BBC's Big Read
Kinda six years old now but I'm curious to see how this forum matches up to The BBC's Big Read
Put an X near the ones you've read, suggest additions and subtractions to the list below. 1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien X 2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen 3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman X 4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams 5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling X 6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee 7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne X 8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell X 9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis 10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë 11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller X 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 X 17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens 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 X 23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling X 24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling X 25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien X 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 31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson X 32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel GarcÃ*a Márquez 33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett 34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens 35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl X 36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson X 37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute 38. Persuasion, Jane Austen 39. Dune, Frank Herbert X 40. Emma, Jane Austen 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 X 47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens X 48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy 49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian 50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher 51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett X 52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck 53. The Stand, Stephen King X 54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy 55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth 56. The BFG, Roald Dahl X 57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome 58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell X 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 X 64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough 65. Mort, Terry Pratchett X 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 X 70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding 71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind 72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell 73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett X 74. Matilda, Roald Dahl X 75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding 76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt 77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins 78. Ulysses, James Joyce X 79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens 80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson 81. The Twits, Roald Dahl X 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 X 94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho 95. Katherine, Anya Seton 96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer 97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel GarcÃ*a Márquez 98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson 99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot 100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie That's 29/100 for me. Too much Pratchett, Dickens, Dahl and Wilson there for my liking, I'd like Don Quixote (Cervantes) to replace Colour of Magic as the obligatory fantasy deconstruction and almost certainly throw The Sandman (Neil Gaiman) and Watchmen (Alan Moore) in there. I'd also like to see Thus Spoke Zarathustra (Friedrich Nietzsche), Beloved (Toni Morrison) and Hero of our Time Mikhail Lermontov make an appearance. Ack! My Firefox dictionary doesn't have Lermontov in it, how horribly uncultured. Oh, and tell Jeffery Archer to get the fuck out. |
I have 27/100.
There are some fairly mediocre books on that list. |
This is a popularity one, the (apparent) list of books BBC thinks you should read going round of Facebook has some atrocious ones in. Like The Bible, and The Da Vinci Code.
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Fuck.
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4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne 9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis 30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll 35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl 39. Dune, Frank Herbert 47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens 70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding 93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett I have excluded book read to me as a child, and those that were read as a class. They only accounted for a couple, but I still didn’t like... "marking them read". So that leaves me with 9/100. I think I clearly win. |
1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
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 7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne 8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell 9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis 11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller 15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger 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 30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll 35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl 39. Dune, Frank Herbert 51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett 56. The BFG, Roald Dahl 59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer 65. Mort, Terry Pratchett 66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton 68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman 69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett 73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett 74. Matilda, Roald Dahl 81. The Twits, Roald Dahl 93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett I'm surprised to find that I've read 27/100. I suppose it's significant that many of these are traditional children's books. |
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling X
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee 7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne X 16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame X 22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling X 23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling X 24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling X 25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien X 43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald 46. Animal Farm, George Orwell X 47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens X 70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding Yeah, I'm not that well read. Plus, I've seen many more of those as movies, I think. |
The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien Of Mice And Men The Stand, Stephen King The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton The Twits, Roald Dahl The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett so thats 12/100. only book i read at school was Of Mice And Men, which i actually thought was alright. |
Honestly I'm surprised about this in a couple of ways. Firstly Ulysses, while being the most important thing to happen to literature since Don Quixote, isn't exactly well recieved. Voting for Jacqueline Wilson and James Joyce in one poll seems a little juxtaposed to me. Secondly, Stephen King, regardless what I think of him, is the best selling modern author ever, JK Rowling doesn't even come close. So why has he only got one book on the list? I mean, I can't think of a better choice but why only one?
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5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë 15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger 17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens 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 32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel GarcÃ*a Márquez 43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald 87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley Appart from the HP books, every one of these was for school, mostly for university. Brave New World was epic though, loved it. And the Orwell-books are so on the 'to-do' list. I could go on and make a list of the rest of the books I've read in the past two years at uni, but would be rather extensive. Unless there is demand for it, I shall pass. |
I've only read eight of them....
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I don't read a lot, here's my list;
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams (yeah) 5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling (yup) 8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell (reading it at the moment) 9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis (yeah) 22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling (Yup) 23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling (Yup) 24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling (Yup, I have all 7 books) 25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien (listened to the audiobooks) 35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl (book) 46. Animal Farm, George Orwell (YES! and seen the film versions) 56. The BFG, Roald Dahl (when I was a kid) 69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett (YES!) 73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett (YES!) I've also watched about 50% of the film versions of the books as well. |
1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams 5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling 7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne 8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell 9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis 16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame 17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens 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 30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll 31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson 35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl 36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson 42. Watership Down, Richard Adams 46. Animal Farm, George Orwell 47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens 51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett 52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck 56. The BFG, Roald Dahl 59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer 60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky 61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman 65. Mort, Terry Pratchett 68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman 69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett 70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding 73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett 74. Matilda, Roald Dahl 80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson 81. The Twits, Roald Dahl 83. Holes, Louis Sachar 93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett 35/100, I think. I'm glad enough of Mr. Pratchett got in. Needs more Douglas Adams, though. EDIT: And H.P. Lovecraft. And Jules Verne, perhaps. |
Shaman beat me. =(
I used to be such a reader. But then I could repeat the sentence with so many different endings. |
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl 59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer 65. Mort, Terry Pratchett 69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett That is all :/ |
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling 7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne 8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell 16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame 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 35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl 47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens 51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett 56. The BFG, Roald Dahl 59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer 65. Mort, Terry Pratchett 70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding 74. Matilda, Roald Dahl 81. The Twits, Roald Dahl 93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett 19/100 Damn. I read a lot, but not much from that list. I would like to read all of Charles Dickens, and finish my Pratchett collection. I would add: The Time Machine, H. G. Wells War of the Worlds, H. G. Wells Curse of the Gloamglozer (and The Edge Chronicles generally), Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell The Last Hero, Terry Pratchett |
Why is The Dark Tower not in there? At least then I would have been able to say I've read something.
I have not read any of the books in that list. |
I would say it's because The Dark Tower is crap, but that wouldn't be fair. A lot of those books are crap.
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It is a bit odd than in a popularity contest only one book, the cult book, by the world's bestselling author made it.
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