BBC Big Read
In 2003 the BBC (British Broadcasting Company) started the Big Read with the goal of finding the "Nation's Best-loved Novel" by way of a viewer vote via the Web, SMS, and telephone. The show attracted controversy for adopting an allegedly sensationalist approach to literature, but supporters praised it for raising the public awareness of reading. The British public voted originally for any novel that they wished. From this, a list of 200 was drawn up, with the highest 21 then put forward for further voting, on the provision that only one book per author was permitted in the top 21.
- 1
The Lord of the Rings
J.R.R. Tolkien · 1954 · 23 lists
- 2
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austen · 1813 · 28 lists
- 3
His Dark Materials
Philip Pullman · 2000 · 0 lists
- 4
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Douglas Adams · 1979 · 0 lists
- 5
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
J.K. Rowling · 1993 · 0 lists
- 6
To Kill a Mockingbird
Harper Lee · 1960 · 33 lists
- 7
Winnie-the-Pooh
Christina Milner · 1926 · 0 lists
- 8
Nineteen Eighty-Four
George Orwell · 1948 · 0 lists
- 9
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
C.S. Lewis · 1950 · 0 lists
- 10
Jane Eyre
Charlotte Brontë · 1847 · 26 lists
- 11
Catch-22
Joseph Heller · 1961 · 0 lists
- 12
Wuthering Heights
Emily Brontë · 1847 · 29 lists
- 13
Birdsong
Sebastian Faulks · 1993 · 0 lists
- 14
Rebecca
Daphne Du Maurier · 1938 · 15 lists
- 15
The Catcher in the Rye
J.D. Salinger · 1951 · 32 lists
- 16
The Wind in the Willows
Kenneth Grahame · 1908 · 0 lists
- 17
Great Expectations
Charles Dickens · 1861 · 19 lists
- 18
Little Women
Louisa May Alcott · 1848 · 13 lists
- 19
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin
Louis De Bernières · 1994 · 0 lists
- 20
War and Peace
Leo Tolstoy · 1869 · 29 lists
- 21
Gone With the Wind
Margaret Mitchell · 1936 · 22 lists
- 22
Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone
J.K. Rowling · 1997 · 0 lists
- 23
Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets
J.K. Rowling · 1998 · 0 lists
- 24
Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban
J.K. Rowling · 1999 · 0 lists
- 25
The Hobbit
J.R.R. Tolkien · 1937 · 5 lists
- 26
Tess Of The D'Urbervilles
Thomas Hardy · 1891 · 0 lists
- 27
Middlemarch
George Eliot · 1871 · 26 lists
- 28
A Prayer for Owen Meany
John Irving · 1989 · 0 lists
- 29
The Grapes of Wrath
John Steinbeck · 1939 · 32 lists
- 30
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Lewis Carroll · 1865 · 2 lists
- 31
The Story Of Tracy Beaker
Jacqueline Wilson · 1991 · 0 lists
- 32
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Gabriel García Márquez · 1967 · 33 lists
- 33
The Pillars of the Earth
Ken Follett · 1989 · 0 lists
- 34
David Copperfield
Charles Dickens · 1850 · 19 lists
- 35
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Roald Dahl · 1964 · 0 lists
- 36
Treasure Island
Robert Louis Stevenson · 1880 · 13 lists
- 37
A Town Like Alice
Nevil Shute · 1950 · 3 lists
- 38
Persuasion
Jane Austen · 1817 · 7 lists
- 39
Dune
Frank Herbert · 1965 · 0 lists
- 40
Emma
Jane Austen · 1815 · 12 lists
- 41
Anne of Green Gables
Lucy Maud Montgomery · 1908 · 0 lists
- 42
Watership Down
Richard Adams · 1972 · 0 lists
- 43
The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald · 1925 · 0 lists
- 44
The Count of Monte Cristo
Alexandre Dumas · 1844 · 0 lists
- 45
Brideshead Revisited
Evelyn Waugh · 1945 · 10 lists
- 46
Animal Farm
George Orwell · 1945 · 15 lists
- 47
A Christmas Carol
Charles Dickens · 1843 · 6 lists
- 48
Far from the Madding Crowd
Thomas Hardy · 1874 · 3 lists
- 49
Goodnight Mister Tom
Michelle Magorian · 1981 · 0 lists
- 50
The Shell Seekers
Rosamunde Pilcher · 1920 · 0 lists
- 51
The Secret Garden
Frances Hodgson Burnett · 1911 · 0 lists
- 52
Of Mice and Men
John Steinbeck · 1937 · 5 lists
- 53
The Stand
Stephen King · 1978 · 0 lists
- 54
Anna Karenina
Leo Tolstoy · 1876 · 24 lists
- 55
A Suitable Boy
Vikram Seth · 1993 · 0 lists
- 56
The BFG
Roald Dahl · 1980 · 0 lists
- 57
Swallows And Amazons
Arthur Ransome · 1930 · 0 lists
- 58
Black Beauty
Anna Sewell · 1877 · 0 lists
- 59
Artemis Fowl
Eoin Colfer · 1999 · 0 lists
- 60
Crime and Punishment
Fyodor Dostoevsky · 1866 · 22 lists
- 61
Noughts and Crosses
Malorie Blackman · 2019 · 0 lists
- 62
Memoirs of a Geisha
Arthur Golden · 1999 · 0 lists
- 63
A Tale of Two Cities
Charles Dickens · 1859 · 7 lists
- 64
The Thorn Birds
Colleen McCullough · 1977 · 0 lists
- 65
Mort
Terry Pratchett · 1557 · 0 lists
- 66
The Magic Faraway Tree
Enid Blyton · 1943 · 0 lists
- 67
The Magus
John Fowles · 1965 · 4 lists
- 68
Good Omens
Neil Gaiman · 1990 · 0 lists
- 69
Guards! Guards!
Terry Pratchett · 1989 · 0 lists
- 70
Lord of the Flies
William Golding · 1954 · 14 lists
- 71
Perfume
Patrick Süskind · 1985 · 0 lists
- 72
The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists
Robert Tressell · 1914 · 2 lists
- 73
Night Watch
Jayne Anne Phillips · 2002 · 0 lists
- 74
Matilda
Roald Dahl · 1988 · 0 lists
- 75
Bridget Jones's Diary
Helen Fielding · 1996 · 0 lists
- 76
The Secret History
Donna Tartt · 1992 · 0 lists
- 77
The Woman in White
Wilkie Collins · 1860 · 11 lists
- 78
Ulysses
James Joyce · 1920 · 39 lists
- 79
Bleak House
Charles Dickens · 1850 · 11 lists
- 80
Double Act
Jacqueline Wilson · 1995 · 0 lists
- 81
The Twits
Roald Dahl · 1967 · 0 lists
- 82
I Capture The Castle
Dodie Smith · 1948 · 0 lists
- 83
Holes
Louis Sachar · 1988 · 0 lists
- 84
Gormenghast
Mervyn Peake · 1950 · 4 lists
- 85
The God of Small Things
Arundhati Roy · 1997 · 0 lists
- 86
Vicky Angel
Jacqueline Wilson · 2001 · 0 lists
- 87
Brave New World
Aldous Huxley · 1932 · 17 lists
- 88
Cold Comfort Farm
Stella Gibbons · 1932 · 5 lists
- 89
Magician
Raymond E. Feist · 1955 · 0 lists
- 90
On the Road
Jack Kerouac · 1957 · 24 lists
- 91
The Godfather
Mario Puzo · 1969 · 7 lists
- 92
The Clan Of The Cave Bear
Jean M. Auel · 1900 · 0 lists
- 93
The Colour of Magic
Terry Pratchett · 1983 · 0 lists
- 94
The Alchemist
Paulo Coelho · 1988 · 0 lists
- 95
Katherine
Anya Seton · 2006 · 0 lists
- 96
Kane and Abel
Jeffrey Archer · 1987 · 0 lists
- 97
Love in the Time of Cholera
Gabriel García Márquez · 1985 · 0 lists
- 98
Girls In Love
Jacqueline Wilson · 1999 · 0 lists
- 99
The Princess Diaries
Meg Cabot · 2000 · 0 lists
- 100
Midnight’s Children
Salman Rushdie · 1981 · 25 lists
- 101
Three Men in a Boat
Jerome K. Jerome · 1889 · 0 lists
- 102
Small Gods
Terry Pratchett · 1992 · 0 lists
- 103
The Beach
Alex Garland · 1996 · 0 lists
- 104
Dracula
Bram Stoker · 1897 · 16 lists
- 105
Point Blanc
Anthony Horowitz · 2001 · 0 lists
- 106
The Pickwick Papers
Charles Dickens · 1994 · 0 lists
- 107
Stormbreaker
Anthony Horowitz · 2000 · 0 lists
- 108
The Wasp Factory
Iain M. Banks · 1984 · 0 lists
- 109
The Day of the Jackal
Frederick Forsyth · 1971 · 0 lists
- 110
The Illustrated Mum
Jacqueline Wilson · 1999 · 0 lists
- 111
Jude the Obscure
Thomas Hardy · 1895 · 8 lists
- 112
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4
Sue Townsend · 1982 · 0 lists
- 113
The Cruel Sea
Nicholas Monsarrat · 1951 · 0 lists
- 114
Les Misérables
Victor Hugo · 1862 · 16 lists
- 115
The Mayor of Casterbridge
Thomas Hardy · 1919 · 5 lists
- 116
The Dare Game
Jacqueline Wilson · 2000 · 0 lists
- 117
Bad Girls
Jacqueline Wilson · 1996 · 0 lists
- 118
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Oscar Wilde · 1891 · 11 lists
- 119
Shogun
James Clavell · 1975 · 0 lists
- 120
The Day of the Triffids
John Wyndham · 1951 · 0 lists
- 121
Lola Rose
Jacqueline Wilson · 2003 · 0 lists
- 122
Vanity Fair
William Makepeace Thackeray · 1847 · 15 lists
- 123
The Forsyte Saga
John Galsworthy · 1898 · 5 lists
- 124
House of Leaves
Mark Z. Danielewski · 1998 · 0 lists
- 125
The Poisonwood Bible
Barbara Kingsolver · 1998 · 0 lists
- 126
Reaper Man
Terry Pratchett · 1991 · 0 lists
- 127
Angus, Thongs And Full Frontal Snogging
Louise Rennison · 1999 · 0 lists
- 128
The Hound of the Baskervilles
Arthur Conan Doyle · 1901 · 11 lists
- 129
Possession
A. S. Byatt · 1990 · 0 lists
- 130
The Master and Margarita
Mikhail Bulgakov · 1967 · 18 lists
- 131
The Handmaid’s Tale
Margaret Atwood · 1985 · 0 lists
- 132
Danny The Champion Of The World
Roald Dahl · 1975 · 0 lists
- 133
East of Eden
John Steinbeck · 1952 · 0 lists
- 134
George's Marvellous Medicine
Roald Dahl · 1981 · 0 lists
- 135
Wyrd Sisters
Terry Pratchett · 1988 · 0 lists
- 136
The Color Purple
Alice Walker · 1982 · 12 lists
- 137
Hogfather
Terry Pratchett · 1996 · 0 lists
- 138
The Thirty-Nine Steps
John Buchan · 1915 · 8 lists
- 139
Girls In Tears
Jacqueline Wilson · 1998 · 0 lists
- 140
Sleepovers
Jacqueline Wilson · 2001 · 0 lists
- 141
All Quiet on the Western Front
Erich Maria Remarque · 1929 · 11 lists
- 142
Behind the Scenes at the Museum
Kate Atkinson · 1996 · 0 lists
- 143
High Fidelity
Nick Hornby · 1995 · 0 lists
- 144
It
Stephen King · 1905 · 0 lists
- 145
James and the Giant Peach
Roald Dahl · 1961 · 0 lists
- 146
The Green Mile
Stephen King · 1996 · 0 lists
- 147
Papillon
Henri Charrière · 1969 · 0 lists
- 148
Men At Arms
Terry Pratchett · 1993 · 0 lists
- 149
Master and Commander
Patrick O'Brian · 1969 · 0 lists
- 150
Skeleton Key
Anthony Horowitz · 2002 · 0 lists
- 151
Soul Music
Terry Pratchett · 1994 · 0 lists
- 152
Thief Of Time
Terry Pratchett · 2001 · 0 lists
- 153
The Fifth Elephant
Terry Pratchett · 1999 · 0 lists
- 154
Atonement
Ian McEwan · 2001 · 0 lists
- 155
Secrets
Jacqueline Wilson · 1922 · 0 lists
- 156
The Silver Sword
Ian Serraillier · 1956 · 0 lists
- 157
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Ken Kesey · 1962 · 13 lists
- 158
Heart of Darkness
Joseph Conrad · 1899 · 29 lists
- 159
Kim
Rudyard Kipling · 1901 · 8 lists
- 160
Cross Stitch
Diana Gabaldon · 1991 · 0 lists
- 161
Moby-Dick
Herman Melville · 1851 · 0 lists
- 162
River God
Wilbur Smith · 1994 · 0 lists
- 163
Sunset Song
Lewis Grassic Gibbon · 1933 · 3 lists
- 164
The Shipping News
Annie Proulx · 1993 · 0 lists
- 165
The World According to Garp
John Irving · 1979 · 12 lists
- 166
Lorna Doone
R. D. Blackmore · 1869 · 0 lists
- 167
Girls Out Late
Jacqueline Wilson · 1999 · 0 lists
- 168
The Far Pavilions
Mary Margaret Kaye · 1978 · 0 lists
- 169
The Witches
Roald Dahl · 1983 · 0 lists
- 170
Charlotte’s Web
E. B. White · 1952 · 0 lists
- 171
Frankenstein
Mary Shelley · 1818 · 20 lists
- 172
They Used To Play On Grass
Terry Venables, Gordon Williams · 1972 · 0 lists
- 173
The Old Man and the Sea
Ernest Hemingway · 1952 · 15 lists
- 174
The Name of the Rose
Umberto Eco · 1985 · 11 lists
- 175
- 176
Dustbin Baby
Jacqueline Wilson · 2001 · 0 lists
- 177
Fantastic Mr Fox
Roald Dahl · 1970 · 0 lists
- 178
Lolita
Vladimir Nabokov · 1955 · 38 lists
- 179
Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Richard Bach · 1973 · 0 lists
- 180
The Little Prince
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry · 1943 · 9 lists
- 181
The Suitcase Kid
Jacqueline Wilson · 1992 · 0 lists
- 182
Oliver Twist
Charles Dickens · 1838 · 5 lists
- 183
The Power of One
Bryce Courtenay · 1989 · 0 lists
- 184
Silas Marner
George Eliot · 1861 · 4 lists
- 185
American Psycho
Bret Easton Ellis · 1991 · 0 lists
- 186
The Diary of a Nobody
George Grossmith, Weedon Grossmith · 1919 · 0 lists
- 187
Trainspotting
Irvine Welsh · 1993 · 0 lists
- 188
Goosebumps
R. L. Stine · 1992 · 0 lists
- 189
Heidi
Johanna Spyri · 1885 · 0 lists
- 190
Sons and Lovers
D.H. Lawrence · 1913 · 11 lists
- 191
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Milan Kundera · 2006 · 0 lists
- 192
Man And Boy
Tony Parsons · 1999 · 0 lists
- 193
The Truth
Terry Pratchett · 2000 · 0 lists
- 194
The War of the Worlds
H. G. Wells · 1898 · 7 lists
- 195
The Horse Whisperer
Nicholas Evans · 1995 · 0 lists
- 196
A Fine Balance
Rohinton Mistry · 1995 · 0 lists
- 197
Witches Abroad
Terry Pratchett · 1991 · 0 lists
- 198
The Once and Future King
T.H. White · 1939 · 5 lists
- 199
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Eric Carle · 1929 · 0 lists
- 200
Flowers in the Attic
V. C. Andrews · 1979 · 0 lists
