Top Ten Bestselling Australian Novels (since 2002)

Recently Nielsen Bookscan data have been released for the best selling Australian books since 2002 (when data collection began). It's an intriguing, but rather surprising list. 


1. The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

2. The Husband's Secret - Liane Moriarty

3. Whitethorn - Bryce Courtenay

4. Brother Fish - Bryce Courtenay

5. The Persimmon Tree - Bryce Courtenay

6. The Narrow Road to the Deep North - Richard Flanagan

7. Jack of Diamonds - Bryce Courtenay

8. Sylvia - Bryce Courtenay

9. Matthew Flinder's Cat - Bryce Courtenay

10. The Rosie Project - Graeme Simsion (see my review)

WOW.

6/10 of the bestselling Australian books of the past 15 years were by Bryce Courtenay! I thought that The Power of One would have been his most popular/bestselling book. I haven't even heard of some of these titles. I've only ever read one Bryce Courtenay I think- his memoir about his son's illness with haemophilia and HIV- April Fool's Day. 

The Book Thief sold over 250, 000 copies, the rest all about 200, 000 according to the audio story. And yet this story about the Jasper Jones movie says that Jasper has sold 300, 000 copies in Australia- which would put it at the top of this list? It's all lies, damned lies and statistics. 

I've read 2/10 
#1 and #10 which has a nice symmetry to it.

1/10 is by a woman (admittedly it might help if Bryce Courtenay didn't take up 6 spots)