going to Read (in no particular order):
Arrows of Time – Kim Falconer
Saffron Dreams – Shaila Abdullah
The Vision – C.L. Talmage
Fallout – C.L. Talmage
The Scorpions Strike – C.L. Talmage
Kissing Games of the World – Sandi Kahn Shelton
Supernatural – Graham Hancock
Neutron Star – Short story collection – Larry Niven
Firebirds – Fantasy/Sci-fi Anthology – Edited by Sharyn November
The Foreshadowing – Marcus Sedgwick
The Redemption of Althalus – David and Leigh Eddings
The Serpent Bride – Sara Douglass
The Twisted Citadel – Sara Douglass
Season of Sacrifice – Tristi Pinkston
Copper Star – Suzanne Woods Fisher
Copper Fire – Suzanne Woods Fisher
The Lost Diary of Don Juan – Douglas Carlton Abrams
The Daughters of Moab – Kim Westwood
Scattered Leaves – Richard Roach
Song of Sorcery – Elizabeth Scarborough
Lose the Diet: Transform Your Body by Connecting with Your Soul – Kathy Balland
Dying for Mercy – Mary Jane Clark
First Night – Tom Weston
Extreme Dreams Depend on Teams – Pat Williams
Coming Together – Joyce Norman and Joy Collins
Laced with Magic – Barbara Bretton
Necking – Chris Salvatore
The Silver Cage – Mathilde Madden
The Book of Scandal – Julia London
The Pact – Jodi Picoult
The Wand in the Word: Conversations with Writers of Fantasy

Upcoming Reviews:
The Art of French Kissing – Kristen Harmel

What’s on your shelf?

In every big city, there is a place where you ‘have’ to go to get great food. For Melbourne, that place is Lygon street.

Of course, there are so many cafés to choose from that, if you’re not familiar with the area, you pretty much just go into one and hope for the best. That was pretty much what I did when I picked out University Café.

The first thing you are likely to notice about University café is the number of places available to sit. You can watch the world go by or enjoy the beautiful weather in the on street seating, choose from one of two sections on the ground floor indoors that are split by a staircase that leads up to the restaurant if you want to come back later for dinner.

There is the typical Italian fare available on the menu – everything from foccacias to pasta. There is also an absolutely delicious looking assortment of cakes and pies, all available for you to drool over at the display case inside the café.

One thing I couldn’t help but notice is that for a ‘university’ café, there are quite a few meals that would be above a student’s budget. That isn’t to say there aren’t affordable options on the menu, but expect to pay for your pasta.

The coffee is as excellent as you would expect it to be, with all the strength and none of the burnt flavour. However, if you like your macchiatos strong (two shots), you’re going to have to ask for the extra shot. I lingered over my coffee of choice – flat white – and quite enjoyed the smoothness of it and none of the unpleasant bitter taste you occasionally get with flat whites.

For the reader rating, I have given University Café a newspaper because of the feel and the business of the place, but it’s more than obvious this café is a very popular place to meet up and have a chat. There is almost always a wide assortment of people sitting down or getting takeaway, but the place never seems to get too noisy, which is a definite plus.

I can easily see this as a wonderful place to sit and watch the world go by for a while as you enjoy a nice cup of coffee (and perhaps a bit of reading as well).

Coffee Rating: 4 Cups
Coffee Price: ~$3 – 4 AUD
Café Reader Rating: Newspaper

University Café
257 Lygon Street
Carlton 3053

Phone: 9347 2142
Fax: 9347 0705
Email: bookings@unicafe.com.au