In April 2003 the BBC asked the British nation to nominate its favourite books as part of the Big Read project. In total over 7,000 books were nominated, with the top 100 announced on a BBC2 TV show on Saturday 18th October, 2003.

Now the nation has been set the final task of choosing its favourite book from a shortlist of the top 21. For the next couple of months there will be regular TV shows on BBC2 where each book on the list is given a boost by some famous celebrity¹. Culminating finally in a programme counting down the list to announce the nations #1 book.

So I thought that this would be a good moment to ask the h2g2 community what it felt was the best book, and for us to have our own poll. Below is the list of books - in alphabetical order - for you to vote upon. The results will be tabulated and announced at the same time as the BBC's national poll is completed.

The Nation's Top 21 Books

• Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
• Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
• Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis de Bernieres
• Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
• The Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
• Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
• Gone with the Wind - Margaret Mitchell
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - JK Rowling
• His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
• Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë
• The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - CS Lewis
• Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
• Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
• To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
• Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
• Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier
• War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
• The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
• Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
• Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë

My favourite book in the list is -

Please use the above form to vote rather than posting to this article, otherwise your vote may be overlooked.

The votes will be announced here at a later date

Grey Desk

23.10.03 Front Page

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