Back in October I mentioned that the Australian Book Review was conducting a poll of its readers to determine their favourite Australian novel. The February 2010 issue of the magazine contains the details of that poll. The top ten novels chosen were:
1. Cloudstreet by Tim Winton
2. The Fortunes of Richard Mahony by Henry Handel Richardson
3. Voss by Patrick White
4. Breath by Tim Winton
5. Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey
6. My Brother Jack by George Johnston
7. The Secret River by Kate Grenville
8. Eucalyptus by Murray bail
9. The Man Who Loved Children by Christina Stead
10. The Tree of Man by Patrick White
And I reckon the only surprise on that list would be the placing of Winton's Breath. It's only been out a year or so, and yet came in at number 4. Winton has another novel in the top twenty: Dirt Music in at number 13, and White also had The Vivisector at number 14.
In all, 290 novels were nominated and ABR has supplied the full list. If you were looking for a definitive list of Australian fiction you could do worse than check this out.
1. Cloudstreet by Tim Winton
2. The Fortunes of Richard Mahony by Henry Handel Richardson
3. Voss by Patrick White
4. Breath by Tim Winton
5. Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey
6. My Brother Jack by George Johnston
7. The Secret River by Kate Grenville
8. Eucalyptus by Murray bail
9. The Man Who Loved Children by Christina Stead
10. The Tree of Man by Patrick White
And I reckon the only surprise on that list would be the placing of Winton's Breath. It's only been out a year or so, and yet came in at number 4. Winton has another novel in the top twenty: Dirt Music in at number 13, and White also had The Vivisector at number 14.
In all, 290 novels were nominated and ABR has supplied the full list. If you were looking for a definitive list of Australian fiction you could do worse than check this out.
