Desert Island Books – The Footy Almanac reading List
What a great list of Desert Island Books recommended by our fabulous readers. There is everything from The Bible to The Communist Manifesto, to titles from out of left field, and many favourites from childhood, especially Enid Blyton.
Australian authors fared well, particularly Peter Temple and Tim Winton, and crime novels are also very popular with our readers.
With Christmas coming up and you’re looking for a special book for the reader in your family something from the list below may be just what you are looking for.
The list is in alphabetical order by author.
100 Australian Poems You Need To Know – Phillip Adams (ed)
Asimov’s Foundation series
Asimov’s Guide To The Bible In 2 Volumes
Books by Isaac Asimov
Jane Austen for literary romance and insight into Georgian gender relations
Between the Lines podcast run by Scottish publisher Backpage Press
Best of Hugh McIlvanney; Dutch football; bios of legendary Celtic manager Jock Stein: Backpage Press
Works of David Baldacci
Fully Automated Luxury Communism – Aaron Bastani.
Famous Five Series – Enid Blyton
Secret Seven Series – Enid Blyton
The Shield Of Achilles’ – Phillip Bobbit
Hinges of History – Thomas Cahill
The Hero With a Thousand Faces – Joseph Campbell
The Outsider – Albert Camus
Illywhacker – Peter Carey
True History Of The Kelly Gang – Peter Carey
The Tales of Don Yuan – Carlos Castaneda
Well World Series – Jack Chalker
Books by Sir Arthur C Clarke
Crime books by Michael Connelly featuring Harry Bosh and Mickey Halley Junior
Nostromo – Joseph Conrad
The Master of the Twist on the Twist namely Jeffrey Deaver – especially his masterpiece The October List.
The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha – Miguel de Cervantes
Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
Sand and Golf: How Terrain Shapes the Game – Tom Doak & George Waters
Four Iron to the Soul – Lawrence Donegan
Fortune – Robert Drewe
Chronicles: Volume 2 – Bob Dylan.
Middlemarch – George Eliot
Slow Tracks – Jude Fitcher.
The Birth of Melbourne – Tim Flannery.
The Footy Almanac 2017 and 2019 editions
Richard Ford’s Sportswriter Series
Careless Love – Peter Guralnick
Last Train to Memphis – Peter Guralnick
Power Without Glory – Frank Hardy
The Stainless Steel Rat Series – Harry Harrison
Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
The Tall Man – Chloe Hooper
Biggles Books – Capt. EW Johns especially the World War 1 stories and a couple of the World War 2 books, Biggles Sweeps the Desert – Capt. EW Johns
Biggles in the Orient – Capt. EW Johns
Ned Kelly: a Short Life – Ian Jones.
Ulysses – James Joyce
Metamorphosis – Franz Kafka
A Great Notion – Ken Kersey.
Poms to Premiers – History of the Central District Football Club 1959-2009 – Robert Laidlaw and Robin
Mulholland
John Le Carre – the Smiley books
The Road – Cormac McCarthy
The Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop (First Edition) – Ian McFarlane
The Communist Manifesto – Karl Marx & Frederick Engels.
The Grundrisse – Karl Marx.
I am Ned Kelly – John Molony.
The Fortunes of Richard Mahoney – Henry Handel Richardson,
I like Spots – Dr Seuss
Complete Works: Wm Shakespeare
Kill For Collingwood – Richard Stremski
Anything by Peter Temple
Jack Irish Series – Peter Temple
Truth – Peter Temple
March of Folly – Barbara Tuchman
The Tree of Man – Patrick White
The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde
The Shepherd’s Hut – Tim Winton
The Turning – Tim Winton
The World Book Encyclopedia
The Tigers Almanac 2019 is out soon.
Order copies HERE.
Orders will be posted from Dec 12
Our writers are independent contributors. The opinions expressed in their articles are their own. They are not the views, nor do they reflect the views, of Malarkey Publications.
Do you really enjoy the Almanac concept?
And want to ensure it continues in its current form, and better? To help keep things ticking over please consider making your own contribution.
Become an Almanac (annual) member – CLICK HERE
One off financial contribution – CLICK HERE
Regular financial contribution (monthly EFT) – CLICK HERE
About Colin Ritchie
Retired teacher who enjoys following the Bombers, listening to music especially Bob Dylan, reading, and swimming.
The Grapes of Wrath – Steinbeck
The Old Man and the Sea – Hemingway
Monty Wedd’s award winning graphic novel “NED KELLY”. It’s a superb work that collects all his strips from one of the old magazines -Women’s Day or something like that i believe. Monty’s attention to detail and his art work is truly fabulous – GREATLY RECOMMENDED.
And if you do a ‘best read of the year’ I’d nominate Educated by Tara Westover.
Well done Col. It looks like a mighty fine book shelf, a damn big one at that, well worth having.
Fisho; Monty Wedd ? A name i’ve not heard for a while.
Glen!
Glen, Monty Wedd was, in my humble opinion, one of the very best if not best, of the Australian comic strip artists. He was really big in the fifties and was the artist for “Dollar Bill” when we changed to decimal currency. Besides his work on Ned Kelly he also wrote and drew another fantastic strip “Bold Ben Hall”. In his later years he ran an Australiana museum in NSW. After his death after not that many yeas ago, his son has continued the museum.
Monty was well known for his “Captain Justice” series about an Australian masked vigilante in the bushranger period.He also produced an extremely popular series “The Scorpion” that was banned in QLD after 9 issues. The Scorpion was criminal and master of disguise. The work was banned as, although many of his plots were foiled, The Scorpion always escaped capture. Even my father loved this work and was extremely disappointed when the series was forced to close.
That’s one hell of a book shelf, Col
Yes, an exhaustive library, Colin, worthy of many deserted island sojourns.
PS: I gave up on correcting my spelling errors etc, but… unless ajc is reading, I think we’re safe.
Helluva list. I’ve read 29 of those authors.