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Apparently the BBC think that most people have only read 6 of these books how far of are you?

717 replies

ByThePowerOfGreyskull · 24/02/2009 16:37

Instructions:

  1. Look at the list and put an ?x? before those you have read.

How many have you read?

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

61/100 for me but others on the list that I really do want to read

OP posts:
stleger · 26/02/2009 16:31

DD1 who is 15 has read 18 (all Harry Potter counting as 1). Dh who is older, PhD from Cambridge reckons he has finished 6 but started many more. He reads obscurer classics.

ZebsRoomofHerOwn · 26/02/2009 17:33
  1. Not bad. Most of them a VERY long time ago.
chegirl · 26/02/2009 17:52

A lot more than 6 but no where near all of them.

I have got very lazy in my middle years and adore listening to Hardy and Austen on CD but cant be arsed to read them.

Love watching Dickens on tv but not so keen on reading him.

I dont have the concentration anymore. Sad but true.

I blame Radio 7 (and the sadly defunct oneword). Who needs to read when you can lie back and listen?

Jajas · 26/02/2009 18:05

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Mumwhensdinnerready · 26/02/2009 18:07

45 but an odd list, I failed on the Shakespeare and Dickens.
There was a BBC thing about 5 years ago called the 100 best books. Obviously any such list would be open to debate but it was IMO a more balanced list than this one. Anyway I had read about 70 on that list and worked my way through a good many more that I had missed.

swingsofglory · 26/02/2009 18:21

I've read 88 but then I did do an Eng Lit degree.

Ulysses was just hard work though. No fun at all but I forced my way through it just to prove a point.

FuriousGeorge · 26/02/2009 21:48

30,but read part of a lot of the others and never got around to finishing them.

pavlovthecat · 26/02/2009 21:55

Significantly more than I realised! 43.

Evenstar · 28/02/2009 01:42

75 out of 100 for me, but like others joint honours degree with English Literature as one half. Like another poster I also read some in the original French, I think I had read less of the modern literature. Love Harry Potter though

AlexanderPandasmum · 28/02/2009 01:53

31 - but that is quite embarassing since I did both GCSE and A level English literature at school. I suppose I am just one of those people who can't relax enough to read novels unless I am on holiday (either from work, or literally on holiday i.e. away from home). It doesn't make me proud .

  1. [x] Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen
  2. [] The Lord of the Rings JRR Tolkien
  3. [x] Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte
  4. [] Harry Potter series JK Rowling
  5. [] To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee
  6. [] The Bible
  7. [x] Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte
  8. [x] Nineteen Eighty Four George Orwell
  9. [ ] His Dark Materials Philip Pullman
10. [x] Great Expectations Charles Dickens 11. [] Little Women Louisa M Alcott 12. [] Tess of the D?Urbervilles Thomas Hardy 13. [x] Catch 22 Joseph Heller 14. [] Complete Works of Shakespeare 15. [] Rebecca Daphne Du Maurier 16. [] The Hobbit JRR Tolkien 17. [] Birdsong Sebastian Faulks 18. [x] Catcher in the Rye JD Salinger 19. [] The Time Traveller?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. [x] The Hitch Hiker?s Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Adams 26. [ ] Brideshead Revisited Evelyn Waugh 27. [ ] Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoyevsky 28. [x] Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck 29. [x] Alice in Wonderland Lewis Carroll 30. [] The Wind in the Willows Kenneth Grahame 31. [] Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy 32. [] David Copperfield Charles Dickens 33. [x] Chronicles of Narnia CS Lewis 34. [x] Emma Jane Austen 35. [] Persuasion Jane Austen 36. [x] The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe CS Lewis 37. [ ] The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini 38. [] Captain Corelli?s Mandolin Louis De Bernieres 39. [] Memoirs of a Geisha Arthur Golden 40. [] Winnie the Pooh AA Milne 41. [x] 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. [x]Anne of Green Gables LM Montgomery 47. [x] Far From The Madding Crowd Thomas Hardy 48. [x] The Handmaid?s Tale Margaret Atwood 49. [x] 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. [x] 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. [x] Brave New World Aldous Huxley 59. [] The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time Mark Haddon 60. [ ] Love In The Time Of Cholera Gabriel Garcia Marquez 61. [x] Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck 62. [ ] Lolita Vladimir Nabokov 63. [] The Secret History Donna Tartt 64. [x] The Lovely Bones Alice Sebold 65. [ ] Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas 66. [ ] On The Road Jack Kerouac 67. [x] Jude the Obscure Thomas Hardy 68. [] Bridget Jones?s Diary Helen Fielding 69. [ ] Midnight?s Children Salman Rushdie 70. [ ] Moby Dick Herman Melville 71. [x] Oliver Twist Charles Dickens 72. [] Dracula Bram Stoker 73. [x] The Secret Garden Frances Hodgson Burnett 74. [] Notes From A Small Island Bill Bryson 75. [ ] Ulysses James Joyce 76. [ ] The Bell Jar Sylvia Plath 77. [] Swallows and Amazons Arthur Ransome 78. [] Germinal Emile Zola 79. [] Vanity Fair William Makepeace Thackeray 80. [ ] Possession AS Byatt 81. [x] A Christmas Carol Charles Dickens 82. [ ] Cloud Atlas David Mitchell 83. [x] 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. [x] Charlotte?s Web EB White 88. [ ] The Five People You Meet In Heaven Mitch Alborn 89. [] Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 90. [x] 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. [x] Hamlet William Shakespeare 99. [x] Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 100. [ ] Les Miserables Victor Hugo
nooka · 28/02/2009 02:27

Why be embarrassed? This is a fairly random list of books. I wouldn't be at all surprised if there was a survey in four or five years to see at least 50% change. How many of the older books were in that list because of films or serialisations I wonder.

kaz33 · 28/02/2009 07:27

45, but quite a few I started and didn't finish such as possession cause I thought it was rubbish.

HopeForTheBestExpectTheWorst · 28/02/2009 12:23

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn on request of the poster.

cheapskatemum · 28/02/2009 22:28

I've read 75 of them. I'll keep the list for ideas of what to read next, when I'm stuck. I will never read "Lovely Bones" though, it just does not appeal at all, so will never have read all of them.

chainstitch · 28/02/2009 22:50
  1. but some istarted and didnt finish, so havent included them
chainstitch · 28/02/2009 22:52

i think including the works of shakespeare as one isnt fair, as i have read a lot of shakespeare, but not everything he has written, so couldnt tick that box.
same with the narnia lot.

Heated · 28/02/2009 23:04

67/100

There are some embarrassing gaps for an English teacher! But I'd rather stick pins in my eyes than suffer through Ullyses.

Have read all Will's plays but confess to having skipped a fair few sonnets.

daffodill6 · 28/02/2009 23:05

Think I can honestly say 38 but could push for 47 if 'not finished'were counted. But strange choices!!!

wendyredredrobin · 01/03/2009 18:31

93 - OMG! Mind you I am an English teacher and I LOVE Ulysses!

undervalued · 01/03/2009 19:11

I'm with Heated as Ullyses is hideous. Are we all English teachers on mumsnet

booge · 01/03/2009 21:47

61 but I read nearly all of them over 10 years ago, these days I'm a pleb.

hellymelly · 01/03/2009 21:58

63,a couple I have and haven't read yet,and a lot don't appeal (Moby Dick-no).

MrsTittleMouse · 01/03/2009 22:02

36, but it is a bizaree collection of books. There is no way that I am ever going to read The Da Vinci Code!

MrsTittleMouse · 01/03/2009 22:02

Oops! That should be 37 - I'd missed of The Faraway Tree - another example of great literature.

MrsTittleMouse · 01/03/2009 22:03

missed off!

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