BBC believes what?

Some friends have posted about "The BBC believes that most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books here" I'm too lazy to actually put the list on my blog, so here's some links to people who went to all the trouble.
Bec-ster's list
Oemac's list
E's facebook note
It's a bit of an odd list, and an odd claim, so I went looking a bit. The BBC had a list they called "The Big Read" which was a search for the best loved novel, but it's not quite the same list.

So then I found this nice blogger Book Geek had done all the research for me. So nice of him to have it all gathered in one place.

World Book Day had an online poll that asked people for the top 10 books they couldn't live without and 2000 people in various areas of the UK responded. Explains why it is so English-centric. But people really put "The Complete Works of Shakespeare" as a book they couldn't live without? Or was that just a way to get more than one Shakespeare in, and still have room on their list for all their other favorites. (Like packing for that desert island. "Hey, the Complete Works only counts as one book, let's take that!")

So those 2000 people had read at least 10 items off the list.
How did we get to only 6? Book Geek doesn't know, and neither do I.

According to the NEA the average person reads 6 books a year. Maybe someone stuck this list and that statistic together?
Being able to mark more than 6 as read might make folks feel superior to "most people" so it sticks around?

Me: I read ~45 of them, 15 didn't ring any bells, planning to read about 6.

So.... what would be your best loved novel?
What would be on your list of books you couldn't live without?