Lists: BBC’s The Big Read Top 100 Books

Drinking: Wild Blueberry Fruit Tea, Bar Harbor Tea Company


In August 2004, the BBC searched for England’s best-loved novel.  The result?  The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolkien.  I must say, it’s an excellent choice.  Which have you read? What do you think is missing? I’ve highlighted mine and added a bit of commentary!

1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen – I have tried to read this three times and have never been able to get into it.  
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams – Always have your towel with you!
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling – Since this list was from 2004, the last three Harry Potter books aren’t on this list.  Personally, Prisoner of Azkaban is my favorite of the first four.
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 – So creepy.  So good!
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger – I have never been able to figure out why people enjoy this novel so much.
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 – A favorite.
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone, JK Rowling
23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling
24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling
25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien
26. Tess Of The D’Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy 
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck
30. Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson
32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez
33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen
39. Dune, Frank Herbert
40. Emma, Jane Austen
41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery
42. Watership Down, Richard Adams
43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas4
5. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy
49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher
51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck
53. The Stand, Stephen King
54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth
56. The BFG, Roald Dahl

57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome
58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky

61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman
62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden
63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens

64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough
65. Mort, Terry Pratchett
66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton
67. The Magus, John Fowles
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones’s Diary, Helen Fielding
 – Really?  I mean, it’s good as chick lit, but I would not consider this a “great novel”…
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins
78. Ulysses, James Joyce
79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens
80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson
81. The Twits, Roald Dahl
82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
83. Holes, Louis Sachar
84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
89. Magician, Raymond E Feist
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel – Romance novel set in the prehistoric world…see note on Bridget Jones’s Diary for my opinion of this one!
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho – Vastly overrated, but lovely prose.
95. Katherine, Anya Seton
96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer
97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson
99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
100. Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie 

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Author: Lisa Fry

Freelance Writer & Editor. Book lover. Feminist. International development professional

3 thoughts on “Lists: BBC’s The Big Read Top 100 Books”

  1. Lauren, I think Bridget Jones is worth the read, don't get me wrong. It's a great summer/beach read. It's just not what I'd consider “great literature.” Definitely along the lines of The Princess Diaries.

    I did not know about Lewis, JFK, and Huxley & now I'm sensing some sort of Death Conspiracy!

  2. Bridget Jones's Diary: I have not read that, is it worth it? I would give your same commentary for that one to The Princess Diaries.

    I would have loved to see a book by both Tolkien and C.S. Lewis on this list. If I am not mistaken, they started one, but drafts of the incomplete works were found posthumously. Did you know C.S Lewis died the same day JFK was assassinated and the same day that Aldous Huxley died? Crazy…

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