Books Alive's "50 Books You Must Own 2004"

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‘50 Books You Must Own’ was part of the 2004 Books Alive project in Australia. The list includes a range of books chosen by booksellers around Australia. There are books by international and Australian writers and from every genre – thrillers, literature, classics, non-fiction, and more.

  1. 1.
    The Alchemist: A Fable About Following Your Dream
    by Paulo Coelho
  2. 2.
    Surgeon of Crowthorne
    by Simon Winchester
  3. 3.
    Sophie's World: A Novel about the History of Philosophy
    by Jostein Gaarder
  4. 4.
    Hobbit
    by J.R.R. Tolkien
  5. 5.
    Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 1)
    by Frank Herbert
  6. 6.
    Battleaxe (Axis Trilogy)
    by Sara Douglass
  7. 7.
    The Lovely Bones
    by Alice Sebold
  8. 8.
    Cold Mountain: A Novel
    by Charles Frazier
  9. 9.
    The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel
    by Barbara Kingsolver
  10. 10.
    Dirt Music: A Novel
    by Tim Winton
  11. 11.
    This Side of Brightness: A Novel
    by Colum McCann
  12. 12.
    Life of Pi
    by Yann Martel
  13. 13.
    Girl with a Pearl Earring
    by Tracy Chevalier
  14. 14.
    Oscar and Lucinda
    by Peter Carey
  15. 15.
    Palace Walk (The Cairo Trilogy)
    by Naguib Mahfouz
  16. 16.
    Possession
    by A.S. Byatt
  17. 17.
    Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
    by Patrick Suskind
  18. 18.
    Mosquito Coast, The
    by Paul Theroux
  19. 19.
    All the Pretty Horses (The Border Trilogy, Book 1)
    by Cormac McCarthy
  20. 20.
    Enduring Love: A Novel
    by Ian McEwan
  21. 21.
    Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague
    by Geraldine Brooks
  22. 22.
    Secret History
    by Donna Tartt
  23. 23.
    The Corrections: A Novel
    by Jonathan Franzen
  24. 24.
    Candy: A Novel of Love and Addiction
    by Luke Davies
  25. 25.
    High Fidelity
    by Nick Hornby
  26. 26.
    Fight Club: A Novel
    by Chuck Palahniuk
  28. 28.
    ?
    Three Dog Night
    by Peter Goldsworthy
  29. 29.
    It
    by Stephen King
  30. 30.
    The Vampire Lestat (Vampire Chronicles, Book II)
    by Anne Rice
  31. 31.
    The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America
    by Bill Bryson
  32. 32.
    Almost French: Love and a New Life in Paris
    by Sarah Turnbull
  33. 33.
    Fahrenheit 451
    by Ray Bradbury
  34. 34.
    The Eyre Affair: A Thursday Next Novel
    by Jasper Fforde
  35. 35.
    Jane Eyre (Penguin Classics)
    by Charlotte Brontë
  36. 36.
    To Kill a Mockingbird
    by Harper Lee
  37. 37.
    My Brilliant Career / My Career Goes Bung
    by Miles Franklin
  38. 38.
    Tully
    by Paullina Simons
  39. 39.
    Eat Me
    by Linda Jaivin
  40. 40.
    Bridget Jones's Diary
    by Helen Fielding
  41. 41.
    The Da Vinci Code
    by Dan Brown
  42. 42.
    Ice Station
    by Matthew Reilly
  43. 43.
    Perfect Match
    by Jodi Picoult
  44. 44.
    The Hunt for Red October (Jack Ryan)
    by Tom Clancy
  45. 45.
    Blind Assassin
    by Margaret Atwood
  46. 46.
    The Constant Gardener
    by John Le Carre
  47. 47.
    The Poet
    by Michael Connelly
  48. 48.
    Pride and Prejudice (Oxford World's Classics)
    by Jane Austen
  49. 49.
    The Shipping News
    by E. Annie Proulx
  50. 50.
    A Time to Kill
    by John Grisham
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Created by ume on Mar 20, 2006.
 

Comments

Entitet

Books missing — 5 years ago

There are now only 48 books on the list. I can’t find the original list – anyone who knows which books actually should be on here?

Jul 30, 01:09PM | 1 comment | Reply to this

mvcuervo

Is it me or.... — 6 years ago

…there are only books made into movies in this list? I think there are many others more representative and more essential that aren’t here (Animal Farm, Oliver Twist, The name of the rose, The Unbearable lightness of being…)

Dec 18, 02:35PM | 1 comment | Reply to this

Greg

The Hobbit and Jane Eyre — 7 years ago

I think those are the only 2 on this list that are actually in our house….and I’ve not actually READ either of them at this point. :/

Mar 30, 09:52AM | 0 comments | Reply to this

treespotter

Untitled — 7 years ago

should add Day of the Jackal somewhere there.. i think it should be there.

Mar 21, 03:44AM | 1 comment | Reply to this



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