Jane Austen's 'Pride and Prejudice' topped a poll of 100 favourite books, indicating that classics are still most people's idea of a good read.
LONDON: Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice has been judged by modern readers as the most precious book they have read.
An online poll conducted by World Book Day Ltd, a charity working to improve school-teaching resources in the UK, showed that readers still value classic novels for their quality.
The poll suggested that while modern fiction may sell in millions, it is usually placed in the periphery of readers’ critical radar. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown made the author a multimillionaire, but in the top 100 most-valued books it only ranked 42.
JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings came second and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte was third. The Harry Potter series, a publishing phenomenon that has earned millions for its author JK Rowling, was fourth in the list – just above To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, and the Bible.
The highest ranking book by an Indian author writing in English was A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth, at number 55. Seth’s mammoth novel beat Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children, which stood at 69. The only other Indian author in the Top 100 was Rohinton Mistry, whose A Fine Balance was ranked 86.
The online poll asked readers to nominate the top 10 titles that they could not live without to worldbookday.com; the nominations then comprised the top 100.
Other books which made up the top 10 were all English classics such as Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, George Orwell’s 1984, Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials, and Great Expectations by Charles Dickens.
The Complete Works of Shakespeare did not make it to the top 10 and was placed at the 14th slot, just above Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca.
“All these top 10 titles have a timeless quality no matter when they were written,” said Sue Horner, principal of English for the qualifications and curriculum authority. “It is likely that many of them are lasting favourites, first encountered at school.” The Bible was ranked sixth, thanks to readers over 60, but it still figured in the top 10 of every age group.
Pride and Prejudice topped the lists in all the regions of the UK, except Northern Ireland, where To Kill A Mockingbird was more popular.
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