In April 2003 the BBC began to search for the nation’s best loved novel, and thus the public was asked to nominate their favorite book. The list below is the result of that search and I thought I would do my best to read through as many of these book this year as I possibly can. It will link each to the review of said book as I read them. Feel free to follow along.
This is one of those lists that I am not fooling myself into thinking I can read all of these along with everything else in one year. I plan to work on this list as much as I can and my plan is to have it finished within five years. As I said I will link each review that I do, however they may not all be listed here since I mostly do romance and mystery books here. Some may end up just on Goodreads. I honestly haven’t decided just yet.
The BBC Big Read Top 100
- The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
- Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
- His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
- The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
- To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
- Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
- Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
- The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
- Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
- Catch-22, Joseph Heller
- Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
- Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
- Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
- The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
- The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
- Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
- Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
- Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
- War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
- Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
- 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
- Tess Of The D’Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
- Middlemarch, George Eliot
- A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
- The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
- Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
- The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
- One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
- The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
- David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
- Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
- Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
- A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
- Persuasion, Jane Austen
- Dune, Frank Herbert
- Emma, Jane Austen
- Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
- Watership Down, Richard Adams
- The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
- The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
- Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
- Animal Farm, George Orwell
- A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
- Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
- Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
- The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
- The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
- Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
- The Stand, Stephen King
- Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
- A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
- The BFG, Roald Dahl
- Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
- Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
- Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
- Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
- Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
- Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
- A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
- The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
- Mort, Terry Pratchett
- The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
- The Magus, John Fowles
- Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
- Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
- Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
- Perfume, Patrick Süskind
- The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
- Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
- Matilda, Roald Dahl
- Bridget Jones’s Diary, Helen Fielding
- The Secret History, Donna Tartt
- The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
- Ulysses, James Joyce
- Bleak House, Charles Dickens
- Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
- The Twits, Roald Dahl
- I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
- Holes, Louis Sachar
- Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
- The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
- Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
- Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
- Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
- Magician, Raymond E Feist
- On The Road, Jack Kerouac
- The Godfather, Mario Puzo
- The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
- The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
- The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
- Katherine, Anya Seton
- Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
- Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
- Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
- The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
- Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie
That’s an impressive list! Being the age that I am, 61, I’ve read a lot of these. I won’t name them all but I will tell you my all time favorite is To Kill a Mockingbird. I started reading the first in the series of the Harry Potter books to my 10 year old son at night , some time ago he’s 32 now. JK Rowling pulls you
in the series with her vivid characters & twists & turns in the plot. I had to purchase each book as soon as they came out!
I have actually read any of the books listed above as well. I thought it was time to go back and reread the ones that I have read and to read the ones that I haven’t. It’s going to be so much fun.
That’s an impressive list. I am proud to say that I’ve read 66 of these books over the past 60 years or so. A couple of the Russian authors I have tried but not finished and also Ulysses.
I struggle with the Russian authors as well.
There are a lot of classics on this list. I’m surprised that LOTR is number one considering it’s genre, but maybe the films helped push its popularity.
I was surprised as well but like you I figure the movies made it more popular. I read the books back in high school but I remember struggling with them a bit so we will have to see how it goes this time.
I have read some of these books but there are many that I have not. I have bookmarked this blog post so that I can access this list because reading some of these classic titles sounds like an awesome goal for the new year. Again, thanks for posting this list and Happy New Year to you and your family
You are so welcome! Please be sure to let me know which books you read. Happy New Year to you and your family.
That is quite a list of books to get through! I have read many of them myself, but there are a few titles on there that you have reminded me about. Love the new site, by the way! Great job.
Thank you so much. I have been working quietly for months on this new site. It’s not really ready for showcasing but I didn’t have a choice so there will still be a few things popping up.
That is quite a list!! I’ve read a good number of them, but there are some titles that made me want to dive in 🙂 Haven’t read The Godfather (and don’t really want to) but I’ve seen the movies – does that count? LOL
I was thinking the same thing! I love the movies but I’m not sure about the books.
sounds good
Looks like a plan several on your list are on my list as well. Always tons of books on my list but that leaves us always looking forward to more.
lots of books to read
Lots of great books on the list. Surprised LOTR is number 1. Read alot of these books growing up. I remember in 10th grade we had to read to kill a mocking bird and I loved it!
Very Impressive list! Of those listed I have read 10 and the others – I ‘ve heard of some and others I haven’t! Please us know as you read them what you think and I can’t wait to find out how many you get through! Thanks for sharing the list with as I find it very interesting!
I also need to read the Harry Potter series!
What a list! A lot of them I expected to be there..but I have read a great many books that deserve to be on that list that I am sure will never be. I would love to see some new book titles on lists like these! Thank you for sharing!
That’s a pretty great list!
I was surprised how many of the books I’ve read. Granted it’s not a lot, but I thought it’d be one or two.
Gonna have to look a bunch of thEse up! Some ive never even heard of, but the others are great authors! Thanks for sharing!
Such great books here! I’ve read about half of them, and Clan of the Cave Bear (and the rest of the Earth’s Children series) and the Godfather are my favorites. I’m looking so forward to working my way through this awesome list!
This list is amazing. It includes many of my favorite books.
This certainly helps me discover more books to read if i ever need one. I’ve read very few books in this list, some of them i have never even heard of. Will probably come later to find myself a good read.