BBC's Big Read

Gormenghast is great! But not for those looking for a coherent plot or stereotypical characters or a variety of other things. ;)

I love the list, it truly represents all factions of the reading public and not some mundane old scholarly schuzmuck by thrice-damned 'critics'.


Agree totally with Baddad's first para!

Oh and I was reading the BBC page about this a month or two ago and IIRC, they mentioned that about 800,000 plus people replied to their querry. that's quite a large sample space.

Also nice to see Birdsong and Winnie the Pooh in the top 21.

Lord of the Ring almost invariably wins these type of poles in many Europeon countries. [Happen in Germany and possibly Austria?]

So, what would be your personal favorites of this list?

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Originally Posted by baddad

I disagree with the use of the world, 'clash' in the post above. I find it fascinating and gratifying and rational that a cross section of a society is reading a cross section of available literrature.

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When I used the word 'clash', I was trying to imply that there was an equal number of people who enjoy classics and modern popular books...which is reflected in the list... Harry Potter books are surrounded by Dickens, Tolstoy and Hardy books... I don't mean that one is better/worse than the other or more/less worthy.

Yeah......sorry Sher, I took the word for what it was though........my bad...

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Originally Posted by Scheherazade

I was trying to imply that there was an equal number of people who enjoy classics and modern popular books...which is reflected in the list... Harry Potter books are surrounded by Dickens, Tolstoy and Hardy books... I don't mean that one is better/worse than the other or more/less worthy.

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The combination of classics and modern-popular books does not quite surprise me either; I think here seems the only place that the two can thrive in harmony. Being more of a fan of the classics, I felt slightly more relieved, thinking that despite the many new-comings of literature, no one has yet forgotten what brought contemporary writers to this point.

I figure you have to read a little bit of everything to really find good things in the reading field. :nod:

From a quick scan-through, I counted I've read 14 selections on the first 100, and merely 3 from the two hundred that follow. But I've always known my reading doesn't usually match up with public opinion. And no Virginia Woolf. *sigh*

FAVORITES: Catcher in the Rye, Great Gatsby, and Unbearable Lightness of Being

LEAST FAVORITE: The Grapes of Wrath is the only one of the ones I've read that I'd say I didn't enjoy.

for real zooey? you honestly didn't like the grapes of wrath? wow. well i guess everyones different, why didnt you like it though, out of interest?

ive read about 45 of the books out of the 200 but im only 20 years old so hopefully by the time im as old and grey as santiago in hemingway's "old man and the sea" ill have read all 200 but then again theyll probably have another list out and ill have to read those too....

its a cheesy choice but im going to have to say that fantastic mr fox is my number one simply because of its special place in my heart, growing up and so forth. and its just a wonderful tale.

second place to the grapes of wrath for sheer beauty and brilliance, not just in the skill of writing but in the engrossing tale and humanity that shines through on every page.

third place goes to the picture of dorian gray by oscar wilde because this was just a great funny dark and victorian gothic book with deeper meanings of wilde's tortured sexuality and his struggle with it.

fourth place to the old man and the sea by ernest hemingway. short but beautiful and really takes you there, makes you see the entire world in just the fight between marlin and man. poetry in prose eh?

and a special mention to the truth by terry pratchett, simply for being entertaining and making his 25th discworld story a real blinder, showing he can still produce the goods after over 2 decades. bravo! :banana:

This summer I will read Terry Pratchett and Jacqueline Wilson books which are in the top 200... There are so many of them and I haven't read anything by either author. Even though they are 'teen' books, I just want to tick them off.

So far I ahve read 46 of the top 100 . I hope that Ill manage to read gone with the wind. War and peace and Anna Karina this summer. Then agin I absalotly hated LTR and if I hate these too I dont think Ill be finishing them its a waste of good reading time!

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Originally Posted by Nightshade

I hope that Ill manage to read gone with the wind. War and peace and Anna Karina this summer.

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Nice choices! I read Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina very recently, and absolutely loved it. War and Peace I have yet to begin, but, with time, I will brush off that dust collecting on it. :D

32 of the top hundred... I lost track halfway through the second hundred. I've got some work to do! Now, if I could just get my hands on a library that has titles other than "Third Season Excavations at Tell Beydar" and "600 ways to use a trowel," and "Analyzing dirt samples with only a match and the spit in your mouth."

Ugh. It's time for this year to be over!

I've read about 40% of these 200 books, but I own around 55% of them, I should start reading them... I'm not planning on reading the princess diaries and Bridget Jones and a few others... I should get on with the reading...

As I work my way through the top 200, I realise that most of the books in the list are either children's books or pre-18 books (more than 50 %). Either nominated by students among whom the programme was a hit or people nominated their childhood favorites due to nostalgic reasons.

After reading J. Wilson books one after another, I feel a little discouraged and am wondering whether I should give up my project or skip certain books in the list. Then again, this is exactly why I have decided to do this; to familiarize myself with what English people read... Having said that, I have read some very nice books as well and I feel like I am filling up a gap in my literary knowledge as well because I did not grow reading Roald Dahl or Pratchett.

Oh decisions, decisions.

Why "The Moonstone" and "The Mill on the Floss" is missing....
Small Gods should have been in first hundred....
I think that Winnie the Poo is no match to some books that are missing. Many of Stephen King are missing on first 100. I liked OotP better than GOF...It also should have been on first 100 list....

A German television channel has done a simular poll some months ago. I bet they copied it from the BBC :D.

Here are the top 10 of the German results:

1. The Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien)
2. The Bible
3. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
4. Parfume (Patrick Süskind)
5. The little Prince (A.St-Exupéry)
6. Buddenbrooks (Thomas Mann)
7. The Physician (Noah Gordon)
8. The Alchimist (Paulo Coelho)
9. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (J.K.Rowling)
10. Die Päpstin (Donna Cross)

(see http://www.zdf.de/ZDFde/inhalt/7/0,1872,2181735,00.html for complete listing)

Very interesting, how much it differs from the British ranking! The Bible being the second-favourite books of the voters might be explained by the fact that the particular TV-channel (ZDF) that organized the poll is mainly watched by the elderly...

Anyway, the British top-ten seems to agree a lot more with me that the one of my fellow-citizens. :)