According to this link http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100.shtml, BBC in 2003 asked English folks to send in their favourite book. From the results the top 100 books emerged. I am interested in reading most of these books in the near and distant future. I will use this forum to keep track of my readings: highlighting when I last remembered reading the book.
1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen (2012) (2016) [Blog Review Posted]
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 (1999/2000) (2013) [Goodreads Review Posted]
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 (2013) [Goodreads Review Posted]
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë (2000/2001)
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier (2013)
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame (1990 or thereabout)
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens (2013)
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott (1996, 2014)
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 (1990 or there about)
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 [2019] Goodreads Review Posted]
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson (1995, 2014) [Goodreads Review Posted]
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen (2012, 2013, 2016) [Blog Review Posted]
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen (2012)
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery (2016) [Goodreads Review Posted]
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 (2013) [Goodreads Review Posted]
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy (2019)
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett (2016) [Blog Review Posted]
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 (sometime around 1990 or earlier)
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 (2015-2016) [Blog Review Posted]
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
I invite your responses on which are your favourites, your dislikes or the books you are eager to read. The books with the strike-through indicates that I have read them. Are there any other interesting book challenges that you want to share? For example, best history texts etc.
Cool! I’ve read 35 of those, most of which were very good – except for The Secret History by Donna Tartt, which I hated. I think it’s one of the worst books I’ve ever read, actually.
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What about it made you hate it so much? (Just curious :)).
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I just found the characters really pretentious and not believable. The whole thing seems not all that grounded in reality.
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Ah, thanks for explaining. Hopefully I can read it some time in the near future, so that I can compare my review to yours.
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A lot of people liked, even loved this book actually. I strongly recommend you NOT read it lol. There are far better books out there.
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Makes me more curious 😀
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hahaha, oh well 😛 On a related subject, Marisha Pessl’s novel, Special Topics in Calamity Physics is somewhat similar to A Secret History – but more annoying. I was reading that book earlier this month, but stopped. I just can’t take 600+ pages of pretentiousness like that 😛
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I have never read this author book. I usually stay away from most science books, it just overwhelms my poor brain, haha.
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Oh…it’s not a science book lol. It’s a novel and it’s sort of gimmicky. It made a splash back when it was published, maybe around 2006 and actually got good reviews too.
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ahh *hides embarrassed smiles* haha
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lol…anyway…stay away from it 😛
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*sigh* The rebel in me, the rebel in me 🙂
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Hahaha…well, don’t say I didn’t warn you. Call it my service to mankind lol.
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I will remember your advice.
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