The author critiques "top 100" book lists for being subjective and reflecting current trends rather than true literary merit, yet admits to finding them compulsive. A recent poll by ABC Radio National seeks to identify the best Australian books, with nominations due by October 1 and a live countdown reveal on October 17-18. The author notes that while contemporary works might dominate such lists, they also highlight overlooked classics like Patrick White’s novels. Other writers, like Canadian novelist Thea Lim, argue against ranking literature, suggesting it devalues books as unique art forms. Despite these concerns, the article observes how book industry practices inherently involve comparisons, citing examples from Radio National's and The Guardian's recent lists.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-18,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Why this leaning score
This article does not take a side on a contested political
question, so it has no leaning score. That is an
answer rather than a gap: a match report or a rescue can be warmly
or critically written without being left or right, and scoring it
anyway is how approval of a subject gets recorded as a political
position.
No political leaning scored for article 17726 · logged 2026-09-18
If critics choose them, they reflect only the critics’ tastes.
asserted
they → choose → tastes
If chosen by the public, they reflect only what people interested in voting have read and liked.
asserted
people → choose → voting
You can’t say these are the best books of all time; you can only say they represent something about readers’ choices at a particular moment.
asserted
they → say → moment
And yet like many others, I find these lists compulsive reading.
asserted
lists → find → others
I want to see if my favourites are on it, or if a book I hate is high on the list.
asserted
I → want → list
Then I moan and groan and avidly wait for the next list to appear.
asserted
list → moan → ?
The latest poll is from an ABC Radio National drive to find the 100 best Australian books of all time.
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poll → find → time
This is a welcome antidote to international lists, which heavily favour American and British titles and rarely mention Australian books.
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which → favour → books
You can nominate a shortlist of up to 10 books by October 1 and the final list will be announced live on a countdown on October 17 and 18.
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list → nominate → October
I wonder what book will be number one?
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book → wonder → ?
Possibly a Winton or a Garner or a Dalton or a Zusak – a book by a contemporary writer because these are the books most people read.
uncertain
people → read → writer
Patrick White, long regarded as Australia’s best writer, is out of fashion.
asserted
White → regard → fashion
And whether we like it or not, fashion rules these lists.
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fashion → like → lists
I’m not alone in my concerns.
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I → ’m → concerns
A Canadian writer, Thea Lim, wants such lists abolished.
asserted
lists → want → ?
“By design, a work of art … is unique, incomparable,” she writes in The Walrus newsletter.
asserted
she → write → newsletter
“But we resort to describing literature by how it stacks up to totally unrelated texts, because rating stuff is burned into our brains by the competitive economy.
asserted
stuff → resort → economy
Here’s an idea.
asserted
idea → ’ → ?
This voids the book’s intrinsic worth and turns it into a floating commodity like Bitcoin, she claims.
uncertain
she → void → Bitcoin
“Next time you talk up a book, experiment with constraining yourself to solely what’s between the covers.
asserted
what → talk → covers
Novelists pitch to publishers by saying their book is like two popular titles by two other authors.
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book → pitch → authors
Prizes, awards and fellowships, not to mention bestseller lists, are all about comparisons.
asserted
Prizes → mention → comparisons
Radio National’s Top 100 Books poll last year was an international one, but bestselling Australian books (Trent Dalton’s Boy Swallows Universe and Marcus Zusak’s The Book Thief) took out the first two places and two other Australian bestsellers (Hannah Kent’s Burial Rites and Pip Williams’ The Dictionary of Lost Words) made the top 10.
asserted
bestsellers → take → top
The Guardian’s Top 100 novels list this year, voted in by authors, critics and academics worldwide, was much more angled towards the classics.
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list → vote → classics
George Eliot’s Middlemarch took out the top spot and the rest of the top 10 were all golden oldies.
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rest → take → 10
Ulysses, long regarded as a particularly challenging read, was at number three.
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Ulysses → regard → number
The New York Times recently did a survey of 503 “literary luminaries” to determine the 100 Best Books of the 21st century and it’s a very literary list.
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it → do → century
Number one is well known: Elena Ferrante’s novel My Brilliant Friend.
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Number → know → ?
But I confess I’d never heard of number two, The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning non-fiction story of how black Americans migrated across the country.
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Americans → confess → country
Here’s an idea.
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idea → ’ → ?
Usually the ones at the top are predictable, but the ones at the end are passionately loved by relatively few, and that’s a great space to explore.
What else is happening in the book world?
-
asserted
What → love → world
This novel is the raw, moving reality check Australian fiction needs
- Blood, lies and cartels: Five new crime books to read this month
- ‘Landmark achievement’ wins $80,000 literature prize
- A giant Mao looms over Hong Kong.
asserted
Mao → need → Kong
The Aporia
