How many of the BBC top 100 books have you read?

[Bluemooninmyeyes1]

I came across this list yesterday and I’m ashamed to say I’ve only read about 15 and most of them are the Roald Dhal books and Harry Potter I’ve obviously read more than 15 books in my life but they just don’t appear on this list! I’m making a conscious effort to read more classics this year.

How many have you read?

www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100.shtml

I’ve read 61 of those books.

There’s an awful lot of children’s / YA books on that list though.

66 - but a lot of the others I’ve seen as films! Also love Terry Pratchett and Harry Potter (I read those myself once, then again as bedtime stories for the kids) Things like Cold Comfort Farm and Birdsong I actually picked up from looking through this kind of list, and really enjoyed. Still haven’t read Cain and Abel, maybe it’s a modern masterpiece but I’d always have Jeffrey Archer’s voice in my head (not envy)

I did rather better with the first half of the list (45/50) than the second half.

Some of the ones I haven't read are on my 'will get round to one day' list, but others don't appeal at all.

The thing that surprises me most about some of the comments are those who found Captain Correlli's Mandoljn boring. The film was awful, but I love the book.

76, but the majority of the ones I hadn’t read were Jacqueline Wilson and Terry Pratchett, and disposable crap like Memoirs of a Geisha and Kane and Abel.

It’s a deeply odd list.

The thing that surprises me most about some of the comments are those who found Captain Correlli's Mandoljn boring. The film was awful, but I love the book.

If I remember rightly people don't like CCM because it's a bad pastiche of the magic realism style.

61

30. I'll never read all of them though because there are authors I dont like (having read some of their other works).

57. Thank God for Terry Pratchett and Harry Potter. 😆

[quote FindMeAHolidayPlz]This list gives you a few suggested places to start with Pratchett.

The Discworld series has several sub-series. I’d suggest starting with either Wyrd Sisters (Equal Rites is technically the first Witches novel but it’s slightly off-canon and not really as good) or Guards Guards.
www.lspace.org/books/reading-order-guides/the-discworld-reading-order-guide-20.jpg[/quote]
I always thought the Death novels were the best. Followed by the Guards ones followed by the Witches. Was never that fussed about Rincewind.

Mort was the first terry pratchett i read. So even though not the first, it didn’t matter.

If it were replicated today no doubt you'd have currently/recently trending books on it such as Where the Crawdads Sing, Eleanor Oliphant, that book by Richard Osman and whatever David Walliams' latest children's offering is - and MNers in 2038 would say why on earth is that on there?

41. A lot of the ones I've read are the children's books and Pratchett, rather than the "worthy" ones.

I’m a big reader and enjoy a lot of classics, inc. 19thC ones, but have never read any Harry Potter, and Terry Pratchett (or any fantasy) doesn’t appeal at all. I did read and enjoy Lord of the Rings when much younger though.

Was this a popularly voted list - which would explain the anomalies - or one of those ‘books you ought to read’ list, which presumably wouldn’t include Bridget Jones or The Magic Faraway Tree, just for starters.

I’d add Three Men In a Boat, The Way We Live Now, and Lucky Jim.

75. I agree it's an odd list. I remember telling my English teacher I was reading Anya Seton and was called a Philistine. (Harsh!)

Was this a popularly voted list

Yes, it was - somewhere upthread there's an explanation of how the voting worked.

If I were compiling a list I would start with the principle of only one book per author (even if that led to difficult decisions). Series or books set in the same universe would be allowed as multiple books in a single entry e.g. 'The Harry Potter novels'.

Helped by liking sci-fi/fantasy.
Hindered by really not liking Dickens and being too old for Wilson.

69. This includes Jeffery Archer, which I read at school, meaning I was school age, rather than it was a set book.

There are various other books which I "know" through seeing the film (don't always know how closely it follows the book, though, like Midnight's Children, which I've seen but not read. There are others I've heard as Radio 4 adaptations.

Some I have an idea of what the book is about without having read it or heard/seen an adaptation, which suggests they've been absorbed into popular culture; I'd argue this is why Harry Potter should be there - we've all heard of the books, even if we've not read them. (I agree they should be there as a single entry for the series, though.)

60, some of this bulked up by Terry Pratchett, kids books which I read as bedtime stories, and ones I did at schoo!

82, including number 79. The most painful 4 months of my reading career. Its tedium still haunts me.

73. Jeffrey fucking ARCHER, though?

19. Which is more than I was expecting as I'm not much of a reader but I am trying to change that.

7!

77, hindered by the Harry Potter, Tolkien and Pratchett- not read any.

Quite a boring list, majorly lacking in diversity and I say this as an English tutor with a first in English lit.

I’ve never read LOTR. My DH forced me through the movies and they were torturous enough.

Didn’t count. I didn’t like any of the first 3 books, hate tolkein, didn’t like birdsong, george orwell, wuthering heights bored me to tears, and absolutely hated Steinbeck. If anything can drive me to drink and depression, it’s steinbeck.

So no, not my idea of a “top” 100. I was that kid who read anything and everything, including all my siblings a level setwork (i did science). I probably have read nearly everything on that list, or attempted to.

I actually like some of the “popular culture” stuff, jeffrey archer’s not a penny more is great, as are his short stories. To Kill A Mockingbird will always be a favourite.

I enjoyed harry potter, and I think either the first or the fourth book should be on there, but not all. They are a bit like his dark materials in places, a lot of waffle in between the good bits. Sir Pterry, on the other hand, everything he wrote is brilliant so a few should be on there. I note wyrd sisters isn’t though...

Bridget Jones’ diary? Really?