Today’s Top Ten Tuesday topic is “Top Ten Books With X Setting (top ten books set near the beach, top ten book set in boarding school, top ten books set in England, etc).” Since I’m participating in #ausyachallenge on Instagram this month, I decided to focus on Australian authors I’ve read.
Graeme Base – Animalia is one of the best alphabet books ever!
Mem Fox – Time for Bed is super sweet.
Kerry Greenwood – I wanted to love the Phryne Fisher mysteries, but I found book Phryne to be an insufferable Mary Sue. The TV series is much better!
Gabrielle Lord – Sorry about that book cover! My dad read this aloud to me when I was a small child (to be fair, I’m pretty sure he was reading it to my mom and I just happened to be in the room). #scarredforlife
Colleen McCullough – I was raving about my love for The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery, when a reader told me about The Ladies of Missalonghi. McCullough is a revered author, so I can’t fathom how or why she pilfered Montgomery’s work. I hated this one!
Melina Marchetta – On the Jellicoe Road is for modern Australian teens and tweens what The Outsiders was for middle-school me. It’s heart-warming and gut-wrenching.
Garth Nix – The Abhorsen / Old Kingdom series is so amazing: necromancy, talking animals, sentient airplanes made of paper, and a couple of amazing female leads – what’s not to love?!?
Daniel O’Malley – The Chequey Files is a thrilling urban fantasy series! I’d describe it as X-men working as spies for the Ministry of Magic.
P. L. Travers – Walt Disney might’ve made Mary Poppins an icon, but Travers created the magical, if taciturn, nanny.
Markus Zusak – I just couldn’t with this book. Zusak’s writing is beautiful, but it’s so flowery (when it’s not swear words) that it distracts from the actual plot.
I’m linking up:
A BIBLIOPHILE'S STYLE 
I definitely didn’t know that an Aussie wrote Mary Poppins!
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I didn’t know either until I watched Saving Mr. Banks. Travers was born and raised in Australia, and immigrated to England as a young woman.
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I had no idea that Daniel O’Malley is an Australian author!! You learn something new every day 🙂
Also, I’m so glad you included Jellicoe Road on this list. It’s one of my all time favorite books!
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He went to college and graduate school in the US, but returned to Australia, where he works as a bureaucrat (which explains a LOT about Myfanwy!).
I read Jellicoe Road specifically because you rave about it. 🙂
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Ahhh that makes so much more sense now about Myfanwy!
And I’m so glad my constant rambling about Jellicoe Road encouraged you to read it! 🙂
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Ah love The Book Thief!
My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2016/08/16/top-ten-tuesday-70/
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I know SO many people loved it – it just wasn’t for me. 😦
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Shame 🙂
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I’m not a fan of The Book Thief either… and I did not realize that Travers was Australian!!
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It’s nice to know I’m not alone. 🙂
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I can still remember how much I enjoyed The Thorn Birds.
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I know McCullough is revered for The Thorn Birds, which is why I was so surprised at how bad The Ladies of Missalonghi was! To be fair, if I hadn’t already read and LOVED The Blue Castle, I suppose The Ladies of Missalonghi would’ve been a 3 star book.
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