BBC's best British novels - Page 7

HarryT · 12-22-2015, 04:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Katsunami

To be honest, I think that won't ever change. The classics will stay on these lists because everybody says they should. It often looks as there isn't room for anything 'new'. For me, Lord of the Rings (1954) *definitely* should have been in that list, as well as Shogun (1975), and Mutiny on the Bounty (1932).

Well, in fairness LoTR was only one place outside the list; it was number 26.

Not sure I'd agree with you about "Shogun". Great story, but a great novel? To me it doesn't stand out from the crowd of other good adventure stories. Is it a classic? Probably too soon to say.

issybird · 01-10-2016, 10:13 AM

The two books on the list I haven't read, Clarissa and White Teeth, turned out to be the least read overall. I doubt I'll ever read Clarissa as it's so long, but I'm currently reading a book of essays by Zadie Smith to try to close that particular gap.

I'm quite surprised by two other books that got little love. The Golden Notebook was something of a required text for those of a feminist bent in my salad days and The Good Soldier probably makes my top-three novels list.

No real surprise that Nineteen Eighty-four is the most popular. It's accessible and has the effect of making people feel as if they're smarter than they really are.

I always thought it overrated and then discovered recently in a book club read that Orwell had ripped off an earlier Russian novel, We by Eugene Zamiatin. I think Orwell's non-fiction is wonderful and I like some of his less popular novels; I'm just not that fond of his two biggies.

pdurrant · 01-10-2016, 10:36 AM

The five most read (by MobileRead members) that I haven't read are:

Jane Eyre
Frankenstein
Great Expectations
Wuthering Heights
David Copperfield

I think I shall have to try to give them a go over the next year.

Barty · 01-10-2016, 06:18 PM

Interesting that no children's book author made top 25. Unless you consider Orwell's fiction juvenile

View Poll Results: Which of these "25 Best British Novels" have you read?
Middlemarch (George Eliot, 1874)	31	25.83%
To the Lighthouse (Virginia Woolf, 1927)	25	20.83%
Mrs Dalloway (Virginia Woolf, 1925)	24	20.00%
Great Expectations (Charles Dickens, 1861)	64	53.33%
Jane Eyre (Charlotte Brontë, 1847)	68	56.67%
Bleak House (Charles Dickens, 1853)	32	26.67%
Wuthering Heights (Emily Brontë, 1847)	63	52.50%
David Copperfield (Charles Dickens, 1850)	46	38.33%
Frankenstein (Mary Shelley, 1818)	67	55.83%
Vanity Fair (William Makepeace Thackeray, 1848)	19	15.83%
Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen, 1813)	76	63.33%
Nineteen Eighty-four (George Orwell, 1949)	97	80.83%
The Good Soldier (Ford Madox Ford, 1915)	12	10.00%
Clarissa (Samuel Richardson, 1748)	5	4.17%
Atonement (Ian McEwan, 2001)	22	18.33%
The Waves (Virginia Woolf, 1931)	11	9.17%
Howards End (EM Forster, 1910)	25	20.83%
The Remains of the Day (Kazuo Ishiguro, 1989)	29	24.17%
Emma (Jane Austen, 1815)	49	40.83%
Persuasion (Jane Austen, 1817)	49	40.83%
Heart of Darkness (Joseph Conrad, 1899)	44	36.67%
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (Henry Fielding, 1749)	23	19.17%
Jude the Obscure (Thomas Hardy, 1895)	17	14.17%
The Golden Notebook (Doris Lessing, 1962)	10	8.33%
White Teeth (Zadie Smith, 2000)	9	7.50%
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 120. You may not vote on this poll

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01-10-2016, 10:13 AM	#92
issybird o saeclum infacetum Posts: 21,295 Karma: 234636059 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: New England Device: Mini, H2O, Glo HD, Aura One, PW4, PW5	The two books on the list I haven't read, Clarissa and White Teeth, turned out to be the least read overall. I doubt I'll ever read Clarissa as it's so long, but I'm currently reading a book of essays by Zadie Smith to try to close that particular gap. I'm quite surprised by two other books that got little love. The Golden Notebook was something of a required text for those of a feminist bent in my salad days and The Good Soldier probably makes my top-three novels list. No real surprise that Nineteen Eighty-four is the most popular. It's accessible and has the effect of making people feel as if they're smarter than they really are. I always thought it overrated and then discovered recently in a book club read that Orwell had ripped off an earlier Russian novel, We by Eugene Zamiatin. I think Orwell's non-fiction is wonderful and I like some of his less popular novels; I'm just not that fond of his two biggies.

01-10-2016, 10:36 AM	#93
pdurrant The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠 Posts: 73,948 Karma: 315160596 Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Norfolk, England Device: Kindle Oasis	The five most read (by MobileRead members) that I haven't read are: Jane Eyre Frankenstein Great Expectations Wuthering Heights David Copperfield I think I shall have to try to give them a go over the next year.

01-10-2016, 06:18 PM	#94
Barty doofus Posts: 2,549 Karma: 13089041 Join Date: Sep 2010 Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kindle Voyage	Interesting that no children's book author made top 25. Unless you consider Orwell's fiction juvenile

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