This post is sponsored by Get Reading!
By KATE HUNTER
I could go all highbrow on this post and write about the Australian novels I studied, absorbed, respected as I was growing up. There were many – I was quite a reader. Perhaps because my family had a, ‘no TV during the week’ rule. I despised my parents for it at the time – now I thank them, and wish I had the guts to impose similar boundaries on my own kids.
The first book I really remember as being ‘Australian’ is Seven Little Australians. I don’t know why I related to it – their life in the bush couldn’t have been more different from my brick veneer suburban world. Maybe because it was about brothers and sisters and loss? Even now I get nervous around gum trees in strong winds.
Oh, Ju-Ju, please don’t die.
Then there was My Brother Jack. This was one of those books we were ‘made’ to study at school. Thanks to the enthusiasm of Mrs Brosnan (who’s still teaching at the same school, 27 years after I left), we learned books could have swear words and still be considered literature. It was a revelation. My brother Jack was gritty, honest, funny and gave us LOTS to talk about, years before we’d even heard of book clubs.
Whenever I think I can’t write, I re-read A Fortunate Life.
Although A B Facey never did a creative writing course, barely went to school, wouldn’t know an adjective if it bought him a beer, he wrote the most evocative, charming and powerful autobiography I think I’ve ever read. And he didn’t even DO anything much. He didn’t circumnavigate the globe, win Wimbledon or party with a Kardashian. He wrote the story of a life that was remarkable in its ordinariness. And it’s stunning.
Despite all that, I’m almost embarrassed to admit the Australian book that made the biggest impact on me was The Thorn Birds, by Colleen McCullogh. I read it at a rented beach house at about age 15 and fell in love with the ‘saga’. This book is the literary equivalent of Sizzler – something for everyone – love, landscape, history, religion, family, natural disaster, human torment, adventure and sex. Like Sizzler, it’s not especially nutritious, but it’s difficult to stop going back for more.
Browse this year’s all Australian 50 Books You Can’t Put Down in the gallery below:
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What Australian book made the biggest impact on you? Either as an adult or a child. Your comment will put you into the draw to win ALL 50 books on the Get Reading! list. 5 Runners up will receive a pack of 10 books. You must be a member to enter. Comments close 10/10/12.
Comments
435 Comments so far
My favourite Australian book is Loaded by Christos Tsiolkas. I was blown away by its rawness and insight into a world I don’t know even though I live in the suburbs where it was set.
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Definitely ‘The songlines’ by Bruce Chatwin. It was the first time, despite being born and raised in Australia, that I felt I had an insight into the Aboriginal culture which surrounds us. It is a work which mixes fiction and non-fiction and has a wonderfully dreamlike quality. It really gave me a respect for the connection that a lot of Aboriginal people have with the land and why it is so important to them and the continuation of their culture. I read it many years ago but it has stayed with me as it was such a defining moment in me becoming my own person who read different things and could devise her own opinions and views of the world.
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Mao’s Last Dancer by Li Cunxin is my favourite. Can we call it an Aussie book?? since Li Cunxin is an Australian now I’m pretty sure we can! It was soooo inspirational. Even if your not a dancer the lessons about determination and hope he teaches from his novel can be applied to every aspect of life. His novel encourages me to always persist in reaching my dream and that no one at all can stop us from achieving whatever we set out to achieve.
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For me it’s a tie between Rebecca Sparrow’s The Girl Most Likely and Jess Rudd’s Campaign Ruby. Rebecca’s book came out first, so I’ll talk about it first. It’s based in Brisbane, which always earns a few points, the characters are wonderful, and there’s a conversation between Rachel & Zoe about a creeping Jesus that could have been copied word-for-word from any of my conversations with my best friend. It’s hilaaaaarious. I’m the Zoe in the chats we have! As for Jess’s book, I read the entire thing in the carpark of The Wesley Hospital, while I was waiting for an appointment with the surgeon who would eventually cut my cancer out of me. I had my feet on the dashboard, the seat back, windows down, and I didn’t move for 5 hours. I was a bit late for the appointment, the book was that good. Both hold pride of place on the top shelf of my bookcase and I consider both books to be worthy of the best Australian book I know. Each have impacted my life incredibly and I think both Rebecca Sparrow and Jess Rudd are incredible women and incredible writers.
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Reading for me is one of life’s greatest gifts and I could never imagine a life without books. My all time Aussie fave would have to be “Seven Little Australians” by Ethel Turner. This book teaches of the importance of family and the love that binds it.
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We were talking about The Thorn Birds over the weekend. We decided it was the Australian 50 Shades of Nana porn.
My Torn Birds experience was Ruth Park’s Sword, Crowns and Rings. Read it illicitly in the library stacks (because you had to be in Year 9 to actually “borrow” it).
But I think it was Tim Winton’s Cloudstreet that I first remember serving up sights and sounds and tastes that were distinctly Australian. That spoke to me of my own childhood, and meant something. (Maybe I’d just had my fill of reading about white christmases, the gritty streets of New York, the brash streets of LA or the exotic foreign locales of anything European.)
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I am currently reading How It Feels by Brendan Cowell. Reading this book, I keep thinking this must be how my mum felt when she was reading Puberty Blues all those years ago.
This book is touching me in a raw and deep way. The characters are only a few years older than me, growing up in the shire and the emotions, the turmoil, the feeling of entitlement and betrayal are very reminiscent of what I felt growing up. This is a very raw, suburban novel set in the 90s, following a group of teenagers who are trying to find out who they are. This book is forcing me to look inside myself and to re-evaluate who I am and why. I don’t think an Australian book has made me evaluate myself in quite the same way since reading the Tomorrow series, almost 15 years ago.
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The Boy Who Fell to Earth Kathy Lette
As an “Aspie Mum”, not coping with a son battling sudden growth, hormones, pressures of secondary school and other foibles of teenage life, it was great to be allowed to laugh
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Possum Magic! Is there a more iconic Australia book out there? I can’t resist now buying it for family and friends when they have children..
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The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak is one of the most amazing Australian books Ive ever read. It was touching, insightful, and thought provoking. An amazing read!
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Shantaram has been by far the best Aussie read. I read it about 4 years ago, and it still makes such a strong impression on me everytime I think about it…. “Just hug the bear, Lin.” Priceless.
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With you on Shantaram but as a child I read and reread Storm Boy
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My all time favourite Aussie book is Bryce Courtney’s “April Fool’s Day.” Such a beautifully written account of the life and passing of his son Damon. It has been a very long time since I read it but it had a profound effect on me and it almost made me feel that I shouldn’t be reading it as it is so personal.
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I loved reading the Fifty Shades Trilogy, looking forward to another set of heart stopping reads.
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I can’t remember a time when I haven’t had a book on the go and a pile beside the bed. I think ‘The Thorn Birds’ would have to be top of my list, the most drama packed book I have ever read..how could anyone not fall in love with Father Ralph de Bricassart especially as a student at an all-girl Catholic High School! I’m still in love with his character today. Secondly any of Bryce Courtenay’s books are brilliant. I always failed History at School but through reading his books I have learnt so much more about all “the Wars” and about our “penal colonies” than I ever learnt at School.
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im wanting and hoping i am entering the competition to win books right!! my favourite fiction book was Matilda’s Last Waltz by Tamara McKinley, which im not sure if it is classed as British or Australian as she moves between the 2 countries but i loved reading about the early australian way of life and the pictures that i had in my head dont even compare to the country side it is set in, i think this book is going to stay in my collection for many years to come!! i cherish all my books and love reading them all, some of them get re-read over and over.
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Andy Griffiths the best Aussie Author, my son really loves him!!
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I absolutely love the stories by Mem Fox, When I was in Child Care I had the privelidge to go to a workshop run by Mem Fox, fantastc experience!!
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The Book Thief – Markus Zusak
The first time I began reading it, I was studying for my honours and actually decided not to keep reading. I was so pressed for time and didn’t like that my ‘study’ of the books I had to journal about was sucking the pleasure out of my own read of them. I wanted to come back to it when I had the time to savour it. I’m so glad I waited. I finished reading the book in the early hours of a morning not so long ago, actually, laying in bed and weeping with grief, with joy, with other stuff I couldn’t explain or put proper words to. I can’t remember the page number now, but I remember how my chest ached and I began to choke-sob when Liesel finally kissed Rudy, only too late. I loved the colours in the book, and there’s no other way to say it except that the characters (especially Papa, Rudy and Death) left bruises on me. What a tragic and unique masterpiece. Beautiful.
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I have lost count of the number of times I have re – read “Picnic at Hanging Rock”. Almost everytime I have read it, I pick up something in the storyline that I missed or over-looked the previous time, love that in a book!
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I’m really keen to read The Little Refugee. So much is said in the media about ‘the boat people’really hate that term), that I want to hear the story of someone thats been through it.
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Tim Winton’s Cloudstreet – my most favourite book – I have read it so many times and never cease to enjoy it
And it’s great looking through everyones favourites – I’m compiling a “must read” list – thanks for sharing
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The Book Thief by Markus Zusak was amazing in a million different ways. The story is a little unusual and the writing is beautiful. This book challenges its readers to think, reflect and maybe love a little bit more.
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My favourite Australian book? Mem Fox all of them, but one I really love is TimKoala Lou. A beauftiful story to read with my own children and those who have been in my care.
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I just loved and still read the Tomorrow When the War Began series. I am 26 and have just recently had a marathon of series again. The book are an eye opener anantastc, you can’t put them down!!!!
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As a young girl, John Marsden’s “So much to tell you” had a big impact on me. It taught me tolerance, acceptance & empathy; lessons I’ve carried with me into adulthood & now motherhood.
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I know a thousand people have probably said the same thing, but the Tomorrow Series rocked my world as a teen! I remember my friends and I having endless debates “where would we go? what would we do? could we hack it?” it really made us think!
With the recent political climate I think Ahn Do’s “The Happiest Refugee” is an important book to read – I believe we’d live in a nice country if everyone took the time to read his story, and I think that’s a pretty powerful and awesome thing for a book to be able to do.
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Without a doubt, Tomorrow When the War Began – John Marsden. I know its been mentioned, but I’ve gotta throw it out there again. I LOVED this series. I became Ellie; lived her adventures, felt her pain, shared in her excitement! I read the whole series so many times that I began to memorise some of text and could answer ANY questions about any of the books. I anxiously awaited the arrival in the bookstore of each new novel as it was released and absolutely mourned the end of the series! John Marsden just has a way of catching the teenage heart and soul I think. Some of the other texts mentioned I agree are awesome Australian classics, but for me, this was the series that captured and fed my imagination for at least 10 years. Thank you John Marsden!
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For the Term of His Natural Life, by Marcus Clarke. Such a hellish history of convict life, the birth of the ‘Aussie battler’
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Ruth Park, I read Playing Beattie Bow, when my daughter read it at school, and followed up with some of her other books- The Harp in the South, and Poor Mans Orange
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I am a primary school teacher and I absolutely love reading my kids books written by Mem Fox! I think my favourite would have to be Possum Magic, such a lovely story that visits some great places in Australia and some classic Australian food!
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I am very much looking forward to revisiting the Magic Pudding, when it is time to read it to my daughter. I have the 4 slices sitting on the shelf eagerly waiting to be read.
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I have to admit I am also a closet The Thorn Birds fan.
I love a epic sagas and love stories which make me feel like a participant of the story, that I know the characters, that I am there in the action with them and Colleen McCullough does this! Have the tissues at the ready, you will need them!
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The Australian book that made the biggest impact on me was “Tomorrow, When The War Began” by John Marsden. This book and the rest of the series I think did a great job in adding a bit of everything – love, excitement, suspense, action and emotion. It also did an amazing job at taking something so big as war and putting it on a level that younger audiences can understand through characters they can relate to. Another thing I love about this book is it helps you realise the value of what we have here in Australia – our land, resources and lifestyle as well as how others aren’t so lucky. To be able to implement such a big concept into a book teenagers or younger can read and enjoy I think is amazing.
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I read ‘For the Term of His Natural Life’ after visiting Sarah Island in Tasmania this year. Gee books have changed. It’s pretty heavy going. I’m really interested in convict history so I enjoyed it.
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‘My Brilliant Career’ by Miles Franklin was the first adult book that got me really thinking about the big picture. Before then I didn’t question the ‘norms’ of society or wonder how the women who lived in Colonial Australia forged ahead in a male dominated society. After reading ‘My Brilliant Career’ I became interested in womens’ issues and I also helped out a few families who were doing it tough while I was at university. This book really shaped me as a person and I am very lucky to have read it. I hope my daughter wil also read it and I would love to talk to her about it if she does.
A close second would be ‘The Little Refugee’ by Ahn and Suzanne Do. I bought this book for my children after reading the adult version. It was at a time when there was a lot of media coverage about refugees and I knew my son was listening to the radio with me. We talked about the book and he is now able to understand some of the issues involved. I love this book just as much as my children and I hope it helps the new generation lose some of the prejudice that seems to be everywhere.
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Coonardoo by Katherine Prichard
A tough, uncompromising novel about the difficult love between a white man and a black woman that I had to read at school when I was 16. At school in rural North-West NSW it opened my eyes to different races and the difficulties faced by them. I cried and reread it several times. Nearly 20 years later it is the first book that comes to my mind when I think of great Australian books.
Coonardoo is the moving story of a young Aboriginal woman trained from childhood to be the housekeeper at Wytaliba station and, as such, destined to look after its owner, Hugh Watt. The love between Coonardoo and Hugh is never acknowledged and so, degraded and twisted in on itself, destroys not only Coonardoo, but also a community which was once peaceful.
This is a frank and daring novel which is set on the edge of the desert. It raises difficult questions about the history of contact between black and white people in Australia.
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My favourite book as a child was “Hills End” by Ivan Southall. It was about kids, the outback and adventure I loved reading it time and time again!!
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My fav ‘aussie’ book is A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute.
It’a a classic read that’s stood the test of time.
Thirty odd years after I first read it, and I still have this book in my collection and I re-read it over and over again – imagining what it must have been like to be a prisoner of war, of true love lost and then found, of one woman’s courage and sheer grit in the face of overwhelming odds.
Loved it then, love it now.
Nevil Shute opened the doorway to a whole new world for me when I was a kid. And one day, I plan to go to Alice Springs, and see what it was that Jean Paget worked so hard to emulate.
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These comments are fantastic, I’m compiling a new list of books to read! I read Jasper Jones two years ago and absolutely devoured it before lending it to a friend and never seeing it again-must track that down!
As for my favourite Australian books, it’s impossible to go past Melina Marchetta novels. As a 20 year old, these books are in constant rotation of reading and they are all absolutely brilliant and suitable for every age!
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Can I have an Australian author instead of a story set in Australia??
A few years ago I decided to read my way through a previous version of 50 top reads and read The Book Thief by Australian author Markus Zusak.
I read a lot of books for a lot of different reasons. Some to cheer on good versus evil, some to learn about something or someone, some to broaden my mind to other cultures and hardships to help appreciate my good life, some for laughs and some for pure escapism.
I like to fully immerse myself in the world the book’s pages create and read things quickly letting it consume me. I become emotionally attached to characters within well written stories and often have to put books down to grab a tissue. I put it off and put it off for so long it was one of the last ones I read because I really didn’t think I was going to like this book. But I did read it and it’s one of those books that I have thought about a long time after finishing.
The characters in this book with all of their flaws are captivating. The story is simple (although not simply written) but the characters are rich and complex. The story is narrated by Death. Seems morbid I know, but it’s not. Death is actually at times compassionate and respectful of the human life and spirit. Death seems in awe of the main character in the book a 13 year old girl named Liesel.
I cried more in this book than any other I have read (audibly embarrassing at times) and I had to put this book down to “rest” for a while. I had never reread parts of a book whilst reading until this one. It took me a lot longer than usual to finish this book and when I finished, I threw it out! It had just taken so much out of me that I just didn’t think I could ever revisit it again. But, I had to go out and buy it again a few weeks later. I continually thought about it. I dreamt about it. I didn’t so much as love this book but was haunted by it and although my words probably wouldn’t convince anyone else to read this book, I think it is an important book that every person needs to read.
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It would definitely have to be The Shiralee. It is the one book I have read that I can still recite the opening paragraph of, almost word for word. It hooked me in and didn’t let me go. Years later, I am still spellbound by that paragraph!
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Year of Wonders, by Geraldine Brooks. One of the only novels I’ve ever read twice. Thrice even. Carried that story around in my head for years! Still do now, even.
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This is such a great discussion. Australian writing is so precious and unique – something that I have come to appreciate as a homesick and somewhat reluctant expat in Canada.
The voice of Australian authors are subtlely different to their international counterparts and immediately takes me back home. Whenever I come back to visit I raid the shelves of the book stores to get my fill of Australian authors. I intend to read all the classics to my Canadian- Australian daughter to help her understand her other culture. There is a beautiful book by Nicki Gemmel called Why You Are Australian: A Letter To My Children. She manages to put this subtle collective experience into lovely words. I recommend it to all but especially if you have moved away.
I wish that accessing Australian authors electronically was easier. I’m taking notes of all these suggestions for my next trip home…
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I hope it’s not against the rules for my favourite Australian book to be an autobiography – because it is. It’s by a supremely lovely lass by the name of Marieke Hardy and I absolutely adore her book ‘You’ll be Sorry When I’m Dead’. It’s amazing. She’s amazing. It’s all just a big fuzzy, warm, beautiful ball of awesome! I burst out into fits of laughter, tears and screams while reading this book at crowded bus stops and in quiet classrooms; to many a wary glance from onlookers. But I just could not help myself. Marieke taught me that what you think you’ll be when you grow up is not always what ends up happening (after all, she’s not a prostitute); that a photo of you as a teenager is never supposed to look good (thank God); that naming a girl dog a boy’s name is not in any way strange (it’s okay Ryan Gosling, there are dogs out there like you); and that swinger’s parties are EXACTLY how you think they’ll be. She even inspired me to start writing letters to everyone I know. I’ve learnt that nothing beats a hand-written letter. This book has inspired me and I feel like I really connect with it – especially with the fear of losing someone close to you. It’s my favourite Australian book by far and I could just read it over and over.
P.S. Marieke Hardy actually came up to the backwaters of Darwin and signed my copy of her book. I was shaking as I handed her my orange peace-sign pen. She wrote “For Sasha – Thank you for deckchairing with me. WHERE WERE THE FROGS? Love, Marieke” How bloody amazing is this woman?! I could have died of excitement right on the spot!
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7 Little Australians is the first ‘big kids’ book I remember reading by myself, will always love that one!!
‘Playing Beatie Bow’ by Ruth Parks was a great one we read at school as was ‘Looking for Alibrandi’ by Melina Marchetta which I especially loved as it illustrated I was not part of the only family in Australia that had National Wog Day!!
Earlier this year I read ‘Empire Day’ by Diane Armstrong which was on the ‘Get Reading’ list and it was fantastic, such a beautiful story about the late 1940′s post war Australia set in Bondi as different cultures started to come together
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As a child Bob Graham was my favourite author – I especially liked his books Grandad’s Magic and Has Anyone Here Seen William?. As an adult I found my love of picture story books has reignited and wish adults would appreciate picture story books more and realize that most are just not for childern.
These days I love the works by Shaun Tan. He is an amazing unique artist and his book The Red Tree is an inspiring and hopeful wonder of a book!
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I just love reading, i read all the time, every minute of every day, Australia books are just amazing and just so interesting. i love John Marsden’s tomorrow series, it is just so amazing and fascinating, i also love Jessica Shirvington The violet Eden chapters, the books are just so different, and her writing is just so good. i can’t wait to read, just anything and everything.
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Australian Books have been having an impact on me since I first started reading.
Mulga Bill’s Bicycle (AB Patterson), Possum Magic (Mem Fox) and My Place were among my favourite books as a young person.
As I grew into being more of a “reader”, Aussie Bites gave me my first taste of what it’s like to read a story! From there, i developed into a huge fan of John Marsden’s Tomorrow When The War Began Trilogy (which I still read to this day) and Bryce Courtenay’s books, of which Jessica was the most pivotal for me. Obviously I also came across other authors too, such as Paul Jennings and Tim Winton.
However, the most influential Australian book I have read to date was “The Sugar Mother” by Elizabeth Jolley. It was the first book I read in my Literature Degree that I actually “got”. To this day I still find it difficult to understand why it is that I relate to that book, and I really ought to revisit it.
We have so many wonderful authors in Australia, they should be celebrated!
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There are so many great Australian authors in my bookcase it is hard to choose.
As a child I loved Mary Grant Bruce’s Billabong Series for the insight and escape into an older and “simpler” time.
As a young teenager I feel in love with Garth Nix’s Sabriel, and that love has continued over into the rest of the Abhorsen series, the keys of the kingdom series and the tower series.
As an older teenager I feel in love with Isobelle Carmody’s Obernewtyn and Legendsong series. However that love has waned a little as it has been 10 years since the last legendsong book was released and still waiting for the end of obernewtyn.
As an adult I fell in love with the writing of Kylie Chan, urban fantasy with no vampires or werewolves and a solid based in mythology and theology.
I still read them all and I can’t wait to introduce my daughter to all of them as she grows up.
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Are you me? Freaky what!
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I would have to say that my favourite Australian book is Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta. But also love John Marsden’s Tomorrow series, Thunderwith by Libby Hathorn, Playing Beatie Bow by Ruth Park and April Fools Day by Bryce Courtenay
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