ABC RN's The Bookshelf has published the books that came in at 101-200 on their Favourite Books of the 21st Century poll. I'm not going to repeat a full-blown analysis, but few things:
* I've only read ~30 of these, compared with 57 of the top 100.
* Two more more of the books I voted for made it: #157. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss and #171. The Good People by Hannah Kent. (I had 3 in the top 100.)
* There are quite a few more fantasy & scifi books: The Name of The Wind, a couple by Margaret Atwood, and Sarah J Maas, and by RF Kuang, a Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett, Cloud Cuckoo Land, The House in the Cerulean Sea, The Three-Body Problem, plus a couple of YA: Percy Jackson, and Nevermoor. Not a terrible selection.

https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/the-bookshelf/we-reveal-the-books-that-didnt-quite-make-the-top-100/105871776

#Top100Books #Books #Bookstodon #RadioNational #ABCRN

I couldn't resist doing some analysis of ABC Radio National's Top 100 Books of the 21st Century.

How much more likely were people to vote for books because they had read them in recent memory (recency bias)? You would expect that good books are spread out evenly across the years, but it's hard to remember books that you read many years ago! Turns out there was an even spread of books across 2000-2019. But there were 40% more books than expected from 2020-2024. (See first graph.)

Were newer books more likely to be lower down the list? I thought this might be lkely because votes for recently read books might spread out more. But that wasn't completely true. The bottom 40 of the list did lean new, but so did the top 20. (See second graph.)
How diverse were the authors on the list? Not very! Only 22 of the books were by authors with diverse backgrounds, by which I mean non-white or not hetero-normative. The top 20 were the least diverse, but it was pretty even across the range. Probably not surprising - people might connect most strongly with books that speak to their own experience. Would be fascinating to see more demographic info on the voters.
Most books were by authors from Australia (35), the USA (31), the UK (17) and Ireland (7). Ireland seemed to punch above its weight. New Zealand only had one author! (Heather Morris, The Tattooist of Auschwitz).

There were very few non-fiction books, especially if you exclude memoirs and true crime. I count 4: Dark Emu, Stasiland, Sapiens and A Short History of Nearly Everything. And yet non-fiction accounts for something like 40% of book sales. I wonder if that is because a non-fiction book tends to focus on a particular subject, which would have less widespread appeal. It could also be that the type of people who vote in this sort of poll are book nerds, and book nerds mostly read fiction.

As a keen #fantasy & #scifi reader, I was disappointed. Project Hail Mary is the only full-blown scifi, but I wouldn't say it is a good representation of the genre. There is Hunger Games and Harry Potter, but both are young adult. The others (Cloud Atlas, Station Eleven, Piranesi, Never Let Me Go) feel borderline (I've not read the last two).
How did the list compare with my own ratings? I've read 57 of the 100 books, and I did rate higher books better, but the relationship was very weak. (See third graph.)

Highest ranked book that I didn't really like: #12. Where The Crawdads Sing. (Runner up The Dry.)
Lowest ranked book that I really liked: #86. Cloud Atlas
Highest ranked book I'd never heard of: #9. A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

I've got 43 books to catch up on in the next few years, plus the favourites as voted by my friends. Never short a good book!

#Top100Books #ABCRN #RadioNational #Books #Bookstodon

I'm looking forward to the final 40 of Radio National's Top 100 Books of the 21st Century this afternoon.

I reckon these with rank highly:
Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton, and maybe also Lola In The Mirror
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
Something by Margaret Atwood, maybe Oryx & Crake
Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan (could be #1)

Less sure of:
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
A Song of Ice & Fire by George RR Martin (surely a proper fantasy book has to make an appearance?)
The Martian by Andy Weir (I'd prefer a better sci fi, maybe Seveneves by Neal Stephenson?)
Stasiland by Anna Funder

What have I missed? Will be fascinating to see!

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https://www.abc.net.au/listen/radionational/countdown/top100books

#Top100Books #RadioNational #ABCRN #Books #Bookstodon

The first of my favourite books has made it into Radio National's Top 100 Books of the 21st Century: #68. Educated by Tara Westover.

Only expecting a couple more of mine to make it ...

https://www.abc.net.au/listen/radionational/countdown/top100books

#Top100Books #RadioNational #ABCRN #Books #Bookstodon

Hottest 100 Books, 21st Century on #ABCRN with Pushy eying my lunch.

<https://www.abc.net.au/listen/radionational>

Re-elected #Teal #independent #MoniqueRyan speaking on #ABCRN said she won because of her on-the-ground approach in her electorate:

“Over the last three years, since I was elected to represent Kooyong I’ve worked very hard to fulfil the contract that I made with my community, which is that I will listen to them & try to represent them as effectively as I can on the things that matter to them.” #auspol

My maternal grandmother said a bird shitting on you is #GoodLuck

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-03/bird-poos-on-independent-mp-monique-ryan/105247338

Texted #ABCRN Breakfast;

Nuclear’s hidden cost is the storage of radioactive waste for tens of thousands of years.
David

Sir Bob Geldof clear and insightful on the Trump regime, impacts and responses. He solidly addresses Australia’s situation. #ABCRN “Global Roaming” 29 minutes listen.
A few select quotes:
“This is a brutal divorce.”
“Vance is worse because he’s clever and a thug.”
“NATO is gone.”
“This isn’t the time for listening to pop songs this is the time to engage...“

https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/global-roaming/sir-bob-geldof-trump-is-a-f-g-idiot/105001300