Category Archives: Online Library

Book Review We Solve Murders

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We Solve Murders by Richard Osman

Combining the heart and humour of The Thursday Murder Club with a puzzling international mystery, welcome to the blockbusting new series from the biggest new fiction author of the decade, Richard Osman.

Steve Wheeler is enjoying retired life. He still does the odd bit of investigation work, but he prefers the pub quiz and afternoons at home with his cat Trouble. His days of adventure are over – that’s his daughter-in-law Amy’s business now.

Amy Wheeler thinks adrenaline is good for the soul, which makes being a private security officer to billionaires the perfect job. She’s currently on a remote island keeping world-famous author Rosie D’Antonio alive. Then a dead body, a bag of money and a killer with their sights on Amy have her sending Steve an SOS . . .

As a breakneck race around the world begins, can they stay one step ahead of a deadly enemy?

Comments

This book was well received by our readers. Described mostly as a very enjoyable read.

The comparison was invariably made to Richard Osmans previous series The Thursday Murder Club. All of our readers enjoyed that series.

The key characters were very liked by the group, fun characters 

A key criticism by many was that there were too many characters, often with cliched development.

It was almost necessary to keep a list of the characters to follow the story. The story was also too convoluted for some readers, destinations were all over the place and the reasoning seemed unnecessary and often unbelievably outlandish.

There were, however, many good giggle moments and emotionally warm relationship portrayals between key characters.

We felt it was almost written with a TV series in mind!

A recommended read for readers who are looking for  a light, fun story.

Read by MJ Readers Book Group

Book Review One Hundred Years of Betty

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One Hundred Years of Betty by Debra Oswald

Book Review

Betty begins her life story, on the eve of her hundredth birthday party and what a story it is.

From London to Australia and beyond, set against world events and social upheavals in history; Betty takes readers on a journey of self-discovery, love, pleasure, heartache, and everything in between.

Betty is sassy, independent, vulnerable and a feminist and I loved her character!

Betty’s story, told in her voice added so much to the overall enjoyment of the book, very masterful writing from Debra Oswald. While reading One Hundred Years of Betty, I felt like Betty was sitting right in front of me sharing her thoughts, memories, and feelings.

Anthea, Pearl, Leo, and Rex are just some of the many characters that feature in Betty’s life who readers are sure to fall in love with.

One Hundred Years of Betty made me angry, happy, and sad at various times throughout the book. When it came to the end of the book, I was crying and sniffling but happy at the same time. Any book that manages to do that to a reader is a rare find indeed.

For me One-Hundred Years of Betty was one of those rare books that you are still thinking about five days later; it will certainly be one of, it not my favourite book of the year! Another book to add to my yearly re-read list. I also cannot wait to listen to the eAudiobook version due for released on 1st May 2025, and will be available to listen to via our BorrowBox Library.

Happy Reading!

Jody

Discover more books by Debra Oswald.

Discussion questions are available from Allen and Unwin

A year of eAudiobooks

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Why listening to eAudiobooks is my favourite thing to do!

I am not ashamed to admit, that if I cannot listen to an eAudiobook daily; I tend to turn into an irritable, tired toddler.

At the end of a long eight hours of work, the only way I can make it through the commute home is to turn on my current eAudiobook and relax into an hour of non interrupted bliss.

Making time for reading can be difficult, that is why I love listening to eAudiobooks. Anywhere, anytime I can be transported to another world, time and place. eAudiobooks bring the story to life and provides a deeper connection to the story and characters.

To all those non-believers out there I say, “don’t knock it until you try it”.

Included in this post are the eAudiobooks I have listened to this year plus, a few of my favourites that I listen to every year. My hope is that you too will discover something great to listen to.

All the amazing eAudiobooks below can be accessed via City of Parramatta Libraries Borrow Box collection.

Happy listening,

Jody

My absolute favourites! eAudiobooks I listen to each year.

IDAHOBIT Day 2022

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This Tuesday 17 May is International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT). It’s a day to recognise the efforts to remove discrimination against people on the basis of sexuality or gender identity and to show our commitment to building a more inclusive community #parramattapride.

The library has numerous resources to help people learn more about the LGBTQIA+ community and to support those who are members of the community. What does this acronym stand for? Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning (one’s sexual or gender identity), Intersex, Asexual/Aromantic/Agender and the “+” symbol simply stands for all of the other sexualities, sexes, and genders that aren’t included in these few letters.

It can sometimes be tricky to find the resource you are looking for as different keywords can be used by different people/groups here are some of the more common search terms you can try in our library catalogue: LGBT, any of the words in the LGBTQIA acronym, sexual minorities, same sex, gender. TIP – you can use the advanced search options to remove words that you don’t want to look for eg. Find items that have: queer and Don’t show items that have: queen.

Here are just some of the titles we have to borrow to help get you started. Why not learn more or show your support by borrowing one or more resources today?

Adult Non Fiction
Adult Fiction
eBook/eAudio
Young Adult
Children’s

Tales of Love

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It is that time of year, with Library Lovers’ Day (perhaps better known as Valentine’s Day) just around the corner on 14 February when you may be inspired to pick up a tale of love. The library has romantic titles of all kinds and for all ages from sweet romance to shifter romance to sexy romance and everything in between. Here are just some of the tales of love we have in our libraries.

For those of you who enjoy listening and reading online to a book then why not visit the ‘Escape into Love‘ list on our BorrowBox site or for even more eBook titles visit the ‘Love is in the air‘ list on our Wheelers site.

Finally don’t forget that if you visit one of the City of Parramatta Libraries from Friday 11 February to Monday 14 February, borrow one of our ‘blind date’ books and ‘rate the date’ you can enter our Library Lovers’ Day promotion to win a great prize.