The slightly smaller read

On the subject of charts, I've just noticed that the BBC's Big Read website now contains a listing of the books that came didn't make it into the original top 100, so you can now see 101-150 and 151-200. It's interesting to see what came close to getting in there, but missed out by a few votes - I wonder what the difference in actual votes was?

There aren't too many surprises in there - well, not until you get to number 172 and find it's They Used To Play On Grass by Terry Venables and Gordon Williams. Was there a campaign to get votes for it, or does the literary career of El Tel have more fans than we might expect?

Anyway, if one of your favourites was missing from the Top 100 you can now see how close it came to making it. Fans of Jerome K Jerome must be rather annoyed that Three Men In A Boat was only a few votes away from squeezing into the final selection, but had to settle for 101st place.