All About Books – Summer 2020

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The latest edition of our reading suggestions guide for adults and teens is now out for Summer 2020. It has an amazing array of books that are being published over the next 3 months in a variety of genres and subjects – there is sure to be something for everyone. Pick up your FREE copy at any of our Library branches or click the cover to download. Each book cover in the guide contains a one-click link to our Library Catalogue for easy reservations. Why not quick link your copy even before it is published!

We are also asking for feedback about the format and contents of All About Books via a short survey in order to help us make the booklet even better. You have until Sunday 15 March 2020 to complete the survey and you can go into the draw for a chance to win a $30 book pack prize – just for having your say. The survey can be completed here or ask Library Staff for a paper copy.

Don’t forget that the All About Books – Kids edition for 0-5 year olds is also out and available at any of our Libraries. It has a range of suggested books to read as well as many fun puzzles.

Parra Pods – Media Companies & #metoo

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We hope you have enjoyed listening to Parra Pods this year.

We wish you a happy & safe holiday season.

Katherine & Nisa

Episode 25 – Media Companies & #metoo

In 2018, two publications shared the Putlitzer Prize for Public Service: The New York Times, for reporting led by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, and The New Yorker, for reporting by Ronan Farrow.

In episode 24, Katherine and Nisa chat about the books based on their respective reports. They are:

She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement / Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey. Bloomsbury, September 2019.

Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators / Ronan Farrow. Fleet (Little Brown), October 2019.

Reading & Puzzle Challenge

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City of Parramatta Libraries invites you to participate in our Reading & Puzzle Challenge.

Read away the summer, solving puzzles and trivia along the way!

A great way for families to read and play along together!

Read and rate five books, write a small review of your favourite and solve a minimum of five of the weekly puzzles or trivia.

Participating is easy. Pick up a copy of the entry booklet at any of our Libraries, or download a here – Entry Booklet – Reading & Puzzles

For persons who prefer to submit an online entry form you can do so via the links below. Please be sure to complete the form prior to 12:00 am Sunday 9 February 2020.

Adult Entry Form

13+ Entry Form

The Reading & Puzzle challenge is open to adults and teens aged 13+.

Puzzles will be released weekly; however there is no need to rush. The competition open most of the Summer leaving plenty of time for you to complete the puzzles. Puzzles can be viewed at all library locations and online.

All eligible entries will be placed in a draw to win some great prizes!

FIRST PRIZE – $150 – BOOK PACK

SECOND PRIZE – $75 – BOOK PACK

THIRD PRIZE – $50 – BOOK PACK

The Land Before Avocado, Book Review

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THE LAND BEFORE AVOCADO BY RICHARD GLOVER

A funny and frank look at the way Australia used to be – and just how far we have come.

‘It was simpler time’. We had more fun back then’. ‘Everyone could afford a house’.

There’s plenty of nostalgia right now for the Australia of the past, but what was it really like?

In The Land Before Avocado, Richard Glover takes a journey to an almost unrecognisable Australia. It’s a vivid portrait of a quite peculiar land: a place that is scary and weird, dangerous and incomprehensible, and, now and then, surprisingly appealing.

It’s the Australia of his childhood. The Australia of the late ’60s and early ’70s.

Let’s break the news now: they didn’t have avocado.

It’s a place of funny clothing and food that was appalling, but amusingly so. It is also the land of staggeringly awful attitudes – often enshrined in law – towards anybody who didn’t fit in.

The Land Before Avocado will make you laugh and cry, feel angry and inspired. And leave you wondering how bizarre things were, not so long ago.

Most of all, it will make you realise how far we’ve come – and how much further we can go.

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