reading various authors’ amazement at the recently announced top 40 australian novels (as selected by australian authors) i find i’ve only read one – Peter Goldsworthy’s “Maestro” which i read for my HSC (higher school certificate.. final year studies in sydney). i’ve heard of a few others. i have a dreadful feeling i’m completely out of touch with australian literature.
atleast with the recent BBC poll of 100 top books (not just UK authors) i felt slightly more in tune (is that a good thing?) having read 22 from the list and have intentions to read another 10 or so.
i’d be interested to know how many authors took part in the australian poll as the article mentioned that quite a few of the ‘top’ authors did not take part.
why did they have to call it the ‘top 40 australian books ever published’ ? why not just say that it was 40 australian books as voted by authors.
surely authors may judge books in quite a different way to the average reader. of course there’s every chance they’ll enjoy it, but perhaps their judgement comes about from a deconstruction point of view. maybe they’d dismiss a ‘good read’ due to it’s simplicity. who knows.
i’d much prefer a list by a lot of every day readers than by a small group of experts.