I was thinking this while reading The Canterbury Tales, which isn’t exactly the oldest I’ve read (I think that goes to Homer)
But The Canterbury Tales is just so delightful! Getting into the flow of the rhyming prose is very fun to read (I’ve just been reading the Penguin Classics Coghill translation which is fantastic)
I’ve already watched the Pasolini adaptation but I’m definitely going to revisit once I finish the book.
Beowulf fucking slaps
I read an abridged version but I agree!
Beowulf
Since someone already said Beowulf, I’ll go a bit later and say Le Morte D’Arthur. The Song of Roland is also really good.
I’ve tried to like a lot of old books, and just never got them (or, sometimes, even got through them). Inferno, Don Quixote, Canterbury Tales, The Iliad, etc. I think the oldest book I’ve actually enjoyed was Dracula. Then there’s a long drought after that; I think the next-oldest books I enjoyed were Harry Harison’s Deathworld (1960) and Morris West’s Tower of Babel (1968). West’s book, particularly; I didn’t realize it was that old until I finished it and caught a glimpse of the copyright date. It reads a lot like a modern spy thriller.
Not the oldest I’ve read, but the oldest I’ve properly enjoyed is Jane Eyre (and it happens to be my fave of all time too)
I really enjoyed Don Quixote! It’s a lengthy book but there were some genuinely hilarious scenes. I couldn’t believe how old it was - it felt quite modern.
Not that old (relatively speaking) but the Count of Monte Cristo is excellent. Such a grand and incredible adventure. Quite possibly my favourite book of all time.
Probably something by Jane Austen? Actually technically Shakespeare but that was for school so it doesn’t really count.
Dunno if you’d count it as a book but the Epic of Gilgamesh is one of my all time favorite stories that I regularly go back to. Also, predates Homer by a long shot.
Well by the standards you’ve set this is positively modern, but I’d say my favorite ‘old’ book (indeed one of my favorite overall) has to be Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy.
I love how bold the story felt playing with the idea of gender and power in the Victorian English countryside. It was also surprisingly sweet, and I hold the storm scene after Bathsheba’s marriage to Troy in my hall of fame romantic hero moments.
The book is just pure comfort for me, like a blanket and a warm mug of cocoa by the fireplace. Bathsheba and Gabriel Oak were such good characters and i couldn’t help but cheer them on, I just loved it.
I also just find it so interesting that Hardy, who is in my opinion, author of some of the most bleak and hopeless stuff out there, is responsible for such a tender tale.
I have a little collection of his books that I haven’t read yet, but this has me excited for one I haven’t heard much of!! The ones I’m most familiar with are Tess of the D’ubervilles and Jude the Obscure.
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I read that towards the end of last year, and I think it could just be the writing style of that time, but there were definitely some tough slogs to get through. At the same time though, there are some great passages that were pretty thrilling or spooky or even a bit funny. Especially the image of a cowboy character stuck in the middle of this got his style horror 😂
Beowulf
As a kid, the grandmother of one of my best friends used to read it to us at night in a cabin in Door County WI. She read it in the Old English version. Left a very lasting impression on me and I have read itany times since.
I love formative books like that!! Not nearly the same genre wise but I have vivid memories of my mom reading CS Lewis to us, though I haven’t revisited any of them since their movies came out years ago.
I studied ancient Hebrew scriptures and Buddhist writings at university, which I enjoyed a lot. Also read bits and pieces of Hindu Vedas, Gilgamesh, Inanna, the young’uns of ancient Greek literature and some other things that aren’t coming to mind. Which is oldest depends on which scholar you talk to, but it’s most likely between Inanna, Gilgamesh and Job. Of those three, I loved Inanna the most.
But also, the Tale of Genji from Heian Japan (early 11th century), written by a noblewoman named Murasaki Shikibu. That’s so much later it’s basically modern ;) but it’s the one I want to point others to. Project Gutenberg has the 1st and 2nd parts of a translation into English if anyone wants to check it out. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/66057
