Recently, the ABC Radio took to the interwebs to find Australia's favourite books. I remember writing about it. It was like choosing your favourite child. Here is what I wrote at the start of September.
The numbers are now in. Australia's Top 100 Books. I've gone through the list, so see how I fared.
I've read 73 of the 100 books listed (Two I've got into but haven't finished - The Bee Sting and Shuggie Bain need time, and probably a Bablefish.
So here is the list. With my comments. And please do not cancel me for not having read Helen Garner and not particularly liking Kate Grenville. I know they are national treasures.
From Number 100 to Number one.
100. Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty. READ. One of her better ones.
99. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. READ. In my Top Ten. Love this book.
98. The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne. NOT READ. (Been told to investigate him)
97. True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey. READ. Such an achievement.
96. Tom Lake by Anne Patchett. NOT READ. In the TBR pile.
95. Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. READ. Great book. Magical.
94. Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders. READ. Get the audiobook version of this. Amazing.
93. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. NOT READ. Hear great things about this.
92. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. READ. Very well done.
91. The Bookbinder of Jericho by Pip Williams. READ. One of Adelaide's finest.
90. This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor by Adam Kay. NOT READ. But I have seen the BBC Series.
89. People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks. READ. Love this woman.
88. This House of Grief by Helen Garner. NOT READ. Helen Garner is the one hole in my reading I confess.
87. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros. NOT READ. Fairy smut. Have other things to read. I do like some of Rebecca Yarros's straight fiction offerings where the fairies aren't getting jiggy with it.
86. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. READ. Incredible book.
85. Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens by Shankari Chandran. READ. This was one of my favourite book group books of the last few years.
84. Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood. READ. Not my favourite of hers, but she is amazing. I think this would stand up to a second read.
83. The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart. READ. Great book.
82. Carpentaria by Alexis Wright. NOT READ. I've read other books of hers. She's well worth it. Challenging.
81. Too Much Lip by Melissa Lucashenko. NOT READ. I have read some of other books.
80. A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. READ. Love his stuff.
79. Brooklyn by Colm Toibin. NOT READ. Seen the film, however.
78. The Women by Kristin Hannah. READ. Phenomenal book.
77. Life After Life by Kate Atkinson. NOT READ. In the TBR pile.
76. Where is the Green Sheet by Mem Fox et al. NOT READ. Kid's book.
75. The Happiest Refugee by Anh Do. NOT READ. No averse to reading it - should pick it up in the library.
74. The Overstory by Richard Powers. NOT READ. In the TBR pile.
73. The Happiest Man on Earth by Eddie Jaku. NOT READ. See the comment re 75.
72. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Schaffer and Annie Burrows. READ. Good film too.
71. The Bee Sting by Paul Murray. READ. Okay, half read, but it's on the way. It's a big book.
70. Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel. NOT READ. Have read some of her other works.
69. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. READ. LOVE LOVE LOVE his book.
68. Educated by Tara Westover. READ. Very cool memoir.
67. Circe by Madelaine Miller. NOT READ. In the TBR pile.
66. The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris. READ. Well done creative non-fiction.
65. Question 7 by Richard Flanagan. READ. Not my favourite of his works.
64. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett. NOT READ. In the TBR pile.
63. We Need to Talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver. NOT READ. In the TBR pile - long standing due to the content.
62. The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese. NOT READ. In the TBR pile.
61. Joe Cinque's Consolation: A True Story of Death, Grief and the Law by Helen Garner. NOT READ. Yes, I know I haven't read Helen Garner... So shoot me.
60. The Song of Achilles by Madelaine Miller. NOT READ. In the TBR pile.
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night by Mark Haddon. READ. The play was great too.
58. James by Percival Everett. READ. Such a great book of revision.
57. Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari. NOT READ. Have read his latest one, however.
56. The Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith. NOT READ. Not quite my cup of tea.
55. Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo. READ. Up there with my favourites.
54. The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion. READ. I've worked with the protagonist. Great book.
53. Prophet Song by Paul Lynch. READ. A hard read.
52. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Half-read. Gave up around page 50, never went back.
51. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid. READ. One of her best.
50. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. READ. Brilliantly done.
49. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khalid Hosseini. READ. I think it's Middle Eastern trauma porn. Others will disagree.
48. The Life of Pi by Yann Martel. READ. The movie is cool too.
47. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling. READ. Azkaban will always be my favourite.
46. Horse by Geraldine Brooks. NOT READ. In the TBR pile.
45. The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. READ. Great book.
44. Limberlost by Robbie Arnott. READ. One of the best things I read last year.
43. All that I Am by Anna Funder. READ. Up there in the favourites. How this missed out on our book group list I will never know.
42. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman. READ. There are other books of his I prefer over this one.
41. Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart. Half-read. Must go back to it.
40. Dirt Music by Tim Winton. READ. But I can't remember it.
39. Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell. READ. Oh, how I love this book. Movie coming out soon.
38. Breath by Tim Winton. READ. One that I do remember. About surfing. See. Movie made too.
37. The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas. READ. Another Australian author I greatly admire.
36. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. READ. Though I don't get the hype. I'm not that into light crime.
35. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. NOT READ. Have read other works by the author.
34. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. READ. In my top five reads. Superb.
33. Pashinko by Min Jin Lee. READ. Wonderful saga.
32. Normal People by Sally Rooney. READ. I have a lot of opinions about Sally Rooney.
31. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. READ. Don't watch the movie. The book is great. Boris rocks.
30. Stasiland by Anna Funder. NOT READ. Must get around to this one.
29. Lola in the Mirror by Trent Dalton. READ. This is superb. He's incredible.
28. The Dry by Jane Harper. READ. Nobody does the Australian outback better than Jane Harper. Her original and best. (The Lost Man comes a close second.)
27. My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante. READ. I get why people love it. As I got traumatised in Naples, it didn't win me over. The series on SBS is fantastic.
26. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. READ. Still one of the best young adult novels ever written.
25. Honeybee by Craig Silvey. READ. Heartbreakingly good.
24. Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey. READ. Also a wonderful read. Great young adult literature.
23. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. READ. Very much enjoyed this.
22. The Kite Runner by Khalid Hosseini. READ. Preferred this to A Thousand Splendid Suns.
21. Atonement by Iain McEwan. READ. In my top ten. Love the book, love the movie.
20. The Secret River by Kate Grenville. READ. I don't gel with Kate Grenville. Such is life.
19. The Road by Cormac McCarthy. NOT READ. It all sounds a bit grim.
18. Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe. READ. Required reading - the kid's version is very accessible.
17. Wifedom by Anna Funder. READ. OH MY GIDDY AUNT this is a fabulous, fabulous book.
16. Still Life by Sarah Winman. READ. In my top ten. Fell in love with it. Hard recommend.
15. Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks. READ. Up there high on the list. Brooks is a gem.
14. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. READ. Adore this book.
13. The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan. READ. Top three book. It's amazing.
12. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. READ. Unpopular opinion, but meh. The book is better than the movie, which was completely underwhelming.
11. Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan. READ. I read this again this week. She's an Irish National Treasure.
10. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. READ. The whole trilogy is sublime. Long, but fantastic.
9. A Little Life by Hanya Yanigahara. READ. Trauma porn at its best. Not for the thin skinned. Lots of trigger warnings. Huge book.
8. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. READ. Another sublime read. Her other books are incredible too (The Poisonwood Bible being a favourite of mine)
7. The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams. READ. A good book, but I'd have this lower down. Put the Flanagan in here.
6. Burial Rites by Hannah Kent. READ. This deserves to be here. It's incredible. Adelaide girl. She's the reason I did my Masters in Writing,
5. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. READ. Love this book. Really enjoyed the series on Apple+.
4. All the Light we Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. READ. The book that took me to St Malo. Brilliant book. I love when a book takes you on literal travels.
3. A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. READ. Fantastic popular fiction.
2. The Book Thief by Markus Zuzak. READ. This deserves to be here.
1. Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton. READ. I won't begrudge this being in the top position. My Mum hates Trent Dalton.
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