Aussie Readers discussion

Post all your Aussie recommendations for our members here...

Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

are two that immediately come to mind, but there are loads more...let me put my thinking cap on:)

My biggest recommendation would be The Slap.


But another one that interested me greatly was the Australian Lolita story Me and Mr. Booker

I have had Me and Mr. Booker written down on a piece of paper here to look out for, for ages!!! Must get to it!

All five of Katherine Howell's books are amazing...
Frantic
Violent Exposure
Cold Justice
The Darkest Hour
Silent Fear

Anything by Tim Wintonbut particularly Cloudstreetand Breath

I second recommending Jasper Jones.

I also really enjoyed The Secret Riverwhich I only read recently. Looking forward to reading more of Kate Grenville's work.

I read Swallow the Airin uni and remember loving it the most from my Aussie lit course.

Some great ones there James. I have The Secret River to read shortly...there have been some good reviews for it:)

Can I recommend my husband's book Rotten Gods? It is his debut, a political thriller set in Dubai and Somalia but with an Aussie woman as the central character. It is a great read and has been getting some good reviews.

You certainly can Tango...I will hopefully get my hands on a copy soon:)

I vote for Jasper Jones too. I think everyone should read it...hint hint Michael (SA & KL) :P

Plus I would highly recommend The Street Sweeper and Past the Shallows

Yes Past the Shallows was a great read.

Can I put my own, seeing as no one else has yet......(-:

I will recommend Out of Australia for you David:)

well, everything by Geraldine Brooks

Thank you Brenda.....(-:

Marianne wrote: "well, everything by Geraldine Brooks"

Well this is how dumb I am. I love Geraldine Brooks and have read all her books and was not aware until now that she is Australian. Caleb's Crossing is brilliant.

I recently read Pearl in a Cage by Joy Dettman and I loved it, can't wait to read the rest of the series.

I have been ejoying a young adult series by Kate Forsyth which takes place in England during the rule of Oliver Cromwell.

I am also enjoying a series by Anna Jacobs about the Blake sisters

Michael wrote: "I recommend The Betrayal.

Other worthy reads i enjoyed included A Man You Can Bank On and Desert Fish

Will post more later."

Michael I read A Man You Can Bank On after you recommended it and thought Derek Hansen was amazing. I've since read Lunch with the Generals and Lunch with Mussolini by him and they are perhaps some of my favourite books of all time. Have you read them? If not I highly recommend them!

Rachael wrote: "Michael wrote: "I recommend The Betrayal.

Other worthy reads i enjoyed included A Man You Can Bank On and Desert Fish

Will post more later."

Michael I read A Man You Can Bank On after you recomm..."

A Man You Can Bank On
Lunch with the Generals
Lunch with Mussolini

My best recommendation would be the Tomorrow series by John Marsden, it's YA and I think it's an incredible series. I also loved the Book Thief by Markus Zusak and I read his other book I Am the Messenger and thought it was good.
Melina Marchetta is also another Aussie author I'd recommend, I loved Looking for Alibrandi and lots of people I know have read her other books and just love them :)

I agree Zino. I've got one more book to read in the Tomorrow that series but they have all been brilliant. I also love The Book Thief

Good recommendations there Zino!

Farseer wrote: "Zino wrote: "My best recommendation would be the Tomorrow series by John Marsden, it's YA and I think it's an incredible series."

I have to revisit this series, I think, as I only got so far into ..."

Haha! That's funny! At least you tried:)

Farseer wrote: "Zino wrote: "My best recommendation would be the Tomorrow series by John Marsden, it's YA and I think it's an incredible series."

I have to revisit this series, I think, as I only got so far into ..."
I have never heard of someone making their own audio of a book, to me it sounds like a good idea! Well done for giving it a go, even though it didn't turn out as well as you hoped. Like Brenda said, at least you tried :)

Marianne wrote: "well, everything by Geraldine Brooks"

I especially loved March and Caleb's Crossing but have read all her fiction.

Aside from what's already been mentioned, Caroline Overington is awesome - I especially loved I Came to Say Goodbye. I also enjoyed Fury and Preloved by Shirley Marr.

I have read two of Caroline Overington's I Came to Say Goodbye and Ghost Child. both interesting reads.

Dale wrote: "I have read two of Caroline Overington's I Came to Say Goodbye and Ghost Child. both interesting reads."

Ghost Child

I thoroughly enjoyed Wolf Pear by Dianne F. Gray mutli-award winning aussie author! Check it out, I don't think you'll be disappointed!

I'll definitely be getting to that as soon as I can Lynxie:)

I see David had a generous response 'can I put my own, seeing no one else has?' Perhaps, I can be so lucky!
My most loved Aussie books
'Thorn Birds'
'For the term of his natural life,'
'The sound of one hand clapping.'
marie clair

Marie wrote: "My most loved Aussie books
'Thorn Birds'
'For the term of his natural life,'
'The sound..."

The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough
For the Term of His Natural Life by Marcus Clarke
The Sound of One Hand Clapping by Richard Flanagan

Just finished elliot perlmans "Seven Types of Ambiguity" and the "Street Sweeper". Both excellent. I also really enjoyed "breathe" and the "Book Thief" - and cant forget "Jasper Jones". We have some great authors at the moment dont we!

Seven Types of Ambiguity
The Street Sweeper
Breath
The Book Thief
Jasper Jones

We sure do Ian....I'm continually incredibly impressed by Australia's quality of authors:)

Michael wrote: "I have The Street Sweeper waiting to be read in my bookcase. I may have to give it it,s wish sometime. :)"

I've heard a lot of really good reports on this one Michael!

The Street Sweeper is a beautiful book - one of my faves for the year. You should definitely read it, it's amazing!

Thanks Kaylene...might have to add it to my never ending TBR list!!!

IdidIdidIdid!!! lol

Haha...I know! My to-read list is getting longer all the time....ahhh, so many books.....

Kaylene wrote: "Haha...I know! My to-read list is getting longer all the time....ahhh, so many books.....".......so little time;P lol

No time! I think someone is stealing my time! *sigh*

Lynxie wrote: "No time! I think someone is stealing my time! *sigh*"

He's been at my house too Lynxie!!

My favourite book is Cloudstreet by Tim Winton. I've read it twice so far.

It's an amazing book Jeanette:)

I know people have mentioned
Emily Rodda for her Delta Quest books but I love her Raven Hill Mysteries . Only ever read one of her Delta Quest books I think.
John Marsden I first love with his writing after reading his book "http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51... Much To Tell You . I didn't read Tomorrow when the War began until this year.

Jaclyn Moriarty's "http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59... Betrayal of Bindy Mackenzie . it the only one I read of her's but her recent one supposedly good too.

For recent books "http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10... dancer. by Jay Krioff was good and Marianne de Pierres 's "http://www.goodreads.com/series/53143... Creatures series is good , I finished off the third book today.

I have just realised that I seem to be the ONLY person on goodreads aware of a really good, Australian written book - so I am plugging it.
Clone Baby

Caroline De Costa is (or was) a doctor in Cairns when I lived there. She has written a vivid book about cloning.

It is science fiction... but only just. The Sydney she writes about is barely in the future of the Sydney of today.
The cloning technology is ahead of what we have today... I think.

The practices of cloning in the book are futuristic, though only just and the book looks mostly at people and repercussions of their actions.
I recommend it to people who like sci-fi and Australian literature.

I wish I could get my hand's on her other book, if enough people are aware of it perhaps it will become more accessible.

I'll add my vote for The Street Sweeper. I just finished it and found it to be very moving.

Deborah wrote: "I have just realised that I seem to be the ONLY person on goodreads aware of a really good, Australian written book - so I am plugging it.
Clone Baby

Caroline De Costa is (or was) a doctor in Cair..."

Thanks for sharing that Deborah...I found there was absolutely no data for the book, so I updated it as best I could on the limited information I could find. Do you own a copy? If so, can you let me know the page count please, as that's all I couldn't find.

Caroline De Costa is (or was) ..."

OK, so I googled it and the book can actually be read online here, I think:
http://books.google.com.au/books/abou...

It also mentions her other books?

and a review on Goodreads by
Deborah Ideiosepius's - Jan 13, 11

Peter Carey. I re-read Oscar and Lucinda almost yearly since I had to read it at school. It's great, particularly when read in tandem with Patrick White's Voss , which prefigures a lot that goes on in there. (White is exceptional - he had a fearless eye, which you would expect given the crotchetty old bastard he was.)

Carey's Illywhacker is AMAZING, also. About an ancient liar, it's a real SYDNEY book. Huge amount of ephemera inside.

I recently read The Plains and Wake in Fright and found them to be descriptive, and full of the heat-haze of memory that strange surrounds evoke. Recommended. Both are available as part of Text Publishing's 'Text Classics' line which is a sort of local version of Penguin Classics - they have The Mystery of a Hansom Cab in the series, as well as various historical works. Well worth checking out if you're into older texts.

A vote for Andrew McGahan should go here, too - his stuff (Praise, The White Earth is pretty harrowing, kind of in the same way that Christos Tsiolkas can be. (Speaking of Tsiolkas, if you thought The Slap was a downer, stay the hell away from The Jesus Man which is possibly one of the most depressing, yet brilliant books I've ever read.

That's probably enough to be going on with, eh.

Oh, OK. Robert Drewe's short stories and novels are almost uniformly amazing, Peter Robb is an Aussie who writes brilliantly about foreign topics (his biography of Caravaggio, M: The Man Who Became Caravaggio and his book on the mafia, Midnight in Sicily are both masterworks that encapsulate whole periods, not just their subjects), and Robert Dessaix writes on human frailty, travel and memory with especial beauty.