Big Jubilee Read: the list of 70 books that celebrates Queen Elizabeth's platinum jubilee
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Loading... - Simon Sterling
- 26 Apr 2022
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Seventy books from across the Commonwealth have been selected to make up a reading list commemorating Queen Elizabeth II’s platinum jubilee.
The Big Jubilee Read was created by BBC Arts and The Reading Agency. It was compiled by librarians, booksellers and literature experts based on readers' recommendations from 31 countries.
The list incorporates 10 books that represent each of the seven decades of the queen's rule. It includes novels as well as short story and poetry collections published since 1952. Some featured works are Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, and Life of Pi by Yann Martel.
Booker Prize winners from the past three years, including Bernardine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other, Douglas Stuart’s Shuggie Bain and The Promise by Damon Galgut are also on the list.
There are a few glaring omissions, however.
Among them are J K Rowling’s Harry Potter books.
Susheila Nasta, emeritus professor of modern and contemporary literature at Queen Mary University of London, said there were discussions on whether to include Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Ultimately, the committee omitted the book as it pared down the 152 recommendations.
“Lots of fantastic books were suggested for the list," Nasta told BBC Radio 4. But the feeling was that Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone "was primarily a children’s book”.
“In terms of the space over that decade, which was the '90s when more and more books were coming out across the Commonwealth, it was decided to make space for a book that was good and equally well received,” Nasta said.
Rowling has come under criticism in the past two years over controversial comments she has made regarding transgender issues.
Other books that didn’t make the final list include The Lord of the Rings by J R R Tolkien and Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook.
“The Golden Notebook … was a huge influence on me, but we had to drop some … there were two books for every place.”
The complete Big Jubilee Read list
From 1952 to 1961
· The Palm-Wine Drinkard – Amos Tutuola (1952, Nigeria)
· The Hills Were Joyful Together – Roger Mais (1953, Jamaica)
· In the Castle of My Skin – George Lamming (1953, Barbados)
· My Bones and My Flute – Edgar Mittelholzer (1955, Guyana)
· The Lonely Londoners – Sam Selvon (1956, Trinidad and Tobago/England)
· The Guide – RK Narayan (1958, India)
· To Sir, With Love – ER Braithwaite (1959, Guyana)
· One Moonlit Night – Caradog Prichard (1961, Wales)
· A House for Mr Biswas – VS Naipaul (1961, Trinidad and Tobago/England)
· Sunlight on a Broken Column – Attia Hosain (1961, India)
From 1962 to 1971
· A Clockwork Orange – Anthony Burgess (1962, England)
· The Interrogation – JMG Le Clezio (1963, France/Mauritius)
· The Girls of Slender Means – Muriel Spark (1963, Scotland)
· Arrow of God – Chinua Achebe (1964, Nigeria)
· Death of a Naturalist – Seamus Heaney (1966, Northern Ireland)
· Wide Sargasso Sea – Jean Rhys (1966, Dominica/Wales)
· A Grain of Wheat – NgÅ©gÄ© wa Thiong’o (1967, Kenya)
· Picnic at Hanging Rock – Joan Lindsay (1967, Australia)
· The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born – Ayi Kwei Armah (1968, Ghana)
· When Rain Clouds Gather – Bessie Head (1968, Botswana/South Africa)
From 1972 to 1981
· The Nowhere Man – Kamala Markandaya (1972, India)
· Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – John Le Carre (1974, England)
· The Thorn Birds – Colleen McCullough (1977, Australia)
· The Crow Eaters – Bapsi Sidhwa (1978, Pakistan)
· The Sea, The Sea – Iris Murdoch (1978, England)
