Australia’s 101 favourite books of all time
The Book Thief has been voted Australia’s favourite book for the second year running in the Dymocks Booklover’s 101 survey, with the Fifty Shades erotic romance trilogy even making the cut.
More than 15,000 readers voted in the annual survey of Australia’s 101 favourite books. International best-selling book-turned-film The Book Thief topped the list for the second consecutive year.
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The only Australian-written book to ever hit number one, Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief tells the story of Liesel Meminger, a nine-year-old girl living in Nazi Germany during World War Two.
This year’s top 10 has once again been dominated by classics including Pride and Prejudice, To Kill a Mockingbird and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
Dymocks national buying manager Sophie Higgins said many of the 29 new titles in the top 101 are in the young adult genre.
“It’s encouraging to see how much Australian teens love to read, with a quarter of the list made up of young adult fiction,” Ms Higgins said.
This year 17 Australian books made the list, including AB Facey’s A Fortunate Life and Anh Do’s The Happiest Refugee.
Ms Higgins said 35 books on the list have been made into successful films – including the recent Hollywood hit Fifty Shades of Grey.
“We’ve seen a huge increase in the popularity of film tie-ins, reflected in the success of books like The Fault in our Stars which is number six.
“In fact, nine of the top 10 books have been made into successful films.
“It’s always surprising to see books like Fifty Shades of Grey on the list but that’s what’s great about the survey – it’s a mixed bag of not necessarily the best literary books but Australia’s most-loved books.”
She said the record number of voters reflects a resurgence in paperbacks over contemporary e-books.
“There’s been a lot of talk about e-books killing traditional books but this survey shows people are really engaged and wanting to read – it reinforces the message that the book is back.”
Read the full list below and see how many titles you’ve covered!
Dymocks 101 best books of all time:
1 The Book Thief, Markus Zusak
2 Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3 To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
4 Magician, Raymond Feist
5 The Lord of the Rings (Books 1-3), J.R.R. Tolkien
6 The Fault in Our Stars, John Green
7 The Hobbit, J. R. R. Tolkien
8 Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
9 Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
10 The Harry Potter Series, J.K Rowling
11 Looking For Alaska, John Green
12 The Divergent Series, Veronica Roth
13 Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn
14 Throne of Glass, Sarah J. Maas
15 The Bronze Horseman, Paullina Simons
16 The Hunger Games Series, Suzanne Collins
17 The Name of the Wind, Patrick Rothfuss
18 The Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follett
19 Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
20 Outlander, Diana Gabaldon
21 The Power of One, Bryce Courtenay
22 Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
23 The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern
24 Burial Rites, Hannah Kent
25 The Rosie Project, Graeme Simsion
26 Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
27 Bitter Greens, Kate Forsyth
28 Vampire Academy, Richelle Mead
29 The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger
30 The Maze Runner, James Dashner
31 The Narrow Road to the Deep North, Richard Flanagan
32 The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
33 Cloudstreet, Tim Winton
34 Fangirl, Rainbow Rowell
35 Eleanor & Park, Rainbow Rowell
36 Shantaram, Gregory David Roberts
37 Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
38 Anne Of Green Gables, L.M Montgomery
39 The Mortal Instruments Series, Cassandra Clare
40 The Song of Ice and Fire Series, George R. R. Martin
41 We Were Liars, E. Lockhart
42 The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
43 The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini
44 The Bible
45 A Fortunate Life, A. B. Facey
46 Paper Towns, John Green
47 Rebecca, Daphne Du Maurier
48 The Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafón
49 Beautiful Disaster, Jamie McGuire
50 Fallen, Lauren Kate
51 The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky
52 The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society, Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows
53 People of the Book, Geraldine Brooks
54 Tomorrow, When the War Began, John Marsden
55 White Tiger, Aravind Adiga
56 Catch-22, Joseph Heller
57 The Infernal Devices Series, Cassandra Clare
58 The Messenger, Markus Zusak
59 The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
60 Persuasion, Jane Austen
61 Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
62 A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry
63 The Light Between Oceans, M.L Stedman
64 The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson
65 The Happiest Refugee, Anh Do
66 Ice Station, Matthew Reilly
67 Obernewtyn, Isobelle Carmody
68 Skulduggery Pleasant (Books 1 & 2), Derek Landy
69 The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
70 Jasper Jones, Craig Silvey
71 The Time Traveler’s Wife, Audrey Niffenegger
72 Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Laini Taylor
73 On the Road, Jack Kerouac
74 The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt
75 Animal Farm, George Orwell
76 Fifty Shades of Grey, E. L. James
77 The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
78 The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, C.S Lewis
79 Wonder, R. J. Palacio
80 Good Omens, Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
81 Life of Pi, Yann Martel
82 Memoirs of a Geisha, Arthur Golden
83 The Passage, Justin Cronin
84 Wolf, Hall Hilary Mantel
85 Eragon, Christopher Paolini
86 Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
87 Hush, Hush (Books 1 & 2), Becca Fitzpatrick
88 The Knife of Never Letting Go, Patrick Ness
89 Les Misérables, Victor Hugo
90 The Lies of Locke Lamora, Scott Lynch
91 The Little Prince, Antoine De Saint-Exupéry
92 The Princess Bride, William Goldman
93 A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini
94 Assassin’s Apprentice, Robin Hobb
95 The Great Zoo of China, Matthew Reilly
96 The Help, Kathryn Stockett
97 If I Stay, Gayle Forman
98 The Road, Cormac McCarthy
99 The Stand, Stephen King
100 Girl Online, Zoe Sugg
101 I Am Pilgrim, Terry Hayes