| | Title | Author | Published | Month Read | BBC Rank |
| The Lord of the Rings | Tolkein,JRR | 1955 | June 2011 | 1 |
| Pride and Prejudice | Austen,Jane | 1813 | November 2004 | 2 |
| His Dark Materials | Pullman,Philip | 2000 | May 2006 | 3 |
| The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy | Adams,Douglas | 1979 | June 2005 | 4 |
| Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire | Rowling,JK | 2000 | March 2008 | 5 |
| To Kill a Mockingbird | Lee,Harper | 1960 | April 2004 | 6 |
| Winnie the Pooh | Milne,AA | 1926 | November 2009 | 7 |
| Nineteen Eighty-Four | Orwell,George | 1948 | August 2003 | 8 |
| The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe | Lewis,CS | 1950 | November 2008 | 9 |
| Jane Eyre | Bronte,Charlote | 1847 | May 2008 | 10 |
| Catch-22 | Heller,Joseph | 1961 | August 2005 | 11 |
| Wuthering Heights | Bronte,Emily | 1847 | September 2005 | 12 |
| Birdsong | Faulks,Sebastian | 1993 | December 2003 | 13 |
| Rebecca | du Maurier,Daphnie | 1938 | April 2005 | 14 |
| The Catcher in the Rye | Salinger,JD | 1951 | May 2004 | 15 |
| The Wind in the Willows | Grahame,Kenneth | 1908 | January 2005 | 16 |
| Great Expectations | Dickens,Charles | 1861 | February 2005 | 17 |
| Little Women | Alcott,Louisa May | 1869 | January 2009 | 18 |
| Captain Corelli's Mandolin | de Bernieres,Louis | 1994 | March 2009 | 19 |
| War and Peace | Tolstoy,Leo | 1869 | December 2010 | 20 |
| Gone with the Wind | Mitchell,Margret | 1936 | December 2009 | 21 |
| Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone | Rowling,JK | 1997 | March 2004 | 22 |
| Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets | Rowling,JK | 1998 | July 2005 | 23 |
| Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban | Rowling,JK | 1999 | March 2006 | 24 |
| The Hobbit | Tolkein,JRR | 1937 | February 2006 | 25 |
| Tess of the D'Urbervilles | Hardy,Thomas | 1891 | May 2005 | 26 |
| Middlemarch | Eliot,George | 1874 | December 2007 | 27 |
| A Prayer for Owen Meany | Irving,John | 1989 | April 2007 | 28 |
| The Grapes of Wrath | Steinbeck,John | 1939 | February 2009 | 29 |
| Alice's Adventures in Wonderland | Carroll,Lewis | 1865 | September 2004 | 30 |
| The Story of Tracy Beaker | Wilson,Jacqueline | 1991 | January 2011 | 31 |
| One Hundred Years of Solitude | Marquez,Gabriel Garcia | 1967 | October 2005 | 32 |
| The Pillars of the Earth | Follet,Ken | 1989 | November 2006 | 33 |
| David Copperfield | Dickens,Charles | 1850 | February 2004 | 34 |
| Charlie and the Chocolate Factory | Dahl,Roald | 1964 | March 2005 | 35 |
| Treasure Island | Stevenson,Robert Louis | 1883 | April 2006 | 36 |
| A Town Like Alice | Shute,Nevil | 1950 | January 2010 | 37 |
| Persuasion | Austen,Jane | 1817 | April 2009 | 38 |
| Dune | Herbert,Frank | 1965 | November 2007 | 39 |
| Emma | Austen,Jane | 1815 | July 2006 | 40 |
| Anne of Green Gables | Montgomery,LM | 1908 | September 2007 | 41 |
| Watership Down | Adams,Richard | 1972 | April 2008 | 42 |
| The Great Gatsby | Fitzgerald,F Scott | 1925 | July 2004 | 43 |
| The Count of Monte Cristo | Dumas,Alexandre | 1844 | February 2008 | 44 |
| Brideshead Revisited | Waugh,Evelyn | 1945 | January 2004 | 45 |
| Animal Farm | Orwell,George | 1945 | March 2010 | 46 |
| A Christmas Carol | Dickens,Charles | 1843 | December 2005 | 47 |
| Far From the Madding Crowd | Hardy,Thomas | 1874 | February 2011 | 48 |
| Goodnight Mister Tom | Magorian,Michelle | 1981 | October 2008 | 49 |
| The Shell Seekers | Pilcher,Rosamunde | 1987 | December 2004 | 50 |
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