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BBC Book List Challenge
(Hope this hasn't been done here before). Here's the BBC Book List Challenge. I've read 44--not even half, but still not too bad. How 'bout you?
The BBC reckons most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books here. LET'S PROVE THEM WRONG 1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen 2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien 3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte 4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling 5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee 6 The Bible 7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte 8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell 9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman 10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens 11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott 12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy 13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller 14 Complete Works of Shakespeare 15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier 16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien 17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks 18 Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger 19 The Time Traveler’s Wife 20 Middlemarch - George Eliot - maybe 21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell 22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald 23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens 24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy 25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams 26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh 27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky 28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck 29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll 30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame 31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy 32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens 33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis 35 Persuasion - Jane Austen 36 The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho 37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini 38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres 39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden 40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne 41 Animal Farm - George Orwell 42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown 43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez 44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving 45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins 46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery 47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy 48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood 49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding 50 Atonement - Ian McEwan 51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel 52 Dune - Frank Herbert 53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons 54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen 55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth 56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon 57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens 58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley 59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night - Mark Haddon 60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez 61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck 62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov 63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt 64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold 65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas 66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac 67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy 68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding 69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie 70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville 71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens 72 Dracula - Bram Stoker 73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett 74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson 75 Ulysses - James Joyce 76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath 77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome 78 Germinal - Emile Zola 79 Vanity Fair - Thackeray 80 Possession - AS Byatt 81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens 82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell 83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker 84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro 85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert 86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry 87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White 88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Alborn 89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton 91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad started but never finished 92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery 93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks 94 Watership Down - Richard Adam 95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole 96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute 97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas 98 A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess 99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl 100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...-bbc-challenge |
The Harry Potter series is more than one book, and the overall page count for the series is huge. I think if you read even one of them, it should count as full credit. Besides, Harry Potter is not exactly a classic deserving of inclusion with Dickens. In fact, why is Harry Potter number 4 on this list? Is the BBC seriously trying to imply that it's the 4th most important piece of literature, and should be read by all good Englishmen?
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I've read exactly six (but started and left unfinished many more) of those, I'm a huge reader but I could only pick another couple from the list that interest me.
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are they in order of anything? not sure.
I've assiduously avoided reading much of the 19 century and early 20th century "literature" as being too snoozy. Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice--none of that. Had to read Great Expectations THREE TIMES in school. Only counted it once though. |
There are several series in there.
Not quite 50%, for me. Read: 1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen 2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien 3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte 4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling 5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee 8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell 9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman 10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens 13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller 14 Complete Works of Shakespeare (partial) 16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien 22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald 23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens 25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams 27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky 28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck 29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll 30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame 33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis 40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne 41 Animal Farm - George Orwell 42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown 46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery 48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood 49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding 52 Dune - Frank Herbert 57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens 58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley 61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck 65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas 70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville 71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens 72 Dracula - Bram Stoker 73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett 81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens 83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker 87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White 89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery 94 Watership Down - Richard Adam 97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas 98 A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess 99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl 100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo Haven't read: 6 The Bible 7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte 11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott 12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy 14 Complete Works of Shakespeare (partial) 15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier 17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks 18 Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger 19 The Time Traveler’s Wife 20 Middlemarch - George Eliot - maybe 21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell 24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy 26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh 31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy 32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens 35 Persuasion - Jane Austen 36 The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho 37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini 38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres 39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden 43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez 44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving 45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins 47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy 50 Atonement - Ian McEwan 51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel 53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons 54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen 55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth 56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon 59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night - Mark Haddon 60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez 62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov 63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt 64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold 66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac 67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy 68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding 69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie 74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson 75 Ulysses - James Joyce 76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath 77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome 78 Germinal - Emile Zola 79 Vanity Fair - Thackeray 80 Possession - AS Byatt 82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell 84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro 85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert 86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry 88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Alborn 90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton 91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad started but never finished 93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks 95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole 96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute |
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*I'm counting the ones that are series, but I've read most of. 2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien 4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling* 5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee 7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte 8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell 10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens 14 Complete Works of Shakespeare* 16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien 19 The Time Traveler’s Wife 22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald 23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens 24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy 25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams 29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll 30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame 32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens 33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis 39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden 40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne 41 Animal Farm - George Orwell 42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown 44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving 49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding 52 Dune - Frank Herbert 57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens 61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck 64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold 65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas 66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac 70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville 71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens 72 Dracula - Bram Stoker 81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens 87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White 97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas 99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl 100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo I wish I could remember them! |
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43, I think. Currently reading GWTW. There are several more I staerted and gave up on. I read many of them because in the 80s The Times or The Telegraph produced a list of the 100 books every high schooler (or some such) should have read and I took it as a challenge. many of those books are also on this list.
I have read much shakespeare, but not the complete works, so I didn't count that. i have read the Bible (Good News version) |
32 of them for me. If I was counting ones I'd started but never finished, or collections I'd read some/most of, such as the Complete Works of Shakespeare, it'd b closer to 40.
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43.
I won't read books about little kids running around in otherworlds, so those are out. I actually just finally read The Bell Jar. Nice to see The Kite Runner and The Life of Pi. Wonderful books! |
56
I'm counting the books I've read, the partial series I've read, and the movies I've seen. :p: |
63 for me. I'm working on listening to Ulysses as an audio book at the moment ...
1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen 2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien 3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte 4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling 5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee 7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte 8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell 10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens 11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott 12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy 13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller 14 Complete Works of Shakespeare 15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier 16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien 18 Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger 20 Middlemarch - George Eliot - maybe 22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald 23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens 24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy 25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams 26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh 27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky 28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck 29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll 30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame 31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy 33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis 35 Persuasion - Jane Austen 39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden 40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne 41 Animal Farm - George Orwell 45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins 46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery 47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy 49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding 51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel 52 Dune - Frank Herbert 53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons 54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen 58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley 59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night - Mark Haddon 61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck 62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov 66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac 67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy 68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding 70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville 71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens 72 Dracula - Bram Stoker 73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett 74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson 76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath 77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome 81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens 83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker 85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert 89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad 92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery 94 Watership Down - Richard Adam 96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute 97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas 98 A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess |
can we add the ones we've seen as movies?
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I might be wrong, but I remember this as The Big Read back when I lived in Leicester. It was nothing about a challenge, it was the Top 100 Must Reads as voted for by the British Public (who BTW have terrible taste in poetry, according to similar polls).
It also seems unlikely that the BBC would make a supposition that people had only read six - they're an inclusive rather than an exclusive broadcasting corporation. Sorry to be a pedant, but I felt the record should be set straight. If it was just a random book challenge I'd let it go, but as it has the BBC's name attached, it's worth picking up on. Anyway, if it is what I think it is, I might score quite highly, because I took it as a must-read list. Haven't managed the Russians yet. That's not boasting I am well read, that's explaining that I saw this list before and used it deliberately. Then again, I'm sure some newer books are on there... And I swear Enid Blyton wasn't, for example. Or Bridget Jones. I fear the list may at least have been tampered with, especially given some of the books have American spellings in their titles, at least one does not have an author and some have notes like "started not finished" attached.... My list for the record. 1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen 2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien 3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte 4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling 5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee 6 The Bible 7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte 8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell 9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman 10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens 11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott 12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy 13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller 14 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier 15 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien 16 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks 17 Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger 18 The Time Traveler’s Wife 19 Middlemarch - George Eliot 20 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell 21 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald 22 Bleak House - Charles Dickens 23 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams 24 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck 25 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll 26 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame 27 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens 28 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis 29 Persuasion - Jane Austen 30 The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho 31 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini 32 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres 33 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden 34 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne 35 Animal Farm - George Orwell 36 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown 37 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez 38 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving 39 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery 40 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy 41 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood 42 Lord of the Flies - William Golding 43 Dune - Frank Herbert 44 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen 45 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth 46 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens 47 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley 48 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night - Mark Haddon 49 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez 50 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck 51 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold 52 On The Road - Jack Kerouac 53 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy 54 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding 55 Moby Dick - Herman Melville 56 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens 57 Dracula - Bram Stoker 58 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett 59 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson 60 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath 61 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome 62 Vanity Fair - Thackeray 63 Possession - AS Byatt 64 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens 65 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell 66 The Color Purple - Alice Walker 67 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro 68 Charlotte’s Web - EB White 69 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Alborn 70 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 71 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton 72 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad 73 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery 74 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks 75 Watership Down - Richard Adam 76 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute 77 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas 78 A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess 79 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl |
I just ganked it from FB; it was among several book list challenges.
glatt: movies don't count! |
Right, it's a FB thing where it seems to be common practice to attach an unlikely sponsor's name to such things to "anger" people into commenting/joining in. Half of the ones I received were prefaced "this is purportedly from the bbc...." or some such
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the list was originally promulgated by the BBC. The challenge was not.
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I just found this by doing a quick search.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100.shtml The list is a little different, and there is no mention that most people have only read six of the books. It's simply a list of reader recommended books. |
good point. although I really don't think it matters for the purpose of the challenge. It's just a silly netz meme, which has apparently been around for a while. I got all excited -- cause I like books!
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It's cool to have such a list. It makes one stretch outside one's reading comfort zone. Lots of us would like to do that, but it's hard without suggestions
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I read the bible when I was 5. Most of the rest were required for classes in school. |
When I did this one, I think I'd read 44.
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3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee 6 The Bible 8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell 11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott 18 Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger 21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell 22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald 24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy 25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams 27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky 28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck 29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll 31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy 37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini 40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne 41 Animal Farm - George Orwell 42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown 43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez 44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving 48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood 49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding 51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel 57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens 58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley 61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck 62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov 64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold 68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding 70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville 71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens 72 Dracula - Bram Stoker 73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett 76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath 81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens 83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker 85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert 87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White 89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad 94 Watership Down - Richard Adam 98 A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess 99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl |
This is the list of favorite books; I find it odd that Winne the Poo ranked seventh.
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Winnie the Pooh indeed ranked seventh.
Well, a lot of people read it/ had it read to them as a child. It's very fondly remembered. There are quite a few children's books in the original Top 20. My scores on the doors for this, the Original list: 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. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell 21. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling 22. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling 23. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling 24. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien 25. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy 26. Middlemarch, George Eliot 27. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving 28. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck 29. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll 30. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez 31. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett 32. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens 33. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl 34. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson 35. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute 36. Persuasion, Jane Austen 37. Dune, Frank Herbert 38. Emma, Jane Austen 39. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery 40. Watership Down, Richard Adams 41. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald 42. Animal Farm, George Orwell 43. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens 44. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy 45. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian 46. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett 47. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck 48. The Stand, Stephen King 49. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth 50. The BFG, Roald Dahl 51. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome 52. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell 53. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer 54. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden 55. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens 56. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough 57. Mort, Terry Pratchett 58. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton 59. The Magus, John Fowles 60. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman 61. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett 62. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding 63. Perfume, Patrick Süskind 64. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell 65. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett 66. Matilda, Roald Dahl 67. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding 68. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins 69. Bleak House, Charles Dickens 70. The Twits, Roald Dahl 71. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith 72. Holes, Louis Sachar 73. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy 74. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley 75. Magician, Raymond E Feist 76. On The Road, Jack Kerouac 77. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett 78. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho 79. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer 80. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez 81. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie I remember outcry at the time that teens had skewed the online voting. But there's plenty of classics on there. Especially ones I hadn't read then and haven't still. I really need to sort out the Russians.... |
Are they ranked? Or just listed?
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8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens 12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy 13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller 18 Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger 22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald 25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams 29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll 30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame 32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens 40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne 41 Animal Farm - George Orwell 42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown 43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez 46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery 49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding 51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel 53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons 57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens 58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley 60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez 65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas 66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac 70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville 71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens 75 Ulysses - James Joyce Just started it last week 81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens 83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker 87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White 92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery 94 Watership Down - Richard Adam 98 A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess 99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl |
Quote:
Note how the second (technically the first) list is even more Brit-centric. People go with what they know. I'd be interested in seeing a similar American poll, New York Times or whatsuch. |
Quickly looking the list over, 2 current reading, 38 read.
currently reading 79 Vanity Fair - Thackeray 6 The Bible read 2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien 3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte 4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling 7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte 8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell 9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman 15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier 16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien 18 Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger 25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams 26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh 27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky 29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll 30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame 33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis 37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini 39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden 40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne 41 Animal Farm - George Orwell 42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown 48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood 49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding 52 Dune - Frank Herbert 58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley 59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night - Mark Haddon 71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens 72 Dracula - Bram Stoker 76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath 81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens 87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White 89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad 92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery 94 Watership Down - Richard Adam 96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute 98 A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess 99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl 100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo |
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5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee 6 The Bible 8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell 9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman 10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens 13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller 14 Complete Works of Shakespeare 18 Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger 24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy 25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams 27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky 29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll 30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame 31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy 32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens 40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne 41 Animal Farm - George Orwell 42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown 49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding 52 Dune - Frank Herbert 57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens 58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley 61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck 62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov 65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas 66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac 70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville 71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens 72 Dracula - Bram Stoker 75 Ulysses - James Joyce 76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath 81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens 87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White 89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad 94 Watership Down - Richard Adam 97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas 98 A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess 99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl |
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee 6 The Bible 8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell 10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens 13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller 16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien 28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck 29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll 30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame 31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy 32 David Copperfield - Charles Dicken 37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini 41 Animal Farm - George Orwell 52 Dune - Frank Herbert 57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens 58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley 61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck 65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas 70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville 71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens 72 Dracula - Bram Stoker 73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett 81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens 87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White 91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad 94 Watership Down - Richard Adam 97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas 98 A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess 100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo but I saw the rest in moves :) |
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