In yesterday's rant about Helen Garner's novels, a few of you asked me to write a post about Australian novels and to perhaps suggest some of my favourites.
I don't claim to be any kind of expert, especially given that when I lived in Australia (almost 11 years ago now!) I didn't much appreciate what was on my back doorstep, preferring instead to read British and American fiction.
In fact, if I'm honest, I'm a little out of the loop as far as the latest Australian fiction is concerned, so I'd advise you to visit Angela Meyer's Literary Minded blog and Perry Middlemiss' Matilda blog. In fact, Perry runs a magnificent website about Australian literature, which provides information about Australian authors and their works, that you simply won't find anywhere else in the one place.
A few years back I wrote a post about my top 10 favourite Australian novels, which might provide some pointers. Finally, since 2004, I've reviewed around 23 Australian novels, which I've listed here:
James Bradley's The Resurrectionist
Peter Carey's Theft: A Love Story
Bryce Courtenay's Jessica
Richard Flanagan's Wanting, The Unknown Terrorist, The Sound of One Hand Clapping and Gould's Book of Fish
Robert Dessaix's Night Letters
Helen Garner's The Spare Room
Kate Grenville's The Secret River
Wendy James' Out of the Silence
Gail Jones' Sorry and Sixty Lights
Susan Johnson's Life in Seven Mistakes
Steven Lang's An Accidental Terrorist
Elliot Perlman's Three Dollars and Seven Types of Ambiguity
Heather Rose's The Butterfly Man
Peter Temple's Bad Debts and The Broken Shore
Carrie Tiffany's Everyman's Rules for Scientific Living
Patrick White's The Solid Mandala and The Vivisector
Recommendations for other Australian novels and novelists are welcome, particularly if you live in Oz and keep up with "the scene" as it were!
