The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCullough, 1977
- Australia, #15
- Kindle, £2.99 from Amazon
- Read June 2014
- Rating: 1/5
- Recommended for: Lapsed Catholics and hysterical neo-Victorians
The Thorn Birds
On the List
Picnic at Hanging Rock
Picnic at Hanging Rock, Joan Lindsay, 1967
- Australia, #14
- Kindle, £4.37
- Read March 2014
- Rating 4/5
- Opening line: “Everyone agreed that the day was just right for the picnic to Hanging Rock – a shimmering summer morning warm and still, with cicadas shrilling all through breakfast from the loquat trees outside the dining-room windows and bees murmuring above the pansies bordering the drive.”
- Recommended for: proper young ladies who read Patricia Highsmith and Daphne du Maurier, have a secret love of Unsolved Mysteries, and appreciate the pathos of the opening scene of Carrie but find the rest of the movie lacking in subtlety
My Brother Jack
My Brother Jack, George Johnston, 1964
- Australia, #13
- Bought from Alibris for $3.00
- Read October 2014
- Rating: 4.5/5
- Recommended for: Fans of Graham Greene and other mid-century realists
Voss
Voss, Patrick White, 1957
- Australia, #12
- Kindle, £4.68 from Amazon
- Read May 2014
- Rating: 5/5
- Recommended for: Fans of Faulkner and Virginia Woolfe (who are looking for something different, of similar quality); lovers of literary fiction who are up for a challenge
The Shiralee
The Shiralee, D’Arcy Niland, 1955
- Australia, #11
- Paperback, bought from Alibris.com for $0.99
- Read October 2014
- Rating: 2.5/5
- Recommended for: light reading, transparent emotional manipulation
The Harp in the South
The Harp in the South, Ruth Park, 1947
- Australia, #10
- Kindle, £4.35 for the trilogy (I only read the first book)
- Read October 2014
- Rating: 3/5
- Recommended for: People who like both John Steinbeck and Roddy Doyle
My Country
My Country, Dorothea Mackellar, 1908
- Australia, #7
- Free at dorotheamackellar.com.au
- Read October 2014
- Rating: 3/5 (a little sentimental for my taste, but I’m not a great judge of poetry)
- Recommended for: Anyone with an interest in Australia who’s willing to spend five minutes reading a poem about it.
The Fortunes of Richard Mahony
The Fortunes of Richard Mahony, Henry Handel Richardson, 1930
- Australia, #9
- Kindle, £2.68 from amazon
- Read October 2014
- Rating: 2.5/5
- Recommended for: Those willing to plod through a tedious middle section for the reward of some serious pathos at the end
Oceanic Mythology (Australia section)
Oceanic Mythology (Australia section), Roland B. Dixon, 1916
- Australia, #8
- Free at sacred-texts.com
- Read September 2014
- Rating: 1/5
- Recommended for: No one. Seriously, there are better books about Australian mythology.
Such is Life
Such is Life, Joseph Furphy, 1903
- Australia, #6
- Kindle, free from amazon.com
- Read September 2014
- Rating: 3/5
- Recommended for: People who like Henry Lawson’s subject matter, but want it presented with a plot and a little bit of comedy.
Around the World in 2000 Books 