I love this! I was aware of this survey list but hadn't looked at it this closely. Enjoyed this brief analysis of it. Very surprised by the lack of Christie & Doyle, I wonder if crime fiction just wasn't particularly popular 20 years ago and so the genre classics were a bit forgotten. This was pre BBC Sherlock, too. Happy to see Austen represented, and Terry Pratchett. I kind of want to do an analysis of lists like that but I definitely don't enjoy making spreadsheets. Would also be interesting to find similar "Top 100" lists from earlier decades and see how reading tastes have changed. By the way, I sent you an email a few weeks back, just wondering if you'd seen that.
Game of Thrones also missing due to being pre-tv show. I do feel like crime fiction comes in and out of fashion, i imagine Richard Osman has massively increased the sales in the genre. I just checked my emails but I don't think I got it, was it to aaronreadabook at gmail?
I remember this very well. TV in general does dramatisations of books but doesn't seem to cover books themselves or actual reading very much. Sky Art's book programme has gone by the wayside and the beeb's Between the Covers seems to have done likewise. So I look back fondly to The Big Read. I'd read 81 which was more than I thought, but then I'm into Terry Pratchett like you. To be honest I get all of my book appreciation viewing on RUclips these days and am very grateful to all you excellent Booktubers.
@@cathrussell2426 Looking back at all the programmes they made for it, there is certainly nothing like that now. I guess booktube is more than enough as it's pretty much endless, but you do have to specifically go looking for it.
I hear Prachett I sit up and listen. I also remember this coming out and every so often I dive back into it to plug some of the gaps in my reading. 84’s pretty impressive man. I need to do a current count. I reckon Christie probably suffers from how prolific she was. A lot of her more popular books might’ve split the vote. That being said, she’s always been someone I’ve intended to read but not gotten around to. I tend to just watch old episodes of David Suchet as Poirot instead.
Yeah that might partially explain Christie but And Then There Are None is in the top 5 best selling books ever. It may be that her peak was too far before this survey, plus she is never taught in school. There a couple of Pratchetts on there that I haven't read, I've not read all the Death books for a start, or the witches.
@@AaronReadABook just checked the list and my count is 48. Oof. There’s a lot of kids books on there and I never went through a classic children’s book phase so the Black Beauties and Secret Gardens and Swallows and Amazons passed me by. I also call bullshit on what people voted for. I refuse to accept that tens of thousands of people read and voted for Ulysses.
@@TheBookThing Ulysses is insanely high. I mostly missed classic kids books too, I've been catching up the last few years though and some are great. Can't see me smashing through all of Tracy Beaker though.
This is great. I’ve read 79 of these. Many of them would definitely not make the list today. I can’t see Kane and Able making it for example. Interesting how views change in 20 years 😊
I vaguely remember this too, though not really the whole campaign surrounding it. I went through the list and I've read 57 of them (all of the Pratchett of course!) - though some of the children's books were so far back in my childhood that I don't remember much about them besides having read them. It's a very weird and interesting list.
Yeah I suspect I can't remember every Pratchett I've read and perhaps some other stuff, if only 12-year-old me kept a spreadsheet! Looking on RUclips there were TV debates of things like Hitchhikers Vs Pratchett and stuff, it was a real effort to get people reading I guess.
@@AaronReadABook Interesting! I would've been staunchly in the Adams camp back then - but now, though I still have a deep fondness for Adams (he really influenced my sense of humour and inspired me to read in my teens), Pratchett has my vote. Oh yes, I wish my younger self had kept a spreadsheet too. So much forgotten "teenage boy sci-fi" (as my history teacher dismissively called it - I mean, I *was* a teenage boy, whaddya expect?!)
Very interesting! I am not in the UK, so I didn’t know about the Big read. I managed to reach the 25% mark with 50 books read, thanks to V.C. Andrews in the last spot. The absence of Agatha Christie is surprised. Like you say, it’s a very 2003 list. Many of these books had recently been made into movies. I suppose that if such a list was made now, the Bridgerton books or It Ends With Us would make an appearance.
@@bouquinsbooks Yeah I wonder if lord of the rings would be number 1 without the film, I suspect P&P might have beaten it. Game of Thrones would be in there now.
What an interesting list! I have read 57 of the books on the list. I just finished reading the His Dark Materials series to my daughter. The first one was great and by the last one I was hating every minute of reading it 😂
Holes made the list which I only know from your channel 😁 I've only read the first book of his dark materials but I loved it, have you watched any of the TV show?
@@AaronReadABook Holes is such a lovely book! I also loved the movie adaptation! I haven't watched any of the His Dark Materials adaptation but reading the last book in the trilogy really killed a lot of my enthusiasm for it 😅
Since they were asking about "novels," I don't think most people would think of Christie's books as "novels." As a reader in the US, I've read 64 on the list, mostly from the Victorians, some children's books and contemporary ones..(I had no idea who Jacqueline Wilson is; I had to look her up.)
I forgot to mention there was a popular TV show of Wilson's books here too, they seem very English so not surprised they didn't make it over seas. My favourite Victorian, Trollope, didn't make the top 200 and I don't think he would even now which is sad.
I do remember the Big Read, it was all over tv and radio. I've read 40 of the top 200. That's a poor showing. Interesting about Christie, then again maybe not completely surprising. For myself, I love her books, I read and re-read them, but if asked what my favourite all time book is I wouldn't name one of hers. Had to google Holes by Louis Sachar, never heard of that book. Interesting vid, thanks.
@@charlesbarrowbooks I actually saw Holes reviewed recently so I have only just heard about it. Yeah it would be strange to have one Christie as your favourite but I think that of a lot of these books, I guess being very super prolific works against her in a way.
I think there's no Agatha Christie because she wrote so many books, over 60 - and people will have different favourites, which spreads the votes.. Tolstoy has 2 really well known books in Engllsh: "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina", Jane Austen only wrote 6 superb ones - so no matter which of their books you favour, it's likely the votes will stack up. A list of favourite authors would let prolific and long career authors shine.
@@AaronReadABook Hmm. That's a point. At least Terry Pratchett wrote all his solo books on one world, Discworld - Agatha Christie possibly divided her fanbase between preference for Miss Marple or Poirot or several other less well known detectives.
I love this! I was aware of this survey list but hadn't looked at it this closely. Enjoyed this brief analysis of it. Very surprised by the lack of Christie & Doyle, I wonder if crime fiction just wasn't particularly popular 20 years ago and so the genre classics were a bit forgotten. This was pre BBC Sherlock, too. Happy to see Austen represented, and Terry Pratchett. I kind of want to do an analysis of lists like that but I definitely don't enjoy making spreadsheets. Would also be interesting to find similar "Top 100" lists from earlier decades and see how reading tastes have changed.
By the way, I sent you an email a few weeks back, just wondering if you'd seen that.
Game of Thrones also missing due to being pre-tv show. I do feel like crime fiction comes in and out of fashion, i imagine Richard Osman has massively increased the sales in the genre. I just checked my emails but I don't think I got it, was it to aaronreadabook at gmail?
@@AaronReadABook yes it was, I got the email from your channel page. Hang on, I'll send it again, probably ended up in spam or something.
I remember this very well. TV in general does dramatisations of books but doesn't seem to cover books themselves or actual reading very much. Sky Art's book programme has gone by the wayside and the beeb's Between the Covers seems to have done likewise. So I look back fondly to The Big Read. I'd read 81 which was more than I thought, but then I'm into Terry Pratchett like you. To be honest I get all of my book appreciation viewing on RUclips these days and am very grateful to all you excellent Booktubers.
@@cathrussell2426 Looking back at all the programmes they made for it, there is certainly nothing like that now. I guess booktube is more than enough as it's pretty much endless, but you do have to specifically go looking for it.
It is interesting to look back at old lists. l checked it out and I like that Papillon is on there. I still need to read that!
@@groovypoptartwashere I love the film, never heard much about the book.
I hear Prachett I sit up and listen.
I also remember this coming out and every so often I dive back into it to plug some of the gaps in my reading. 84’s pretty impressive man. I need to do a current count.
I reckon Christie probably suffers from how prolific she was. A lot of her more popular books might’ve split the vote. That being said, she’s always been someone I’ve intended to read but not gotten around to. I tend to just watch old episodes of David Suchet as Poirot instead.
Yeah that might partially explain Christie but And Then There Are None is in the top 5 best selling books ever. It may be that her peak was too far before this survey, plus she is never taught in school. There a couple of Pratchetts on there that I haven't read, I've not read all the Death books for a start, or the witches.
@@AaronReadABook just checked the list and my count is 48. Oof.
There’s a lot of kids books on there and I never went through a classic children’s book phase so the Black Beauties and Secret Gardens and Swallows and Amazons passed me by.
I also call bullshit on what people voted for. I refuse to accept that tens of thousands of people read and voted for Ulysses.
@@TheBookThing Ulysses is insanely high. I mostly missed classic kids books too, I've been catching up the last few years though and some are great. Can't see me smashing through all of Tracy Beaker though.
This is great. I’ve read 79 of these. Many of them would definitely not make the list today. I can’t see Kane and Able making it for example. Interesting how views change in 20 years 😊
@@RaynorReadsStuff I'm tempted to try Kane and Able for garbaugust now
"There's no way Demon Copperhead will be #1 in ten years." Say it louder for people in the back! 😅Great video, Aaron!
I've not read it but I'm pretty sure. It's depressing people can only think back one year 😁
I vaguely remember this too, though not really the whole campaign surrounding it. I went through the list and I've read 57 of them (all of the Pratchett of course!) - though some of the children's books were so far back in my childhood that I don't remember much about them besides having read them. It's a very weird and interesting list.
Yeah I suspect I can't remember every Pratchett I've read and perhaps some other stuff, if only 12-year-old me kept a spreadsheet! Looking on RUclips there were TV debates of things like Hitchhikers Vs Pratchett and stuff, it was a real effort to get people reading I guess.
@@AaronReadABook Interesting! I would've been staunchly in the Adams camp back then - but now, though I still have a deep fondness for Adams (he really influenced my sense of humour and inspired me to read in my teens), Pratchett has my vote.
Oh yes, I wish my younger self had kept a spreadsheet too. So much forgotten "teenage boy sci-fi" (as my history teacher dismissively called it - I mean, I *was* a teenage boy, whaddya expect?!)
Very interesting! I am not in the UK, so I didn’t know about the Big read. I managed to reach the 25% mark with 50 books read, thanks to V.C. Andrews in the last spot. The absence of Agatha Christie is surprised. Like you say, it’s a very 2003 list. Many of these books had recently been made into movies. I suppose that if such a list was made now, the Bridgerton books or It Ends With Us would make an appearance.
@@bouquinsbooks Yeah I wonder if lord of the rings would be number 1 without the film, I suspect P&P might have beaten it. Game of Thrones would be in there now.
Interesting 21 years later! 💛
Dickens is above Middlemarch you will be happy to know 😂
@@AaronReadABook He better be!!!!😃
What an interesting list! I have read 57 of the books on the list. I just finished reading the His Dark Materials series to my daughter. The first one was great and by the last one I was hating every minute of reading it 😂
Holes made the list which I only know from your channel 😁 I've only read the first book of his dark materials but I loved it, have you watched any of the TV show?
@@AaronReadABook Holes is such a lovely book! I also loved the movie adaptation! I haven't watched any of the His Dark Materials adaptation but reading the last book in the trilogy really killed a lot of my enthusiasm for it 😅
Since they were asking about "novels," I don't think most people would think of Christie's books as "novels."
As a reader in the US, I've read 64 on the list, mostly from the Victorians, some children's books and contemporary ones..(I had no idea who Jacqueline Wilson is; I had to look her up.)
I forgot to mention there was a popular TV show of Wilson's books here too, they seem very English so not surprised they didn't make it over seas. My favourite Victorian, Trollope, didn't make the top 200 and I don't think he would even now which is sad.
I counted 72 that I’ve read out of the 200. There’s a few that I really want to get to, but a large number I wouldn’t go near!
Some dodgy stuff on there, the general public isn't usually the best at judging a decent book.
I do remember the Big Read, it was all over tv and radio. I've read 40 of the top 200. That's a poor showing. Interesting about Christie, then again maybe not completely surprising. For myself, I love her books, I read and re-read them, but if asked what my favourite all time book is I wouldn't name one of hers. Had to google Holes by Louis Sachar, never heard of that book. Interesting vid, thanks.
@@charlesbarrowbooks I actually saw Holes reviewed recently so I have only just heard about it. Yeah it would be strange to have one Christie as your favourite but I think that of a lot of these books, I guess being very super prolific works against her in a way.
@@AaronReadABook You're right, of course, with 66 novels to choose from she's competing against herself and her votes get diluted.
I think there's no Agatha Christie because she wrote so many books, over 60 - and people will have different favourites, which spreads the votes.. Tolstoy has 2 really well known books in Engllsh: "War and Peace" and "Anna Karenina", Jane Austen only wrote 6 superb ones - so no matter which of their books you favour, it's likely the votes will stack up. A list of favourite authors would let prolific and long career authors shine.
@@heathergregg9975 true but Terry Pratchett also has many books and he got 14 or so on the list. So I still think it odd
@@AaronReadABook Hmm. That's a point. At least Terry Pratchett wrote all his solo books on one world, Discworld - Agatha Christie possibly divided her fanbase between preference for Miss Marple or Poirot or several other less well known detectives.