I was tagged in this reading list on facebook and thought it might be interesting to see how the book lovers here fare.

I'm not sure how this list was compiled and I'm sure people will have suggestions for the list, but hey, it's a list and it's an excuse to read ;)

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The BBC believes most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here. How do your reading habits stack up?

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma-Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hossein
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Inferno – Dante
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
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I've read 32 of these. Borrowed The Shining and Emma from the library today though :)

I think they might be the books that were on the Big Read thing the BBC do/did.

I remember them showing a set of TV programs a few years ago with celebrities talking about why some of the books were the best.

Maybe it's that list, or an updated version.

From the list, the only ones I've read from start to finish are these 10:


2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Leel
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker

But I'm going to give myself 19 because I refuse to count The Lord of the Rings; His Dark Materials; Harry Potter series (which I've only read 4 of); and the complete works of Shakespeare as one book each.

I think they might be the books that were on the Big Read thing they did ages ago?

Yes, I believe so.

I don't think the BBC is updating the Big Read (http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100.shtml) feature anymore.


But I'm going to give myself 19 because I refuse to count The Lord of the Rings; His Dark Materials; Harry Potter series (which I've only read 4 of); and the complete works of Shakespeare as one book.

Lol, fair enough. I've read 5/7 in the HP series, but I counted the series as read anyway...

I noticed that they repeat some books - if someone's read Chronicles of Narnia, they'd have read The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. :rolleyes:

4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night - Mark Haddon
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl


Those are the 16 I've read from this list but, as nh said, Harry Potter should count as 7 and I say His Dark Materials should count as 3 so I've read 24 in total :p. Currently reading The Life of Pi and this is a good list for future reading :).

*cough* No Twilight *cough* :twisted:

I don't think the BBC is updating the Big Read (http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100.shtml) feature anymore.

Hmm, the list in the link is slightly different to the one in this thread though.

2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night - Mark Haddon
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare

That makes 18. BUT I've read like half of some of these. Like the bible. :P I've read lots and lots of bits from it. But I doubt I'd have read the whole thing. I read about half of the curious incident. Half of Wuthering and Great Expectations and like.. about half of a book from the lord of the rings. :P So really that would make like. 14 or something. But 7/7 for harry potter and 3/3 for dark matters. Shakespeare I've read like.. 6-7 plays or so. Chronicles I think I read 4-5/6 because I lost one of the books. :P So I think that evens out. :)

I think twilight should SO be on here. xD ahah. :)

Yeah the list on the bbcs page is different by a bit to this one. :)

Hmm, the list in the link is slightly different to the one in this thread though.

Oh, true. Maybe they did update it or maybe someone changed the list on facebook...

The list on the BBC does separate the HP series into individual books though :)

*cough* No Twilight *cough* :twisted:

I think twilight should SO be on here. xD ahah. :)

Haha, you would! I'm glad there's no Twilight. I have no intention of reading anything from the series whatsoever :twisted:

This is the thing. People have said they wont read it or they've like turned their nose up at it, but then lots of people I know who have read it have really enjoyed it. :) Guys and girls. :)

-shrugs-

But lol I'm not bothered it's not up there because some of my other favourite books aren't up there. :) Not that I should be bothered, but you know what I mean. :P Just because a book isn't on that list doesn't mean it's not amazing, and just because some books are on that list doesn't mean people will necessarily like all of them. :)

EDIT: Also just realised, if we're going off 100 popular books, twilight will probably end up there soon :P as it's gone through a huggee boom.

I've never read Twilight... but ipso facto I'd never comment on it not being good, because I just can't know. So many things which I like are the things which, before trying, I never would have considered the possibility that I'd like them.

But yeah, there are loads of great books which aren't on that list, and some books which I just can't understand how they ARE on that list. I was glad to see Lolita on there though, probably my favourite book that I've read.

I did start going through the list deleting the ones which I hadn't read, but couldn't be bothered to finish. It's a lot more than six though. I might come back and do it properly in a bit. :)

I've read about the same as you, Storm! Some under duress (school/uni) but most for pleasure. I would also like half points for Ulysses and Cloud Atlas, both of which I started and never finished :P:P

2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hossein
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night - Mark Haddon
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl

twilight will probably end up there soon :P as it's gone through a huggee boom.


I finally got round to reading this book (given to Miss 11 for her birthday from a friend) - and WOW!!!!! I could not put it down! It was like......."get yourselves a sandwich or something, kids, just don't bother me cos I'm reading this......." Amazing book!! and LOL Sorsie - Edward <3

Now I have to wait 4 days til my birthday when I know someone has bought me the rest of the series........*grumbles*

5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl



so the half a point for half of the harry potter seies... im going to read Dante's Inferno before the year ends...
but already completed in total- 18

I finally got round to reading this book (given to Miss 11 for her birthday from a friend) - and WOW!!!!! I could not put it down! It was like......."get yourselves a sandwich or something, kids, just don't bother me cos I'm reading this......." Amazing book!! and LOL Sorsie - Edward <3

Now I have to wait 4 days til my birthday when I know someone has bought me the rest of the series........*grumbles*

LOL!!! That's about the reaction that many people have gotten from Twilight...I devoured the series in about 5 days. It's insane haha. But then you get those other people who are like my mom, who just read it to see what the hype was about and thought it was so poorly written that she could barely get through it...and that it would have been more effective if all four books were condensed into one or maybe two. Weird how there are such different reactions. My thoughts though, are that it is probably poorly written, but if you read it quickly enough, you end up practically skimming over the dull parts and the story moves at a decent progression.

I'm definitely Team Edward though....I can't stand Jacob at all, especially his freaking HUGE boring section in the fourth book. What a whiner.

As for books that I have read on the list:

2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl

I would have expected to have read more than that, actually...some titles that would have been good additions to the list, like Ken Follett's "Pillars of the Earth" which is a really amazing classic. I started to try reading Pride and Prejudice once, and couldn't get more than a couple of chapters into it...and I also tried reading To Kill A Mockingbird once when I was too young, and I didn't the few pages that I read and I haven't picked it up since :embarrassed:

I agree though, we should get extra points for the series we've read...LOTR I shall count as 3, HP I will count as 5 (I've read books 3-7), and although I didn't get through all of the Chronicles of Narnia or Anne of Green Gables, I think I stopped at the last book in both of them. However many that adds up to :)

Oh, and "The Lovely Bones" is an AMAZING book and they are actually screening a movie for it...here's the trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikUWKi0W5_g

8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night - Mark Haddon
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl


I feel so learned.

4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl

I've read about 11 of these, although I studied Animal Farm, Lord of the Flies, Of Mice and Men and Oliver Twist in English Lit at secondary school.
I've only read six of the seven in the Harry Potter series, but I feel that is enough to count it. All of the other books I read when I was younger.

I've read like 9? from the list. I think Twilight should be on there as well...I loved it! But does seeing the movie count? Cause if so then I can add a ton more to my list! Lol

My list that i've READ though is this

4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
6 The Bible
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White

So these are the books I've read... (minus some of the ones I barely remember).


2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma -Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night - Mark Haddon
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl

4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma-Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hossein
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night - Mark Haddon
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

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Wow. I never would've thought I'd read this many books.
Most of them are school books as well.