Top 200 books to read - As voted in the BBC Big Read discussion
Which book to read first?
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Samantha
(new)
Feb 15, 2014 11:57AM
Mod
reply
|
flag
Hi Samantha. Every time I choose which book to read I go with my heart and what I most want to read. Which book did you decide upon?
Mod
I try and go with my heart too!
Because of the list I have just read 'Rebecca' for the first time & it really struck a cord!
I hope the list is useful.
All the best
Samantha
Mod
Thought I better clarify!
Kind regards - Samantha
ive managed to read 94 out of 100 books since 2010. its a definite progress that will take time but is very enjoyable
Mod
That's brilliant! It definitely makes you read books that you might not have otherwise & I think that they will all be great reads as they have been voted as such!.....what is your favourite book, your recommended book & least favourite so far?
All the best Samantha
i had already read 40 odd of them when i started looking at the list. jane austen, tery ratchett, tolkein, george orwell i already loved.new books and authors i discovered\;
birdsong by sebastian faulks
rebecca by daphne du maurier
ken follet pillars of the earth
it also made me read tolstoy which was a bloody nightmare but can happily say its done lol
also finally read gormenghast mervyn peake
Mod
new books and authors i discovered\;
birdsong by sebasti..."
Rebecca was also a find with me, along with Little Women. I too am dreading Tolstoys War & Peace although it does have good reviews...massive!
I have read Pillars of the Earth twice & it is a favourite of mine. Birdsong I have read also & although I can't remember it I think I liked it at the time of reading!
Happy reading!
I've just finished watership down. I didn't like it really, its more of a war story than a 'nice tale about rabbits'.when I started in 2007 I was really eager to read every book on the list. I have since mellowed and realised that the Jacqueline Wilson books were voted for by the young girls who took part in the big read survey and that it's not worth my time reading. I did read about 5 and I felt it was a waste of time so regret it. I feel like if this survey was done today (I wish they'd do it every 10 years) that the classics and well established books would remain, but that most of the then popular Jacqueline Wilson books and others would not be there. My favourite books so far are Jane Eyre, pride and prejudice, a suitable boy and Captain Corelli's mandolin. These are the ones that immediately spring to mind.
I've not read Rebecca yet, but I have it on my bookshelf and look forward to reading it one day. I've got 3 books on the go at the moment and none are on the list (atlas shrugged, 7 habits of highly effective people and a book on aspergers). Although the big read list is still a lifetime goal, I go with what I feel like reading and don't restrict myself to the list anymore.
Hope you're all having fun :-)
once ive finished my genre challenge ill work more on finishing the last 6 books. problem is they are really hard to read. keep putting it off
finally finished bleak house by charles dickens. 5 more to go. god that was a hard slog. It will be time to tackle ulyssess next by james joyce. that will be worse.
Sophie wrote: "I've just finished watership down. I didn't like it really, its more of a war story than a 'nice tale about rabbits'.when I started in 2007 I was really eager to read every book on the list. I hav..."
I agree with a regular vote. top 100 of all time is not exactly accurate is it. in 2006 yes but not 2014. If you compare different top 100 lists, the guardian, telegraph, waterstones bbc most are similar in that the classics and great literature remain somewhat constant and other fashions come and go but once youve done the main bulk of the list i think it would be fun to maintain and update every year with the new books that have made the cut. I was doing this in Australia for a few years with the two main books stores there. It was so much fun and kept me up to date with the trends
Still stuck on ulyssess. make a couple of pages progress then get annoyed with it.
Samantha wrote: "Liz wrote: "i had already read 40 odd of them when i started looking at the list. jane austen, tery ratchett, tolkein, george orwell i already loved.new books and authors i discovered\;
birdson..."
If you got through pillars of the earth several time then war and peace will be ok. Read anna karenina first though will make it seem like a piece of cake.
Done with Ulysses and Katherine. HAted Ulysses but loved Katherine. It's following a period of history that I'm now reading about. How the war of the roses started with john of gaunt. Katherine is about his mistress. It's fantastic reading.
finished kane and abel by jeffery archer. now reading clan of the cave bear by jean auel.
Awesome. I've just finished Love in The Time of Cholera and hated it! I have 77 to go from the original 200; it's going well! Got 'How to be Well read' by John Sutherland for Christmas which supposedly lists 500 of the best novels - I'm not impressed with the list and won't be trying to conquer it.
How close to finishing the list are you guys? x
I've got one to go from top 100. Will tackle the next 100 later when I've done other challenfed
im now reading the one you hate sophie. not enjoying it so far. this could be a painful start to 2015
Looking at the next 100 I've already read 38 of them so 62 to go
Ha! I'm on Ulysses - the one that you hate... why do we do this to ourselves lol. At least love in a time of cholera is a good story, Ulysses is so far just completely mad... what the heck is it all about? From other reviews I fear its not going to get better, we must endure! lol.
Your hate is a better book than my hate. Still not really my thing but easier to follow and more interesting than Ulysses. There is no point to it at all when I read a summary of the book I was so angry. What a waste of my time and life. It's long and pointless. No point. And yet considered a great literary work. I don't know what's wrong with people. Rant over. Good luck
Finished the cholera book. That is all lol
Mod
Rebecca was great reading. War and pecs was good but my lack of historical knowledge of the period kept me from enjoying it more. Gone with the windows better than expected but still not a favourite. Will look out for the book you've just read
Rebecca was great reading. War and pecs was good but my lack of historical knowledge of the period kept me from enjoying it more. Gone with the windows better than expected but still not a favourite. Will look out for the book you've just read
Hi - I'm also trying to work my way through the list. I remember watching the programme when it was on in 2003 and hadn't read many at the time, but was only around 18 years old so thought I would catch up at some point. I tallied up my total at the start of 2014 and came up with a rather embarrassing total of 12 (although I think I started and gave up with at least a dozen others). I think people assume I am well read and I really do want to be, but I've given up with so many books and tended to stick with current popular fiction which would not be on the list.I got up to 25 by the end of 2014. I've switched to audiobooks instead of regular books halfway through the year which has greatly improved things (I'm a slow reader and also have a problem with the muscles around my eyes which makes it very difficult to read for long periods of time). I finally got over the 'audiobooks is cheating' thing and am much happier.
My aim is to do 25 each year for the ones that I can get as audiobooks. I'm not sure what to do about the ones which are not available in unabridged audiobook format - I might try to read them the traditional way which will take forever - but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. So I'm aiming for about 2 a month alongside my other books. I've done Perfume and Black Beauty this month. I might do Treasure Island and The Wind in the Willows for February (I'm generally starting with some of the shorter ones to keep things easy, although I have done Bleak House and David Copperfield already). If things go to plan, I'll be at 50 by the end of the year which seems far more respectable.
I'm also trying to tackle the Huffington Post's 30 Books to Read Before You're 30 (although I will probably skip the ones I cannot get as audiobooks). I turn 30 in October so I need to do a couple of those a month too - one which is the very long Infinite Jest. There's also various other books that I just want to read. I'm currently doing 12 Years a Slave (as my boyfriend is also reading this) and David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell. I just finished The Third Man which was excellent. But hopefully I will stay on course with the Big Read books.
Hi Anna. Welcome!
I love audiobooks! I figure as long as it's unabridged and is getting into my brain, what does it matter.
My method is to have several books on the go at once, hard copy book, kindle ebook and audiobook. It makes it fun and interesting.
Good luck!
Thanks Sophie. My boyfriend still says it's cheating - but I'm having too much fun to care. I agree with you, I'm still picturing the scenes as if I was reading the book and as long as it's unabridged I'm getting the full story.By the way, I (with the help of one of the nice super librarians) fixed the big read lists on listopia so they are now in the right order. I'm not sure if anyone here uses them. The top 100 is here: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2... The only disadvantage is that, now that it's a static list, it says that the average goodreads user has read 28 books out of the top 100. I'm still on 27 despite the fact that I have been specifically trying to read lots of them over the past year.
I decided to make a start on Jane Eyre in the end. It's the highest one on the list that I already own a copy of, and to be honest, probably the one that I'm most embarrassed to say I haven't read. Only about 5% done so far but I'm enjoying it.
Jane Eyre is my favourite book. Enjoy!
