Britain's dilemma: Read the book or watch the movie?

But there was a general recognition that the exercise was about finding the "best-loved" book, and not necessarily the finest work of fiction.

"No one was pretending that this was a list of the best books ever, just the books that meant the most to them," says Nicholas Clee, editor of the Bookseller, the leading publishing industry trade magazine. "It was a bit mainstream."

A more serious complaint was the way the books were presented in a grand TV finale earlier this month. By showcasing the works through film snippets, the television producers may have inadvertently neutered the emphasis on reading.

"They didn't satisfactorily crack the problem of how you present books on television," says Mr. Clee. "The books could seem at worst a mere adjunct of the films and television series that were made out of them."

But is watching a film any less valuable than thumbing through the pages of a book? Films require less effort and the plot and ideas may not be as thoroughly absorbed, but some educators say they're not worried about film usurping books and leaving a generation of illiterates in its wake.

David Wray, an expert in literacy and education at Warwick University, says that coming to literature through films is a more sociable way of getting to know about cultural heritage.

"In some ways there are pluses [to the film medium]," he says. "We are always hearing about the need to be sociable, to discuss our experiences, and yet there is nothing more solitary than getting lost in a book.

"I'm a reader, but I'm also a member of the 21st century," Professor Wray adds. "We have lots of ways now of immersing ourselves in other people's affairs, which is essentially what literature is all about."

In any case, experts say, books are not about to be eclipsed by more cutting-edge media and art forms. The volume of books borrowed from libraries in Britain has grown steadily over the past two decades; books continue to make headlines and provide a steady stream of news stories; and publishing industry executives are always quick to note that despite all the diverse competing pastimes, the most successful cultural phenomenon ever in children's entertainment remains a book. Or rather a series of books.

"The Harry Potter books are bigger than the films, so it shows the effect a book can have," says Clee. "Books are as prominent in people's attention as they have ever been."

1. Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

2. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

3. His Dark Materials by Philip Pullma

4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

6. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

7. Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne

8. 1984 by George Orwell

9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

10. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

Source: BBC "Big Read" site with the top 100 books: www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100.shtml

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