The BBC's Top 100 Best-Loved Novels

The Search for Britain's Best Books

Feb 23, 2009

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Big Read survey, launched in April 2003, was initiated to determine the United Kingdom's "best-loved novel."

According to the BBC, three quarters of a million votes helped determine the Top 100 books in the "Big Read" survey. The results yield literary works that span centuries and genres, with some classics easily grabbing spots on the list, and some surprise upsets.

The Top Ten

A Closer Look: Winning Series

First and foremost, it's plain to see that the Brits surveyed truly enjoy their novel series. The winning novel, The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, has always been held in great esteem by readers of fantasy literature. Initially written as a one-volume follow-up to Tolkien's The Hobbit (which earned its own spot on the Big Read Top 100 list at #25), The Lord of the Rings was divided into three parts:

This classic tale of good versus evil garnered mixed reviews when initially published, but the recent film trilogy directed by Peter Jackson has introduced a new generation to the series, which may have lent to its renewed popularity and top-spot on the BBC list. The eighth book on the list, George Orwell's 1984, might also be considered a product of the fantasy genre, as it imagines a future world very different (or is it?) from the time when it was written.

Numbers three, four, five, seven and nine are also novels that are parts of series, with Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Winnie the Pooh, and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe written for children (but nonetheless, enjoyed and often beloved by all). Three other titles in the Harry Potter series also appear on the list, at numbers 22, 23, and 24.

From Jane Austen to Bridget Jones

The number two and number ten spots on the list are tales of women and love, predecessors to the modern "Chick Lit," the popularity of which sees The Bridget Jones Diary garnering a spot on the list at #75. Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice, as well as her works Persuasion (#38 on the list) and Emma (#40), are light-hearted and humorous (in fact, several references to Pride & Prejudice are made throughout the unapologetically witty Bridget Jones Diary), whereas Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre is written in a much more somber, serious tone.

Brits Like Their American Lit Served Classic

A classic American novel outlining class and race struggles in Alabama during the Great Depression earned the number six spot on the list. To Kill a Mockingbird is the highest-ranked American work on the list, yet it is not alone: Little Women (#18), Gone with the Wind (#21), and The Great Gatsby (#43) are only a handful of the American works that made the BBC list.

The list in its entirity can be found here. One can only wonder how many of the same titles might find their way onto a similar survey of American readers in the near future.

The copyright of the article The BBC's Top 100 Best-Loved Novels in World Literatures is owned by Brett McKenzie. Permission to republish The BBC's Top 100 Best-Loved Novels in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.