ABC‘s Radio National has completed another wonderful countdown, this time an inaugural Top 100 books as voted by Australians. No 1, Boy Swallows Universe, and No 2, The Book Thief, are by Australian authors too, Trent Dalton and Markus Zusak respectively.
The countdown was tremendously well supported with nearly 300,000 voted and thousands of likes and comments on socials. ABC presenters were asked their favourites, many of the authors chatted about their books and others, but far and away my favourite moment came from Trent Dalton himself.
For those not familiar with him, Trent is an Ipswich born journalist who worked for The Courier Mail and The Australian. Boy Swallows Universe was his semi-autobiographical debut novel about 12-year-old Eli Bell and his experiences growing up in a troubled family life against the backdrop of 1980s, working-class Brisbane. It has won many awards, been adapted into a play and Netflix series with Felix Cameron playing Eli in such astonishing fashion that he would win an AACTA and a Logie for the role. Without wanting to spoil anything for those who haven’t read it (please do so!) there is an event where Eli is extraordinarily brave in plotting to see his mum in jail. I have heard Trent talking about the reasons why he wrote the particular story and I think of Eli, that plot line and the book often. It moved me.
Claire Nichols from The Book Show rang Trent to tell him he was No 1. Trent was listening at home with his wife and family, with his mum, who is in so many ways Frankie Bell in the book, celebrating her 70th birthday and calling Trent to say, you’re going to be No 1. Listen and watch below, and perhaps shed a tear too.
In second place was the also beloved The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, the 2005 novel narrated by Death and set against the grim backdrop of Nazi Germany as Hitler’s power grows. In his interview Markus said, ‘I just thought no one would read it.” How wrong he was. And in further interesting stats from RN, it was the No 1 with female voters.
ABC Radio National’s Top 100 Books of the 21st Century countdown – The Top 10 list:
1. Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton (2018)
2. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (2005)
3. A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles (2016)
4. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (2014)
5. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus (2022)
6. Burial Rites by Hannah Kent (2013)
7. The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams (2020)
8. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver (2022)
9. A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara (2015)
10. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (2009)
The rest of the hundred is here.
Some other cool facts from the countdown:
• Four of the top 10 titles and 26 of the top 100 titles were written by Australian authors.
• Female writers led the way, with a gender split of 54% female to 46% male.
• Two standout authors — Anna Funder and Geraldine Brooks — each had three books make the Top 100.
• Australia’s “bookiest” state or territory — or votes per state or territory with population considered — was the ACT, followed by Tasmania and then Victoria.
• When it comes to literary vintage, 2023 emerged as a standout year, with 10 titles from that year making the list.
ABC’s weekly book programs are The Book Show on Mondays at 10am and The Bookshelf on Fridays at 10am featuring author interviews, reviews, and commentary. You can listen live or catch up on the ABC listen app.