After yesterday’s post, it makes sense to add that the last few pages of The BBC Big Read book listed the books that didn’t make it into the top one hundred. There are far too many Terry Pratchett and Jacqueline Wilson books for my liking, which underlines the major flaw in the survey.
There are some good quality books that didn’t make it, and plenty of choice for the book pile. After the forty-three that I had read from the top one hundred, it’s even more dismaying to find that I have only read thirty-six of this offering, although I did start Moby Dick, and The Handmaid’s Tale but didn’t finish them. I trust your scoring will put me to shame.
- Three Men In A Boat, Jerome K. Jerome
- Small Gods, Terry Pratchett
- The Beach, Alex Garland
- Dracula, Bram Stoker
- Point Blanc, Anthony Horowitz
- The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens
- Stormbreaker, Anthony Horowitz
- The Wasp Factory, Iain Banks
- The Day Of The Jackal, Frederick Forsyth
- The Illustrated Mum, Jacqueline Wilson
- Jude The Obscure, Thomas Hardy
- The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾, Sue Townsend
- The Cruel Sea, Nicholas Monsarrat
- Les Misérables, Victor Hugo
- The Mayor Of Casterbridge, Thomas Hardy
- The Dare Game, Jacqueline Wilson
- Bad Girls, Jacqueline Wilson
- The Picture Of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
- Shogun, James Clavell
- The Day Of The Triffids, John Wyndham
- Lola Rose, Jacqueline Wilson
- Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray
- The Forsyte Saga, John Galsworthy
- House Of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski
- The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver
- Reaper Man, Terry Pratchett
- Angus, Thongs And Full-Frontal Snogging, Louise Rennison
- The Hound Of The Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle
- Possession, A. S. Byatt
- The Master And Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov
- The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood
- Danny The Champion Of The World, Roald Dahl
- East Of Eden, John Steinbeck
- George’s Marvellous Medicine, Roald Dahl
- Wyrd Sisters, Terry Pratchett
- The Color Purple, Alice Walker
- Hogfather, Terry Pratchett
- The Thirty-Nine Steps, John Buchan
- Girls In Tears, Jacqueline Wilson
- Sleepovers, Jacqueline Wilson
- All Quiet On The Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque
- Behind The Scenes At The Museum, Kate Atkinson
- High Fidelity, Nick Hornby
- It, Stephen King
- James And The Giant Peach, Roald Dahl
- The Green Mile, Stephen King
- Papillon, Henri Charriere
- Men At Arms, Terry Pratchett
- Master And Commander, Patrick O’Brian
- Skeleton Key, Anthony Horowitz
- Soul Music, Terry Pratchett
- Thief Of Time, Terry Pratchett
- The Fifth Elephant, Terry Pratchett
- Atonement, Ian McEwan
- Secrets, Jacqueline Wilson
- The Silver Sword, Ian Serraillier
- One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey
- Heart Of Darkness, Joseph Conrad
- Kim, Rudyard Kipling
- Cross Stitch, Diana Gabaldon
- Moby Dick, Herman Melville
- River God, Wilbur Smith
- Sunset Song, Lewis Grassic Gibbon
- The Shipping News, Annie Proulx
- The World According To Garp, John Irving
- Lorna Doone, R. D. Blackmore
- Girls Out Late, Jacqueline Wilson
- The Far Pavilions, M. M. Kaye
- The Witches, Roald Dahl
- Charlotte’s Web, E. B. White
- Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
- They Used To Play On Grass, Terry Venables and Gordon Williams
- The Old Man And The Sea, Ernest Hemingway
- The Name Of The Rose, Umberto Eco
- Sophie’s World, Jostein Gaarder
- Dustbin Baby, Jacqueline Wilson
- Fantastic Mr Fox, Roald Dahl
- Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
- Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, Richard Bach
- The Little Prince, Antoine De Saint-Exupery
- The Suitcase Kid, Jacqueline Wilson
- Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens
- The Power Of One, Bryce Courtenay
- Silas Marner, George Eliot
- American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis
- The Diary Of A Nobody, George and Weedon Grossmith
- Trainspotting, Irvine Welsh
- Goosebumps, R. L. Stine
- Heidi, Johanna Spyri
- Sons And Lovers, D. H. LawrenceLife of Lawrence
- The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera
- Man And Boy, Tony Parsons
- The Truth, Terry Pratchett
- The War Of The Worlds, H. G. Wells
- The Horse Whisperer, Nicholas Evans
- A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry
- Witches Abroad, Terry Pratchett
- The Once And Future King, T. H. White
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle
- Flowers In The Attic, Virginia Andrews
Book to the Future 
Sadly I can only be certain of 28 (there are others I definitely meant to read but I can honestly state with any certainty that I have). And sadly Pratchett and Dahl have boosted that unimpressive number
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Same here, I never knew I’d read so many by those authors, and little, it seems, from many others.
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How interesting – only about 20 from this list for me. But plenty of ‘really must read that sometime’ titles – oh my poor TBR list…..
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Your TBR loves it, it’s insatiable! We both must do better with this list.
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oooh, can I hear the sound of a gauntlet clattering to the ground….?
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I’ll throw the other one too, reckless as I am.
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Haha! I am currently watching Game of Thrones (I know, so far behind everyone, but loving it anyway) so this is perfect timing! 🤣🤺
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I thought the early series were really good, it’s always fun to spot the British faces that pop up as well, some unexpected and unexpectedly brief but enjoyable to see.
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Yep, it was initially really good but I’ve just finished series 5 and it is getting very odd. And yes, all that celeb-spotting is great. I also marvel at the sheer scale and scope of the filming etc. I know that most of it will be CGI but even so, mind-blowing to think of the co-ordination and planning behind putting it all together.
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You wouldn’t get the budget or the team to do that on British shows. I think for me season five was the last best season, I started to have more niggles in the seasons after but there are still good bits, some very good bits.
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Once I have recovered from the death of Jon Snow, I’ll be cracking on with the rest of it. Glad to hear it will be worth it!
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You’ve got to read “Possession” by A. S. Byatt. What a lovely literature-obsessed book, a scary read, and possibly a literary roman a clef! I keep imagining a more scandalous Robert Browning (he actually was quite faithful), and maybe a Christina Rossetti figure in the two main roles, both altered to be characters in this book, but the resemblances otherwise seem strong. I think you’ll love it.
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I read The Children’s Book by Byatt and did have Possession at one time, it is one that I did mean to read. If I see it again I will certainly get around to it. Anything inspiring more literature love is fine by me.
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I’ve read 24 of these although I don’t remember much about any of them. I do remember thinking that Vanity Fair was the most boring book I’ve ever read! And I’ve never read a single Terry Pratchett…..
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Thanks for the warning, I’ve been meaning to start that, may leave it a bot longer now.
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I see quite a few that I have read in your list. Flowers In The Attic, Heidi, Sons And Lovers, Silas Marner, Oliver Twist, The Old Man And The Sea, and some others. But the one standing our for me is Lorna Doone. I got it from my mom’s old box of books years ago and I have loved it ever since. It is classic! 🙂 And so is Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Others like Nabokov’s Lolita has been on my TBR for years 🙂
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I will push Lorna Doone further up the list on your recommendation. I love hearing stories of other people’s favourite books and TBR lists are just graveyards of books we never get atound to but are certain we one day will.
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Quite a variety! I traveled to the library and selected a couple of titles off the first list. Foley’s Pillars of the Earth is s a bit daunting, but I like to immerse myself into one really thick book now and then. Last summer it was a Prayer for Owen Meany. Thanks for this additional source of picks. Yay for The Hungry Caterpillar!
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Pillars is very readable, if I recall correctly I went through it in a week or so. There is a bit of cringeworthy sex at one point that made me laugh, just to prewarn you.
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Thanks for the heads up. Doesn’t Follett also write mystery/thrillers?
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I believe so, Pillars is all I have read of his work.
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Hmmm. Mistry’s A Fine Balance was fabulous…..But on reflection of all that’s going on in our country, I’m thinking that this is a very white-centric list, isn’t it? It’s like the canon of academia that leaves out so much rich cultural texture, or tries to provide texture/interpretation through the lens of white culture. And it’s also a reflection of the self-selection involved in this survey, yes?
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Being open to all, and allowing multiple author entries will always lend itself more to bestsellers. Being a favourite book list as opposed to greatest works I’ll give it some leeway. For me the problem with the book world is that Americanah was lauded to the clouds, although I found it mediocre but a writer like Wole Soyinka isn’t as well known. I would like to read more quality works from around the world, but I don’t really bother with the author, I’m in it for the story or subject, if it interests me I will read it.
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Yes, so true. There’s so much fabulous work out there that isn’t circumscribed by U.S. borders. One of my favorite new and used bookstores in SF does a great job of highlighting writers from around the world. They just started allowing patrons in again in small numbers, but I don’t feel comfortable enough just yet to go and browse. So I end up browsing a bit online. It’s not the same, though….And our huge library fundraiser booksale has been cancelled for the fall. That was true nirvana. A quarter of a million books donated to the library from estates and other donors spread out on tables in a giant building at Ft. Mason on the waterfront. It went on for five days. Found many gems there….
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I was at a second hand bookshop the other day and picked up A Fine Balance on your recommendation so looking forward to starting that soon. I enjoy reading up on the Filipino literature and history as well. I think that is a good exercise to explore a country through their books, if the books are easily available of course. I would love to go your library fundraiser booksale, it sounds like paradise!
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Only 19 from this list 😦 😦
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A good excuse to read more, if ever I saw one!
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Only 23 this time. Too many Jacqueline Wilsons!!
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It irritates me to see the same author so many times, a cap of two or three books may have encouraged people to think a bit more about their chices perhaps.
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