The Big Read

This is one of the 743 lists we use to generate our main The Greatest Books list.

About this list

BBC, 200 Books

The Big Read was a survey on books carried out by the BBC in the United Kingdom in 2003, where over three-quarters of a million votes were received from the British public to find the nation's best-loved novel. The year-long survey was the biggest single test of public reading taste to date, and culminated with several programmes hosted by celebrities, advocating their favourite books.

This list was originally published in 2003 and was added to this site over 2 years ago.

View: List Grid Table
Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
17 The Lord Of The Rings J. R. R. Tolkien 1959 English English
12 Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen 1813 British English
397 His Dark Materials Philip Pullman 1995 British English
190 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Adams 1979 British English
1841 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire J. K. Rowling 2000 British English
16 To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee 1960 American English
164 Winnie the Pooh A. A. Milne 1926 British English
6 Nineteen Eighty Four George Orwell 1949 British English
379 The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe C. S. Lewis 1950 British English
28 Jane Eyre Charlotte Brontë 1847 British English
33 Catch-22 Joseph Heller 1961 American English
15 Wuthering Heights Emily Brontë 1847 British English
1083 Birdsong Sebastian Faulks 1993 British English
59 Rebecca Daphne du Maurier 1938 British English
4 The Catcher in the Rye J. D. Salinger 1951 American English
139 The Wind in the Willows Kenneth Grahame 1908 British English
38 Great Expectations Charles Dickens 1860 British English
93 Little Women Louisa May Alcott 1868 American English
1932 Corelli's Mandolin Louis de Bernières 1994 British English
13 War and Peace Leo Tolstoy 1869 Russian Russian
58 Gone With the Wind Margaret Mitchell 1936 American English
236 Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone J. K. Rowling 1997 British English
2134 Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets J. K. Rowling 1998 British English
1013 Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban J. K. Rowling 1999 British English
146 The Hobbit J. R. R. Tolkien 1937 British English
118 Tess of the d'Urbervilles Thomas Hardy 1891 British English
30 Middlemarch George Eliot 1871 British English
530 A Prayer for Owen Meany John Irving 1989 American English
26 The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck 1939 American English
35 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Lewis Carroll 1865 British English
6122 The Story of Tracy Beaker Jacqueline Wilson 1991 British English
5 One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel García Márquez 1967 Colombian Spanish
588 The Pillars Of The Earth Ken Follett 1989 British English
47 David Copperfield Charles Dickens 1849 British English
1376 Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl 1964 British English
115 Treasure Island Robert Louis Stevenson 1883 British English
878 A Town Like Alice Nevil Shute 1950 British English
193 Persuasion Jane Austen 1817 British English
100 Dune Frank Herbert 1965 American English
84 Emma Jane Austen 1815 British English
250 Anne of Green Gables L. M. Montgomery 1908 Canadian English
229 Watership Down Richard Adams 1972 British English
3 The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald 1925 American English
87 The Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas 1844 French French
141 Brideshead Revisited Evelyn Waugh 1945 British English
55 Animal Farm George Orwell 1945 British English
216 A Christmas Carol Charles Dickens 1843 British English
672 Far from the Madding Crowd Thomas Hardy 1874 British English
2276 Goodnight Mister Tom Michelle Magorian 1981 British English
2102 The Shell Seekers Rosamunde Pilcher 1987 British English
814 The Secret Garden Frances Hodgson Burnett 1911 British English
170 Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck 1937 American English
276 The Stand Stephen King 1978 American English
10 Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy 1877 Russian Russian
748 A Suitable Boy Vikram Seth 1993 Indian English
1397 The BFG Roald Dahl 1982 British English
3076 Swallows and Amazons Arthur Ransome 1930 British English
508 Black Beauty Anna Sewell 1877 British English
6879 Artemis Fowl Eoin Colfer 2001 Irish English
11 Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoevsky 1866 Russian Russian
2160 Noughts and Crosses Malorie Blackman 2001 British English
2020 Memoirs of a Geisha Arthur Golden 1997 American English
192 A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens 1859 British English
764 The Thorn Birds Colleen McCullough 1977 Australian English
8127 Mort Terry Pratchett 1987 British English
3204 The Magic Faraway Tree Enid Blyton 1943 British English
448 The Magus John Fowles 1965 British English
2212 Good Omens Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman 1990 British English
8334 Guards! Guards! Terry Pratchett 1989 British English
50 Lord of the Flies William Golding 1954 British English
511 Perfume Patrick Suskind 1985 German German
492 The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists Robert Tressell, Peter Miles 1914 British English
9345 Night Watch Terry Pratchett 2002 British English
1343 Matilda Roald Dahl 1988 British English
638 Bridget Jones's Diary Helen Fielding 1996 British English
278 The Secret History Donna Tartt 1992 American English
138 The Woman in White Wilkie Collins 1860 British English
1 Ulysses James Joyce 1922 Irish English
128 Bleak House Charles Dickens 1852 British English
10798 Double Act Jacqueline Wilson 1995 British English
1404 The Twits Roald Dahl 1980 British English
575 I Capture the Castle Dodie Smith 1948 British English
5222 Holes Louis Sachar 1998 American English
525 Gormenghast Mervyn Peake 1950 British English
358 The God of Small Things Arundhati Roy 1997 Indian English
11451 Vicky Angel Jacqueline Wilson 2000 British English
51 Brave New World Aldous Huxley 1932 British English
480 Cold Comfort Farm Stella Gibbons 1932 British English
3553 Magician Raymond E. Feist 1982 American English
42 On the Road Jack Kerouac 1957 American English
240 The Godfather Mario Puzo 1969 American English
2148 The Clan of the Cave Bear Jean M. Auel 1980 American English
1624 The Colour of Magic Terry Pratchett 1983 British English
389 The Alchemist Paulo Coelho 1988 Brazilian Portuguese
1862 Katherine Anya Seton 1954 American English
2960 Kane and Abel Jeffrey Archer 1979 British English
168 Love in the Time of Cholera Gabriel García Márquez 1985 Colombian Spanish
11040 Girls In Love Jacqueline Wilson 1997 British English
4060 The Princess Diaries Meg Cabot 2000 American English
64 Midnight's Children Salman Rushdie 1981 Indian English
781 Three Men in a Boat Jerome K. Jerome 1889 British English
7080 Small Gods Terry Pratchett 1992 British English
3812 The Beach Alex Garland 1996 British English
53 Dracula Bram Stoker 1897 British English
11778 Point Blanc Anthony Horowitz 2001 British English
275 The Pickwick Papers Charles Dickens 1836 British English
9048 Stormbreaker Anthony Horowitz 2000 British English
1208 The Wasp Factory Iain Banks 1984 British English
412 The Day of the Jackal Frederick Forsyth 1971 British English
11331 The Illustrated Mum Jacqueline Wilson 1999 British English
285 Jude the Obscure Thomas Hardy 1895 British English
1739 The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4 Sue Townsend 1982 British English
2309 The Cruel Sea Nicholas Monsarrat 1951 British English
40 Les Misérables Victor Hugo 1862 French French
356 The Mayor of Casterbridge Thomas Hardy 1886 British English
11492 The Dare Game Jacqueline Wilson 2000 British English
10971 Bad Girls Jacqueline Wilson 1996 British English
88 The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde 1890 Irish English
1644 Shogun James Clavell 1975 British English
916 The Day of the Triffids John Wyndham 1951 British English