Re Australian literature -- I don't know a ton of Australian writers, but I can highly recommend two: Peter Carey and Thomas Keneally.
I've read three books by Carey, all of which were fantastic. My Life As a Fake is quite recent, and concerns a literary hoax that bizarrely comes to life. The True History of the Kelly Gang deals with the Australian outlaw legend, Ned Kelly, and purports to be narrated by him. Oscar and Lucinda is about a pair of obsessive gamblers finding each other in rural 19th century Australia (and was made into a movie with Cate Blanchett and Ralph Fiennes).
As for Keneally, he's best known for writing Schindler's List -- which is a staggeringly good book, whether or not you've seen the movie. It's nonfiction presented in novelistic form, an incredible story and powerfully written. More recently, he published The Tyrant's Novel, which is a spectacular novel that I'm having a lot of trouble summarizing. (I've tried several different ways of describing it, but you know what? I give up. Go here (http://www.amazon.com/Tyrants-Novel-Thomas-Keneally/dp/034082526X/ref=sr_1_2/103-0590746-2373409?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1186867543&sr=1-2) and read the amazon.com description.)
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I've read three books by Carey, all of which were fantastic. My Life As a Fake is quite recent, and concerns a literary hoax that bizarrely comes to life. The True History of the Kelly Gang deals with the Australian outlaw legend, Ned Kelly, and purports to be narrated by him. Oscar and Lucinda is about a pair of obsessive gamblers finding each other in rural 19th century Australia (and was made into a movie with Cate Blanchett and Ralph Fiennes).
As for Keneally, he's best known for writing Schindler's List -- which is a staggeringly good book, whether or not you've seen the movie. It's nonfiction presented in novelistic form, an incredible story and powerfully written. More recently, he published The Tyrant's Novel, which is a spectacular novel that I'm having a lot of trouble summarizing. (I've tried several different ways of describing it, but you know what? I give up. Go here (http://www.amazon.com/Tyrants-Novel-Thomas-Keneally/dp/034082526X/ref=sr_1_2/103-0590746-2373409?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1186867543&sr=1-2) and read the amazon.com description.)