The 100 best books?

From Austen to Zadie, BBC’s novel choices

‘Spark debate and inspire curiosity’

WHAT do Wuthering Heights, Moby-Dick and Animal Farm have in common?

Yes, they’re all classics – but they’re also conspicuously absent from this BBC list of 100 English language works that ‘shaped the world’.

There is no room for Mark Twain or Thomas Hardy, but JK Rowling’s Harry Potter makes the cut, as do the diaries of Bridget Jones and Adrian Mole.

Other noteworthy entries include the comic book V for Vendetta and Zadie Smith’s White Teeth, which she started writing as a student at Cambridge. Also there is His Dark Materials – now a Sunday night BBC drama.

The list was compiled to mark the 300th anniversary of the publication of Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, regarded by many to herald the birth of the modern novel. The books – sorted into ten categories, from ‘identity’ to ‘rule-breakers’ – were selected by Mariella Frostrup, Times Literary Supplement editor Stig Abell, Bradford Literature Festival founder Syima Aslam, novelists Juno Dawson, Kit de Waal and Alexander McCall Smith.

Jonty Claypole, director of BBC Arts, said: ‘We asked our prestigious panel to create a list of world-changing novels that would be provocative, spark debate and inspire curiosity.

‘It took months of enthusiastic debate and they have not disappointed.’

The list marks the start of a year-long celebration of literature at the BBC. The panel will discuss their selections – each chosen for having had a personal impact – at an event live-streamed to BBC iPlayer on Friday.