Friday 4 October 2019

Two Birds; One Stone.


In preparation for #AusReadingMonth in November, I will create a few posts full of Aussie books to help inspire and expand your true blue wishlists.

Today we start with Non-Fiction.

November has become one of my busiest reading and blogging months of the year. In 2013, not only did I start hosting #AusReadingMonth for the first time, but Kim & Leslie began the very first Non-Fiction November. Doing two reading challenges in one month is certainly not unheard of for me, but it is a juggle!

This year, to make life easier for myself, I'm determined to combine both events by focusing on Australian non-fiction.

This is harder than it sounds.

I love Australian non-fiction, but only a few Aussie bloggers participate in Non-Fiction November, so what happens as I go around visiting everyone else's posts, is that I get excited and tempted by a whole stack of international non-fiction titles and suddenly my TBR wishlist explodes with non-Australian titles.

However, this year, I'm going to be strong and stick to my Australian non-fictions goals.
It's not like I don't have enough choices.

Below are all the Aussie non-fiction books on my real-life TBR pile.

If you're looking for #AusReadingMonth inspiration that combines with #NonficNov, then look no further!

Agamemnon's Kiss by Inga Clendinnen
Almost French by Sarah Turnbull
The Art of Reading by Damon Young
The Art of Time Travel by Tom Griffiths
Arthur Phillip by Michael Pembroke
Australia Day by Stan Grant
Australian Notebooks by Betty Churcher
Axiomatic by Maria Tumarkin
  • Winner of the 2018 Melbourne Prize for Literature’s Best Writing Award
  • Shortlisted for the Stella Prize 2019
  • Shortlisted for the Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction at the 2019 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards
  • Shortlisted for the 2019 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards Non-fiction
  • Shortlisted for the 2019 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards Non-fiction
Boys Will Be Boys by Clementine Ford
The Bush by Don Watson
The Cost of Courage in Aztec Society by Inga Clendinnen
Craft for a Dry Lake by Kim Mahood

Dancing With Strangers by Inga Clendinnen
Darwin's Armada by Iain McCalman
Dragon and Kangaroo by Robert Macklin
Dymphna by Judith Armstrong

Elizabeth Macarthur by Michelle Scott Tucker

The Fatal Shore by Robert Hughes
From the Edge by Mark McKenna

Georgiana by Brenda Niall
Ghost Empire by Richard Fidler
The Great Barrier Reef by Bowen
Griffith Review #63 Writing the Country
Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia edited by Anita Heiss
  • Winner of Small Publisher’s Adult Book of the Year at the 2019 ABIA Awards
Gum by Ashley Hay

Inner Worlds Outer Space by Ceridwen Dovey
Island Home by Tim Winton

Joe Cinque's Consolation by Helen Garner
Journey from Venice by Ruth Cracknell

Modern Love by Lesley Harding & Kendrah Morgan

Napoleon: Passion, Death and Resurrection 1815 - 1840 by Philip Dwyer
No Friend But the Mountain by Behrouz Boochani
  • Winner of General Non-Fiction Book of the Year at the 2019 ABIA Awards
  • Winner of the Prize for Non-fiction and the overall Victorian Prize for Literature at the 2019 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards
  • Winner of the Special Award at the 2019 New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards
  • Winner of the National Biography Award 2019
Not Drowning, Reading by Andrew Relph
Notebooks by Betty Churcher

Only in New York by Lily Brett
Origin Story: A Big History of Everything by David Christian

Position Doubtful by Kim Mahood

Quarterly Essay #73 Australia Fair
Quitting Plastic by Clara Williams Roldan & Louise Williams

Reading by Moonlight by Brenda Walker
A Reef in Time by Charles Veron
Resilience by Anne Deveson
Riding the Trains in Japan by Patrick Holland

Sagaland by Richard Fidler and Kari Gislason
Sand Talk by Tyson Yunkaporta
Silent Invasion by Clive Hamilton
A Single Tree by Don Watson
Songlines: Tracking the Seven Sisters by Margot Neale
The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin
The Spare Room by Helen Garner
Sydney Harbour: A History by Ian Hoskins

Thirty Days by Mark Raphael Baker
Tiger's Eye by Inga Clendinnen
The Trauma Cleaner by Sarah Krasnostein
  • Joint Winner of the Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-fiction at the 2019 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards
  • Winner of the Victorian Prize for Literature 2018 and the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Writing for Non-fiction 2018
  • Winner of the Dobbie Literary Award 2018
  • Shortlisted for the National Biography Award 2019
True North by Brenda Niall
True Stories by Helen Garner

The Unknown Judith Wright by Georgina Arnott
Unpolished Gem by Alice Pung

Welcome to Your New Life by Anna Goldsworthy
Women Kind by Dr Kirstin Ferguson & Catherine Fox
The Writing Life by David Malouf

You Daughters of Freedom by Claire Wright
  • Shortlisted for the 2019 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards Australian History


YES, I have a problem!
I grant you, it's a good problem to have. Although a little overwhelming when I see all these wonderful books lined up in one place, waiting for me to read them.


However, if that was not enough list for you, let me tempt with this year's award winning Australian non-fiction titles!

Eggshell Skull by Bri Lee
  • Winner of the Davitt Award for Debut 2019
  • Winner of the Ned Kelly Award for True Crime 2019
  • Winner of the People’s Choice Award at the 2019 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards
  • Shortlisted for the 2019 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards Non-fiction
  • Shortlisted for the 2019 Indie Book Award for non-fiction

Family: New Vegetable Classics to Comfort and Nourish by Hetty McKinnon
  • Winner of Illustrated Book of the Year at the 2019 ABIA Awards
  • Shortlisted for the 2019 Indie Book Award for illustrated non-fiction

Deep Time Dreaming by Billy Griffiths
  • Winner of Book of the Year at the 2019 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards
  • Joint Winner of the Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction at the 2019 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards
  • Winner of the 2019 Ernest Scott Prize
  • Shortlisted for the 2019 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards Australian History

The Erratics by Vicki Laveau-Harvie
  • Winner of the 2019 Stella Prize
  • Shortlisted for the Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction at the 2019 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards

The Arsonist by Chloe Hooper
  • Winner of the Davitt Award for Non-fiction Crime 2019
  • Winner of the 2019 Indie Book Award for non-fiction
  • Shortlisted for the 2019 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards Non-fiction
  • Shortlisted for the 2019 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards Non-fiction

Welcome to Country by Marcia Langton
  • Winner of the 2019 Indie Book Award for illustrated non-fiction
  • Shortlisted for General Non-fiction Book of the Year at the 2019 ABIA Awards

Sorry Day by Coral Vass and Illustrated by Dub Leffler

  • Winner 2019 CBCA Eve Pownall Award for Information Books
Any Ordinary Day by Leigh Sales
  • Shortlisted for the 2019 Indie Book Award for non-fiction
  • Shortlisted for General Non-fiction Book of the Year at the 2019 ABIA Awards

The Land Before Avocado by Richard Glover
  • Shortlisted for the 2019 Indie Book Award for non-fiction

  • Shortlisted for the 2019 Indie Book Award for illustrated non-fiction

A Painted Landscape: Across Australia from Bush to Coast by Amber Creswell Bell
  • Shortlisted for the 2019 Indie Book Award for illustrated non-fiction
  • Shortlisted for Illustrated Book of the Year at the 2019 ABIA Awards

Teacher by Gabbie Stroud
  • Shortlisted for Biography Book of the Year at the 2019 ABIA Awards

Boys Will Be Boys by Clementine Ford
  • Shortlisted for General Non-fiction Book of the Year at the 2019 ABIA Awards

  • Shortlisted for Illustrated Book of the Year at the 2019 ABIA Awards

Special Guest by Annabel Crabb and Wendy Sharpe
  • Shortlisted for Illustrated Book of the Year at the 2019 ABIA Awards

The Cook’s Apprentice by Stephanie Alexander
  • Shortlisted for Illustrated Book of the Year at the 2019 ABIA Awards

Tracker by Alexis Wright
  • Shortlisted for the Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction at the 2019 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards

Sagaland by Richard Fidler and Kári Gíslason
  • Shortlisted for the Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction at the 2019 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards

A Certain Light: A memoir of family, loss and hope by Cynthia Banham
  • Shortlisted for the 2019 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards Non-fiction

Half the Perfect World: Writers, dreamers and drifters on Hydra, 1955–1964 by Paul Genoni & Tanya Dalziell
  • Shortlisted for the 2019 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards Non-fiction

  • Shortlisted for the 2019 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards Non-fiction

Dancing in Shadows: Histories of Nyungar performance by Anna Haebich
  • Shortlisted for the 2019 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards Australian History

The Bible in Australia: A cultural history by Meredith Lake
  • Shortlisted for the 2019 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards Australian History

The Land of Dreams: How Australians won their freedom, 1788–1860 by David Kemp
  • Shortlisted for the 2019 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards Australian History

Staying: A Memoir by Jessie Cole
  • Shortlisted for the 2019 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards Non-fiction

Miss Ex-Yugoslavia by Sofija Stefanovic
  • Shortlisted for the 2019 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards Non-fiction


Dr Space Junk vs The Universe: Archaeology and the Future by Alice Gorman
  • Shortlisted for the University of Queensland Non-Fiction Book Award 2019

An Unconventional Wife: The Life of Julia Sorell Arnold by Mary Hoban
  • Shortlisted for the University of Queensland Non-Fiction Book Award 2019

Shakespeare’s Library: Unlocking the Greatest Mystery in Literature by Stuart Kells
  • Shortlisted for the University of Queensland Non-Fiction Book Award 2019

The Eastern Curlew by Harry Saddler 
  • Shortlisted for the University of Queensland Non-Fiction Book Award 2019

Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia by Christina Thompson
  • Shortlisted for the University of Queensland Non-Fiction Book Award 2019

Are you tempted?

4 comments:

  1. Wow. What a list! Looking forward to your reviews on the titles you end up reading.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Definitely tempted....great new titles for my Aussie TBR
    Amazingly I read 13 books on your list!
    I also enjoyed Brenda Niall's 'Mannix -- M. Mackellar's memoir "How to Get There' -- Ashleigh Young's essays "Can You Tolerate This? Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!

    ReplyDelete
  3. What an amazing list Brona. Thanks - I am planning to combine NFN and ARM.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I’m doing NonFicNov this year. I only have a few Australian titles on my list though..Eggshell Skull by Bri Lee, Bush Doctors by Annabelle Brayley and Murder Misadventure and Miserable Ends by Dr Catie Gilchrist.

    ReplyDelete

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