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BBC's The Big Read - Top 100

Well the top 21's out now, they really should've just put the Harry P's under one entry - like LOTR and His Dark Materials. Three of the four Potters on the 100 list suspiciously ended up 24 23 and 22 :)
So the top 21 in alphabetical order are...
1984 - George Orwell
Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
Captain Corelli's Mndolin - Louis de Bernieres
Catch 22 - Joseph Hellier
The Catcher in the Rye - J.D Salinger
Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
Gone with the Wind - Margaret Mitchell
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - J.K Rowling
His Dark Materials - Phillip Pullman
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
The Lion, the witch and the Wardrobe - C.S Lewis
Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
Lord of the Rings - J.R.R Tolkien
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austin
Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
Winnie the Pohh - A.A Milne
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

Remember it is a "favourite" list not a "best" list.
It surprized me how many American books and how few mainland Europe books got in the list. Also for all you Amercans out there. Are these the US books you'd have as your favourite reads?
 
Surely the top 21 books should now be listed here? I think they include:

The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
Catch 22, Joseph Heller
The Catcher In The Rye, JD Salinger
Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire, JK Rowling
His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, Douglas Adams
Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, CS Lewis
The Lord Of The Rings, JRR Tolkien
Nineteen-Eighty-Four, George Orwell
Pride And Prejudice, Jane Austen
Rebecca, Daphne Du Maurier
The Wind In The Willows, Kenneth Grahame
Winnie-the-Pooh, AA Milne
Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
 
The 'official' top 21 is as follows:

Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
Catch 22, Joseph Heller
The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë

Mxx
 
Blurbb & Murphyz, dudes if you'd've checked my list you could've saved yourself the bother. Still I've figured out why it was a top 21, clearly the BBC wanted a 7 week run, 3 per show. is this what our licence fee pays for :) ?
 
I think I get the booby prize - I only hit 11. However, I own about 40 more of them, so I really should get busy!!! I am not really sure what I am saving them for!
 
I have 35- so far. (satisfactory, isn't is?) But this list doesn't seem much suitable. I think that the sample wasn't representative. What an idea to put "Bridget Jones" and "Harry Potter"!
 
Some of the books definitely wouldn't make my list but I have read 34, probably because I was forced to read Dickens at school. Didn't put me off reading thankfully!
 
I've read 34 on the list (HP and Terry Pratchett counted for quite a few). Of the American titles, "To Kill A Mockingbird" would definitely be on mine, not sure about the others.
 
I know it's a bit late now, but what did people think of books 101-200? (these are ranked and only were published on the bigread website due to popular demand)

101. Three Men In A Boat, Jerome K. Jerome
102. Small Gods, Terry Pratchett
103. The Beach, Alex Garland
104. Dracula, Bram Stoker
105. Point Blanc, Anthony Horowitz
106. The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens
107. Stormbreaker, Anthony Horowitz
108. The Wasp Factory, Iain Banks
109. The Day Of The Jackal, Frederick Forsyth
110. The Illustrated Mum, Jacqueline Wilson
111. Jude The Obscure, Thomas Hardy
112. The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾, Sue Townsend
113. The Cruel Sea, Nicholas Monsarrat
114. Les Misérables, Victor Hugo
115. The Mayor Of Casterbridge, Thomas Hardy
116. The Dare Game, Jacqueline Wilson
117. Bad Girls, Jacqueline Wilson
118. The Picture Of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
119. Shogun, James Clavell
120. The Day Of The Triffids, John Wyndham
121. Lola Rose, Jacqueline Wilson
122. Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray
123. The Forsyte Saga, John Galsworthy
124. House Of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski
125. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
126. Reaper Man, Terry Pratchett
127. Angus, Thongs And Full-Frontal Snogging, Louise Rennison
128. The Hound Of The Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle
129. Possession, A. S. Byatt
130. The Master And Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov
131. The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood
132. Danny The Champion Of The World, Roald Dahl
133. East Of Eden, John Steinbeck
134. George's Marvellous Medicine, Roald Dahl
135. Wyrd Sisters, Terry Pratchett
136. The Color Purple, Alice Walker
137. Hogfather, Terry Pratchett
138. The Thirty-Nine Steps, John Buchan
139. Girls In Tears, Jacqueline Wilson
140. Sleepovers, Jacqueline Wilson
141. All Quiet On The Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque
142. Behind The Scenes At The Museum, Kate Atkinson
143. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby
144. It, Stephen King
145. James And The Giant Peach, Roald Dahl
146. The Green Mile, Stephen King
147. Papillon, Henri Charriere
148. Men At Arms, Terry Pratchett
149. Master And Commander, Patrick O'Brian
150. Skeleton Key, Anthony Horowitz
151. Soul Music, Terry Pratchett
152. Thief Of Time, Terry Pratchett
153. The Fifth Elephant, Terry Pratchett
154. Atonement, Ian McEwan
155. Secrets, Jacqueline Wilson
156. The Silver Sword, Ian Serraillier
157. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey
158. Heart Of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
159. Kim, Rudyard Kipling
160. Cross Stitch, Diana Gabaldon
161. Moby Dick, Herman Melville
162. River God, Wilbur Smith
163. Sunset Song, Lewis Grassic Gibbon
164. The Shipping News, Annie Proulx
165. The World According To Garp, John Irving
166. Lorna Doone, R. D. Blackmore
167. Girls Out Late, Jacqueline Wilson
168. The Far Pavilions, M. M. Kaye
169. The Witches, Roald Dahl
170. Charlotte's Web, E. B. White
171. Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
172. They Used To Play On Grass, Terry Venables and Gordon Williams
173. The Old Man And The Sea, Ernest Hemingway
174. The Name Of The Rose, Umberto Eco
175. Sophie's World, Jostein Gaarder
176. Dustbin Baby, Jacqueline Wilson
177. Fantastic Mr Fox, Roald Dahl
178. Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
179. Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, Richard Bach
180. The Little Prince, Antoine De Saint-Exupery
181. The Suitcase Kid, Jacqueline Wilson
182. Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens
183. The Power Of One, Bryce Courtenay
184. Silas Marner, George Eliot
185. American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis
186. The Diary Of A Nobody, George and Weedon Grossmith
187. Trainspotting, Irvine Welsh
188. Goosebumps, R. L. Stine
189. Heidi, Johanna Spyri
190. Sons And Lovers, D. H. Lawrence
191. The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera
192. Man And Boy, Tony Parsons
193. The Truth, Terry Pratchett
194. The War Of The Worlds, H. G. Wells
195. The Horse Whisperer, Nicholas Evans
196. A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry
197. Witches Abroad, Terry Pratchett
198. The Once And Future King, T. H. White
199. The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle
200. Flowers In The Attic, Virginia Andrews
 
There are books in the 100>200 section that I would have wanted to appear in the actual Top 100...but then this is where we all get into the debate of what we like and don't like and what should have been higher up the list.

So far I have read 37 of the top 100 (the next few months of the group discussion books will bump this up a bit), and only 18 of the 100>200 placings. I am, therefore, pleased that my quest is to read the Top 100, and not the Top 200. Another reason why that pleases me is that I spent ages working on a php page to remember which of the Top 100 I, and other people had read, and really don't want to spend the time adding another hundred books :D

If we put any debate about the list aside, I do think it is a very good thing and I am moderately pleased by the books on it, even if not the placings. There are books on the list that I had never heard of previously and, since hearing about the books, and listening to people talk about them with feeling (Germaine Greer being one of the most passionate speakers) it has made me want to go out and read them. Additionally, I don't think there is a book on the list that I have read so far and found to be a bad book, all have been enjoyable (please note I have yet to read Cain and Abel :D)

Mxx
 
lets see

i think i've read 31 of these, i've bought quite a few of the ones i've not read and am completely disinterested in a lot of them. i think harry potter should count as one choice, especially as dark materials and lord of the rings does, mind you i suppose those two have one main story line.

seems to be a lot of childrens titles and classics.

ksky
 
I've read 32 of them, mainly the classics and the children's books. Glad to see Jean Auel in the top 100 - think her books are extremely well written (even if I didn't like her last one as much as the others :rolleyes: )
 
I have read 31 of them, which I am quite happy with. Given the fact, that they are almost all of them English or American - and I read a lot of Danish / Scandinavian litterature as well.

Some of those the list, I have read in English, and some in translations.

Hobitten :)
 
I've read 48 of the fisrt hundred and 28 of the second, though most are made up of children's books and Terry Pratchett also!

There are a few on there I've always meant to read. I might go buy some once i've finished decorating!

Lynne
 
I've read 15 of them,heard of quite a few but haven't got around to reading them yet, but I'm only 17 so I've got plenty of time to read the rest. :)
 
I've read 44 of the first hundred, which surprised me.

And 27 of the second hundred, which I hadn't seen before today. IMO, some of them should have featured in the top 100.
 
OK I read all the posts... and I must say I am at the bottom.. I've only read....9...Cough... I read slow... and ugh alot.. I'm seriuos!
 
WOW! I've read 30 I'm truly stunned - I've never actually looked at that list before now, surprised whats on it. Goodnight Mister Tom!!! Brings a tear to my eye thinking about it, oh that poor boy :( Heh, now what was the one by the same author about a young girl who'd been in America... Ooo and Little Women - I don't care if you think I'm sad, I LIKE THAT BOOK!
 
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