Start Your Christmas Shopping: Better Reading’s Top 100 Books

It’s that time of year when Christmas shopping is upon us. What better way to simplify the madness and simply make a trip into your local Big W and grab everything you need from the Top 100 display? Our 2023 list is filled with great gift ideas for the whole family.

For the teens in your life

The Book Thief by Australian author Marcus Zusak took out the 2023 #5 spot and is a great read for teens. Other teens will love classics such as To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. For reluctant readers, you can’t go past Frank Herbert, whose bestselling science fiction novel, Dune, made the list – and is now a major motion picture.

For the women in your life

The inclusion of Craig Silvey’s Honeybee (which took out the #1 spot), Holly Ringland’s The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, Trent Dalton’s All Our Shimmering Skies, The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth, Dervla McTiernan’s The Ruin, Chris Hammer’s The Tilt, and Jane Harper’s The Dry reflects a new and growing appetite for Australian authors, and the success of these is largely driven by female readers.

For the men in your life

Going by the results, Australian readers love Australian authors and Australian stories. Grab the guy in your life a novel by an Australian icon, such as The Wife and the Widow by Christian White, Michael Robotham’s Lying Beside You, Ice Station by Matthew Reilly, or Cloudstreet by Tim Winton.