Category Archives: Podcasts

Parra Pods Episode 31 – #eachforequal – Gender Equality

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Episode 31: #Eachforequal: gender equality

Bias and inequality are concepts that generate a great deal of debate. While they may often be popularly associated with one gender having power over another or one colour of skin being afforded more privileges, there is now an emerging body of literature on some of the more complex arguments to come out of the struggle e.g. what happens when race and gender collide, who gets to decide the ‘appropriate’ way to fight bias and how to break the pattern of inequality that is generational.

To celebrate International Women’s Day Katherine, Nisa and Antonia look at some books from perspectives that haven’t always been heard. Books discussed include:

A woman is no man / Etaf Rum. Harper Collins, Mar 2019

The seven necessary sins for women and girls / Mona Eltahawy. Hardie Grant, Oct 2019

White tears, brown scars / Ruby Hamad. Melbourne University Press, Sep 2019

Happy Listening!

Parra Pods – Episode 30 – What is a Romance Novel?

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Episode 30 – What is a Romance Novel?

Stories of love – romantic love – have been entertaining people for thousands of years. Shared through the written medium, stories within the romance genre have been one of the biggest publishing phenomena of the last century.

Join Katherine and Nisa as they discuss this vast and unwieldy category of books, home to a variety of sub-genres ranging from paranormal romance, fantasy romance and historical romance to contemporary romance,  (possibly) chick lit, erotic romance and religious/Christian romance novels. 

Books discussed include:

Pride and Prejudice / Jane Austen. T. Egerton, 1813

Love in the time of cholera / Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Alfred A Knopf, 1988 [originally publisher in Spanish in 1985]

Pride, prejudice and other flavours / Sonali Dev. Harper Collins, May 2019

Outlander / Diana Gabaldon. Delacorte Books, 1991.

Library Lovers’ Day 2020

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Uncover Something New!

Did you know on February 14 we not only celebrate ‘Valentines Day’ we also get pretty excited about ‘Library Lovers’ Day’.

This year ‘Uncover Something New’ to help us celebrate the day. Borrow one of our specially wrapped books on ‘Library Lovers Day’, find a SILVER ticket inside to win one of seven $30 Dymocks gift cards or find the lucky GOLDEN ticket to win a $50 Dymocks gift card. Each Blind Book will come with an ‘Uncover Something New’ bookmark, and a book themed trivia sheet.

AVAILABLE WHILE STOCKS LAST

Library Lovers Day – Terms & Conditions

But wait that’s not all!

We have a special new episode of Parra Pods for you to listen to: ‘Chatting with Rachel Givney’. Rachel is the debut author of Jane in Love, a modern day romance featuring a time travelling Jane Austen. The story poses the question – if Jane Austen had to choose between the heart and the pen, what would she do? We were lucky enough to receive an advance copy and engaged in good natured fights over who got to read it and record the podcast. End result; Katherine & Suzanne won and were lucky enough to enjoy a morning chat with Rachel!

We hope you enjoy the podcast and make sure you reserve your copy of ‘Jane in Love‘.

Happy Reading & Listening

P.S.

If you are interested in reading an extract of ‘Jane in Love’ then check out this post by Better Reading.

https://www.betterreading.com.au/review/extract/jane-austen-in-modern-england-read-an-extract-from-rachel-givneys-jane-in-love/?fbclid=IwAR2xlp_RJzOCf4f2_KUtmLiG76tMJud282XLNIhtAiKNFNLwPV6OLdNY7Xs

Parra Pods – Fiction Reads for Summer

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Episode 27 – Fiction Reads For Summer

Join Katherine and Nisa for the second of our ‘Summer’ episodes.

It has been a great year for fiction lovers, but here are a few of the  titles that resonated with Katherine and Nisa.

‘Damascus’ by Christos Tsiolkas an historical novel, but with a take on St Paul of the early Christian Church like no other. Visceral, transformative, brutal & beautiful.

To change the pace totally, we review Sally Rooney’s debut novel,  ‘Conversations with Friends’ and her second novel, and twitter sensation, ‘Normal People’. She brings her signature style, spare prose and insightful psychological acuity to  the exploration of the lives and loves of that  most intriguing of generations, the millennials.

Finally Ian Mc Ewan’s ‘Machines like Me’?, this is speculative fiction of the top order,  its themes range from artificial intelligence, what constitutes consciousness and the formal demands of the haiku poem. Darkly humorous, its most compelling theme is “moral choice”

Fiction titles discussed include:

Damascus by Christos Tsiolkas, Allen & Unwin 2019.

Machines Like Me by Ian McEwan, Jonathan Cape/Vintage Publishing 2019.

Normal People by Sally Rooney, Faber and Faber 2018.

Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney, Faber and Faber 2017.

Parra Pods – Movies & Beamafilm

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Join Katherine and Nisa for the first of our ‘Summer’ episodes.

In this episode Katherine and Nisa discuss some of the entertaining movies and television series they have been watching or are planning to watch.

With multiple streaming services and digital downloads more ubiquitous than ever, discovering new television series, movies and documentaries has never been easier.

Did you know as a member of City of Parramatta Libraries you can stream 100’s of great movies for free? Well you can! And it couldn’t be easier.

Through Beamafilm, Australiasia’s premiere streaming channel for true stories and independent voices, library members can access hundreds of documentaries & movies for free. Stream and watch – The Australian Dream, Mystify Michael Hutchence, 2040, Nicole Kidman in the BMX Bandits and more Australian classics like – The Shiralee, Playing Beattie Bow & Skippy to name a few.

Access is easy – enter your library card number, create an account and you are ready to go!

DVDs discussed here include:

  • Booksmart – directed by Olivia Wilde [movie]
  • Succession – Created by Jessie Armstrong [TV series]
  • Ophelia – directed by Claire McCarthy [movie]