Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #160463 in Books
• Published on: 2003-10-20
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

Synopsis
Including all top 100 books as voted by the public, this title celebrates the nation's favourite reads. The "read behind the reads" helps us to discover just why these books are the nation's favourites. It includes everything from author features, to first manuscripts, original artworks, settings, celebrity favourites, fun facts and statistics. It also includes features for each of the nation's top 21 books.

Customer Reviews

Fantastic!
This book is fantastic. It gives a quick, positive, and entertaining introduction to 100 great books. If you're ever stuck for something to read this is the place to look - it's through this book that I finally read Dune, for which I can't be grateful enough. If you're already amazingly well-read you'll be pleased to hear that books that made the top 200 are also listed.

Interesting, informative and well illustrated.
"The Big Read" did exactly what I wanted it to do - it directed me to the best classical books so that I could fill this gap in my reading. (Yes, I've never read "Pride and Prejudice!) I was surprised how many classics were included. Most of the more current fiction appeared in the 101 to 200 section - don't miss this double page near the end of the book as it makes interesting reading.
The book was full of interesting facts and beautiful nostalgic photographs as well as many other snippets of fascinating information. Each page includes 'The Story in a Nutshell' and some guidelines to the theme of the book, as well as information about the author.
The reason I gave 4 stars, not 5, was that I'd have liked 100 best authors rather than 100 best books, multiple titles by JR Rowling, for example, meant that other excellent authors got pushed aside.

Very useful
This book contains infromation on the top 100 books in the Big Read. It has pages on each of the books and explains what the book is about, and tells a little bit about each author. This is worth buying even for someone who didn't watch the programme, as it provides an account of must-read books for everyone.