Thursday, December 2, 2010

The BBC's Big Read - How do you stack up?

We’ve seen this list floating around on a couple blogs lately (most recently at Reading with Martinis) and we feel we must join in the fun.  Book lists could possibly be the coolest things ever invented and the BBC’s list is our authority when looking for new reading material.  Two years ago it inspired us to step outside our small cardboard reading box and expand our authors.  The result was life changing (or at least a ton of really good books).  We (Evan) has read 67 (in bold) of the top 100 titles and we (Erin) has read 29 (with *)…for the complete story, please refer to  our A Brief Preface post.

In April 2003 the BBC's Big Read began the search for the nation's best-loved novel, and the results are listed below.  The people at the BBC believe that most people have only read 6 of these novels.  Sooooo, what we want to know is – how do you stack up?  Count ‘em up and let us know!


1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen*
3.
His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams*
5.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling*
6.
To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee*
7.
Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8.
Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
9.
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10.
Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë*
11.
Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12.
Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë*

13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier*
15.
The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger*
16.
The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17.
Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18.
Little Women, Louisa May Alcott

19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21.
Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell*
22.
Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling*
23.
Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling*
24.
Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling*
25.
The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien*
26.
Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy

27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29.
The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30.
Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll

31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32.
One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez

33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett*
34.
David Copperfield, Charles Dickens*
35.
Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl*
36.
Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson

37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39.
Dune, Frank Herbert
40.
Emma, Jane Austen*
41.
Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery*
42.
Watership Down, Richard Adams
43.
The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald*

44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46.
Animal Farm, George Orwell*
47.
A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens*

48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49.
Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50.
The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett*
52.
Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck*
53.
The Stand, Stephen King
54.
Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy*
55.
A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56.
The BFG, Roald Dahl*

57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59.
Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60.
Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky

61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden*
63.
A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens

64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65.
Mort, Terry Pratchett
66.
The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67.
The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding*
71.
Perfume, Patrick Süskind

72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73.
Night Watch, Terry Pratchett

74. Matilda, Roald Dahl*
75.
Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
76.
The Secret History, Donna Tartt

77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78.
Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens

80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81.
The Twits, Roald Dahl

82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith*
83.
Holes, Louis Sachar

84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85.
The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86.
Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley

88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89.
Magician, Raymond E Feist

90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91.
The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92.
The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93.
The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94.
The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96.
Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97.
Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98.
Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot

100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie

10 comments:

  1. Hi! Thanks for stopping by The Enchanted Book and taking a look at my new design.

    I've seen this list a lot recently. I've read a bunch of them, but still have a bit to go.

    Have a great one!

    Selena
    http://theenchantedbook.blogspot.com/

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  2. I can proudly claim 7, but have several others already on my NOOK.

    eofftherecord.blogspot.com

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  3. I've read twenty-six. I've started many others and owned many, MANY others.

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  4. I'm at 22. Not as high as I thought I would be, but there are at least 10 books on this list I've been meaning to read but just haven't. Some competitive motivation, perhaps?

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  5. My count is 47, but to be honest, probably 15-20 of those were required reading when I was in highschool and probably wouldn't have read them otherwise :) It was fun to see some of my most favorite books up there: Pride and Prejudice, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia, and To Kill a Mockingbird

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  6. I've read 30. I find it interesting to note that I've seen at least 3 versions of this list- the BBCs Big Read. I know which list is from their (seemingly official) website but I'm not sure where all the other lists come from. ...

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  7. I have read 29. Probably only a few more on the list I will attempt (none of the new classics). Thanks for stopping by my blog on the hop. Have lurked a couple of times at yours :). Great content.

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  8. This list is everywhere at the moment. I've read 30-something.

    Thanks for visiting my blog :)

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  9. i read 22. it's interesting that around half of the books in the list are in my collection waiting to be read. my bad! i have a lot to catch up on!

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  10. Suprised myself, I've read 18 of them over the course of my reading career - not bad.

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