Big Read is the Hungarian version of the BBC Big Read.
Contents
The Big Read was imported into Hungary under the name A Nagy Könyv (lit. "The Big Book") and took place in 2005. Around 1400 libraries, 500 book shops and 1300 schools participated in the competition in various ways. It proved to be far more popular in Hungary (with a population of 10 million) than in the UK (with a population of 60 million), with 400,000 votes arriving (as opposed to 140,000 votes in the UK competition in the corresponding period).
Voting for the top 100 began in late February: one was allowed to vote for any novel published in Hungarian. It ended on April 23, when the 50 "foreign" and 50 Hungarian most popular novels were selected.
On June 11, the top 12 novels were chosen in the framework of a television show presented by cultural celebrities. In the next months, 12 short films were made from these novels and screened in television, which competed with each other in pairs.
On December 15, the population selected their ultimate favourite by SMS and phone. The winning novel, which received the title "the most liked novel of Hungary 2005", was the same book as the result of the previous round, Eclipse of the Crescent Moon. The other two books that participated in the final were The Paul Street Boys and Abigél.
Initial Top 12
- Eclipse of the Crescent Moon (literally Stars of Eger) by Géza Gárdonyi
- The Paul Street Boys by Ferenc Molnár
- The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
- Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne
- The Little Prince by A. de Saint-Exupéry
- Abigél by Magda Szabó
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J. K. Rowling
- Thorn Castle (Tüskevár) by István Fekete
- Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
- The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
- The Man with the Golden Touch (Az arany ember) by Mór Jókai
- One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez