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Australia’s 101 favourite books of all time

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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.

the book thief

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

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