This year I read 55 Aussie YA books
22 of them were re-reads (okay, I am a HUGE fan of making time to re-read favourites - one of my favourite things to do is curl up with a familiar and favourite book and hang out with the characters again in their world). My re-reads included:
- the entire tomorrow series (7 books) which feels like home to me more than any other series. I will never tire of visiting Ellie and Homer and the gang.
- all my Jaclyn Moriarty books. Completely love those books. I BEG OF YOU if you have not read Jaclyn Moriarty TRACK HER DOWN. She is my favourite author. She is available internationally. Oh, I love her so.
- all my verse novels: Steven Herrick and Margaret Wild being my top Aussie verse writers. I am always astounded by their brilliance each time I re-read them. As if I don't quite remember just how astonishingly good they are from the first time around
- I re-read some Marchetta brilliance
- and a bundle of books I wanted to re-visit because it had been a while...
33 of the Aussie YA books I read this year were brand new to me. Yippee! And lots of them I fell in love with. I'm not going to post ALL my faves but I have narrowed down nine that shine (*round of applause* what an accomplishment). OKAY, so I started doing an honourable mention section - but it was getting out of control...
A lot of them were from the CBCA notables (22 titles) and short-list. My library purchases all titles from the CBCA every year
So, without further blah blah, here's nine of my favourite Aussie reads this year (In no particular order) : They are not perhaps the best I read - more the ones that just completely resonated with me, you know, just because...
I reviewed all but the bottom two, Marchetta and Zusak - both stunning masterpieces. I so can't wait to re-read all of these already - they are firmly wedged in on my favourites shelf. Here's hoping you guys get a chance to read some of these too!
Six of them were released this year - the other three are slightly older titles. Five of them were debuts :) All of them were outrageously awesome. Only THREE of them are available internationally - ouch :(
As for Good Oil. When I first read it - I really enjoyed it. A lot. The funny thing is - 6 months later and I am still thinking about it. All the time. My love for the book grew astronomically in retrospect. I get that people (especially those who don't do much contemporary) maybe could read it and not find the magic in there. But for me ~ it just really struck a chord. And I guess that's why best-of lists are so personal. But Good Oil, oh how I love you <3
As for questions I asked other bloggers regarding their all-time faves ~ I have 5 favourite Aussie authors that I have adored since I was a teenager AND I'll get around to posting that tomorrow... :)
x Nomes
55 Aussie books YAY! Love your top 9! I only haven't read Tim Pegler (which I knew I should I brought on the weekend - damn it!) and Markus Zusak. I can't wait to start Jarvis 24.
ReplyDeleteLook forward to your favourite author post :)
Wow 33 new Aussie titles.You put me to shame! Looking forward to tomorrow's post :) x
ReplyDeleteThanks Nic and jess. I always use my library which stocks a lot of the Aussie stuff :)
ReplyDeleteAnd I was going to talk about my fave authors in this post but it was getting absolutely HUGE.
x
Oh wow, you read so many Aussie books this year! If Aussie books were readily available here in the Philippines, I'd read all of your recommendations. Maybe I should tell the local bookstores to order books from there. It's a good thing I have a friend coming home from Australia so I asked him to get Raw Blue, Graffiti Moon, Good Oil and Six Impossible Things. Can't wait to read them. :)
ReplyDelete@ chachic - you chose awesome books! I love that you enjoy the Aussie stuff! :)
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Excellent post - my TBR list just grew a bit. Again. :-)
ReplyDeleteI loved Raw Blue and Good Oil and The Piper's Son too. Haven't read the others yet - but have heard a lot of great things about all of them!
ReplyDeletewow, congrats on all those aussie books! i have a feeling I should read Graffiti Moon... i've seen that book on so many of these lists! plus a bunch of others i havent heard of... :( awesome post!
ReplyDelete55 books?! You are a machine! :D Thanks for such awesome reviews, Nomes - it's solely because of you that I bought (and ADORED) Beatle Meets Destiny.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great pick of books!
I have Beatle Meets Destiny, which I bought after reading your review and I am waiting on Graffiti Moon to be back in stock at the Book Depository so I can pre-order it. Also will be ordering The Piper's Son and Raw Blue, but have to wait a while for these to come out over in the US.
ReplyDeleteGreat picks. So sad that only three are available internationally though. I think The Piper's Son might be tied with Fall for Anything as my favourite novel of 2010. I need a re-read :)
ReplyDeleteI also must try the Tomorrow series
I am begging Penguin to hurry up and publish Raw Blue in the states - such an amazing book - I can't say enough good things about it!
ReplyDelete-Linds, bibliophile brouhaha
WOW! There are so many great Aussie books. Sadly, sometimes they can be really hard to find. I have many of these books on my 2011 reading list. I want to start with Jaclyn Moriarty too.
ReplyDeleteYou know how much I LOVE Australian lit. LOVE! I really value all of your opinions and am trying to actively track down many of the titles you have spoken about...especially Good Oil. I have heard such amazing things about it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your fave reads!
I have fallen so in love with Aussie lit thanks to you, though I couldn't possibly read that many in one year!! I need to add Good Oil to my list. I love books that you think about months later. Sounds good!!
ReplyDeleteHaha - I didn't mean the couldn't possibly read it as a bad thing, just that I don't have time to read everything I want. *sigh* They ought to make 48 hour days just so you can spend an extra 24 hours a day reading. :)
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