Cleaning out an old desk can be tiresome but every so often you are rewarded with an unexpected treasure. An old letter you may have saved for sentimental value or knick-knack your child gave you one mother’s day long ago. One thing I found (which I had completely forgotten about) was this list of books I had printed from an old BBC article.
Evidently in my passion to read as many of these British authored books for a challenge, I printed the article and somehow filed it away in a notebook. BBC Culture polled book critics outside the UK, asking for “an outsider’s perspective on the best in British literature.” To quote:
“In search of a collective critical assessment, BBC Culture contributor Jane Ciabattari polled 82 book critics, from Australia to Zimbabwe – but none from the UK. This list includes no nonfiction, no plays, no narrative or epic poems (no Paradise Lost or Beowulf), no short story collections (no Morte D’Arthur) – novels only, by British authors (which means no James Joyce).”
Looking over the list I realize I have only read 10 and probably only reviewed The Sense of an Ending, at least on this blog. The Lord of the Rings (#26) is actually 3 books so I can count that off as I have read those as well as The Hobbit.
Since I found the list, I wanted to share and see how many I can read over the next several years. There are more books I want to devour but I am willing to revive this challenge and see where my interest lies. If I don’t finish one then I will note that too. Should be interesting.
Have you read any of the following and/or reviewed the books? I will be linking my reviews/thoughts as I tackle the list. The ones I have read previously and not reviewed are marked in Orange.
Here is the list!
100. The Code of the Woosters (PG Wodehouse, 1938)
99. There but for the (Ali Smith, 2011)
98. Under the Volcano (Malcolm Lowry,1947)
97. The Chronicles of Narnia (CS Lewis, 1949-1954)
96. Memoirs of a Survivor (Doris Lessing, 1974)
95. The Buddha of Suburbia (Hanif Kureishi, 1990)
94. The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner (James Hogg, 1824)
93. Lord of the Flies (William Golding, 1954)
92. Cold Comfort Farm (Stella Gibbons, 1932)
91. The Forsyte Saga (John Galsworthy, 1922)
90. The Woman in White (Wilkie Collins, 1859)
89. The Horse’s Mouth (Joyce Cary, 1944)
88. The Death of the Heart (Elizabeth Bowen, 1938)
87. The Old Wives’ Tale (Arnold Bennett,1908)
86. A Legacy (Sybille Bedford, 1956)
85. Regeneration Trilogy (Pat Barker, 1991-1995)
84. Scoop (Evelyn Waugh, 1938)
83. Barchester Towers (Anthony Trollope, 1857)
82. The Patrick Melrose Novels (Edward St Aubyn, 1992-2012)
81. The Jewel in the Crown (Paul Scott, 1966)
80. Excellent Women (Barbara Pym, 1952)
79. His Dark Materials (Philip Pullman, 1995-2000)
78. A House for Mr Biswas (VS Naipaul, 1961)
77. Of Human Bondage (W Somerset Maugham, 1915)
76. Small Island (Andrea Levy, 2004)
75. Women in Love (DH Lawrence, 1920)
74. The Mayor of Casterbridge (Thomas Hardy, 1886)
73. The Blue Flower (Penelope Fitzgerald, 1995)
72. The Heart of the Matter (Graham Greene, 1948)
71. Old Filth (Jane Gardam, 2004)
70. Daniel Deronda (George Eliot, 1876)
69. Nostromo (Joseph Conrad, 1904)
68. A Clockwork Orange (Anthony Burgess, 1962)
67. Crash (JG Ballard 1973)
66. Sense and Sensibility (Jane Austen, 1811)
65. Orlando (Virginia Woolf, 1928)
64. The Way We Live Now (Anthony Trollope, 1875)
63. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (Muriel Spark, 1961)
62. Animal Farm (George Orwell, 1945)
61. The Sea, The Sea (Iris Murdoch, 1978)
60. Sons and Lovers (DH Lawrence, 1913)
59. The Line of Beauty (Alan Hollinghurst, 2004)
58. Loving (Henry Green, 1945)
57. Parade’s End (Ford Madox Ford, 1924-1928)
56. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (Jeanette Winterson, 1985)
55. Gulliver’s Travels (Jonathan Swift, 1726)
54. NW (Zadie Smith, 2012)
53. Wide Sargasso Sea (Jean Rhys, 1966)
52. New Grub Street (George Gissing, 1891)
51. Tess of the d’Urbervilles (Thomas Hardy, 1891)
50. A Passage to India (EM Forster, 1924)
49. Possession (AS Byatt, 1990)
48. Lucky Jim (Kingsley Amis, 1954)
47. The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (Laurence Sterne, 1759)
46. Midnight’s Children (Salman Rushdie, 1981)
45. The Little Stranger (Sarah Waters, 2009)
44. Wolf Hall (Hilary Mantel, 2009)
43. The Swimming Pool Library (Alan Hollinghurst, 1988)
42. Brighton Rock (Graham Greene, 1938)
41. Dombey and Son (Charles Dickens, 1848)
40. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll, 1865)
39. The Sense of an Ending (Julian Barnes, 2011)
38. The Passion (Jeanette Winterson, 1987)
37. Decline and Fall (Evelyn Waugh, 1928)
36. A Dance to the Music of Time (Anthony Powell, 1951-1975)
35. Remainder (Tom McCarthy, 2005)
34. Never Let Me Go (Kazuo Ishiguro, 2005)
33. The Wind in the Willows (Kenneth Grahame, 1908)
32. A Room with a View (EM Forster, 1908)
31. The End of the Affair (Graham Greene, 1951)
30. Moll Flanders (Daniel Defoe, 1722)
29. Brick Lane (Monica Ali, 2003)
28. Villette (Charlotte Brontë, 1853)
27. Robinson Crusoe (Daniel Defoe, 1719)
26. The Lord of the Rings (JRR Tolkien, 1954)
25. White Teeth (Zadie Smith, 2000)
24. The Golden Notebook (Doris Lessing, 1962)
23. Jude the Obscure (Thomas Hardy, 1895)
22. The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (Henry Fielding, 1749)
21. Heart of Darkness (Joseph Conrad, 1899)
20. Persuasion (Jane Austen, 1817)
19. Emma (Jane Austen, 1815)
18. Remains of the Day (Kazuo Ishiguro, 1989)
17. Howards End (EM Forster, 1910)
16. The Waves (Virginia Woolf, 1931)
15. Atonement (Ian McEwan, 2001)
14. Clarissa (Samuel Richardson,1748)
13. The Good Soldier (Ford Madox Ford, 1915)
12. Nineteen Eighty-Four (George Orwell, 1949)
11. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen, 1813)
10. Vanity Fair (William Makepeace Thackeray, 1848)
9. Frankenstein (Mary Shelley, 1818)
8. David Copperfield (Charles Dickens, 1850)
7. Wuthering Heights (Emily Brontë, 1847)
6. Bleak House (Charles Dickens, 1853)
5. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Brontë, 1847)
4. Great Expectations (Charles Dickens, 1861)
3. Mrs. Dalloway (Virginia Woolf, 1925)
2. To the Lighthouse (Virginia Woolf, 1927)
1. Middlemarch (George Eliot, 1874)
Linking up with Joy’s British Isles Friday . As I slowly make my way through the list I will update.
Novel Meals 
I read a bunch of Doris Lessing in the 1980s, including The Golden Notebook, but I can’t remember if Memoirs of a Survivor was one of them. I read the Philip Pullman series. I’m pretty sure that I read all of Jane Austen (although, I’m not absolutely positive about Pride and Prejudice or Emma). I’ve read David Copperfield, Bleak House, and Great Expectations, but I think I missed Dombey and Son. I read Animal Farm and Gulliver’s Travels and Robinson Crusoe as a kid and I’m sure I didn’t really understand them at all. I probably did a bit better with Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland which I read more than once because my grandma gave me a copy. I’m pretty sure that I read Tess of the d’Urbervilles in high school and we read Heart of Darkness in English Literature. I read Vanity Fair in high school–it took me weeks and I don’t remember the story at all. I read Jane Eyre, more than once, in high school and Wuthering Heights, once, as an adult. I loved Possession. I’ve read some Graham Greene, but not The End of the Affair. I read Nineteen Eighty-Four in 1983, just because.
I think that’s it. I’m surprised both at how much I’ve read and how many of these I’ve missed. I’ve seen some as movies or television adaptions and I’m hapy enough with that — it will give me more time to read the ones that haven’t been filmed.
That was fun!
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I enjoyed your reply here, Joy – that was fun! I know I read some in high school, some in college (English major) but I wasn’t writing reviews and some are just very faded memories. I think this will take me a while to get through the list. There are so many books at home, not on this list, and I won’t neglect those while I try out this list.
After I finish my Nicci French novel I plan to get on Middlemarch sometime in February.
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It’s a good list. Total count of ones I’ve read is 69, but quite a few were for class assignments many years ago or reading to prepare for one exam or another. I’m too lazy to check on whether I’ve written any reviews.
best… mae at maefood.blogspot.com
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Many of mine were from past assignments as well. Once I start looking at the books I can do an accurate count. I needed a mission anyway 🙂
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I am amazed how varied this list is. I’ve read 25 of these, and my favourites were Cold Comfort Farm, The Wind in the Willows, Scoop, and Excellent Women, for what it’s worth!
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Thanks so much for chiming in here, Michelle. I don’t plan to read only these books back to back but I would like to read or revisit the ones I have read.
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I counted 32 that I have read for sure. There are others on the list I may have read but I am not sure. Several like Animal Farm I read in high school or university courses. And some we read in my book club. But most of them I read for my own enjoyment. There are lots more on the list I want to read so I will keep the list around to dip into periodically. Thanks for passing this along.
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Madeline, thanks for your comment! I am planning to get back on that list soon. Everything I had on hold at the library came in at once so, I am temporarily neglecting this list.
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