BBC 100 really odd books list
Sep. 11th, 2007 12:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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chiller
This is one of those odd top N lists. This time it's the BBC's view on what one ought to have read. The one's I've read are bolded and mostly commented on.
1.The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien I read this as a child and enjoyed it. I didn't enjoy rereading it as an adult and I hated the first film.
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen I love Jane Austen and P&P may be my favourite. Then again I love Persuasion too.
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman.
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams - wickedly funny and far subtly than some people realise I think.
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne - I love Eeore.
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell- Orwell is one of the great prose stylists of all time as well as a brilliant social commentator. I think 1984 is his best novel and is one for the ages.
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis- read it as a kid. Liked it then. Read other Lewis later. Not so impressed.
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë - Classic.
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller - Notably for one or two moents of real humour. A serious student of American military performance since 1941 could probably get a lot out of this book.
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë - It's hard not to be prejudiced by the dreadful TV and movie versions because the book is pretty darn good.
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier- I like DuMaurier a lot. Maybe it's partly that Cornwall is a place I'm always going back to. Perhaps it's her ability to evoke a time and place.
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger - I'm sure I've read this but can't remember a damn thing.
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 BernieresThere don't seem to be many books about the Italian experience in WW2. This is one and very good it is too.
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy - I've read it three times. It is long and complicated but utterly worthwhile if you can keep track of who's who.
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling - Read it because my son was reading it. OK kid's book. Don't see what all the fuss is about.
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 - Another OK kid's book.
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy - Thomas Hardy - How I loathe thee.
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck-There aren't many American authors I really admire but Steinbeck is one of them. The final scene in GoW is unforgettable.
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 - If this had been written by someone with more 'big L' literary credentials than Follett it would be considered a masterpiece.
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens - So I had a Dickens phase. Shoot me.
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute - Shute is rather out of fashion. It's a pity.
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen - see P&P above.
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 Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh - Not Waugh's best. The cripp;ling Catholic/Fascist preachiness gets the better of him.
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell - I aspire to be Snowball but I fear I have the makings of a Napoleon.
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy - Is this the one about sheep?
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 Dah
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome - I read all the S&A stuff as a kid without every really getting it. Maybe it was just too alien a social milieu.
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 - I've read all of Fowles and like him a lot as a writer. He seems to have sunk somewhat into obscurity.
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett - The one Pratchett I've read though I've listened to most of the audiobook abridged versions. I think Pratchett has grown on me and I might read some more.
.
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding- I've read all of Golding and this isn't my favourite though I think it's a very good, very powerful book. I do think it's a shame that hardly anyone reads any of his other books.
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind - Creepy and compelling. Love it.
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell - Does anyone read this anymore? They should. It's the perfect antidote to the Reagan/Thatcher crock o' shit we've had pushed down our throat since the 80s.
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt - I've read the Procopius version.
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins - classic Victorian sensationalism. Delicious. Also The Moonstone.
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 - I tried. Unreadable.
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley - Classic dystopia. excellent
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons - Sly, witty, cultured and has some of the best pen portraits of characters ever.
89. Magician, Raymond E Feis
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
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 - The first Rushdie I read and one of the best. Shame is pretty good too.
chillerThis is one of those odd top N lists. This time it's the BBC's view on what one ought to have read. The one's I've read are bolded and mostly commented on.
1.The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien I read this as a child and enjoyed it. I didn't enjoy rereading it as an adult and I hated the first film.
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen I love Jane Austen and P&P may be my favourite. Then again I love Persuasion too.
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman.
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams - wickedly funny and far subtly than some people realise I think.
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne - I love Eeore.
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell- Orwell is one of the great prose stylists of all time as well as a brilliant social commentator. I think 1984 is his best novel and is one for the ages.
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis- read it as a kid. Liked it then. Read other Lewis later. Not so impressed.
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë - Classic.
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller - Notably for one or two moents of real humour. A serious student of American military performance since 1941 could probably get a lot out of this book.
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë - It's hard not to be prejudiced by the dreadful TV and movie versions because the book is pretty darn good.
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier- I like DuMaurier a lot. Maybe it's partly that Cornwall is a place I'm always going back to. Perhaps it's her ability to evoke a time and place.
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger - I'm sure I've read this but can't remember a damn thing.
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 BernieresThere don't seem to be many books about the Italian experience in WW2. This is one and very good it is too.
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy - I've read it three times. It is long and complicated but utterly worthwhile if you can keep track of who's who.
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling - Read it because my son was reading it. OK kid's book. Don't see what all the fuss is about.
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 - Another OK kid's book.
26. Tess Of The D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy - Thomas Hardy - How I loathe thee.
27. Middlemarch, George Eliot
28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving
29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck-There aren't many American authors I really admire but Steinbeck is one of them. The final scene in GoW is unforgettable.
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 - If this had been written by someone with more 'big L' literary credentials than Follett it would be considered a masterpiece.
34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens - So I had a Dickens phase. Shoot me.
35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl
36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute - Shute is rather out of fashion. It's a pity.
38. Persuasion, Jane Austen - see P&P above.
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 Dumas
45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh - Not Waugh's best. The cripp;ling Catholic/Fascist preachiness gets the better of him.
46. Animal Farm, George Orwell - I aspire to be Snowball but I fear I have the makings of a Napoleon.
47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy - Is this the one about sheep?
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 Dah
57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome - I read all the S&A stuff as a kid without every really getting it. Maybe it was just too alien a social milieu.
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 - I've read all of Fowles and like him a lot as a writer. He seems to have sunk somewhat into obscurity.
68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett - The one Pratchett I've read though I've listened to most of the audiobook abridged versions. I think Pratchett has grown on me and I might read some more.
.
70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding- I've read all of Golding and this isn't my favourite though I think it's a very good, very powerful book. I do think it's a shame that hardly anyone reads any of his other books.
71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind - Creepy and compelling. Love it.
72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell - Does anyone read this anymore? They should. It's the perfect antidote to the Reagan/Thatcher crock o' shit we've had pushed down our throat since the 80s.
73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett
74. Matilda, Roald Dahl
75. Bridget Jones's Diary, Helen Fielding
76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt - I've read the Procopius version.
77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins - classic Victorian sensationalism. Delicious. Also The Moonstone.
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 - I tried. Unreadable.
85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson
87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley - Classic dystopia. excellent
88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons - Sly, witty, cultured and has some of the best pen portraits of characters ever.
89. Magician, Raymond E Feis
90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac
91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo
92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel
93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett
94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
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 - The first Rushdie I read and one of the best. Shame is pretty good too.
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Date: 2007-09-11 05:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-11 06:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-11 06:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-11 08:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-11 09:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-11 11:21 pm (UTC)I've read a lot more of the chiildren's books - but then I see it as part of the job. I get a lot of mileage being able to discuss what happened to Dobby with my eleven-year-olds at present.
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Date: 2007-09-12 11:31 am (UTC)