Reading suggestions - for book lovers!
Have you read everything written by your favourite author, and want to find something similar? Looking to find a new favourite? Want to explore and find something a little different? Try some of our online resources below. Some will ask for your library card number, others are free to use.
Click on the cover to download our latest reading suggestions guide - All About Books or collect your free copy at one of our branches.
eBooks
You can borrow 10 eBooks at a time for 3 weeks, and read them on any eReader which can read .epub files (Kindles can't read this type of file, but almost all other readers can).
All you need is a computer with Adobe Digital Editions installed, to download the eBooks, plus your library card number and PIN.
Downloadable AudioBooks
Want to listen to narrated books anytime, anywhere? Try the OneClickDigital audiobooks - you can listen to the whole book or download a chapter at a time.
Parra Reads
Are you wondering what to read next? Check out Parramatta City Library's reading blog for book-lists, reviews, author events and Book Clubs. If you love a book, write a review and send it in to be included!
Parramatta Library Pinterest
Take a look at Parramatta City Library's Pinterest boards for great suggested reads! Most pins link to our catalogue for easy reservations.
Australian Book Review (Available in library only) (Australian Content)
Australian Book Review (ABR) is Australia's oldest and premier literary review. Created in 1961, it publishes reviews, essays, commentaries and creative writing. This monthly magazine is committed to highlighting the full range of critical and creative writing from around Australia. Now available online as well as in print!
Bloom's Literature
Explore authors and great works of literature, watch videos of professor Harold Bloom discussing important authors, great works and important literary themes, access a timeline of the chronology of great literature around the world and more.
BusyThings
The award-winning BusyThings site allows young children to play and learn at the same time, with a wide variety of fun, interactive games.
Fantastic Fiction
Bibliographies and writing lists for over 30,000 authors, and information on over 350,000 books.
Good Reading Magazine Online (Australian Content)
An Australian resource with information on "Everything About Books" including thousands of easy to read independent book reviews and lots of interesting Australian and International articles, author profiles, stories on writers' houses, bookshops, short stories, book trivia and more.
Goodreads
Looking to find a new favourite book? Want to tell everyone about a great book you just read? Share book reviews and recommendations, and get suggestions for other books you might like.
in2Era (Australian Content)
in2Era is an online library of books, plus fun and educational activities, for children from kindergarten to primary school. It includes WINGS Online, Picture Books Online and Traditional Tales Online.
Literacy Planet
Literacy Planet is a 'world-first' online resource that is revolutionising English literacy education. It encourages the learning of essential English literacy skills through a motivational learning platform that is fun, compelling and addictive for primary-school children of all levels of ability.
Literary Reference Centre
Literary Reference Centre is a comprehensive literary reference resource, which provides users with a broad range of reference information from antiquity to the present day.
NoveList Plus
Looking for a good book? Use Novelist Plus to look for books by author, title, series, plot description or level of readership (children, young adults, adults etc).
SpineOut Magazine Online (Australian Content)
SpineOut Online is a place where you can express your ideas and thoughts and share your creativity in words, art, film or music. A fun and interactive site.
Trove
The Australian National Library catalogue, with information on over 330 MILLION Australian and online resources: books, images, historic newspapers, maps, music, archives and more.
TumbleBookCloud
TumbleBookCloud is a collection of online titles for teenagers and young adults in categories such as Literature, Drama, Poetry, Graphic Novels, Short Stories and many more. The books include a collection of Read-Alongs, which highlight the sentences as they are narrated aloud, turn the page automatically, and have many more features with an easy-to-use interface. They are an excellent tool for new readers and English as a Second Language (ESL) students.
TumbleBookCloud Junior
TumbleBookCloud Junior is a collection of TumbleBooks (animated, talking picture books) with fiction, non-fiction and foreign language titles, Read-Alongs (chapter books with sentence highlighting and narration but no animation), TumbleTV which consists of pre-set playlists of a sequence of books, and Tumble Puzzles & Games.
TumbleBooks are created from existing picture books which are licensed from children's book publishers and converted to the TumbleBook format.
Who Else Writes Like...? Online
Who Else Writes Like? is designed to help anyone who enjoys reading fiction to expand the number of writers they read. It is designed to answer the perennial question "I've read all the books by my favourite authors, who shall I read next?"
Who Next...? Online
When children ask: "Who can I read next?" or "Who writes like my favourite author?", the answers are here in Who Next...? Writers of children's fiction are listed with suggestions of other authors who write in a similar way, together with key book and series titles.