The Top 10 Australian Reads from the last 20 years.
This year I’ve somehow managed to read some most excellent Australian novels — from Melissa Lucashenko’s current award winner back to some of Helen Garner’s earlier works and a few other treasures in between. Which got me thinking — could I name my Top 10 Australian books from the last 20 years?
Here’s my attempt — I’m sure there are some I’ve missed and some you completely disagree with. Keen to hear them all!
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Title: Leviathan
Author: John Birmingham
Year Published 1999
Location: Sydney
Sum it up in 3 lines: An electrifying, epic history of the city of Sydney as you have never seen her before. Terrifying tsunamis, corpse-robbing morgue staff, killer cops, neo-Nazis, power junkies and bumbling SWOS teams tell a tale of Sydney that you would never have learned in history class.
Why so good: This is the real Sydney. The grimy, dirty underbelly of the city we all love to hate.
Did it win any awards? Nope
Australiana Rating: High. As high as you can get in Kings Cross.
Best matched with: Probably heroin but play it safe with a beer.
Author Backlist Bump: “He died with a felafel in his hand” (of course)
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Title: True History of the Kelly Gang
Author: Peter Carey
Year Published: 2000
Location: Avenel, a rural area northeast of Melbourne.
Sum it up in 3 lines: Despite the title, this is actually a fictional variation to the telling of Ned Kelly, his history, hijinks and final decline.
Why so good: Peter Carey can only write amazing things in my eyes, and this re-telling of the Ned Kelly story — even after 20 years, remains firmly in my head as such great storytelling, anchored around such a seminal piece of Australiana.
Did it win any awards? The 2001 Booker Prize and the 2001 Commonwealth Writers Prize.
Australiana Rating: High
Best matched with: For something a bit different — Try Ned Kelly’s last meal; roast lamb and peas washed down with a bottle of claret on the night before he was hanged in 1880.
Author Backlist Bump: Oscar and Lucinda
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Title: The Book Thief
Author Marcus Zusak
Year Published: 2005
Location: Munich Germany
Sum it up in 3 lines: Death narrates this one; and is the story of a young girl coming of age in that time of WW2 Nazi Germany. As with any good tale of this time, it involves one man hiding another (Jewish) man, and the growing relationships between the characters.
Why so good: I’m not usually one for YA, a book that can appeal to such a breadth of readers has done something pretty special.
Did it win any awards: Many! Here is the pick of the bunch.
- 2006: Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best Book (South East Asia & South Pacific)
- 2006: School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
- 2006: Publishers Weekly Best Children’s Book of the Year
- 2006: National Jewish Book Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature
- 2006: Bulletin Blue Ribbon Book
- 2007: Book Sense Book of the Year Award for Children’s Literature
Australiana Rating: Low. While Zusak is an Australian author, the connection to Downunder is zero. Inspired by real-life events that had been related to him by his German parents, this is a classic WW2 German reading.
Best matched with: hard stale bread and schnapps
Author Backlist Bump ‘Bridge of Clay’
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Title: Breath
Author: Tim Winton
Year Published 2008
Location: Set in a small Western Australian logging village named Sawyer, near the fictional coastal town of Angelus circa 1970s
Sum it up in 3 lines: A coming of age story set against the power of the ocean. There’s the boyhood friendship that grows into a love of surfing, and the relationship with former professional surfer Sando, and the recklessness he leads them to.
Why so good: Winton is the master of creating wonderfully complex characters and placing them in engaging, everyday life. The power of the ocean and friendship here is captured so magically.
Did it win any awards?
- 2009 Miles Franklin Award,
- 2008 Age Book of the Year, Fiction — Winner
Australiana Rating: High — can’t get much more Aussie than surfing in the 70s.
Best matched with: The spray of saltwater and lack of oxygen
Author backlist bump ‘Cloudstreet’ and ‘Dirt Music’ for some more engaging Australiana; though anything from Winton is a winner.
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Title: A Fraction of the Whole
Author: Steve Toltz
Year Published: 2008
Location: Somewhere in Australia
Sum it up in 3 lines: Pretty simple — it follows three generations of the eccentric Dean family in Australia and the people who surround them. A multi-perspective narrative, the focus is from the point of view of Jasper writing secretly from a prison cell.
Why so good: Hard to get a debut novel that is this good. An awesome Aussie family saga of good intentions that are often followed by catastrophic results. Weighing in at 700+ pages, it’s also one that you just don’t want to finish!
Did it win any awards?
- Ned Kelly Awards for Crime Writing, Best First Novel, 2008: shortlisted
- Man Booker Prize (UK), 2008: shortlisted
- Miles Franklin Literary Award, 2009: longlisted
- New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards, 2009: Winner of People’s Choice Award for Fiction
Australiana Rating: Medium; while broken families are a universal theme, the larrikinism of the characters definitely pushes the rating higher.
Best matched with: A good comfy couch and bottomless cups of tea.
Author Backlist Bump? More of a forward list — with 2015’s ‘Quicksand’ — but as I still haven’t read, not sure it’s worthy of a bump.
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Title: The Light Between Oceans
Author M. L. Stedman
Year Published: 2012
Location: Janus Rock, a small (fictitious) isolated island southwest of Australia
Sum it up in 3 lines: Our hero Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia after enduring the horror of the WW1 trenches. Seeking a remote job, he takes up a position as the lighthouse keeper in Janus Rock. What follows is a heartwarming, heart wrenching story, whose catalyst is the discovery of orphan girl Isabel, and the effect her life has on Tom and those around him.
Why so good: Not only does Stedman capture the yearning for isolation post war; but also writes a book that manages to both warm you and then rip your heart out so swiftly. A book that can make you cry this much has to be good.
Did it win any awards?
- 2013 Indie Book Awards Book of the Year and Debut Fiction Awards
- 2013 longlist for the Miles Franklin Award
- 2014 longlist of the International Dublin Literary Award
Australiana Rating: Low; while capturing the 1920s post-war gloom, it’s fictitious Australian location and universal themes of love could have put it anywhere in the western world.
Best matched with: A strong cup of tea and a giant box of tissues.
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Title: Burial Rights
Author: Hannah Kent
Year Published: 2013
Location: Northern Iceland, 1829
Sum it up in 3 lines: Based on the true story of Agnes Magnúsdóttir who has been condemned to death for the murder of two men. Sent to wait out the time before her execution on an isolated Icelandic farm, this is the tale of her strained relationship in the house, and the burning question of whether she had or hadn’t actually committed the crime.
Why so good: How can a 26-year-old Aussie girl write such a harsh, complex and deeply moving book. The research alone would have been phenomenal. Turning it into such a gripping read, and one that actually chills you to the bones is incredible.
Did it win any awards?: A gazillion — here are the picks:
- 2014 Winner: ABIA Literary Fiction Book of the Year
- 2014 Winner: Booktopia People’s Choice Award
- 2014 Winner: ABA Nielsen Bookdata Bookseller’s Choice Award
- 2014 Winner: Indie Awards Debut Fiction of the Year
- 2014 Winner: Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards People’s Choice Award
- 2014 Winner: SMH Best Young Australian Novelist
Australiana Rating: Very Low — you can’t get further from Australia than this book!
Best matched with: Potatoes and cold water.
Author backlist bump ‘The Good People’. Ireland and fairies, I’m waiting for Kent to finally write a book based in Australia.
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Title: The Narrow Road to the Deep North
Author: Richard Flannagan
Year Published: 2014
Location: Parts beachside Adelaide, parts the horror of the Burma Railway 1943.
Sum it up in 3 lines: The telling of the experiences of Dorrigo Evans, mostly (and most memorably) during his time as a Doctor in a prisoner of war camp.
Why so good: Not sure if good is the right word as opposed to memorable. The ability to capture the horror of war, the capacity of the human spirit as well as contrasting with love — remarkable.
Did it win any awards? Man Booker Prize 2014
Australiana Rating: High — can’t get much more Aussie than this critical part of the country’s history.
Best matched with: A slouch hat and heart of steel.
Author Backlist Bump Too many to choose from!
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Title: Boy Swallows Universe
Author Trent Dalton
Year Published 2018
Location: Housing estates in the fringes of Brisbane during the 1980s.
Sum it up in 3 lines: A lost father, a mute brother, a mum in jail, a heroin dealer for a stepfather and a notorious crim for a babysitter. A story of crime, love, revenge, family (and just a touch of fantasy), this is an Aussie as F**K coming of age story of Eli Bell and his brother August.
Why so good: Is this the new great Australian novel? It was so good I wanted to read it again — one of those books with just the right amount of X factor — which has ensured everyone I’ve met who has read it has also loved it.
Did it win any awards?
Just a few (ahem) at the 2019 Australian Book Industry Awards:
- ABIA Book of the Year
- Literary Fiction Book of the Year
- The Matt Richell Award for New Writer of the Year
- Audio Book of the Year Boy (Narr. Stig Wemyss)
- Plus 2019 Book of the Year at the 2019 Indie Book Awards
Australiana Rating: Very High
Best matched with: A beer and a joint
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Title: Too Much Lip
Author: Melissa Lucashenko (Female)
Year Published 2018
Location: Northern NSW in the small fictitious town of Durrongo
Sum it up in 3 lines. Our anti-hero Kerry reluctantly returns to her hometown of Durrongo to say goodbye to her dying grandfather. Having returned as a fugitive, she doesn’t plan to stay home long. However, family dramas, local history and unexpected love keep her there longer than expected.
Why so good: Best capturing of Native Australiana in modern-day. The mix of local dialect and elder traditions makes a white city kid like me get the deep importance of land and ritual to the original Australians.
Did it win any awards?
- Miles Franklin Award — 2019 — Winner
- Stella Prize — 2019 — Shortlisted
- Australian Book Industry Awards — 2019 — Longlisted
- Queensland Literary Awards — Courier Mail People’s Choice Award — 2019 — Shortlisted
Australiana Rating: Extreme (like an Aussie bushfire)
Best matched with: UDLs and a ciggie
Author Backlist Bump: “Mullumbimby” another perfect piece of Australiana
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