Top Ten Tuesday

TTT – The Oldest Books I Want To Read

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Top Ten Tuesday used to be a weekly post hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, but was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl. “It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.” This is definitely something I can understand and want to participate in.

This week’s prompt is a challenge, and it was submitted by Nicole @ BookWyrm Knits. I’m going to be talking about the earliest published books that are on my TBR. I anticipate it to be a challenge because I don’t typically read books that are older, and classics aren’t a genre that I’ve sought out or really enjoyed for the most part. There are some older books on my TBR, and here are the ten I’m anticipating reading:

  1. Ramayana by Valmiki. This book was written between the 7th and 5th centuries BCE. That’s easily the oldest book on my TBR, and it was inspired by reading Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel.
  2. Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin. While I don’t make it a point to read classics, I *do* love Russian literature. This one was published in 1825, and I’d like to read it before its one hundred year anniversary.
  3. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. Published in 1844, this was one of my dad’s favorite books, and I want to give it a read.
  4. The Village of Stepanchikovo by Fyodor Dostoevsky. This was published in 1847, and I have read two of Dostoevsky’s other books and enjoyed them.
  5. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins. With a publication date of 1859, this was the first Victorian novel that paired Gothic horror and psychological realism.
  6. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. This doorstopper was published in 1869, and has been on my TBR ever since I discovered Russian classics. Unfortunately, I have a feeling it’s going to take me a long time to get through, so I keep putting it off.
  7. Tent Life in Siberia: An Incredible Account of Siberian Adventure and Travel by George Kennan. This book was published in 1870, and sounded so interesting. I’d love to see how people in Siberia managed before electricity.
  8. Daniel Deronda by George Eliot. This was published in 1872, and was unheard of in how empathetically it portrayed a Jewish main character, at a time when othering and antisemitism were at high levels in England.
  9. Thus Spake Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche. Published in 1883, this book came to my attention in high school, and has been on my TBR ever since, even if it wasn’t a priority listing.
  10. Jewish Fairy Tales and Legends by Gertrude Landa. This one was published in 1919, and I always loved hearing Jewish children’s stories growing up. This is one that I really want to read, especially to my great nieces and nephews.

Have you read any of these? What did you think?

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43 replies »

  1. I do love cinematic productions of The Count of Monte Cristo (it’s always been a powerful story there) but I’ve never read the book. Maybe someday, though I don’t see it happening, I’ll give the book a fair chance. 🙂 Hope you enjoy all of these when you read them!

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  2. The fun think about A Woman in White is the author published it in a serialized magazine before publishing it as a book, so each chapter ends of a bit of cliff hanger…got to bring the readers back next week/month!

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    • That’s great to hear! I always love hearing that a classic is a great read. I read quite a few classics for school myself, but it was all American or British lit. I can’t help but think I would have enjoyed assigned reading if it was drawn from more diverse locations – kind of like how certain classic Latine authors are known for magical realism, and the way that the tradition of oral storytelling carries over into how Indigenous and First Nations writers tell their stories.

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    • I have a copy of War and Peace, but haven’t had the time for it. I’ll definitely be looking for a copy of Jewish Fairy Tales and Legends – I loved hearing my parents tell me old Jewish stories, and wonder if some of them came from this originally.

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  10. Well, I do love classics- A Christmas Carol is a holiday tradition (thank god it part of A Christmas Treasury)

    Ones I own that still aren’t read:

    1. Death on the Nile
    2. Kidnapped
    3. Gulliver’s Travels (think it was required reading in high school, but now have the entire book)

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  11. I started reading Count of Monte Cristo a few years ago, for an online readalong … it was pretty good, but I petered out about 10% in 🙃 hehe … I will try it again, when there’s not as much going on.

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    • I’m not scared of a hefty read, I think I struggle the most with classics when I can’t understand what the author is trying to say because of the unfamiliar talk of the times or how flowery the writing tends to be. I hope to get to these soon, and hopefully I’ll enjoy them as much as you did!

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