The 100 novels that shaped literary experts' lives

The BBC asked a panel of experts to list 100 novels that shaped their world, and their choices are now public.

Stig Abell, editor of the Times Literary Supplement; Syima Aslam, founder of the Bradford Literature Festival; authors Juno Dawson, Kit de Waal, and Alexander McCall Smith; and journalist Mariella Frostrup acknowledged that their picks might not align with common canonical choices.

For example, you won’t find Wuthering Heights or Moby Dick on it. (You will, however, find a different Brontë book and another of Herman Melville’s novels.)

And you’ll see some more contemporary works, such as The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Forever by Judy Blume, Beloved by Toni Morrison, and The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler.

Remember, the list — marking the 300th anniversary of Robinson Crusoe, generally credited as the launchpad for English novels — focuses on personal impact on judges, not likelihood of appearing on a class syllabus.

View the full list, which will also serve as the basis for a television series this fall, on the BBC’s website.

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