Love Boy Swallows Universe? Readers share 100 books like Boy Swallows Universe...

By Trent Dalton,

Here are 100 books that Boy Swallows Universe fans have personally recommended if you like Boy Swallows Universe. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Breath

Karin Cox Author Of What the Sea Wants

From my list on understanding the Australian spirit.

Why am I passionate about this?

Iā€™m an author, poet, and editor who works in natural history and social history publishing by day, explaining the unique flora and fauna, culture, and spirit of this ancient continent. By night, I moonlight as a fiction author, writing whatever takes my fancy. Seeing Australia and understanding Australia arenā€™t always the same thing in a country with unforgiving stony desert at its heart, more venomous creepy-crawlies than you can ā€˜poke a stick atā€™ (but please donā€™t!), the oldest living culture in the world, and a complex history. So, here are my recommendations for novels that travel deep into the Australian spirit.

Karin's book list on understanding the Australian spirit

Karin Cox Why did Karin love this book?

Winton is one of Australiaā€™s most celebrated authors for his effortless prose. In Breath, he vividly captures the moment restless ennui of life in a small town meets the Australian desire to push boundaries, building background tension that eventually crashes Aussie surf culture down like a dumper and leaves everything broken. While the award-winning Cloudstreet is often considered Wintonā€™s ā€˜Great Australian Novelā€™, the historic setting and vernacular felt somewhat contrived to me. I consider Breath Wintonā€™s true masterpiece, which stays with you long after you finish the final page.

By Tim Winton,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Breath as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'Exhilarating' Sunday Times
'Rapturous' Sunday Telegraph
'A remarkable tale of grace and danger' Financial Times

When paramedic Bruce Pike is called out to deal with another teenage adventure gone wrong, he knows better than anyone what happened and how. Thirty years before, that dead boy could have been him. Bruce remembers what it was like to be a risk-taking kid, to feel that thrill and that fear . . .

Breath by Tim Winton is the story of Bruce and his best friend Loonie, and the surfing obsession that changed both of their lives. It is about the exhilaration ofā€¦


Book cover of The Harp in the South

Maggie Joel Author Of The Unforgiving City

From my list on to uncover Sydneyā€™s past.

Why am I passionate about this?

I arrived in Sydney in the 90s knowing as much as one brief peruse the Berlitz Guide could provide me. For the next 25 years I immersed myself in its beautiful harbour and beaches whilst writing four novels, all set in my hometown of London. But when I sat down to write my fifth novel, The Unforgiving City, set in 1890s Sydney, I drew a complete blank. What was my adopted cityā€™s history? Did it even have one? If so, where was it? By the time Iā€™d finished the novel Iā€™d unearthed a whole other, hidden, Sydney. I will never view my new home town the same way again. 

Maggie's book list on to uncover Sydneyā€™s past

Maggie Joel Why did Maggie love this book?

This is an Australian classic. Published in 1948, Park wrote this, her first novel, when she moved to the crowded, chaotic impoverished inner Sydney suburb of Surry Hills. Fascinated and deeply stirred by what she saw, her novel centres on the close-knit Darcy family whose love for one another and enduring joy for life is in stark contrast to the harsh and occasionally brutal world around them. Parkā€™s love for her characters and for her city shines through and provides a magical yet thoughtful window on a Sydney in the years immediately following the war. I worked in Surry Hills for many years and I set much of my last novel on its streets and laneways so to walk those same streets in Ruth Parkā€™s footsteps was such a treat.

By Ruth Park,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Harp in the South as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

An Australian classic, this is the story of the Darcy family who live in the Depression era tenements of Surry Hills, Sydney.

Hugh and Margaret Darcy are raising their family in Sydney amid the brothels, grog shops, and run-down boarding houses of Surry Hills, where money is scarce and life is not easy.

Filled with beautifully drawn characters that will make you laugh as much as cry, this Australian classic will take you straight back to the colourful slums of Sydney with convincing depth, careful detail, and great heart.


Book cover of The Yield

Courtney Angela Brkic Author Of The First Rule of Swimming

From my list on really complicated families.

Why am I passionate about this?

My mother, father, and I were each born in different countries, and into different languages. In my childhood, we were a hybridized wonderā€”one part jetsam, one part flotsamā€”and a country unto ourselves. Our house was filled with all kinds of books, our dinnertimes with lively conversation (and occasional shouting), our plates with food cooked according to the recipes of family ghosts. I can honestly say that no other family was like ours, especially not in the American suburbs of the 1980s. As a writer, I have always been fascinated by the tug-and-pull of intergenerational trauma, and by the dislocation of immigration and exile.   

Courtney's book list on really complicated families

Courtney Angela Brkic Why did Courtney love this book?

When Augustā€™s grandfatherā€”the bedrock of a multi-generational Wiradjuri familyā€”dies, she must return to Australia, and to the town of Prosperous. There, she comes face-to-face with the things that have driven her out, a process that began long before her birth. The bookā€™s three narrators chart the casualties of colonialism: the loss of indigenous culture, the stamping out of language, the land that is taken and forever altered. But the book is so much more than a catalogue of losses, and Winchā€™s song is ultimately one of identityā€”and historyā€”reclaimed.  

By Tara June Winch,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked The Yield as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"A beautifully written novel that puts language at the heart of remembering the past and understanding the present."-Kate Morton

"A groundbreaking novel for black and white Australia."-Richard Flanagan, Man Booker Prize winning author of The Narrow Road to the Deep North

A young Australian woman searches for her grandfather's dictionary, the key to halting a mining company from destroying her family's home and ancestral land in this exquisitely written, heartbreaking, yet hopeful novel of culture, language, tradition, suffering, and empowerment in the tradition of Louise Erdrich, Sandra Cisneros, and Amy Harmon.

Knowing that he will soon die, Albert "Poppy" Gondiwindiā€¦


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Book cover of The Ballad of Falling Rock

The Ballad of Falling Rock by Jordan Dotson,

Truth told, folks still ask if Saul Crabtree sold his soul for the perfect voice. If he sold it to angels or devils. A Bristol newspaper once asked: ā€œAre his love songs closer to heaven than dying?ā€ Others wonder how he wrote a song so sad, everyone who heard itā€¦

Book cover of Seven Little Australians

Karin Cox Author Of What the Sea Wants

From my list on understanding the Australian spirit.

Why am I passionate about this?

Iā€™m an author, poet, and editor who works in natural history and social history publishing by day, explaining the unique flora and fauna, culture, and spirit of this ancient continent. By night, I moonlight as a fiction author, writing whatever takes my fancy. Seeing Australia and understanding Australia arenā€™t always the same thing in a country with unforgiving stony desert at its heart, more venomous creepy-crawlies than you can ā€˜poke a stick atā€™ (but please donā€™t!), the oldest living culture in the world, and a complex history. So, here are my recommendations for novels that travel deep into the Australian spirit.

Karin's book list on understanding the Australian spirit

Karin Cox Why did Karin love this book?

First published in 1894, this is definitely a nostalgic choice; however, thereā€™s a good reason why it became the first Australian novel to be continuously in print for 100 years in 1994. Esther Turnerā€™s classic novel is Australiaā€™s answer to Little Women, and if you donā€™t fall in love with the seven boisterous Woolcot children and end up in tears over the tragic events at Yarrahappini, Iā€™m afraid youā€™re even harder-hearted than Captain Woolcot himself!

By Ethel Turner,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Seven Little Australians as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This collection of literature attempts to compile many of the classic, timeless works that have stood the test of time and offer them at a reduced, affordable price, in an attractive volume so that everyone can enjoy them.


Book cover of Henry Hamlet's Heart

Tobias Madden Author Of Anything But Fine

From my list on growing up gay in Australia.

Why am I passionate about this?

As someone who grew up in Australia without any gay literary characters to relate to, Iā€™m incredibly passionate about queer stories set in our beautiful country. We now have a wealth of brilliant books by LGBTQ+ authors, and I hope that by sharing my recommendations, our stories find even more of the readers theyā€™re meant to find. Iā€™ve focused on books featuring gay male protagonists, as thatā€™s how I identify, and theyā€™re the type of queer stories I relate to the most. Some of the books are fiction, others are memoir, some are written for teens and others are for adults, but all of them share an incredible level of authenticity.

Tobias' book list on growing up gay in Australia

Tobias Madden Why did Tobias love this book?

This book is beautiful from start to finish. The setting is so vivid (that Brisbane humidity and the purple jacarandas, I mean, I am right there!) and the writing is lyrical and gorgeous. The main characters are relatable and adorable and you find yourself cheering for them from the very first page. The story is full of awkward teen experiences, fun banter, tons of swoony scenes, and some truly touching moments.

By Rhiannon Wilde,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Henry Hamlet's Heart as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This smart and charming queer YA rom-com about falling for your best friend will win the hearts of fans of Adam Silvera and Becky Albertalli.

Henry Hamlet doesnā€™t know what he wants after school ends. Itā€™s his last semester of high school, and all heā€™s sure of is his uncanny ability to make situations awkward. Luckily, he can always hide behind his enigmatic best friend, Len. Theyā€™ve been friends since forever, but Len is mysterious and Henry is clumsy, and Len is a heartthrob and Henry is a neurotic mess. Somehow itā€™s always worked.
 
That is, until Henry falls inā€¦


Book cover of The Fragments

Kim Kelly Author Of Her Last Words

From my list on Australian novels about bookish girls.

Why am I passionate about this?

A genuine Aussie bookish girl, Iā€™ve been an editor in the Australian publishing industry for 25 years, and Iā€™ve been writing Australian novels for 15 of them. When Iā€™m not reading or writing, Iā€™m reviewing Australian books ā€“ canā€™t get enough of them! Iā€™ve dedicated my heart and mind to exploring and seeking to understand the contradictions and quirks of the country I am privileged to call home, from its bright, boundless skies to the deepest sorrows of bigotry and injustice. Acknowledging the brilliance of those women writers whoā€™ve come before me and shining a light ahead for all those to come is the most wonderful privilege of all. 

Kim's book list on Australian novels about bookish girls

Kim Kelly Why did Kim love this book?

Toni Jordan writes stories that defy genre pigeonholing, so sheā€™s a woman after my own heart. The Fragments is a mystery about a missing manuscript and itā€™s also a complex piecing together of womenā€™s personal histories. In the 1980s, in sleepy, sunny Brisbane, bookseller Caddie attends an exhibition of charred fragments from a famously lost novel of 1930s New York literary sensation, Inga Karlson ā€“ and meets an enigmatic stranger there who sparks Caddieā€™s obsession to uncover the truth of Ingaā€™s life and death. A highly entertaining romp follows, full of mischievous twists, but, best of all, this novel holds another dare for me: that womenā€™s lives and writing can and should sparkle with unpredictability.

By Toni Jordan,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Fragments as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Inga Karlson died in a fire in New York in the 1930s, leaving behind three things: a phenomenally successful first novel, the scorched fragments of a second bookā€•and a literary mystery that has captivated generations of readers.

Nearly fifty years later, Brisbane bookseller Caddie Walker is waiting in line to see a Karlson exhibition, featuring the famous fragments. A charismatic older woman quotes a phrase from the Karlson fragments that Caddie knows does not exist. Caddie is jolted from her sleepy life in 1980s Brisbane, and driven to uncover the truth about this fascinating literary mystery.


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Book cover of This Animal Body

This Animal Body by Meredith Walters,

Neuroscience PhD student Frankie Conner has finally gotten her life togetherā€”sheā€™s determined to discover the cause of her depression and find a cure for herself and everyone like her. But the first day of her program, she meets a group of talking animals who have an urgent message they refuseā€¦

Book cover of Pig City

Clinton Walker Author Of Stranded

From my list on music from Australia.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am an art school dropout and recovering rock critic who, since 1981, has published a dozen books on Australian music and popular culture, plus worked extensively in television and as a freelance journalist. I'm too old to be called an enfant terrible, but with the way I still seem to be able to court controversy, I must remain some sort of loose cannon! Sydneyā€™s Sun-Herald has called me "our best chronicler of Australian grass-roots culture," and thatā€™s a tag Iā€™m flattered by but which does get at what Iā€™ve always been interested in. I consider myself a historian who finds resonances where most donā€™t even bother to look, in our own backyard, yesterday, and the fact that so much of my backlist including Inner City Sound, Highway to Hell, Buried Country, Golden Miles, History is Made at Night, and Stranded are still in print, I take as vindication Iā€™m on the right trackā€¦

Clinton's book list on music from Australia

Clinton Walker Why did Clinton love this book?

Cultural history is now a book business-standard. That wasnā€™t always the case. For me myself, I had to read Otto Freidrichā€™s City of Nets (1987) and Jon Savageā€™s Englandā€™s Dreaming (1992) before I could properly formulate my 1996 book Stranded. Stalwart rock journalist Andrew Staffordā€™s debut book from 2004, Pig City, is a cultural history of the Brisbane music scene ā€˜from the Saints to Savage Gardenā€™, which makes it a regional history too. What makes it gripping, next Staffordā€™s deft handling of the material, is the story itself, which is not just that of an erstwhile backwater finally coming of age, but up against and overcoming the oppressive jackboots of Queensland state premier, ā€˜hillbilly dictatorā€™ Joh Bjelke-Peterson. Happily, that era is now long past, and BrisVegas is today a great music town; but wouldnā€™t have become so without the long struggle so vividly portrayed here.

By Andrew Stafford,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Pig City as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From cult heroes the Saints and the Go-Betweens to national icons Powderfinger and international stars Savage Garden, Brisbane has produced more than its share of great bands. But behind the music lay a ghost city of malice and corruption. Pressed under the thumb of the Bjelke-Petersen government and its toughest enforcersā€”the policeā€”Brisbaneā€™s musicians, radio announcers, and political activists braved ignorance, harassment, and often violence to be heard. This updated, 10th anniversary edition features a scathing new introduction by the author, assessing the changing shape of Brisbane, its music, and troubling developments since the return of the state of Queensland toā€¦


Book cover of Tirra Lirra by the River

Alison Jean Lester Author Of Lillian on Life

From my list on keeping it real about older women.

Why am I passionate about this?

Literary agents often say they are looking for books about ā€˜quirkyā€™ female protagonists. Iā€™m more entertained by female characters who feel real to me. When I write, I make myself uncomfortable a lot of the time, trying to express the many ways people both disguise and reveal the truth. I blame my devotion to my parents for this because when I left home in Massachusetts for college in the foreign land of Indiana, studied for a year in China, then studied in Italy, then worked in Taiwan, then moved to Japan, and later to Singapore, I wrote them copious descriptive, emotional letters. My parents are gone now, but in a way, Iā€™m still doing that.

Alison's book list on keeping it real about older women

Alison Jean Lester Why did Alison love this book?

I donā€™t often read books more than once, but this one I have, and I know I will read it again. The woman whose life is revealed this time is 70-year-old Nora Porteous. She has returned to her native Brisbane, Australia after having escaped it by marriage to Sydney, and having escaped that marriage to London. She now reflects wryly on how she developed throughout those years of hardship and joy as she also experiences the changes in the neighbourhood she ran from decades before. As we move through both her memories of the past and her experience of the present, the details that help us to understand her are extraordinary: ā€˜The man is unlocking the door. I have had to talk and smile too much in his car, and as I wait I consciously rest my face.ā€™

By Jessica Anderson,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Tirra Lirra by the River as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

One of Australiaā€™s most celebrated novels: one womanā€™s journey from Australia to London

Nora Porteous, a witty, ambitious woman from Brisbane, returns to her childhood home at age seventy. Her life has taken her from a failed marriage in Sydney to freedom in London; she forged a modest career as a seamstress and lived with two dear friends through the happiest years of her adult life.

At home, the neighborhood children she remembers have grown into compassionate adults. They help to nurse her back from pneumonia, and slowly let her in on the dark secrets of the neighborhood in theā€¦


Book cover of At Home in Japan: A Foreign Woman's Journey of Discovery

Amy Chavez Author Of The Widow, The Priest and The Octopus Hunter: Discovering a Lost Way of Life on a Secluded Japanese Island

From my list on Japanā€™s countryside.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have lived on a small island in Japan for over 25 years. I moved into my aging and empty Japanese abode before akiyaā€”empty housesā€”became a phenomenon, and I described my experiences in a regular column for The Japan Times from 1997 to 2020. I love Japanā€™s countryside and wish more tourists would visit places outside Japanā€™s major cities. The living is simple, the Japanese people are charming and Japan itself is one of the most unique places in the world. These books are written by people who have taken the leap and chosen the tranquil existence of the pastoral Japanese countryside. 

Amy's book list on Japanā€™s countryside

Amy Chavez Why did Amy love this book?

I wish I had read this memoir long before I moved to Japan. Otowa married her U.S. college sweetheart and found herself transported to a small town near Kyoto, where she plopped down into the traditional hamlet her husbandā€™s ancestors founded. In the town of Otowa, she becomes the matron of the heritage home of 350 years.

She writes beautifully about traditional Japanese life, folk traditions, and seasonal rituals, all of which bound her to her home, which she considers a living, breathing entity. A beautiful tribute to a house. 

By Rebecca Otowa,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked At Home in Japan as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"This portrait of Japanese country life reminds us that at its core, a happy and healthy life is based on the bonds of food, family, tradition, community, and the richness of nature." -John Einarsen, Founding Editor and Art Director of Kyoto Journal

What would it be like to move to Japan, leaving everyone you know behind, to become part of a traditional Japanese household? At Home in Japan tells an extraordinary true story of a foreign woman who goes through a fantastic transformation, as she makes a move from a suburban lifestyle in California to a new life, living inā€¦


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Book cover of At What Cost, Silence?

At What Cost, Silence? by Karen Lynne Klink,

Secrets, misunderstandings, and a plethora of family conflicts abound in this historical novel set along the Brazos River in antebellum Washington County, East Texas.

It is a compelling story of two neighboring plantation families and a few of the enslaved people who serve them. These two plantations are a microcosmā€¦

Book cover of The Rich Man's House

J.M. Donellan Author Of Killing Adonis

From my list on reminding us why we should eat the rich.

Why am I passionate about this?

We live in a bizarre era of Elon Musk stans who seem certain that if you work hard youā€™ll be rewarded not only with ā€˜fuck youā€™ money, but ā€˜fuck everyoneā€™ money. I think any writer worth their salt should at some point tackle the issues of their age in their writing. In our era racism, sexism, climate change, and a range of other social justice issues are all exacerbated through the improper distribution of wealth. You could give a man a fish, and he might eat for a day. Or you could eviscerate the rich, share their wealth, and throw the whole world a parade! 

J.M.'s book list on reminding us why we should eat the rich

J.M. Donellan Why did J.M. love this book?

McGahan is one of my all-time favourites for numerous reasons. When I was a baby writer just getting started, I was so excited to have McGahan writing about my home city of Brisbane, showing all its scars and burn marks. He has an incredible knack for writing across genres, something that I think more writers should aspire to. In this case he turns his hand to an elegant take on the supernatural thriller. The supernatural elements here are uniquely and beautifully presented. There are no vampires or magic, just nature in a primal and anthropomorphic capacity. Many books are described as ā€˜man vs nature,ā€™ but that relationship has never been more savagely explored than in this book. It also has the most bittersweet authorā€™s note Iā€™ve ever read. Gets me every time. 

By Andrew McGahan,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Rich Man's House as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In the freezing Antarctic waters south of Tasmania, a mountain was discovered in 1642 by the seafaring explorer Gerrit Jansz. Not just any mountain but one that Jansz estimated was an unbelievable height of twenty-five thousand metres.

In 2016, at the foot of this unearthly mountain, a controversial and ambitious 'dream home', the Observatory, is painstakingly constructed by an eccentric billionaire - the only man to have ever reached the summit.

Rita Gausse, estranged daughter of the architect who designed the Observatory is surprised, upon her father's death, to be invited to the isolated mansion to meet the famously reclusiveā€¦


Book cover of Breath
Book cover of The Harp in the South
Book cover of The Yield

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