Aussie Readers discussion

With 2017 coming to an end it means that here in Aussie Readers it's time to reflect on all the books you have read during the year and try to come up with your top 5 - 10 Aussie author books for 2017.

The books didn't have to be released this year but only to be read.

For anyone who wants to have their memory refreshed, Here is the link to the mid year top 5 to 10 thread - see if any on your list then have made it to your list now.

My top 10 in no particular order :)

From the 1st half of 2017

The Road to Winter by Mark Smith
Amber and Alice by Janette Paul
Fortune's Son by Jennifer Scoullar

From the second half

The Good Sister by Maggie Christensen
Wilder Country by Mark Smith
The Choke by Sofie Laguna
Child Of Africa by T.M. Clark
Sanctuary by Judy Nunn
Secrets Between Friends by Fiona Palmer
Thirst by L.A. Larkin

My top 10 in the order I read them:

Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms by Anita Heiss
Three Hours Late by Nicole Trope
The Secrets She Keeps by Michael Robotham
The Three Miss Allens by Victoria Purman
Talk Of The Town by Rachael Johns
The Golden Child by Wendy James
A Time to Run by J.M. Peace
Memories of May by Juliet Madison
Secrets Between Friends by Fiona Palmer
The Greatest Gift by Rachael Johns

Honourable Mentions:
The Twisted Knot by J.M. Peace
Family Secrets by Liz Byrski
The Shape of Us by Lisa Ireland

2017 was the year I discovered the wonderful Kate Forsyth.

The Wild Girl
The Beast's Garden
Beauty in Thorns

Sydney Cemeteries: A Field Guide by Lisa Murray

The Dry by Jane Harper

Sisters of the Fire by Kim Wilkins

The Mech Who Loved Me by Bec McMaster

Thanks Lisa :) She's a brilliant writer isn't she!

Too hard to decide! So will stay with the 5 for the first half and then add my favourite 10 for the second half, as I have recently read such a large number of great books by Australian authors.

Top 5 for the first half of 2017 (in no particular order)
The Crying Place by Lia Hills
The Last Painting of Sara de Vos by Dominic Smith
Family Secrets by Liz Byrski
Coming Rain by Stephen Daisley
Jewel Sea by Kim Kelly

Top 10 for the second half of 2017 (in no particular order)
An Uncommon Woman by Nicole Alexander
The Inaugural Meeting of the Fairvale Ladies Book Club by Sophie Green
Forgotten by Nicole Trope
Rain Birds by Harriet McKnight
The Dark Lake by Sarah Bailey
The Trauma Cleaner: One Woman's Extraordinary Life in Death, Decay & Disaster by Sarah Krasnostein
Force of Nature by Jane Harper
Extinctions by Josephine Wilson
Soon by Lois Murphy
The Game You Played by Anni Taylor

Top books..
Well, I will put forward 7 x five star ratings, I'll give a couple of honorable mentions to 4 stars too.

5*
1) by Dominic Smith
2) by Barbra Leslie
3) by Emily Bitto
4) by Christine Dibley
5) by Inga Simpson
6) by Meg Keneally
7) by Hannah Kent

4*
8) by Chris Hammer
9) by Maria Lewis
10) by Peter Haran

I've had an exceptional year of Aussie reading! I'd put many of these books ahead of my international top reads for the year.

At mid-year I was blown away by Leap by Myfanwy Jones, and also loving Of A Boy, Where the Trees Were, Maestro and Ruins.

To those I'm adding a new favourite, When the Night Comes by Favel Parrett, as well as The Life to Come, The Dry and The Better Son

Staying with the 5 I listed earlier in the year and adding this 5.
The Rosie Project
The Last Painting of Sara de Vos
Burial Rites The Lake House
The Tournament
These are in no particular order

I only read 6 Aussie books this year.

Always You

London Bound

Dinner at Eight

Leaving at Noon

Kicking Reality

Mr. Rebound

Top Ten Aussies

Jilted by Rachael Johns
The Girl in the Yellow Vest by Loretta Hill
Dead Heat by Bronwyn Parry
One Time Thing by Tess McCallum
A Time to Run by J.M. Peace
Fall by Candice Fox
A Dissection of Murder by Felicity Young
The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
Lost In Kakadu by Kendall Talbot
Wattle Creek by Fiona McCallum

In random order:

Salt Creek by Lucy Treloar
Gemina by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
Rain Dogs by Adrian McKinty
The Starlings by Vivienne Kelly
In the Quiet by Eliza Henry-Jones
Past the Shallows by Favel Parrett
Police at the Station and They Don't Look Friendly by Adrian McKinty

Honourable mentions to:
The Dark Lake by Sarah Bailey
And Fire Came Down by Emma Viskic
Force of Nature by Jane Harper

Some good titles there Carolyn!

There are Brenda and I've just added a couple of honourable mentions to round it up to ten.
It was a pretty good year for Aussie authors - a lot of talent out there!

There is Carolyn - I completely agree with you :)

Free-Falling by Nicola Moriarty
The Hating Game by Sally Thorne
Family Secrets by Liz Byrski
The Dark Days Club by Alison Goodman
Dark Heart by Catherine Lee
Stormlord Rising by Glenda Larke
Godsgrave by Jay Kristoff
The Choke by Sofie Laguna
Watching You by Michael Robotham
Force of Nature by Jane Harper

Not much has changed for me since mid-year on either the Aussie or international author scene...

For the Aussies:

First half:
Maralinga by Judy Nunn - 5★
Mercy Street by Tess Evans - 4.5★
Tiger Men by Judy Nunn - 4.5★
The Dry by Jane Harper - 4.5★
The Last Painting of Sara de Vos by by Dominic Smith - 4.5★
The Woman Next Door by Liz Byrski - 4.5★

Second half:
Sanctuary by Judy Nunn - 4.5★

Here are my top ten, Liane Moriarty was my big discovery this year.

5★
The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty
Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
Error Australis by Ben Pobjie
Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
4★
Storm and Grace by Kathryn Heyman
Truth by Peter Temple
The Return by Silvia Kwon
Dissonance by Stephen Orr
Maestro by Peter Goldsworthy
The Eye of the Sheep by Sofie Laguna

Was not particularly impressed by Aussie authors this year sadly!

Top 4:

Draekora by Lynette Noni I love this series!
The Dry by Jane Harper
NeuroSlimming by Helena Popovic
Winter Be My Shield by Jo Spurrier

And a nod to All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr for going the opposite way and being one of the most frustratingly slow, overrated books I read this year.

You must have read the wrong Aussies then Krystal ;) And just so you know, Anthony Doerr isn't Aussie either :) The way we all differ in our reading is amazing - I loved that book when I read it :)

Oh really, Brenda! I won ATLWCS in an ABIA prize pack so I just assumed haha whooooops!

I notice my opinion of the book is in the minority, but I'm just not a fan of war books I'm afraid!

Haha! Definitely not Aussie Krystal :) Never mind - you'll enjoy other books!

My top 8 books by Aussie Authors for 2017:

1. From the Wreck by Jane Rawson
2. The Fish Girl by Mirandi Riwoe
3. The River Sings by Sandra Leigh Price
4. The Silver Well by Kate Forsyth and Kim Wilkins
5. Beauty in Thorns by Kate Forsyth
6. Home Is Nearby by Magdalena McGuire
7. A Hundred Small Lessons by Ashley Hay
8. City of Crows by Chris Womersley

My top Aussie books - in no particular order

The Light Between Oceans by ML Stedman
For the Term of His Natural Life by Marcus Clarke
The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriaty
Stiff by Shane Maloney
Don't Tell Mum I Work on the Rigs, She Thinks I'm a Piano Player in a Whorehouse by Paul Carter

In no particular order!

- The Wrong Boy by Suzy Zail
- Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
- Once by Morris Gleitzman
- They Came On Viking Ships by Jackie French
- The Good People by Hannah Kent
- The Merciful Scar by Rebecca St. James
- A Rose for the ANZAC Boys by Jackie French

Honourable mention
- The Beast's Garden by Kate Forsyth

This one may be even more of a challenge to whittle down to 10 than the International Authors! Which can only be a good thing really. :) So pleased that I've started to make more of an effort to read books by our very talented authors here! :) Unsurprisingly, 2017 was when I discovered some amazing Aussie talent, and I can't wait to read more from them in 2018!

These are again in no particular order. :)

From January-June

Saving Grace by Fiona McCallum
The Three Miss Allens by Victoria Purman
Wattle Creek by Fiona McCallum
Standing Strong by Fiona McCallum

From July-December

Suspect by Michael Robotham
Spirits of the Ghan by Judy Nunn
The Shifting Fog by Kate Morton
The Soldier's Wife by Pamela Hart
River Run by Nicole Alexander
Sinister Intent by Karen M. Davis

Honourable Mentions:
Dust of the Land by J.H. Fletcher
Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood
The Governor's House by J.H. Fletcher
Covet by Tara Moss

Some excellent books there Kylie!

Sisters of the Fire by Kim Wilkins
Lyrebird Hill by Anna Romer
The Forsaken Lands Trilogy by Glenda Larke
The Lascar's Dagger
The Dagger's Path
The Fall of the Dagger

I'm so glad I left this list till the New Year, as I finished my last book for 2017 late afternoon NYE ....a five star read from Loretta Hill. So here they are in no particular order.

The Secret Vineyard by Loretta Hill
Ache by Eliza Henry-Jones
Promise of Hunters Ridge by Sarah Barrie
The Drifter by Anthea Hodgson
The Paris Wedding by Charlotte Nash
MacKenzie Crossing by Kaye Dobbie
Sixty Seconds: How long is the road to forgiveness? by Jesse Blackadder
The Rarest Thing by Deborah O'Brien
Six Ways to Sunday by Karly Lane
Everyday Lies by Louise Guy

This was so hard to whittle down as I had many exceptional Aussie Reads.....read 63 in total and was surprised to find that 10 of them were male authors (I didn't think I had read that many male authors...let alone that many being Australian)

It is hard to whittle down the list isn't it Marlin :) You have some excellent titles on your list though - some I've read, some on my wish list and TBR :)

Yes, sure I could have added alot more....actually found this list harder to do than the international reads!

I can understand that!! lol

Just found this page - some good lists here, bookmarking to come back to for future challenges! :)

I will have a look at my 2017 AA reads and see if I can come up with a list...