The Community Library

This week I talk about the 1930 novel High Wages by Dorothy Whipple, the cosmic story of how I found it, and the value of listening to the quiet voice.

This week, I’m wrapping up my end of year reading episodes by chatting about my 2024 reading statistics. I hope you enjoy!

This week on The Community Library, I’m talking about some more favourite reads of 2024 that didn’t quite make it into my Reading Awards episode.

Books

Welcome to the annual Community Library Reading Awards! A completely subjective and biased awards ceremony in which all the prizes go to the books I read and liked best in 2024.

The Awards:

• Biggest Surprise
• Biggest Accomplishment
• Most Thought-Provoking
• Favourite Cover
• Favourite Speculative Fiction
• Favourite Translated Fiction
• Favourite Mystery / Thriller
• Favourite Nonfiction
• Favourite 2024 Release

The Books:

If you've been following the podcast for a while, you'll know that each season of The Community Library is about 19-22 episodes. So, my friends, you might have guessed that this is the last episode in season 6. Join me for a little catch up with what I’ve been reading and watching in the past few weeks, and I’ll see you next season!

A couple of weeks ago, I accidentally read a post-apocalyptic book and watched a post-apocalyptic movie in the same week, and I decided I needed to talk about them. This episode is about La Jetée (1962), directed by Chris Marker, and I Who Have Never Known Men (1995), written by Jacqueline Harpman. I hope you enjoy.

Last year, I embarked on a challenge to read a book published in every single year of the 20th Century. When I catalogued all the books from the 20th Century I’d already read, I found the 1970s to be the decade from which I had read the least. In this episode, I take you through my journey of reading books published in 1970, 1973, 1974, 1976 and 1978.

Since we’re already a quarter of the way into 2024 (!) , it was time for me to sit down with you to talk through my reading stats and highlights from the last 3 months.

Visit my website www.angourieslibrary.com for more links and resources.

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Five years ago today I released the teaser episode for The Community Library podcast: a creative endeavour inspired by my love of books, reading, and talking about stories. And here we are, five years later!

Welcome to the fifth annual Community Library Reading Awards! A completely subjective and biased awards ceremony in which the prizes go to the books I read and liked in 2023. Tonight there are twelve awards to give out to honour some of my favourite books I read in 2023. I hope you enjoy!

As we reach the end of 2023, I’m excited to bring you a short series of episodes in which I look back at my reading year. This first episode is about the reading challenges I completed this year, and the ones I hope to complete next year, too. Did you have any reading challenges you completed in 2023? I hope you enjoy this episode, and chat soon!

What you’re about to listen to is a live recording of The Community Library! In this episode, the incredible award-winning YA author Melina Marchetta interviews my mum and me about our novel, Stuck Up and Stupid! Thank you to everyone who came to the live event. Special thanks to Melina Marchetta for the stellar interview. Also thanks to Melissa Luckman, our publicist from Walker Books, for organising such a beautiful event at the Glebe Town Hall. And thank you to Nova, the sound technician who recorded the event for you all to listen.

Have you ever read a book you loved so much, that you were scared to read another book by the same author for fear that it wouldn’t be as good? For me, that book was Station Eleven, and the author is Emily St. John Mandel. Join me as I read Emily St. John Mandel’s next book The Glass Hotel, in an experiment to see if I can trust my 5 star predictions.

I’m sure you’ve heard of one of the greatest love stories ever written. About a man and a woman who seemed to despise each other at first, before falling madly in love and living happily ever after. But are you intimidated to pick up the original book? Maybe I can help. In this episode of Classic Short Cuts we’re tackling Pride and Prejudice.

When I began the childhood favourites series, I knew that Jacqueline Wilson would need her own episode. This week I talk about her work, which ones were my favourites, and why I think she’s such a successful children’s author. Enjoy!

Have you ever read a classic? Have you ever wanted to read a classic, but not known where to begin? Have you ever started reading a classic and then given up because it was just too confusing? Welcome to Classic Short Cuts, and today we’re tackling Frankenstein. I’ll tell you all you need to know before picking up this classic, and hopefully make it seem less intimidating. Enjoy!

Welcome back to the series in which I revisit favourite books from my childhood. We began in 2007 with Enid Blyton and The Boxcar Children, and today we’re exploring 2008 with Anne of Green Gables and Ballet Shoes.

Hello! This week I’m coming to you live and unscripted! Since I last spoke to you I’ve been very busy travelling and also trying to recover from a terrible cold. So I scrapped my essay plans, and instead decided to do a very casual mid-year book freakout episode for you. I hope you enjoy! A x

It took me three years before I felt ready to read a book about a pandemic. After much recommendation, from both during the height of the coronavirus pandemic and afterwards, I read Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. In this episode I talk about how much this book impacted me, in its discussions of disaster, survival, and art. I hope you enjoy! A x

I have been reading for about eighteen years of my life. And I’m curious about what books I loved as a kid, and how they’ve influenced my reading tastes now. Do these books hold up? How do we separate our opinions from feelings of nostalgia? Should we change outdated vocabulary in old books? All these questions and more answered in today’s episode, the first in a new series on this podcast. I hope you enjoy! A x

With Taylor Swift currently on her epic Eras Tour, I thought it was a great opportunity to revisit Swift’s oeuvre. Today I’m talking about some of my favourite songs on Midnights, how they draw on storytelling tropes, and how Taylor Swift has created her own literary world. I hope you enjoy!

In past few months, I happened to read three “Sad Hot Girl” books (a phrase which tiktok, of course, created). In this episode, I investigate the Sad Hot Girl genre, what these three books have in common, and how I felt reading them. I hope you enjoy! X

Four months after first arriving in LA, I have now read five and a half books set here (some on purpose, some by accident). In this episode I talk about how these books have influenced and informed my experience of LA as a city. I hope you enjoy x

Like many old things, the Greek myths might at first seem complicated, dull, or irrelevant, but I promise you, they are far from it. This episode is a guide bya beginner, for beginners, with the aim to share my love of the Greek myths, and hopefully inspire you to discover them, too. A x

Another bite-sized episode for you folks! A shallow dive (as opposed to a deep dive) into the world of historical fantasy fiction. I take you through a few of my favourite books that combine these two genres, and explore the ways in which they use fantasy to tell a story. The clashing of myth and reality has been coming up a lot for me recently, so you can expect more episodes on this topic! A x

Have you ever stumbled upon a book that brought so much more to your life than you first expected? That’s what happened to me with The Snake Pit, a 1946 novel I found in a second-hand bookstore in Vancouver. The book was a sensation when it was published, and was made into an award-winning film with Olivia de Havilland, but somehow I had never heard of it. In this episode I compare the book with the film, and uncover the bigger story behind The Snake Pit.

Welcome back to The Community Library! After a little hiatus, I am back making episodes, beginning with this one all about my adventures watching old movies for a week. I watched seven black and white movies, spanning from 1931 to 1948, and documented my thoughts on each. I watched some classics – such as His Girl Friday and Frankenstein, and some lesser-known ones, such as Ladies of the Chorus and To Be or Not to Be. Enjoy!

The end of another year means another Community Library Reading Awards! In this totally biased and unfair awards ceremony, I give awards to my most thought-provoking book, favourite lockdown read, favourite translated fiction, and more! Consider this a highlights reel of all the books I read this year. Happy New Year, and I hope you enjoy!

This year’s extra-special Christmas episode features everyone’s favourite guest, my sister Kalliope! We tier rank fifteen popular Christmas songs for you, because we love Christmas songs and being judgemental. We hope you enjoy!

Beauties and Beasts have been falling in love all throughout mythology and folklore, but what makes Disney’s 1991 adaptation such a fan-favourite? In the next instalment of my Disney Fairy Tale series, I take you through the history of the original Beauty and the Beast fairy tale, and compare it with its Disney adaptation. From animal studies to mob mentality, we cover lots in this episode! I hope you enjoy x

Who’s afraid of nonfiction? Me. It’s me. I’ve always had trouble with getting through nonfiction, but this past year I’ve actually found myself … choosing to read it? Over fiction? Who is she? So in this very chatty episode, I take you through 10 things I’ve learnt from 10 of my favourite nonfiction reads this year. Happy listening! X

I’ve seen Clueless so many times I can almost recite it by heart. 10 Things I Hate About You is my comfort movie, and I watched She’s the Man for my English Lit unit instead of reading the actual play, Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. But what makes these teen flix based on classic lit so special? Why was there such a boom in this genre in the 90s? This episode we’re looking at the anatomy of a 90s literary teen movie adaptation. Grab a cup of tea and biscuit, because this is a long one. Enjoy!

How many books did I read in the last three months? How many of them were translated? How many did I get from the library? All these questions answered AND MORE in this episode. As is tradition here on the podcast, every three months I take you through the stats of everything I read that quarter, because despite being a literature nerd, I also love numbers and statistics. I also highlight three of my favourite books from the last three months! I hope you enjoy x

I launched The Community Library two and a half years ago, and in that whole time I’ve never celebrated a single anniversary. Now is as good a time as any, right? Today I’m reflecting on 10 lessons I’ve learnt through creating The Community Library podcast. I hope you enjoy x

This week I’m reviving an old series on the podcast and talking about everyone’s favourite finger-pricking princess: Sleeping Beauty.

Once upon a time, a year ago, to be exact, at the height of Melbourne’s strict lockdown, I started a fairy tale series on the podcast in which I analysed and compared four Disney Princesses with their fairy tale counterparts. A year later, and Melbourne finds itself in yet another strict lockdown, and so what better lockdown activity than to fill in the blanks in the timeline?

Welcome to season 5 of The Community Library! I’m your host, Angourie Rice, and I am so delighted to see returning listeners, and overjoyed to see new listeners, too! This episode is exactly what it says on the tin: a few reasons why I think it’s important to be critical of the media you love. I hope you enjoy this bite-sized episode, and I’ll see you back here in two weeks for more. A x

After a brief hiatus, I am back with a very late quarterly reading stats episode! In this episode I talk you through my reading stats from the past three months, plus I highlight three favourite reads!

Lorde’s song Green Light is not about the infamous green light featured in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel The Great Gatsby … So then why do so many people think it is? In this week’s audio essay, I analyse and compare the green lights in both Green Light and The Great Gatsby. I try to understand why, like Gatsby, artists and audiences keep coming back to the green light.

At the start of 2021, I stopped giving books a star rating. Why? Listen to find out!

Don’t know where to start with Jane Austen? You’ve come to the right place! Welcome to the second instalment of a new series on The Community Library: Author Spotlight! This week I’m talking about one of the most influential authors in the English language: Jane Austen. I’ll give you a simple rundown of her novels, and recommend which one you should start with if you’re new, or if you’re already an established fan. I hope you enjoy!

Don’t know where to start with an acclaimed author? Welcome to the first of a new series on The Community Library: Author Spotlight! This first episode is about YA contemporary author Elizabeth Acevedo. I talk about her career as an author, give you a rundown of all three of her novels, plus I recommend where to start with her works. I hope you enjoy!

How has the first quarter of the year gone for you? Mine has definitely had its ups and downs, but I’m glad to be spending some time with my family for the Easter long weekend. In this episode I chat you through some of my reading statistics, and three of my favourite books I read in the last three months. I hope you enjoy x

Never have I ever … read a graphic novel. Well, that’s not technically true. I read a few when I was a kid, but on the whole I am very unknowledgeable about the world of graphic novels. And because this topic has come highly requested by the listeners, this week I did a graphic novel marathon and read four! I read a YA romance, a gritty memoir, a collection of short horror stories, and an adaptation of a modern classic. Listen to discover which one was my favourite!

Why do I hate the phrase “But that’s the point?” In this short essay-style episode, I unpack the anatomy of this phrase, its use, and why it should forever be banned. Not to be dramatic.

CONTENT WARNING: In this episode I discuss violence against women and domestic abuse.

What’s a 400-year-old poem got to do with a 2012 breakup song? Well, more than you might think … This week I critically analyse and compare Shakespeare’s Sonnet 35 and Taylor Swift’s I Knew You Were Trouble. I discuss iambic pentameter, double standards, and the importance of analysing our pop culture. I hope you enjoy!