List :: The Big Read by BBC

  • The Lord of the Rings

    #1

    The Lord of the Rings

    by J. R. R. Tolkien

    (36 Reviews)

    Overall Rank: 11

    691 points

    "When Mr. Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton."

  • Pride and Prejudice

    #2

    Pride and Prejudice

    by Jane Austen

    (30 Reviews)

    Overall Rank: 19

    540 points

    "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."

  • His Dark Materials

    #3

    His Dark Materials

    by Philip Pullman

    (13 Reviews)

    Overall Rank: 63

    277 points

    "Lyra and her daemon moved through the darkening hall, taking care to keep to one side, out of sight of the kitchen. (Northern lights)Will tugged at his mother's hand and said, "Come on, come on..."..."

  • The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

    #4

    The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

    by Douglas Adams

    (28 Reviews)

    Overall Rank: 40

    344 points

    "Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun. Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-eight million..."

  • Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

    #5

    Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

    by J. K. Rowling

    (28 Reviews)

    Overall Rank: 204

    96 points

    "The villagers of Little Hangleton still called it 'the Riddle House', even though it had been many years since the Riddle family had lived there."

  • To Kill a Mockingbird

    #6

    To Kill a Mockingbird

    by Harper Lee

    (63 Reviews)

    Overall Rank: 10

    701 points

    "When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow."

  • Winnie-the-Pooh

    #7

    Winnie-the-Pooh

    by A. A. Milne

    (21 Reviews)

    Overall Rank: 31

    383 points

    "Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump, on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin."

  • Nineteen Eighty-Four

    #8

    Nineteen Eighty-Four

    by George Orwell

    (68 Reviews)

    Overall Rank: 3

    946 points

    "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen."

  • The Chronicles of Narnia

    #9

    The Chronicles of Narnia

    by C. S. Lewis

    (28 Reviews)

    Overall Rank: 27

    403 points

    "There is a story about something that happened long ago when your grandfather was a child. (From The Magician's Nephew, first in chronological order)Once there were four children whose names were..."

  • Jane Eyre

    #10

    Jane Eyre

    by Charlotte Brontë

    (34 Reviews)

    Overall Rank: 17

    562 points

    "There was no possibility of taking a walk that day. We had been wandering, indeed, in the leafless shrubbery an hour in the morning; but since dinner (Mrs. Reed, when there was no company, dined..."