Sunday, October 07, 2012

BBC's Top Loved 100 Books

by Donna K. Weaver

Some years back (2003), the BBC began a search for the top 100 beloved books.  I wonder with some of the blockbusters of the last 9 years would change any of these.

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen

3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman (started it but quit when I found the adults so unlikeable)
4. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams (loved the movie, so it's on my list)
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee (loved the movie, so it's on my list)
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 (it's on my list)
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 (it's on my list)
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 (it's on my list)
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 (
started but haven't finished)
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 (I have the ebook)
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher (LOVE this book!)
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 (it's on my list)
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

Some of these books are classics, and there's good reasons for why they continue to be people's favorites. Others, however, are on the list because they were temporary fads. It might be a good question to ask how many of these would still be on the list in fifty years.

How many how of these book have you read? Do you think there are any glaring absences?

16 comments:

Erin Kane Spock said...

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman (started it but quit when I found the adults so unlikeable)
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
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens (it's on my list)
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
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
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens (it's on my list)
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
40. Emma, Jane Austen (started but haven't finished)
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens (I have the ebook)
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens (it's on my list)
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel

Many of the one's I haven't read are on my list (Tess, Anna K, Crime and Punishment, etc...) Interesting list -- different from similar one's I've seen in the US. Terry Pratchet must be more popular in the UK.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I've read twenty-three of them.

Luanne G. Smith said...

I've read fifty one of them. Most of the ones I haven't read were toward the bottom, and I haven't read any Terry Pratchett, who seems to be well represented on this list.

I love classics, though, especially Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, and John Steinbeck -- I don't think Grapes of Wrath was on there, but it's one of my favs.

S.P. Bowers said...

I've read 57 of them. While I think many of them will be on the list in 50 years I can see several of them that I think will be replaced.

There was a lot of Terry Pratchett, who I adore, but his best series wasn't on there. WEE FREE MEN definitely should have been on the list.

Pat Hatt said...

I've read roughly half of them, surprised I knew lie 95% of them too.

Terminally Ill said...

Why is Flubber not on that list?!>! Check out the new Terminally Ill song on my blog. It's called Box of Wine. You're gonna love it!

Golden Eagle said...

I've read 36 of these books. Some I've never heard of; but classics like Crime and Punishment are on my list of books to get around to.

Stina said...

I've read some of them. Mostly the classics and HP. There are a few that I watched the movie. Does that count? :D

Angela Brown said...

Actually, I'm wondering how many of these books are on here out of reverence for them being classics... but for myself, I've read at least twenty of them at first glance.

Anonymous said...

I've ead many of these books. I love Hitchikers Guide too and was just thinking of that series yesterday.

Jennie Bennett said...

I'm surprised by how many of them I haven't even heard of. I've read 28 of them, and few others are on my list. I think I better pick up some Terry Pratchet, they seem really popular!

writing and living by Richard P Hughes said...

I've read quite a few of them.

Anonymous said...

If you liked the movie of Hitchhiker's Guide, you will be blown over by the book! I looked forward to the movie and was SO disappointed in it, the book was that much better. If you can get a hand on it, get the book on CD read by Douglas himself. He giggles at his own jokes, it's a riot to listen to!

Peggy Eddleman said...

Yep! That's a pretty fabulous list. Who wouldn't love a list that started out with LOTR?

Anonymous said...

I counted 46 that I've read. This brought back memories since I read many of them, particularly the classics, in high school and college.

Carrie Butler said...

Whew! That's quite a list. I've read many of these books, but not nearly enough! :)