Wednesday, March 4, 2009

BBC Book List

This is a variant of the BBC book meme seen around, including at Sciencewomen. I've taken the book list below directly from the BBC site, which lists the top 100 favorite books by their readers, from a poll they initiated in April, 2003 - so it's different from the lists seen on most sites recently. Possibly the list morphed on its way through the internet. Maybe.

Current meme rules (from Sciencewoman):
1) Look at the list and put an 'x' after those you have read. (I'll bold those I've read and italicize those of which I only read part.)
2) Add a '+' to the ones you LOVE.
3) Star (*) those you plan on reading.
[Note: I've added ones I've seen in movie only/maybe version in blue]

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien X+
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams X
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling [saw movie maybe]
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee X+
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne X
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell X
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis [movie only]
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 X-
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame X
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens X
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott X+
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy X+
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell X+
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling [movie only]
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling [movie maybe]
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling [movie maybe]
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 X+
30. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll X
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens X
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 [saw movie for sure]
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams X+
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald X-
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 X
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy X
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell X
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky X+
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
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
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding [saw both movies]
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar [saw movie only]
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy X
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley X
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac *
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo X
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel X+
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho X
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie

Have read 34.

The truth is, there are many books that lump together in my mind, or for which I've maybe seen a movie. These books were never favorites, although some of the movies were alright (and I'm not sure which movies I've seen, either). These books/movies would include Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Middlemarch, and Emma. I'm also unsure about much of the Dickens I've read - it blends together.

I really don't have any plans to read any of the books on the list, except maybe On The Road, by Kerouac, which I think about reading but usually don't get past the buying part.

I think the previous book list back in April had better books on it (or at least more books I'd read!). It was called "The 106 Books Most often Marked Unread by Library Thing Users."

4 comments:

Mathias said...

I only read the Treasure Island and Brave New World from that list. How...unread am I!!!! :-O

Silver Fox said...

Did you read them in English? I haven't read any books at all in German!

Mathias said...

The Treasure Island I read in the German translation but Brave New World I read only in the English original.

Another piece I loved to read in the English original version is MacBeth. The only book from school time I voluntarily read again because I liked it so much. It is not on the list though I think.

Silver Fox said...

There wasn't any Shakespeare on the list... kind of strange!