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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:
MyNameIsInigoMontoya · 24/02/2009 19:41

I make mine 54, but must admit I can't remember some of them! Been meaning to read a couple of the others for ages, hopefully this will remind me.

thefortbuilder · 24/02/2009 19:42

49 in total - have started going to a book club recently so will hopefully increase my numbers!

  1. [] 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. [] 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. [x] Tess of the D?Urbervilles Thomas Hardy 13. [] Catch 22 Joseph Heller 14. [] Complete Works of Shakespeare 15. [x] Rebecca Daphne Du Maurier 16. [x] 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. [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. [] The Hitch Hiker?s Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Adams 26. [ x] 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. [] 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. [x] Captain Corelli?s Mandolin Louis De Bernieres 39. [] 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. [] 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. [ ] 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. [] 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. [x ] 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. [ x] 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. [] Germinal Emile Zola 79. [] Vanity Fair William Makepeace Thackeray 80. [x ] Possession AS Byatt 81. [x] A Christmas Carol Charles Dickens 82. [ x] 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. [] The Wasp Factory Iain Banks 94. [x] Watership Down Richard Adams 95. [ ] A Confederacy of Dunces John Kennedy Toole 96. [] 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. [ x] Les Miserables Victor Hugo
LittleMissBliss · 24/02/2009 19:43

6 is probably about right for me! But have seen allot of the film/play versions.....does that count

bronze · 24/02/2009 19:44

Early 20s then I got bored counting

i wonder how they picked those books?

cece · 24/02/2009 19:46
  1. [x] Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen
  2. [ ] The Lord of the Rings JRR Tolkien
  3. [x] Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte
  4. [x] 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. [ ] 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. [ ] 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. [ ] 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. [x] 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-time 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. [x] Bridget Jones?s Diary Helen Fielding 69. [ ] Midnight?s Children Salman Rushdie 70. [ ] Moby Dick Herman Melville 71. [ ] 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. [x] 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. [] 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 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. [ ] 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. [ ] A Town Like Alice Nevil Shute 97. [ ] The Three Musketeers Alexandre Dumas 98. [ ] Hamlet William Shakespeare 99. [x] Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 100. [ ] Les Miserables Victor Hugo

Onlyy 21 for me!

becstarlitsea · 24/02/2009 19:46

I've started to read 85 on the list, but only finished 73.

Do I get extra points for reading the Dumas, Hugo, Flaubert and Zola in French? Hmm... probably not.

Funny mix of my favourite ever books and ones I lost all patience with (Da Vinci Code, Time Travellers Wife, Possession, Lolita - hated all of them, gave up.)

raggedtrouseredphilanthropist · 24/02/2009 19:47
  1. [x] Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen
  2. [x] The Lord of the Rings JRR Tolkien
  3. [x] Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte
  4. [ ] Harry Potter series JK Rowling
  5. [x] To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee
  6. [ ] The Bible
  7. [ ] Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte
  8. [x] Nineteen Eighty Four George Orwell
  9. [x] 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. [x] Catch 22 Joseph Heller 14. [ ] Complete Works of Shakespeare 15. [x] Rebecca Daphne Du Maurier 16. [x] The Hobbit JRR Tolkien 17. [x] Birdsong Sebastian Faulks 18. [x] Catcher in the Rye JD Salinger 19. [x] The Time Traveller?s Wife Audrey Niffenegger 20. [] Middlemarch George Eliot 21. [] Gone With The Wind Margaret Mitchell 22. [x] 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. [x] 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. [ ] 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. [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. [x ] 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. [x] The Handmaid?s Tale Margaret Atwood 49. [x ] Lord of the Flies William Golding 50. [ ] Atonement Ian McEwan 51. [x] 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. [x] The Shadow of the Wind Carlos Ruiz Zafon 57. [ ] A Tale Of Two Cities Charles Dickens 58. [x] Brave New World Aldous Huxley 59. [ x] 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. [x ] 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. [] Oliver Twist Charles Dickens 72. [x] Dracula Bram Stoker 73. [ ] 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. [] Germinal Emile Zola 79. [ ] Vanity Fair William Makepeace Thackeray 80. [ ] Possession AS Byatt 81. [x] A Christmas Carol Charles Dickens 82. [x] 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. [x] Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 90. [x] 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. [ ] 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

49/100
what a strange list - the grapes of wrath, 1984, swallows and amazons (all good books) then the lovely bones, and dune???? and are you meant to have read the WHOLE bible?! many, many very devout christians I know havent made it through leviticus or kings!!
AND, how much austen do they think we should read!!
mind you, a good book list to go through...

beforesunrise · 24/02/2009 19:47

47, at some point in my life. given english is my second language and I didn't learn until 13, i think i deserve extra brownie points do i win something????

janeite · 24/02/2009 19:49

Yes - you win a free copy of "Heart Of Darkness" and Dickens' back catalogue. Lucky you.

MitchyInge · 24/02/2009 19:51

can someone who is not as utterly discalculic (hope that is a word) as me work out the mumnset average so far?

beforesunrise · 24/02/2009 19:52

dickens i can take, but heart of darkness..... thanks janeite!

raggedtrouseredphilanthropist · 24/02/2009 19:52

I am going to change my score to 59/100 to include those I started but was too damn bored to finish ;)

still stand by thinking it is a bloody weird list. I reckon we could do a lot better ourselves...

Leo9 · 24/02/2009 19:55

I've read 35 of them.

dustbuster · 24/02/2009 19:56

41 - agree it is a strange list.

I think I am a true middlebrow in these terms, I am too much of a snob to read The Kite Runner and Notes From A Small Island but too lazy to read Flaubert and Thomas Hardy. Having said that I have read lots of the crap ones like B. Jones and The Lovely Bones.

I didn't count all the ones I have started and abandoned like Midnight's Children and Middlemarch.

It does have some of my all time faves on it though - Brideshead, Woman in White, LOTR.

edam · 24/02/2009 19:57

I've read 71 and have just started no. 72 (Birdsong).

very strange list, though! Clearly the great British public have eclectic tastes.

wrinklytum · 24/02/2009 19:57

50.Some were under sufferance like Dickens and Conrad Others I have no idea WHY I actually read to the end....Blardy "Da Vinci Code"worst book ever,and that Time Traveller]s wife one.Aaargh.

raggedtrouseredphilanthropist · 24/02/2009 20:01

does anyone know how the list was compiled?

choosyfloosy · 24/02/2009 20:01

lol janeite

65 completed. It's a very book clubby list and since i have been in book clubs for 8 years or so, that bumps up my numbers, plus the jane austen factor.

I would love to see a list on similar lines from 50 years ago - would undoubtedly be a shamingly huge number of proper classics, but also loads of stuff we've never/barely heard of. Bet it would be stiff with Somerset Maugham and erm Upton Sinclair and Forsyte Galsworthy or whatever he was called.

peachygirl · 24/02/2009 20:03

38 for me, I think.

janeite · 24/02/2009 20:05

Oh yes - "The Jane Austen" factor is always a help in life, I find.

KingCanuteIAm · 24/02/2009 20:08

It has been explained several times, it is a voted for list, ie voted for by the public. Which accounts for its strangeness and repetitivity.

4paws · 24/02/2009 20:09

Cor, some of those books take me back...

60 I think. Clearly could do better. Not the whole of Shakespeare, and thankfully no Proust (tried and failed) It would be nice to complete the list but these days I'm lucky to complete my shopping list. Best stick to Heat magazine instead

janeite · 24/02/2009 20:10

Maybe we could do a Mumsnet list?

raggedtrouseredphilanthropist · 24/02/2009 20:10

kingcanute - thanks
I did scan the rest of the thread, but there are so many other lists, it is hard going
[not really lazy emoticon]

singersgirl · 24/02/2009 20:11

I counted the ones I hadn't read as it was quicker. I've read 94 (96 if you count large parts of the Bible and Shakespeare.)
I've never read 'The Magic Faraway Tree', 'The Count of Monte Cristo', 'The Three Musketeers' and 'Dune'.