Product Description

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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #395836 in Books
• Published on: 2003-10-20
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

Customer Reviews

Good if you're stuck for something to read
Lists the top 21 books and then the rest of the top 100 in order.
For each book, information on the author and a brief synopsis of the story is given, along with other background facts and curiosities, plenty of glossy photos, and details of screen adaptations. It also lists the titles of the books that came in places 100 to 200. If you are wondering what some of the books are about, or searching for a read I’m sure you’ll find something here to spark your interest.
One bad thing is that there are errors in the book with the years the authors lived. In my edition I noticed that quite a few authors seemed to live from 1908-1990, making me wonder if there had been a cull of writers in 1990. This is a misprint. One of the authors listed like this is Enid Blyton and she actually lived from 1897-1968. I don't know if the publishers have corrected this yet so be aware.

I found it useful indeed
A very useful book indeed I find it hard to visualise why anyone would give it only one star, as a catalogue it is useful and informative, and should have been welcomed, the program "the big read" was welcome , why not this book, it reflects the changes in the current tastes in reading material,as opposed to the past tastes and nothing should be forgotten that provides one with insight into changing patterns of thought

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.