In the USA, we expediency-loving Americans like "top ten" lists. In England, they take a somewhat longer view.
In 2003 the BBC surveyed their audiences to compile a list of the top 200 "best-loved" novels in that nation. The BBC refers to this as "The Big Read."
Interestingly, the BBC lists The Big Read books on their website as the top 200, top 100, and top 21. Why 21, I wonder? In any case, 200 is too many to fool with for this expedient American and 21 too few.
There is a meme circulating on Facebook currently that supposedly lists the BBC "top 100" and also posits that the "average person" has read only six of the books on the list. However, the only BBC list appears to be the 2003 one. The list circulating on Facebook differs from this one. In any case, it's an interesting exercise.
How many of the books in the BBC's Top 100 Best-Loved Novels (2003 list) have you read? Take the Poll, at left, to record your results.
To whet your appetite for the larger list, here are the top 21. Go to the BBC site for Top 100 and Top 200 novels.
1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
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
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
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
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
Remember, the question is not whether this is a good or reasonable "top" list - only how many you have read.
