AusReading Month is on in November.Read an Australian classic (or 2 or 3) of your choice, blog and share your reviews and comments here.
In the meantime, I've been posting up reviews & lists of award winning Australian books to get you started on your own Aussie reading wishlist.
Booktopia created a list of the 50 best Australian novels in 2011 as voted by twitter & facebook followers of Booktopia. You can click through to Booktopia to find out their voting criteria and to read more information about each of the books listed.
But for now, here is their list....
Books in red are ones that I've read. Reviewed books have their link attached.
1. Cloudstreet by Tim Winton
2. Picnic At Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay
3. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
4. Seven Little Australians by Ethel Turner
5. My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin
6. The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas
7. My Brother Jack by George Johnson
8. The Harp in the South by Ruth Park
10. The Man Who Loved Children by Christina Stead
11. Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
12. For the Term of His Natural Life by Marcus Clarke
13. I Can Jump Puddles by Alan Marshall
14. Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey
15. Power Without Glory by Frank Hardy
16. The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith by Thomas Keneally
17. The Spare Room by Helen Garner
18. The Getting of Wisdom by Handel Richardson
19. The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay
20. Eucalyptus by Murray Bail
21. True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey
22. The Broken Shore by Peter Temple
23. We of the Never Never by Aeneas Gunn
24. The Bodysurfers by Robert Drewe
25. Tirra Lirra By the River by Jessica Anderson
26. Shiralee by DÁrcy Niland
27. The Boat by Nam Le
28. The Secret River by Kate Grenville
29. The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough
30. Ride on Stranger by Kylie Tennant
31. Ice Station by Matthew Reilly
32. Voss by Patric White
33. Maestro by Peter Goldsworthy
34. Gould's Book of Fish by Richard Flanagan
35. Praise by Andrew McGahan
36. Dog Boy by Eva Hornunug
37. The Watcher on the Cast Iron Balcony
38. After America by John Birmingham
39. Butterfly by Sonya Hartnett
40. A Fraction of a Whole by Steve Toltz
41. Things We Didn't See Coming by Steven Amsterdam
42. It's Raining in Mango by Thea Astley
43. White Gardenia by Belinda Alexandra
44. Ransom by David Malouf
45. The Timeless Land by Eleanor Dark
46. I Came to Say Goodbye by Caroline Overington
47. Diamond Dove by Adrian Hylands
48. Disco Boy by Dominic Knight
49. Cocaine Blues: A Phyrne Fisher Mystery by Kerry Greenwood
50. After the Fall by Kylie Ladd
I hope you can join us for AusReading Month....
There are some on here I've never heard of, let alone read. It is quite demoralizing! ;-)
ReplyDeleteHi Brona,
ReplyDeleteI am an avid fan. Would love to link my blogsite to yours.
Can interest you in a pdf copy of my book with either a review/ interview or spotlight feature on your site.
For more information about my book The Final Frontier a contemporary YA fantasy/ sci-fi please visit http://www.hmirwing.com.
I am contactable at hmirwing@gmail.com.
Thanks for your interest HM, but I don't accept manuscripts.
DeleteI've only read a few from that list and my favorite is definitely The Thorne Birds, which I've read many times -- maybe it's time for a re-read. I did actually just put A Town Called Alice on hold at the library, I saw a copy at the used bookstore which was pretty expensive but I read the first few pages and it's very intriguing.
ReplyDeleteIf you're looking for a good Australian TV series I highly recommend A Place To Call Home -- terrible name but a great series about an upper class family living outside Sydney in the 1950s. It's beautifully filmed and acted and it's really interesting to see a period piece set someplace other than the US and Britain. A little soapy but very good, there are three seasons on DVD so far.
I really liked A Town Like Alice when I read it in my early 20's (the mini-series from the 1980's with Bryan Brown & Helen Morse was great too).
DeleteI've seen the ads for A Place to call Home but we get to see quite a few period pieces set in Australia, so I didn't feel the need to go there (this time!)
I hope you can reread Thorn Birds for #AusReadingMonth :-)