From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
2019 British list of literary works
On 5 November 2019, the
BBC
published a list of novels selected by a panel of six writers and critics, who had been asked to choose 100 English language novels "that have had an impact on their lives".
[1]
The resulting list of "100 novels that shaped our world",
[1]
called the "100 'most inspiring' novels" by
BBC News
,
[2]
was published by the BBC to kick off a year of celebrating literature.
[2]
[3]
The list triggered comments from critics and other news agencies. News agencies from outside the
United Kingdom
, like Canadian broadcaster
CBC News
and Nigerian news website
Legit.ng
, profiled authors with works included in the list who were nationals of their countries.
[4]
[5]
The Guardian
noted surprising titles missing from the list, like
Moby-Dick
(1851),
[6]
and writing in
The Daily Telegraph
, Jake Kerridge called it "a short-sighted list that will please nobody."
[7]
The BBC relied on six experts:
Stig Abell
,
Mariella Frostrup
,
Juno Dawson
,
Kit de Waal
,
Alexander McCall Smith
and
Syima Aslam
.
[4]
[6]
The CBC characterized the panel as composed of "writers, curators and critics".
[4]
According to
The Guardian
, the list commemorated the publication of
Robinson Crusoe
(1719), 300 years earlier ? "widely seen as the progenitor of the English-language novel".
[6]
The panel broke their list into ten categories of ten items each and includes a few
comic books
among them.
[1]
On 5 November 2019 the BBC published a list of the 100 'most inspiring' novels
[2]
Title
|
Author
|
First
published
[8]
|
BBC
category
|
Author's
nationality
|
Beloved
|
Toni Morrison
|
1987
|
Identity
|
American
|
Days Without End
|
Sebastian Barry
|
2016
|
Identity
|
Irish
|
Fugitive Pieces
|
Anne Michaels
|
1996
|
Identity
|
Canadian
|
Half of a Yellow Sun
|
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
|
2006
|
Identity
|
Nigerian
|
Homegoing
|
Yaa Gyasi
|
2016
|
Identity
|
Ghanaian-American
|
Small Island
|
Andrea Levy
|
2004
|
Identity
|
British
|
The Bell Jar
|
Sylvia Plath
|
1963
|
Identity
|
American
|
The God of Small Things
|
Arundhati Roy
|
1997
|
Identity
|
Indian
|
Things Fall Apart
|
Chinua Achebe
|
1958
|
Identity
|
Nigerian
|
White Teeth
|
Zadie Smith
|
2000
|
Identity
|
British
|
Bridget Jones's Diary
|
Helen Fielding
|
1996
|
Love, Sex & Romance
|
British
|
Forever...
|
Judy Blume
|
1975
|
Love, Sex & Romance
|
American
|
Giovanni's Room
|
James Baldwin
|
1956
|
Love, Sex & Romance
|
American
|
Pride and Prejudice
|
Jane Austen
|
1813
|
Love, Sex & Romance
|
British
|
Riders
|
Jilly Cooper
|
1985
|
Love, Sex & Romance
|
British
|
Their Eyes Were Watching God
|
Zora Neale Hurston
|
1937
|
Love, Sex & Romance
|
American
|
The Far Pavilions
|
M. M. Kaye
|
1978
|
Love, Sex & Romance
|
British
|
The Forty Rules of Love
|
Elif Shafak
|
2009
|
Love, Sex & Romance
|
Turkish
|
The Passion
|
Jeanette Winterson
|
1987
|
Love, Sex & Romance
|
British
|
The Slaves of Solitude
|
Patrick Hamilton
|
1947
|
Love, Sex & Romance
|
British
|
City of Bohane
|
Kevin Barry
|
2011
|
Adventure
|
Irish
|
Eye of the Needle
|
Ken Follett
|
1978
|
Adventure
|
British
|
For Whom the Bell Tolls
|
Ernest Hemingway
|
1940
|
Adventure
|
American
|
His Dark Materials
(trilogy)
|
Philip Pullman
|
1995
|
Adventure
|
British
|
Ivanhoe
|
Walter Scott
|
1819
|
Adventure
|
British
|
Mr Standfast
|
John Buchan
|
1919
|
Adventure
|
British
|
The Big Sleep
|
Raymond Chandler
|
1939
|
Adventure
|
American
|
The Hunger Games
|
Suzanne Collins
|
2008
|
Adventure
|
American
|
The Jack Aubrey Novels
(series)
|
Patrick O’Brian
|
1969
|
Adventure
|
British
|
The Lord of the Rings
|
J. R. R. Tolkien
|
1954
|
Adventure
|
British
|
A Game of Thrones
|
George R. R. Martin
|
1996
|
Life, Death & Other Worlds
|
American
|
Astonishing the Gods
|
Ben Okri
|
1995
|
Life, Death & Other Worlds
|
Nigerian
|
Dune
|
Frank Herbert
|
1966
|
Life, Death & Other Worlds
|
American
|
Frankenstein
|
Mary Shelley
|
1818
|
Life, Death & Other Worlds
|
British
|
Gilead
|
Marilynne Robinson
|
2004
|
Life, Death & Other Worlds
|
American
|
The Chronicles of Narnia
(series)
|
C. S. Lewis
|
1950
|
Life, Death & Other Worlds
|
British
|
Discworld
(series)
|
Terry Pratchett
|
1983
|
Life, Death & Other Worlds
|
British
|
Earthsea
(trilogy)
|
Ursula K. Le Guin
|
1968
|
Life, Death & Other Worlds
|
American
|
The Sandman series
(comic book)
|
Neil Gaiman
|
1989
|
Life, Death & Other Worlds
|
British
|
The Road
|
Cormac McCarthy
|
2006
|
Life, Death & Other Worlds
|
American
|
A Thousand Splendid Suns
|
Khaled Hosseini
|
2007
|
Politics, Power & Protest
|
Afghan-American
|
Brave New World
|
Aldous Huxley
|
1932
|
Politics, Power & Protest
|
British
|
Home Fire
|
Kamila Shamsie
|
2017
|
Politics, Power & Protest
|
British
|
Lord of the Flies
|
William Golding
|
1954
|
Politics, Power & Protest
|
British
|
Noughts & Crosses
|
Malorie Blackman
|
2001
|
Politics, Power & Protest
|
British
|
Strumpet City
|
James Plunkett
|
1969
|
Politics, Power & Protest
|
Irish
|
The Color Purple
|
Alice Walker
|
1982
|
Politics, Power & Protest
|
American
|
To Kill a Mockingbird
|
Harper Lee
|
1960
|
Politics, Power & Protest
|
American
|
V for Vendetta
(comic book)
|
Alan Moore
|
1982
|
Politics, Power & Protest
|
British
|
Unless
|
Carol Shields
|
2002
|
Politics, Power & Protest
|
Canadian
|
A House for Mr Biswas
|
V. S. Naipaul
|
1961
|
Class & Society
|
Trinidadian
|
Cannery Row
|
John Steinbeck
|
1945
|
Class & Society
|
American
|
Disgrace
|
J.M. Coetzee
|
1999
|
Class & Society
|
South-African
|
Our Mutual Friend
|
Charles Dickens
|
1864
|
Class & Society
|
British
|
Poor Cow
|
Nell Dunn
|
1967
|
Class & Society
|
British
|
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning
|
Alan Sillitoe
|
1958
|
Class & Society
|
British
|
The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne
|
Brian Moore
|
1955
|
Class & Society
|
British-Canadian
|
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
|
Muriel Spark
|
1961
|
Class & Society
|
British
|
The Remains of the Day
|
Kazuo Ishiguro
|
1989
|
Class & Society
|
British
|
Wide Sargasso Sea
|
Jean Rhys
|
1966
|
Class & Society
|
British
|
Emily of New Moon
|
L. M. Montgomery
|
1923
|
Coming of Age
|
Canadian
|
Golden Child
|
Claire Adam
|
2019
|
Coming of Age
|
Trinidadian
|
Oryx and Crake
|
Margaret Atwood
|
2003
|
Coming of Age
|
Canadian
|
So Long, See You Tomorrow
|
William Maxwell
|
1979
|
Coming of Age
|
American
|
Swami and Friends
|
R. K. Narayan
|
1935
|
Coming of Age
|
Indian
|
The Country Girls
|
Edna O’Brien
|
1960
|
Coming of Age
|
Irish
|
Harry Potter
(series)
|
J. K. Rowling
|
1997
|
Coming of Age
|
British
|
The Outsiders
|
S. E. Hinton
|
1967
|
Coming of Age
|
American
|
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 ¾
|
Sue Townsend
|
1982
|
Coming of Age
|
British
|
Twilight
(series)
|
Stephenie Meyer
|
2005
|
Coming of Age
|
American
|
A Suitable Boy
|
Vikram Seth
|
1993
|
Family & Friendship
|
Indian
|
Ballet Shoes
|
Noel Streatfeild
|
1935
|
Family & Friendship
|
British
|
Cloudstreet
|
Tim Winton
|
1991
|
Family & Friendship
|
Australian
|
Cold Comfort Farm
|
Stella Gibbons
|
1932
|
Family & Friendship
|
British
|
I Capture the Castle
|
Dodie Smith
|
1948
|
Family & Friendship
|
British
|
Middlemarch
|
George Eliot
|
1871
|
Family & Friendship
|
British
|
Tales of the City
|
Armistead Maupin
|
1978
|
Family & Friendship
|
American
|
The Shipping News
|
E. Annie Proulx
|
1993
|
Family & Friendship
|
American
|
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
|
Anne Bronte
|
1848
|
Family & Friendship
|
British
|
The Witches
|
Roald Dahl
|
1983
|
Family & Friendship
|
British
|
American Tabloid
|
James Ellroy
|
1995
|
Crime & Conflict
|
American
|
American War
|
Omar El Akkad
|
2017
|
Crime & Conflict
|
Egyptian-Canadian
|
Ice Candy Man
|
Bapsi Sidhwa
|
1988
|
Crime & Conflict
|
British
|
Rebecca
|
Daphne du Maurier
|
1938
|
Crime & Conflict
|
British
|
Regeneration
|
Pat Barker
|
1991
|
Crime & Conflict
|
British
|
The Children of Men
|
P.D. James
|
1992
|
Crime & Conflict
|
British
|
The Hound of the Baskervilles
|
Arthur Conan Doyle
|
1901
|
Crime & Conflict
|
British
|
The Reluctant Fundamentalist
|
Mohsin Hamid
|
2007
|
Crime & Conflict
|
Pakistani
|
The Talented Mr. Ripley
|
Patricia Highsmith
|
1955
|
Crime & Conflict
|
American
|
The Quiet American
|
Graham Greene
|
1955
|
Crime & Conflict
|
British
|
A Confederacy of Dunces
|
John Kennedy Toole
|
1980
|
Rule Breakers
|
American
|
Bartleby, the Scrivener
|
Herman Melville
|
1853
|
Rule Breakers
|
American
|
Habibi
(comic book)
|
Craig Thompson
|
2011
|
Rule Breakers
|
American
|
How to Be Both
|
Ali Smith
|
2014
|
Rule Breakers
|
British
|
Orlando
|
Virginia Woolf
|
1928
|
Rule Breakers
|
British
|
Nights at the Circus
|
Angela Carter
|
1984
|
Rule Breakers
|
British
|
Nineteen Eighty-Four
|
George Orwell
|
1949
|
Rule Breakers
|
British
|
Psmith, Journalist
|
P. G. Wodehouse
|
1909
|
Rule Breakers
|
British
|
The Moor's Last Sigh
|
Salman Rushdie
|
1995
|
Rule Breakers
|
British
|
Zami: A New Spelling of My Name
|
Audre Lorde
|
1982
|
Rule Breakers
|
American
|
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
"Explore the list of 100 Novels That Shaped Our World"
.
BBC Arts
. BBC. 5 November 2019
. Retrieved
11 November
2019
.
- ^
a
b
c
"100 'most inspiring' novels revealed by BBC Arts"
.
BBC News
. 5 November 2019
. Retrieved
10 November
2019
.
The reveal kickstarts the BBC's year-long celebration of literature.
- ^
Sarakshi Rai (7 November 2019).
"These are the 100 novels that have shaped our world, according to the BBC: How many of these books have you read?"
.
Esquire magazine
. Retrieved
10 November
2019
.
These novels have all sparked "debate about the novels that have had a big impact on us all personally and culturally".
- ^
a
b
c
"Margaret Atwood, L.M. Montgomery, Carol Shields featured on BBC's list of 100 novels that shaped the world"
.
CBC News
. 8 November 2019
. Retrieved
9 November
2019
.
Five Canadian books are on the list: Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels, Unless by Carol Shields, Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery, Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood and American War by Omar El Akkad.
- ^
Sola Budunrin (10 November 2019).
"Things Fall Apart, Half of A Yellow Sun named in the list of 100 novels that shaped the world"
.
Legit.ng
. Retrieved
10 November
2019
.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Chinua Achebe and Ben Okri's novels made the list of 100 novels that shaped the world.
- ^
a
b
c
Alison Flood (5 November 2019).
"Discworld dishes Moby-Dick: BBC unveils 100 'novels that shaped our world'
"
.
The Guardian
. Retrieved
10 November
2019
.
There's no Wuthering Heights, no Moby-Dick, no Ulysses, but there is Half of a Yellow Sun, Bridget Jones's Diary and Discworld: so announced the panel of experts assembled by the BBC to draw up a list of 100 novels that shaped their world.
- ^
Kerridge, Jake (5 November 2019).
"The BBC's 100 Novels That Shaped Our World is a short-sighted list that will please nobody"
.
The Telegraph
– via www.telegraph.co.uk.
- ^
When the BBC listed a series, the date is the publication of the first novel.