THE BBC'S BIG READ
Starting in April 2003, BBC began a search for Britain’s best-loved novel. Viewers voted for their favorite book and the top 100 books were compiled in a list called the BBC's Big Read. The books ranked 101 - 200 are sometimes referred to as the Bigger Read.
The Top 100 list is below. This is definitely a people’s choice list. There are some excellent books here, but the list reflects the popular tastes of the early 2000s as much as literary merit.
So far, I've read 66 of the 100. I doubt I will finish all these because I don't see myself reading Harry Potter (with apologies to fans) and I am not a fan of sci-fi or fantasy. Now that I have grandkids, I may read some of the kids' books I didn't originally think I would. So never say never.
See any of your own favorites on here? What about personal clunkers, books you didn't like?
Here's the list, with notes about whether I've read it, it's on my TBR shelf, or it is available as an audiobook from my library. Not many of these are on my TBR shelves because if I haven't read it it is most likely not my cup of tea. But I might give it a go as an audiobook.
1. The Lord of the Rings, J. R. R. Tolkien FINISHED
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen FINISHED
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman ON OVERDRIVE
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams (reviewed here) FINISHED
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J. K. Rowling ON OVERDRIVE
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee FINISHED
7. Winnie the Pooh, A. A. Milne FINISHED
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell FINISHED
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, C. S. Lewis FINISHED
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë FINISHED
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller FINISHED
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë FINISHED
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks FINISHED
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier (reviewed here) FINISHED
15. The Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger FINISHED
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame (reviewed here) FINISHED
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens (reviewed here) FINISHED
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott FINISHED
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres FINISHED
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy TBR SHELF
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell FINISHED
22. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, J. K. Rowling ON OVERDRIVE
23. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, J. K. Rowling ON OVERDRIVE
24. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, J. K. Rowling ON OVERDRIVE
1. The Lord of the Rings, J. R. R. Tolkien FINISHED
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen FINISHED
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman ON OVERDRIVE
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams (reviewed here) FINISHED
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J. K. Rowling ON OVERDRIVE
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee FINISHED
7. Winnie the Pooh, A. A. Milne FINISHED
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell FINISHED
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, C. S. Lewis FINISHED
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë FINISHED
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller FINISHED
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë FINISHED
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks FINISHED
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier (reviewed here) FINISHED
15. The Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger FINISHED
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame (reviewed here) FINISHED
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens (reviewed here) FINISHED
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott FINISHED
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres FINISHED
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy TBR SHELF
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell FINISHED
22. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, J. K. Rowling ON OVERDRIVE
23. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, J. K. Rowling ON OVERDRIVE
24. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, J. K. Rowling ON OVERDRIVE
25. The Hobbit, J. R. R. Tolkien FINISHED
26. Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy FINISHED
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot FINISHED
28. A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving FINISHED
29. The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck FINISHED
30. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll FINISHED
31. The Story of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez FINISHED
33. The Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follett FINISHED
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens FINISHED
35. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl FINISHED
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson FINISHED
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute FINISHED
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen FINISHED
39. Dune, Frank Herbert ON OVERDRIVE
40. Emma, Jane Austen FINISHED
41. Anne of Green Gables, L. M. Montgomery FINISHED
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams ON OVERDRIVE
43. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald FINISHED
44. The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas FINISHED
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh FINISHED
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell FINISHED
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens FINISHED
48. Far From the Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy FINISHED
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher (reviewed here) FINISHED
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett FINISHED
52. Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck FINISHED
53. The Stand, Stephen King ON OVERDRIVE
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy TBR SHELF
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth ON OVERDRIVE
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl ON OVERDRIVE
57. Swallows and Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell FINISHED
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer ON OVERDRIVE
60. Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky FINISHED
61. Noughts and Crosses, Malorie Blackman ON OVERDRIVE
62. Memoirs of a Geisha, Arthur Golden FINISHED
63. A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens FINISHED
64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough FINISHED
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles FINISHED
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman ON OVERDRIVE
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord of the Flies, William Golding FINISHED
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind ON OVERDRIVE
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell ON OVERDRIVE
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl ON OVERDRIVE
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding FINISHED
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt FINISHED
77. The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins FINISHED
78. Ulysses, James Joyce FINISHED
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens FINISHED
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl ON OVERDRIVE
82. I Capture the Castle, Dodie Smith FINISHED
83. Holes, Louis Sachar ON OVERDRIVE
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake (reviewed here) FINISHED
85. The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy FINISHED
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley FINISHED
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons (reviewed here) FINISHED
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist ON OVERDRIVE
90. On the Road, Jack Kerouac FINISHED
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo FINISHED
92. The Clan of the Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho FINISHED
95. Katherine, Anya Seton FINISHED
96. Kane and Abel, Jeffrey Archer FINISHED
97. Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez FINISHED
98. Girls in Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot ON OVERDRIVE
100. Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie (reviewed here) FINISHED
NOTES
Updated as of December 28, 2022.
