The Big Read by BBC: How Many Have You Read?

The big Read-

I came across this list on the blog The Book Castle, and I couldn’t resist joining in on the fun! In 2003, BBC created this list called The Big Read in an endeavor to find the most loved novel in the UK. Citizens of the UK were asked to vote in a survey for the books they loved the most, and the top 100 were compiled into this list. Out of curiosity, I wanted to see how many of them I have read.

  1. The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
  2. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
  3. His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
  4. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
  5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling
  6. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
  7. Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne
  8. Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
  9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
  10. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
  11. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
  12. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
  13. Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
  14. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
  15. The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
  16. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
  17. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
  18. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
  19. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernières
  20. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
  21. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
  22. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J. K. Rowling
  23. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling
  24. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling
  25. The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
  26. Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
  27. Middlemarch by George Eliot
  28. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
  29. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
  30. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
  31. The Story of Tracy Beaker by Jacqueline Wilson
  32. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
  33. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
  34. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
  35. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
  36. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
  37. A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute
  38. Persuasion by Jane Austen
  39. Dune by Frank Herbert
  40. Emma by Jane Austen
  41. Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
  42. Watership Down by Richard Adams
  43. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
  44. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
  45. Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
  46. Animal Farm by George Orwell
  47. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
  48. Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
  49. Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian
  50. The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher
  51. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
  52. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
  53. The Stand by Stephen King
  54. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
  55. A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
  56. The BFG by Roald Dahl
  57. Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome
  58. Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
  59. Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
  60. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
  61. Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman
  62. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
  63. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
  64. The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough
  65. Mort by Terry Pratchett
  66. The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton
  67. The Magus by John Fowles
  68. Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
  69. Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett
  70. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
  71. Perfume by Patrick SĂĽskind
  72. The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell
  73. Night Watch by Terry Pratchett
  74. Matilda by Roald Dahl
  75. Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding
  76. The Secret History by Donna Tartt
  77. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
  78. Ulysses by James Joyce
  79. Bleak House by Charles Dickens
  80. Double Act by Jacqueline Wilson
  81. The Twits by Roald Dahl
  82. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
  83. Holes by Louis Sachar
  84. Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake
  85. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
  86. Vicky Angel by Jacqueline Wilson
  87. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
  88. Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
  89. Magician by Raymond E. Feist
  90. On the Road by Jack Kerouac
  91. The Godfather by Mario Puzo
  92. The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel
  93. The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett
  94. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
  95. Katherine by Anya Seton
  96. Kane and Abel by Jeffrey Archer
  97. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez
  98. Girls in Love by Jacqueline Wilson
  99. The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot
  100. Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie

I’ve read 26 of these books! I love the diversity of genres on this list- there are some kids books, more modern literary fiction, and then some great classics. It’s a really interesting reflection of society, because these are arguably the books that have had the greatest influence on the modern culture of the United Kingdom.

How many books have you read from this list? Are there any that you think should be added? Which ones should I add to my TBR list? Let me know in the comments section below!

Yours,

HOLLY

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13 responses to “The Big Read by BBC: How Many Have You Read?”

  1. I have only read 12, oh well, lots are classics and It’s not a genre I often read. I am confused as to why only some of the Harry Potter books in it, but the Lord of the Rings is classed as one.

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  2. curiousdaisies Avatar
    curiousdaisies

    I’ve also read 26. Mind if I post this on my blog tomorrow? We share some of these, but I also have some different ones. Happy reading!

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    1. I don’t mind at all! I look forward to seeing which ones you’ve read! 🙂

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  3. I looked at a list like this once too, not sure if it was the same one… But on this list I’ve read
    His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
    The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
    Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling
    To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
    Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne
    Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J. K. Rowling
    Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling
    Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling
    Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
    The Story of Tracy Beaker by Jacqueline Wilson
    Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
    Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
    Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian
    The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
    Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
    The BFG by Roald Dahl
    Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
    Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman
    Matilda by Roald Dahl
    Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding
    Double Act by Jacqueline Wilson
    The Twits by Roald Dahl
    Holes by Louis Sachar
    The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
    Vicky Angel by Jacqueline Wilson
    Girls in Love by Jacqueline Wilson
    The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot

    I’ve part-read Pride and Prejudice and Little Women, and I plan to read many more from this list as I complete the Classics Challenge. Not bad going I’d say. There’s so many great books I want to read, and these lists are a great place to start! R x

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  4. I’ve only read 8 haha. A lot of them are classics and I’m just not into that /:

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  5. If I counted correctly I’ve read 27… And quite a few of them are YA titles. I do like reading classics, but some of them just aren’t for me.

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  6. That’s a lot of books and you’re doing great Holly! 🙂 I’ve also nominated you for the Sisterhood of World Bloggers Award 🙂

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    1. Thanks so much for the nomination! 🙂

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  7. I’ve read 50 of these books and by sheer chance I am currently reading The Thorn Birds. I’m surprised that it is on here. It doesn’t seem that well-written.

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  8. […] this list previously and I thought it was cool then completely forgot about it. Then Holly from Nut Free Nerd posted it a couple of days ago and inspired me to put it on my blog as well. So, here are the […]

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  9. […] Free Nerd had this on her blog, so I thought I’d see how many I have […]

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  10. […] The Big Read by BBC: How Many Have You Read? […]

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