Literary Elixirs - Joseph Camilleri - Bolinda Publishing

Today I am joined by Joseph Camilleri from Bolinda Publishing. Bolinda is the largest online audio bookstore in the Southern Hemisphere and also has offices in the UK and the US. They also have one of my favourite apps, BorrowBox, for downloading eaudio and ebooks through your local library.  Joseph, my fabulous guest today, joined Bolinda in 2016 as Warehouse and Manufacturing Coordinator and is currently the Client Relationship Manager which means he works very closely with libraries around Australia for all our audio and large print needs! We chat a bit about his journey from tennis coach to audiobook publishing, how many different aspects of the industry is represented at Bolinda and of course, pair some delicious things with some fabulous books ... with a little Christmas flair too! The pairings: The Survivors by Jane Harper Kieran Elliott's life changed forever on the day a reckless mistake led to devastating consequences. The guilt that still haunts him resurfaces during a visit with his young family to the small coastal community he once called home. Kieran's parents are struggling in a town where fortunes are forged by the sea. Between them all is his absent brother, Finn. When a body is discovered on the beach, long-held secrets threaten to emerge. A sunken wreck, a missing girl, and questions that have never washed away... Joseph recommends this Aussie outback thriller as an after (Christmas) dinner read with a large glass of red wine in hand ... but be careful, you may be swept away (pun intended) by the narrator and end up finishing the bottle! Lucky's by Andrew Pippos Lucky's is a story of family. It is also about a man called Lucky. His restaurant chain. A fire that changed everything. A New Yorker article which might save a career. The mystery of a missing father. An impostor who got the girl. An unthinkable tragedy. A roll of the dice. And a story of love, lost, sought and won again, (at last). Joseph recommended this book to anyone who loves a good story and because the cover reminds him of an ice cream shop he suggests reading this with a classic vanilla ice cream in a waffle cone ... just don't drip it on the book! The Book Of Delights by Ross Gay A genre-defying book of essays—some as short as a paragraph; some as long as five pages—that record the small joys that occurred in one year, from birthday to birthday, and that we often overlook in our busy lives. This is a meditation on delight that takes a clear-eyed view of the complexities, even the terrors, in the authors life, including living in America as a black man; the ecological and psychic violence of our consumer culture; the loss of those he loves. The delights are everyday, ordinary and beautiful.  Sweet, tart, savoury and more-ish, Justine recommends this delightful book with her families traditional Christmas day brunch of French toast, mascarpone, fresh blueberries and strawberries drizzled with maple syrup and a glass of sparkling to wash it all down. YUM!