Fans of Australian authors received a treat late last year when Claudia Karvan embarked on a literary journey to celebrate our love of books, met some of our most beloved and brilliant writers, and explored our Australian identity through the place, its people and the power of our stories in ‘Books that made us’ from the ABC. In this 3 episode series Claudia highlighted a diverse range of both modern and past Australian classic stories. The series is available to stream for free via iview so why not (re)watch the series and be inspired to read one or more of the amazing titles featured. The Library has all of the books mentioned in the show available for reserve, simply click on a cover or title. Continue reading
Category Archives: Classic Literature
Top Loans of 2021
Are you looking for some new reading material? Check out our most borrowed titles of 2021!
Adult Fiction
- The sentinel (Jack Reacher book 25) by Lee Child
- Daylight (An Atlee Ping book 3) by David Baldacci
- Force of nature by Jane Harper
- The survivors by Jane Harper
- Hidden in plan sight by Jeffrey Archer
Adult Non-Fiction
- A promised land by Barack Obama
- Atomic habits by James Clear
- The subtle art of not giving a f*ck by Mark Manson
- Becoming by Michelle Obama
- The happiest man on earth by Eddie Jaku
Young Adult
- Magnus Chase and the ship of the dead by Rick Riordan
- Dragon Ball super. 1, Warriors from Universe 6! by Akira Toriyama
- Dragon Ball super. 2. The winning universe is decided! by Akira Toriyama
- They both die at the end by Adam Silvera
- To kill a mockingbird a graphic novel by Fred Fordham
Childrens
- The getaway (Diary of a wimpy kid 12) by Jeff Kinney
- Crazy Weird! (Weirdo, book 6) by Anh Do
- The bad guys. Episode 8, Superbad by Aaron Blabey
- Everything’s amazing (sort of) by Liz Pichon
- Totally weird (Weirdo, book 5) by Anh Do
Top eAudiobooks (Borrow Box)
Adult
- A promised land by Barack Obama
- Becoming by Michelle Obama
- The survivors by Jane Harper
- Where the crawdads sing by Delia Owens
- Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
Young Adult
- Shadow and bone (Shadow and bone, book 1) by Leigh Bardugo
- The book thief by Markus Zusak
- Midnight sun (Twilight, book 5) by Stephenie Meyer
- Six of crows (Six of crows, book 1) by Leigh Bardugo
- The ballad of songbirds and snakes by Suzanne Collins
Children
- Harry Potter series by JK Rowling
- 130 storey treehouse by Andy Griffiths & Terry Denton
- Diary of a wimpy kid by Jeff Kinney
- Spooky weird! By Anh Do
- The BFG by Roald Dahl
Top eBooks (ePlatform)
Adult
- The happiest refugee by Anh Do
- The dry by Jane Harper
- Animal farm by George Orwell
- 61 hours (Jack Reacher) by Lee Child
- The missing sister (Seven sisters, book 7) by Lucinda Riley
Young Adult
- Coraline by Neil Gaiman
- Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy
- The boy in the striped pyjamas by John Boyne
- Stormbreaker (Alex Rider, book 1) by Anthony Horowitz
- The hunger games by Suzanne Collins
Children
- The meltdown (Diary of a wimpy kid, book 13) by Jeff Kinney
- The pocket money blues (Billie B Brown series) by Sally Rippin
- The witches by Roald Dahl
- This is a ball by Matt Stanton
- The playground problem (Hey Jack series) by Sally Rippin
Top Streamed Movie/Series (Beamfilm)
August Reading Wrap-up
Welcome to our monthly reading wrap-up fellow readers!
Books, books & more books.
Finding ourselves still in lockdown here in Sydney being able to enjoy the odd book or two is one thing we look forward to in our downtime. Enjoying every opportunity to share what we are reading our City of Parramatta reading community is one of our highlights.
With our reading theme for August being, ‘Big, Bang Books’, I decided to re-read ‘And the mountains echoed’ by Khaled Hosseini. While ‘And the mountains echoed’ isn’t my favourite Khaled Hosseini book, it was still a beautiful, emotional read that stayed with me for days after I finished the book. The next time I’m looking to have my heart squeezed, I think I might re-read, ‘The kite runner’ & ‘A thousand splendid suns’.
‘Banned Books’ is our reading theme for September and one that offers up a great chance to pick up one of those classics you have been considering for years. We have highlighted some titles you might like to explore for your reading or listening pleasure.
For those of you who are more interested in exploring what we have been reading, you will find a list below.
Whatever book you choose to read over the next month or so, we hope you enjoy it.
Happy reading,
Jody
Some of the fabulous books we’ve been reading
The distant hours by Kate Morton – eBook, eAudiobook
The Henna artist by Alka Joshi – eBook, eAudiobook
Still life by Sarah Winman – eBook
The truth about her by Jacqueline Maley – eBook, eAudiobook
Leave me alone: A memoir of me, myself and Trish by Christian Hall – eBook
The truth & Addy Loest by Kim Kelly – eAudiobook
Olive, again by Elizabeth Strout – eBook, eAudiobook
One hundred days by Alice Pung – eBook
Your second life begins when you realize you only have one by Raphaelle Giordano
The electric hotel by Dominic Smith – eBook, eAudiobook
So much life left over by Louis de Berniere – eAudiobook
The bluffs by Kyle Perry – eBook, eAudiobook
Thorn by Intisar Khanani – eBook, eAudiobook
And the mountains echoed by Khaled Hosseini – eBook, eAudiobook
Hamilton and Peggy! A revolutionary friendship by L.M. Elliott – eAudiobook A doctor in Africa by Dr Andew Browning – eBook, eAudiobook
Banned books
All the titles listed were at some point banned in Countries around the world or people were asking for them to be banned. How many have your read?
Continue readingPodcast Classic Fiction for Young Readers
What makes a book a classic? The fact that it is beloved? That it has stood the test of time? That it is of a quality that makes it stand out? Like fairytales and folk tales before them, children’s classics are usually a mix of all of these things.
Join Nisa and Antonia as they talk about some established and modern classics for children:
Chronicles of Narnia: the lion, the witch and the wardrobe by C. S. Lewis. (Originally published) Geoffrey Bles, 1950.
The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. (Originally published) Reynal & Hitchcock, 1943
Are you there God? It’s me, Margaret by Judy Blume. (Originally published) Bradbury Press, 1970
Hitler’s daughter by Jackie French. HarperCollins Publishers, 1999
Happy Listening!
Even More YA Reads
Spanning the last years of primary and all the way up to early adulthood, young adult fiction has an appeal that knows few bounds. Back by popular demand, this is the third in our series of YA book chats. Join Nisa and Antonia as they discuss the following titles:
Listen Layla by Yassmin Abdel-Magied. Penguin Books, 2021
Catching Teller Crow by Ambelin Kwaymullina and Ezekiel Kwaymullina. Allen & Unwin, 2018
Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas. Walker Books, 2021
The Selection by Kiera Cass. Harper Collins, 2012
HAPPY LISTENING!