The FastDay Forum

Five hundred primary and secondary teachers from around the UK were asked to name their 10 favourite books. Their responses were compiled into a list of the top 100 books among teaching staff. The results are, possibly predictably, as eclectic as the average staffroom.

1. Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen

2. To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee

3. Harry Potter (series) J.K. Rowling

4. Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte

5. Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte

6. Nineteen Eighty-Four George Orwell

7. The Lord of the Rings (series) J.R.R. Tolkien

8. The Book Thief Markus Zusak

9. The Hobbit J.R.R. Tolkien

10. The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald

11. The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini

12. The Hunger Games (series) Suzanne Collins

13. The Time Traveller’s Wife Audrey Niffenegger

14. The Chronicles of Narnia (series) C.S. Lewis

15. Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck

16. Birdsong Sebastian Faulks

17. His Dark Materials (series) Philip Pullman

18. The Gruffalo Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler

19. The Catcher in the Rye J.D. Salinger

20. Life of Pi Yann Martel

21. Tess of the d’Urbervilles Thomas Hardy

22. Rebecca Daphne du Maurier

23. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Mark Haddon

24. Lord of the Flies William Golding

25. Matilda Roald Dahl

26. Catch-22 Joseph Heller

27. Millennium (series) Stieg Larsson

28. Animal Farm George Orwell

29. The Handmaid’s Tale Margaret Atwood

30. Persuasion Jane Austen

31. One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel Garcia Marquez

32. Kensuke’s Kingdom Michael Morpurgo

33. Goodnight Mister Tom Michelle Magorian

34. The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck

35. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Roald Dahl

36. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas John Boyne

37. Little Women Louisa May Alcott

38. One Day David Nicholls

39. We Need to Talk About Kevin Lionel Shriver

40. The Twits Roald Dahl

41. Wolf Hall Hilary Mantel

42. A Thousand Splendid Suns Khaled Hosseini

43. The Wind in the Willows Kenneth Grahame

44. Frankenstein Mary Shelley

45. Great Expectations Charles Dickens

46. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin Louis de Bernieres

47. George’s Marvellous Medicine Roald Dahl

48. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Adams

49. Room Emma Donoghue

50. Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy

51. Atonement Ian McEwan

52. Emma Jane Austen

53. Middlemarch George Eliot

54. The Shadow of the Wind Carlos Ruiz Zafon

55. The Color Purple Alice Walker

56. The Very Hungry Caterpillar Eric Carle

57. Brave New World Aldous Huxley

58. Sense and Sensibility Jane Austen

59. The Bell Jar Sylvia Plath

60. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Lewis Carroll

61. Charlotte’s Web E.B. White

62. Dracula Bram Stoker

63. We’re Going on a Bear Hunt Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury

64. A Prayer for Owen Meany John Irving

65. The Secret History Donna Tartt

66. The Little Prince Antoine de Saint-Exupery

67. Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoevsky

68. The Poisonwood Bible Barbara Kingsolver

69. Jude the Obscure Thomas Hardy

70. Skellig David Almond

71. The Woman in White Wilkie Collins

72. Gone with the Wind Margaret Mitchell

73. Game of Thrones (series) George R.R. Martin

74. David Copperfield Charles Dickens

75. Never Let Me Go Kazuo Ishiguro

76. Where the Wild Things Are Maurice Sendak

77. Twilight (series) Stephenie Meyer

78. Beloved Toni Morrison

79. The Help Kathryn Stockett

80. Sherlock Holmes (series) Arthur Conan Doyle

81. Half of a Yellow Sun Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

82. Moneyball Michael Lewis

83. My Family and Other Animals Gerald Durrell

84. Memoirs of a Geisha Arthur Golden

85. On the Road Jack Kerouac

86. Cloud Atlas David Mitchell

87. Wild Swans Jung Chang

88. Anne of Green Gables L.M. Montgomery

89. Les Miserables Victor Hugo

90. Room on the Broom Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler

91. Private Peaceful Michael Morpurgo

92. Noughts and Crosses Malorie Blackman

93. Cider with Rosie Laurie Lee

94. Danny the Champion of the World Roald Dahl

95. Down and Out in Paris and London George Orwell

96. The Magic Faraway Tree Enid Blyton

97. The Witches Roald Dahl

98. The God of Small Things Arundhati Roy

99. Holes Louis Sachar

100. The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde.

How many have you read, and which was your favourite?

Just 16 for me, a mix of the old classics and the children's books I remember reading as a kid.

My favourite, by a long way, is The Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. A really unusual book written in a style I'd not read before but I found I couldn't put it down.

19 for me. I loved Rebecca but have fond childhood memories of the pleasure I got from reading Little Women and then the rest of the series that followed.

57 for me, some read as a child/teenager, some read to my daughter (over and over). Hard to say which was favourite as I was blown away by different books at different times - however, a recent favourite was Half of a Yellow Sun and I also really liked The Book Thief.

I've read 32, but then I was a librarian for over 20 years, so it was my job to read and assess books ...

I did love Time Traveller's Wife, though, and also return to the Jane Austen titles and the Anne of Green Gables series every so often

31 for me!I've always loved reading and I want to read all of the rest too.
Absolutely can't choose a favourite but I never get tired of pride and prejudice
The latest I read was Life of Pi and I loved the ending!

Have read 63...I have a very active Kindle. Hard to choose a favorite since I have so many. Loved Middlemarch as well as Austen and the Russians. Stieg Larsson in Swedish (Millenium) too.

I've read 42. Interesting that so many of them are straight out of the National Curriculum.

47 for me. I have started but not finished several more, because there are so many books, so I refuse to waste time reading if I'm not really enjoying the book. I did finish One Day, despite really not liking it, because a close friend told me it was good.
Pride and Prejudice is my all time favourite book.
I'm surprised not to see Terry Pratchett on the list.

[carorees]

66.5 for me! I gave up on Crime and Punishment

Only 31/100 for me. There's some right stinkers in there though, I'm surprised.
My favourite on the list is Anna Karenina, closely followed by Room on the Broom

48. Favorites include: the Book Thief, Dracula, Dorian Gray, Hunger games and Pride and Prejudice.

The Cloud Atlas drove me bonkers so I gave up on it. Read about 4 pages of Wolf Hall and just didn't have the mental energy to go any further (book club choice). Do very much like Hilary Mantel, however, and read a book she wrote about the French Revolution many years ago - equally dense content as Wolf Hall.
Was absolutely transfixed by The Catcher in the Rye at the age of 15 or so....

54 for me. Rebecca is my all time favourite. I've read it many times. To kill a mockingbird comes a close 2nd and Room on a broom and the Gruffalo.

54 for me. I loved The Time Travellers Wife but there are many other favourites there too.