Designed by Davidzydd / Freepik
To help you select titles for your reading year each title has been allocated themes. Alternative Biographical fiction Classic Coming of age Contemporary Domestic / Family / Marriage Fantasy Gothic Historical Humour / Quirky Indigenous Magical realism Literary Love / Romance
Mainstream Politics Psychological Short stories Science fiction / Dystopia Social and cultural issues Thriller / Mystery / Suspense Travel True crime War Youth
HISTORICAL All that I am by Anna Funder All the light we cannot see by Anthony Doerr Balzac and the little Chinese seamstress by Dai Sijie Barbed wire and cherry blossoms by Anita Heiss The blood of flowers by Anita Amirrezvan Bridget Crack by Rachel Leary Burial rites by Hannah Kent Cold sassy tree by Olive Ann Burns Currawalli Street by Christopher Morgan The dig tree by Sarah Murgatroyd A distant prospect by Annette Young The dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman Euphoria by Lily King A few right thinking men by Sulari Gentil Fingersmith by Sarah Waters A gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles Ghost empire by Richard Fidler The golden age by Joan London The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows Half of the human race by Anthony Quinn The hare with amber eyes by Edmund de Waal Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford An imaginary life by David Malouf In falling snow by Mary-Rose MacColl The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan Landfalls by Naomi J Williams
HISTORICAL The last painting of Sarah de Vos by Dominic Smith The last runaway by Tracy Chevalier The light between oceans by M L Steadman Lincoln in the Bardo by George Sanders The miniaturist by Jessie Burton Mornings in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa The nightingale by Kristin Hannah The orchardist by Amanda Coplin The painted veil by W Somerset Maugham The Paris wife by Paula McLain The pearler’s wife by Roxane Dhand A reliable wife by Robert Goolrick Sarah’s key by Tatiana de Rosnay Tangerine by Christinr Mangan The tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris The thread by Victoria Hislop True north by Brenda Niall The underground railroad by Colson Whitehead The vanishing act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O’Farrell The various flavours of coffee by Anthony Capella When the doves disappeared by Sofi Oksanen Year of wonders by Geraldine Brooks The zookeeper’s wife by Diane Acherman
GOTHIC The dressmaker by Rosalie Ham The picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
HUMOUR/QUIRKY The book of Joe by Jonathan Tropper Boy swallows universe by Trent Dalton Cold comfort farm by Stella Gibbons Cold sassy tree by Olive Ann Burns Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine by Gail Honeyman The elegance of the hedgehog by Muriel Barbery Fall girl by Toni Jordan French exit by Patrick deWitt Good Muslim boy by Osamah Sami The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows The happiest refugee by Ahn Do I have a bed made of buttermilk pancakes by Jaclyn Moriarty The improbability of love by Hannah Rothschild Lost and found by Brook Davis Love in a cold climate by Nancy Mitford Love in small letters by Francesc Miralles A man called Ove by Fredrik Backman The marriage bureau for rich people by Farahad Zama Three graves full by Jamie Mason The uncommon reader by Alan Bennett The unlikely pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce The unlikely voyage of Jack de Crow by A J Mackinnon A walk in the woods by Bill Bryson We are all made of glue by Marina Lewycka
TRUE CRIME Joe Cinque’s consolation by Helen Garner Midnight in the garden of good and evil by John Berendt
MEMOIR/BIOGRAPHY The amazing Mrs Livesey by Freda Marnie Nicholls Between the world and me by Ta-Nehisi Coates Burned alive by Souad Butterfly on a pin by Alannah Hill Bypass by Michael McGirr Dreams from my father by Barack Obama Driving over lemons by Chris Stewart Educated by Tara Westover Flesh wounds by Richard Glover The glass castle by Jeanette Walls Good Muslim boy by Osamah Sami H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald The happiest refugee by Ahn Do Hazel : my mother’s story by Sue Pieters-Hawke Head over heels by Sam and Jenny Bailey High sobriety by Jill Stark Hunger by Roxane Gay I know why the caged bird sings by Maya Angelou The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Sloot Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali The invisible woman by Claire Tomlin Kitchen confidential by Anthony Bordain Life is so good by George Dawson & Richard Glaubman Listening to country by Ros Moriarty The lost child by Martin Sixsmith Mad world by Paula Byrne Mountains beyond mountains by Tracy Kidder
MEMOIR/BIOGRAPHY My Salinger year by Joanna Rakoff No friend but the mountains by Behrouz Boochani One hundred years of dirt by Rick Morton Only in New York by Caroline Overington Rather his own man by Geoffrey Robertson Reckoning by Magda Szubanski The shark net by Robert Drewe The shepherd’s life by James Rebanks The sisters : the saga of the Mitford sisters by Mary S. Lovell The skeleton cupboard by Tanya Bryon Tamil tigress by Niromi de Soyza The trauma cleaner by Sarah Krasnostein True north by Brenda Niall Unpolished gem by Alice Pung When breath becomes air by Paul Kalanthi Without reservations by Alice Steinbach Year of magical thinking by Joan Didion
MAGICAL REALISM Exit west by Mohsin Hamid Ines of my soul by Isabelle Allende Like water for chocolate by Laura Esquivel The shadow of the wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafron
FANTASY I have a bed made of buttermilk pancakes by Jaclyn Moriarty The ocean at the end of the land by Neil Gaiman Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
LITERARY FICTION The age of innocence by Edith Wharton The alchemist by Paul Coelho All that I am by Anna Funder All the light we cannot see by Anthony Doerr The amateur marriage by Anne Tyler An American marriage by Tayari Jones Americanah by Chimamanda Ggozi Adichie Black rock white city by A S Patric The blackwater lightship by Colm Toibin The boat by Nam Lee Brick Lane by Monican Ali Brideshead revisited by Evelyn Waugh Burial rites by Hannah Kent Claire of the sea light by Edwidge Danticat Cloudstreet by Tim Winton A constellation of vital phenomena by Anthony Marra Did you ever have a family by Bill Clegg Exit west by Moshin Hamid The eye of the sheep by Sofie Laguna Fates and furies by Lauren Groff A gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles The golden age by Joan London The handmaid’s tale by Margaret Atwood Hausfrau by Jill Alexander Essbaum History of the rain by Niall Williams Home fire by Kamila Shamsie Idaho by Emily Ruskovic
LITERARY FICTION The idea of perfection by Kate Grenville An imaginary life by David Malouf Journey to the stone country by Alex Miller Life after life by Kate Atkinson The life to come by Michelle de Kretser Like water for chocolate by Laura Esquivel Lincoln in the bardo by George Sanders A little life by Hanya Yanagihara The lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri The memory of love by Aminatta Forna The memory of salt by Alice Melike Ulgezer Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides No country for old men by Cormac McCarthy On beauty by Zadie Smith On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan The only story by Julian Barnes Only the animals by Ceridwen Dovey Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout The orchardist by Amanda Coplin Our endless numbered days by Claire Fuller Our souls at night by Kent Haruf Out stealing horses by Per Pettersen The reader on the 6.27 by Jean-Paul Didierlaurent Room by Emma Donaghue A room with a view by E M Forester The shadow of the wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon The shipping news by Annie Proulx
LITERARY FICTION The stone angel by Margaret Laurence Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky Taboo by Kim Scott The tea girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See Theft by Peter Carey The things they carried by Tim O’Brien A tree grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith The unbearable lightness of being by Milan Kundera The underground railroad by Colson Whitehead Warlight by Michael Ondaatje We are completely beside ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler The yellow house by Emily O’Grady
SHORT STORIES The boat by Nam Lee Foreign soil by Maxine Beneba-Clarke The life to come by Michelle de Kretser Only the animals by Ceridwen Dovey Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout She knows how to look after herself by Michel Dignand The things they carried by Tim o’Brien
ALTERNATIVE Life after life by Kate Atkinson Tigerman by Nick Harkaway
CONTEMPORARY An American marriage by Tayari Jones Before I fall by Lauren Oliver Black rock white city by A S Patric The book of Joe by Jonathan Tropper Book of lost threads by Tess Evans Boy swallows universe by trent Dalton The casual vacancy by J K Rowling Claire of the sea light by Edwidge Danticat The collected works of A J Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin The curious incident of the dog in the night-time by Mark Haddon The elegance of the hedgehog by Muriel Barbery The happiness jar by Samantha Tidy Home fire by Kamila Shamsie The ocean at the end of the lane by Neil Gaiman Siracusa by Delia Ephron Small great things by Jodi Picoult Tigerman by Nick Haraway Utopia for realists by Rutger Bregman The yellow house by Emily O’Grady
POLITICS Americanah by Chimamanda Ggozi Adichie Balzac and the little Chinese seamstress by Dai Sijie Home fire by Kamila Shamsie No friend but the mountains by Behrouz Boochani Utopia for realists by Rutger Bregman
THRILLER / MYSTERY / SUSPENSE Anatomy of a scandal by Sarah Vaughan Burial rites by Hannah Kent The butterfly man by Heather Rose The curious incident of the dog in the night-time by Mark Haddon Defending Jacob by William Landy The dinner by Herman Koch The dry by Jane Harper Exit music by Ian Rankin A few right thinking men by Sulari Gentil Fingersmith by Sarah Waters Gone girl by Gillian Flynn Goodwood by Holly Throsby Idaho by Emily Ruskovic In her blood by Annie Hauxwell The lake house by Kate Morton Lullaby by Leila Slimani Lunch with Mussolini by Derek Hanson A malice of waves by Mark Douglas-Homes Man in the corner by Nathan Besser The midnight dress by Karen Foxlee The natural way of things by Charlotte Wood No country for old men by Cormac McCarthy The other wife by Michael Robotham Scrublands by Chris Hammer The seven deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton The shadow of the wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon The shark net by Robert Drewe
THRILLER / MYSTERY / SUSPENSE The sweetness at the bottom of the pie by Alan Bradley This sweet sickness by Patricia Highsmith Three grave full by Jamie Mason The vanishing act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O’Farrell White crocodile by K T Medina
WAR STORIES All that I am by Anna Funder All the light we cannot see by Anthony Doerr Barbed wire and cherry blossoms by Anita Heiss A constellation of vital phenomena by Anthony Marra Currawalli Street by Christopher Morgan A distant prospect by Annette Young The dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman Exit west by Mohsin Hamid Half of the human race by Anthony Quinn Hotel on the corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford In falling snow by Mary-Rose MacColl The nightingale by Kristin Hannah Sarah’s key by Tatiana de Rosnay Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky Tamil tigress by Niromi de Soyza The tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris The things they carried by Tim O’Brien When the doves disappeared by Sofi Oksanen The zookeeper’s wife by Diane Ackerman
DOMESTIC / FAMILY The amateur marriage by Anne Tyler An American marriage by Tayari Jones Between a wolf and a dog by Georgia Blain The blackwater lightship by Colm Toibin Burning down by Venero Aramanno Cloudstreet by Tim Winton Commuters by Emily Gray Tredrowe Currawalli Street by Christopher Morgan Did you ever have a family by Bill Clegg Fates and furies by Lauren Groff Flesh wounds by Richard Glover The island by Victoria Hislop The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan The landing by Susan Johnson Lost and found by Brooke Davis The lost child of Philomena Lee by Martin Sixsmith The lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri On beauty by Zadie Smith Only in New York by Caroline Overington The other side of the world by Stephanie Bishop The shipping news by Annie Proulx The sisters : the saga of the Mitford sisters by Mary S. Lovell Still Alice by Lisa Genova The summer without men by Siri Hustvedt Too much lip by Melissa Lucashenko Unpolished gem by Alice Pung We are completely beside ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler We are all made of glue by Marina Lewycka
DOMESTIC / FAMILY The wife by Meg Wolitzer The world beneath by Cate Kennedy The year of magical thinking by Joan Didion The yellow house by Emily O’Grady
LOVE / ROMANCE Delicious! By Ruth Reichl Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell Fall girl by Toni Jordan Far from the madding crowd by Thomas Hardy The Guernsey and Literary Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows Journey to the stone country by Alex Miller Like water for chocolate by Laura Esquivel Love in small letters by Francesc Miralles The memory of salt by alice Melike Ulgezer On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan Our souls at night by Kent Haruf A room with a view by E M Forester The tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris The various flavours of coffee by Anthony Capella
MAINSTREAM / LIGHT Barbed wire and cherry blossoms by Anita Heiss Between a wolf and a dog by Georgia Blain Book of lost threads by Tess Evans The collected works of A J Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin Delicious! By Ruth Richel
MAINSTREAM / LIGHT The dry by Jane Harper The enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim Gang of four by Liz Byrski Gone girl by Gillian Flynn Hotel on the corner of bitter and sweet by Jamie Ford The improbability of love by Hannah Rothschild The innocents by Francesca Segal The landing by Susan Johnson Major Pettigrew’s last stand by Helen Simonson A man called Ove by Fredrik Bachman My brilliant friend by Elena Ferrante The other hand by Chris Cleave The other wife by Michael Robothom The pearler’s wife by Roxane Dhand The school of essential ingredients by Erica Bauermeister Scrublands by Chris Hammer The secret life of bees by Sue Monk Kidd Small great things by Jodi Piccoult The wife by Meg Wolitzer
TRAVEL Bypass by Michael McGirr Driving over lemons by Chris Stewart Ghost empire by Richard Fidler The unlikely voyage of Jack de Crow by A J Mackinnon Violin lessons by Arnold Zable A walk in the woods by Bill Bryson Without reservations by Alice Steinbach
PYSCHOLOGICAL Best boy by Eli Gottlieb The dinner by Herman Koch Everything I never told you by Celeste Ng Gone girl by Gillian Flynn Hausfrau by Jill Alexander Essbaum I’m not scared by Niccolo Ammaniti The language of flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh A little life by Hanya Yangihara Man in the corner by Nathan Besser One hundred years of dirt by Rick Morton The only story by Julian Barnes A reliable wife by Robert Goolrick Room by Emma Donaghue The skeleton cupboard by Tanya Bryon Stoner by John Williams Swallow the air by Tara June Winch Tangerine by Christine Mangan This sweet sickness by Patricia Highsmith The vanishing act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O’Farrell
INDIGENOUS Dark emu by Bruce Pascoe Listening to country by Ros Moriarty Swallow the air by Tara June Winch Taboo by Kim Scott Too much lip by Melissa Lucashenko
COMING-OF-AGE Boy swallows universe by Trent Dalton Goodwood by Holly Throsby Great expectations by Charles Dickens Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey Our endless numbered days by Claire Fuller Out stealing horses by Per Pettersen Peace like a river by Leif Enger The shark ney by Robert Drewe A tree grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith Warlight by Michael Ondaatje
BIOGRAPHICAL FICTION Ines of my soul by Isabel Allende Lola Bensky by Lily Brett My brother Jack by George Johnston The Paris wife by Paula McLain The tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris White houses by Amy Bloom The zookeeper’s wife by Diane Ackerman
SCIENCE FICTION / DYSTOPIAN The bees by Laline Paull The children of men by P D James The girl with all the gifts by M R Carey The handmaid’s tale by Margaret Atwood The Martian by Andy Weir Ready player one by Ernest Cline Station Eleven by Emily St John
SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ISSUES Best boy by Eli Gottlieb Between the world and me by Ta-Nehisi Coates Brick Lane by Monica Ali Fingersmith by Sarah Waters Half the human race by Anthony Quinn Major Pettigrew’s last stand by Helen Simonson A man called Ove by Fredrik Bachman Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides The other hand by Chris Cleave The secret life of bees by Sue Monk Kidd Small great things by Jodi Piccoult The stone angel by Margaret Laurence The tea girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See The unlikely pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce White houses by Amy Bloom Year of magical thinking by Joan Didion
CLASSIC The age of innocence by Edith Wharton Brideshead revisited by Evelyn Waugh Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons The enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim Far from the madding crowd by Thomas Hardy Great expectations by Charles Dickens The picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde Stoner by John Williams
YOUTH The alchemist by Paulo Coelho All the light we cannot see by Anthony Doerr Barbed wire and cherry blossoms by Anita Heiss Before I fall by Lauren Oliver Between the world and me by Ta-Nehisi Coates Bot swallows universe by Trent Dalton Cold sassy tree by Olive Ann Burns The curious incident of the dog in the nightime by Mark Haddon Dark emu by Bruce Pascoe The dig tree by Sarah Murgatroyd The dressmaker by Rosalie Ham Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine by Gail Honeyman Everything I never told you by Celeste Ng Fingersmith by Sarah Waters The girl with all the gifts by M.R. Carey Good Muslim boy by Osamah Sami The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Schaffer The handmaid’s tale by Margaret Atwood The happiest refugee by Ahn Do Hunger by Roxane Gay I have a bed made of buttermilk pancakes by Jaclyn Moriarty I’m not scared by Niccola Ammaniti Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey The last runaway by Tracey Chevalier Like water for chocolate by Laura Esquivel A man called Ove by Frederick Backman The Martian by Andy Weir
YOUTH The midnight dress by Karen Foxlee My Salinger year by Joanna Rakoff The ocean at the end of the lane by Neil Gaiman The other hand by Chris Cleave The reader on the 6:27 by Jean-Paul Didierlaurent Ready player one by Ernest Cline Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch A room with a view by E.M. Forster The secret life of bees by Sue Monk Kidd Small great things by Jodi Piccoult Station Eleven by Emily St. John Swallow the air by Tara June Winch The sweetness at the bottom of the pie by Alan Bradley A tree grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith The uncommon reader by Alan Bennett Unpolished gem by Alice Pung Year of wonders by Geraldine Brooks
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