It’s quite interesting to see what Australian novels that our Australians would like to read. Here is the top ten among 290 titles nominated from ‘Australian Book Review Fan Poll’ along with some comments. All titles are available at Parramatta City Library.
1 – Cloudstreet by Tim Winton – ‘Tim winton’s books attract international kudos, prestigious awards and massive sales.’
2 – The fortunes of Richard Mahony by Henry Handel Richardson – his trilogy – Australia Felix (1917), The way home (1925) and Ultime thule (1929), first collected in 1930, is one of the true epics of our literature.
3 – Voss by Patrick White – Patrick White, Australia’s first Nobel Laureate for Literature, dominated Australian literature from the 1950s to his death in 1990.
4 – Breath by Tim Winton – Author’s mind and most recent novel, won him his fourth Miles Franklin Award, explores themes of Friendship, risk-talking and the sea.
5 – Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey – Peter Carey’s third novel, published in 1988, won the Miles Franklin Award and the Booker Prize and was subsequently filmed.
6 – My brother Jack by George Johnston – George Johnston’s fifteenth novel, published in 1964, opened his semi-autobigraphical trilogy, and won the miles Franklin Award. His second wife, Charmian Clift, adapted it for television.
7 – The secret river by Kate Grenville – Kate Grenville’s sixth novel and won the Commonwealth Prize for Literature Award.
8 – Eucalyptus by Murray Bail – Murray Bail’s third novel, published in 1998, won the Miles Franklin Award. Among the favoured novelists, Bail’s oeuvre is perhaps the smallest and most original.
9 – The man who loved children by Christina Stead – Christiina Stead’s masterpiece, published in 1940 and long neglected, invites comparisons with the greatest novels of the twentieth century, Faulker’s among them.
10 – The tree of man by Patrick White – his fourth novel, published in 1955, two years before Voss, concerns the lives of Stan and Amy Parker from the 1880s to the 1930s.
11 – My brilliant career by Miles Franklin
12 – Monkey grip by Helen Garner
13 – Dirt music by Tim Winton
14 – The vivisector by Patrick White
15 – Picnic at hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay
16 – Remembering Babylon by David Malouf
17 – For the term of his natural life by Marcus Clarke
18 – The merry-go-round in the sea by Randolph Stow
19 – Carpentaria by Alexis Wright
20 – The slap by Christos Tsiolkas
