Horror Fiction seeks to thrill, to terrorise, to tap into the dark side of humanity. Sitting under the umbrella of ‘speculative’ fiction, Horror Fiction combines and contrasts the known with the unknown to induce a feeling of dread in the reader.

Join Nisa and Rachel as they discuss a mix of classics and new books in the genre:

• Bird Box / Josh Malerman. Harper Voyager, 2014 and Malorie: a Bird box novel / Josh Malerman. Orion Fiction, 2020

• The Southern Book Club's guide to slaying vampires / Grady Hendrix. Quirk Books, 2020

• Carrie / Stephen King. New English Library, 1974

• Frankenstein / Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor & Jones, 1818

Yan’s Recommended Reads!

Are you wondering what to read next? Well, maybe this episode will give you some ideas.

Happy Listening!

Books mentioned in this podcast include:

• Death in Daylesford, a new Phryne Fisher mystery by Kerry Greenwood

A tricky genre to define, Scifi or ‘Science Fiction’ is more than just space ships and aliens. Scifi is a genre that looks at the world that was and imagines a world that can be. Sitting within the family of what is considered to be ‘speculative’ fiction, Scifi entertains, thrills and makes us consider some important questions about ourselves, our world and the universe(s) beyond us.

Join Nisa and Rachel as they discuss these books: 

• The Hidden Girl and other stories by Ken Liu. Head of Zeus, 2020

In this episode of Parra Pods Yan shares her love of translated literature with listeners.

Yan is City of Parramatta Libraries resident expert on translated literature and always manages to surprise us with the diverse range of books she gets through!

Below are just a few of the authors & titles Yan talks about in this podcast.

Happy Listening!

‘Shadow of the Wind’, ‘The Angels Game’, ‘The Prisoner of Heaven’ & ‘The Labyrinth of Sprits’ by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Along the Trenches: a Journey Through Eastern Europe to Isfahan by Navid Kermani

‘The Name of the Rose’, ‘Foucault’s Pendulum’ & ‘On the Shoulders of Giants’ by Umberto Eco

‘Sapiens’, ‘Home Deus’ & ‘21 lessons for 21st Century’ by Yuval Noah Harari

‘The Unbearable Lightness of Being’ & Farewell Waltz by Milan Kundera

‘Norwegian Wood’ & Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

‘Red Sorghum’, ‘The Garlic Ballads’ & ‘Sandalwood Death’ by Mo Yan

‘Boyhood’, ‘Youth’, ‘Summertime’, ‘Disgrace’, ‘Life & times of Michael K’ by J M Coetzee

Jo Nesbo, Stieg Larsson, Karan Fossum, Arnaldur Indridason, Hakan Nesser, Leila Slimani, Andrea Camilleri

In this episode of Parra Pods Katherine & Nisa discuss some of the amazing Young Adult fiction they have read over the last couple of weeks.

Reading Youth Adult fiction in all its  diversity is great way to understand the issues facing the up and coming generation.  The books that we review in this episode discuss diverse themes  such as “Black lives matter”, growing up Muslim in Australia, body issues and being young and LGBTQ identified. What these wonderful books have in common is that they are all thought provoking, funny at times, often inspiring and always entertaining. I urge you to grab a YA book now and enjoy!

Some of the books discussed in this podcast include:

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, 2017.

How (Not) to Ask a Boy to the Prom by S.J. Goslee, 2019.

You Must Be Layla by Yassmin Abel-Magied, 2019.

There's Something About Sweetie by Sandhya Menon, 2019.

Looking for some more recommendations why not check out our blog post on YA picks of 2020 & some old favourites!