On 7th December, ‘Players’ was announced by the State Library as one of the best 20 novels set in the State of Victoria. Click here for the full Reading Victoria summer reading list.

Power Without Glory, Frank Hardy
My Brother Jack, George Johnston
The Getting of Wisdom, Henry Handel Richardson
The True History of the Kelly Gang, Peter Carey
Picnic at Hanging Rock, Joan Lindsay
Of a Boy, Sonya Hartnett
Stiff, Shane Moloney
Monkey Grip, Helen Garner
The Broken Shore, Peter Temple
On The Beach, Nevil Shute
Loaded, Christos Tsiolkas
Three Dollars, Elliott Perlman
Everyman’s Rules for Scientific Living, Carrie Tiffany
Sunnyside, Joanna Murray-Smith
Café Scheherazade, Arnold Zable
Shadowboxing, Tony Birch
The Art of the Engine Driver, Steven Carroll
The Dressmaker, Rosalie Ham
Cocaine Blues, Kerry Greenwood
Players, Tony Wilson

The idea is that readers can vote for their favourite novel, and add books that didn’t make the list.

As I said at the launch of ‘20 Novels Set Close to Home’, being included on this list might not be the highlight of Peter Carey’s professional life, but it is mine. I feel like I’m the guy from Equatorial Guinea, splashing around out in lane 8 — ecstatic just to be in the race.

My best chance probably lies with the fact that it’s easier for me to vote for myself than it is for Henry Handel Richardson to vote for herself.