So, in honor of that thought, I found a list on another blog that I watch, "Depict This," and she had a list of 100 top books according to BBC. Here they are, and I will share my thoughts on the ones that I have read~!
~ BBC’s Top 100 Reads ~
1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen (I adored this book. I was inspired to read it after watching the movie version [both versions, actually] and it is the epitome of romance and grace.)2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte (I really enjoyed this read. The storyline was a bit cliche at first, however it finally built up in the middle and carried on throughout the end on an exciting note!)
4. Harry Potter series - JK Rowling (Okay, who DOESN'T like Harry Potter?-I can think of quite a few people, actually...However, Harry Potter is one of the most magical and incredible series that I have read. Slytherin girl all the way :-) )
5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee (Pretty good read. My best friend ADORES this book and can quote entire passages from just about every page. One worth reading at least once.)
6. The Bible (My favorite book of all time. Hands down.)
7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11. Little Women - Louisa M Alcott (I read Little Men..does that count? I can say that Little Men, by the same author, was adorable as can be!)
12. Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thoms Hardy
13. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller (This book makes me unbelievably happy. Where can I start? This satirical war novel is hilarious, witty, hands-down on war and battles, and a VERY good read. Transitions can be rough, however the rough read can easily be forgotten by Heller's humor. I REALLY recommend this book.)
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare (Erm...haven't quite read his complete works...I have read Macbeth [shhh], Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Cesar, As You Like It, and Twelfth Night. Hamlet is my favorite tragedy, and Twelfth Night is my favorite comedy.)
15. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger (Crude at times, very profane, but a quick read and one to just say you've read it. I am sure that Mr. Salinger wrote better books in his lifetime, ones that are more worth reading, but this one is so short so, hey, why not give it a try?)
19. The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20. Middlemarch - George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck (I found this book to be a waste of my time and summer. I really loathe this book, and I would not recommend it. It certainly isn't one of the more..refined pieces of literature out there.)
29. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens (I have started it, have yet to finish.)
33. Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis (A series that I regrettably haven't finished, however I REALLY enjoy what I've read so far! I am super excited for the next movie installment because it will be my favorite of them all, The Magician's Nephew!)
34. Emma - Jane Austen
35. Persuasion - Jane Austen
36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis (A must read if not interested in the entire series but looking to read at least one.)
37. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Berniere
39. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40. Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne (Are you kidding me? Winnie the Pooh was my childhood. I still read this from time to time just to cheer myself up and revisit nostalgic memories.)
41. Animal Farm - George Orwell
42. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery (I've seen the movies with a good friend, however I have yet to read them...I own them all, so I'll definitely give them a shot in the future.)
47. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48. The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49. Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50. Atonement - Ian McEwan
51. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52. Dune - Frank Herbert
53. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley (I just finished reading this book a couple days ago, actually. It was a VERY good read, and I would recommend it! I was extremely skeptical at first, thinking that I would despise it with my entire being, however I found the book to be in good nature towards poking at society and its rules. Really, just read the book. You'll get what I mean.)
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck (Another book that I was skeptical of liking. This book is sad, very touching, a fast read and great to have on a reader's list.)
62. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov(I've seen the movie...Can't say that I'd like to read the book after watching it, though...)
63. The Secret History - Donna Tart
64. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66. On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69. Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick - Herman Melville (I liked it. A little boring at times, but I read this whilst in my pirate/sailor phase, so...)
71. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72. Dracula - Bram Stoker(I am a big fan of vampires, and this book is a definite favorite in my collection. I read it while sick from school one day, and it is one of the best reads I've had. The middle can be quite slow, especially during the epistolary section, however there are many seductive, exciting, thrilling moments that keep a reader glued to the book.)
73. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses - James Joyce
76. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78. Germinal - Emile Zola
79. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80. Possession - AS Byatt
81. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens (Yep, read it. Who hasn't? Saw the play as well. Really good!)
82. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83. The Color Purple - Alice Walker(I respect the author, and I respect the messages that she's trying to portray, however I hated this book.)
84. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87. Charlotte’s Web - EB White (Read it when I was a wee little girl. I think I liked it...)
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupéry
93. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94. Watership Down - Richard Adams
95. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98. Hamlet - William Shakespeare(MY FAVORITE SHAKESPEAREAN PLAY EVER! I LOVE THIS PLAY! It is so dark, deep, thought provoking and intense.)
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl (I saw both movies...)
100. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo (I own both the abridged and unabridged versions, however I couldn't get through the first fifty pages of the unabridged and switched to the abridged. Not only is Victor Hugo one of my favorite authors [thank you for Hunchback of Notre Dame, Monsieur Hugo!] but this is one of my favorite books/storylines/musicals. Beautiful, breathtaking musical based on an even more captivating novel. Hugo is one of the most influential authors, in my opinion, to have written literary works.
Well, we're done! Hope you enjoyed this! Tell me, what are your favorite books? I must admit that I was sad to not see "The Phantom of the Opera" by Gaston Leroux on here.
