The Novels That Shaped Our World

The BBC has published a list of 100 novels that have shaped our world. The list was assembled by a panel of British writers, curators, and critics. It's divided into categories, such as Identity; Adventure, and Coming of Age.

Looking through the list, it's clear that my literary experience is rather limited; I've never heard of half of the books or authors they picked. On the other hand, many of the titles are commercially successful books, many of which have been made into movies.

These are the titles chosen for the Life, Death & Other Worlds category:

• A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin
• Astonishing the Gods by Ben Okri
• Dune by Frank Herbert
• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
• Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
• The Chronicles of Narnia by C S Lewis
• The Discworld Series by Terry Pratchett
• The Earthsea Trilogy by Ursula K Le Guin
• The Sandman Series by Neil Gaiman
• The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Overall, it's a reasonable list. I'm surprised Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale isn't on it, although they did include Orynx and Crake.