I have to say I am extremely doubtful that the Big Read list really represents British reading preferences all that much, because there are HUGE bestsellers (Jeffrey Archer, for example) that aren't on there. Also, I'm pretty sure that a lot of readers who don't see literature as a popularity contest won't have voted - I don't think I did! I always have terrible difficulty choosing one favourite book (or even a top ten).
One thing that does come out through the list is the British tendency to feel that they ought to have read the "canon", even if they haven't. And a tendency to say that one's favourite book is Pride and Prejudice even if you last read it ten years ago. I don't think this is snobbery, exactly, so much as a feeling that only the classics are Proper Books and that claiming something less highbrow as your favourite is a bit of a cop-out.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2008-06-30 09:04 am (UTC)One thing that does come out through the list is the British tendency to feel that they ought to have read the "canon", even if they haven't. And a tendency to say that one's favourite book is Pride and Prejudice even if you last read it ten years ago. I don't think this is snobbery, exactly, so much as a feeling that only the classics are Proper Books and that claiming something less highbrow as your favourite is a bit of a cop-out.