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
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.
I’d definitely count it, if you read it in a book lol. And yeah, it’s known as the oldest story ever, so I’d imagine it outdates everyone, Homer included 😉
Probably Dracula. I tend to not like older books that much.
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 😂
It would have to be The Iliad. I don’t really go for classics, but I was curious. It was the translation they have on Gutenberg, which wasn’t bad. I have yet to read The Odyssey, though.
I think I preferred The Iliad to The Odyssey but I really liked them both. The Odyssey was definitely more fantastical whereas The Iliad felt more epic and thrilling.
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)
Probably something by Jane Austen? Actually technically Shakespeare but that was for school so it doesn’t really count.
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.
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.
Beowulf
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.
Did you read it in Spanish or a modern translation - that might have helped?
It was a recent translation, but it’s more the scenes themselves and certain ‘meta’ parts of the story that felt quite modern.
