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What’s the oldest book you’ve enjoyed so far? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 2 years ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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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.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Probably something by Jane Austen? Actually technically Shakespeare but that was for school so it doesn't really count.

[–] bamseals 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

The Count of Monte Cristo has held up extremely well for a 200 year old story. Same with Don Quixote

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

I'll move them up in my theoretical TBR!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

Beowulf fucking slaps

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

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)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

The Decameron by Boccaccio is probably the oldest, in terms of reading for pleasure.

There's the odd older thing I like, such as Greek philosophical dialogues or plays, but I'm not sure I'd count them as books, and they're more interesting than fun.

I like a lot of slightly less old stuff: Essay on Man by Pope, Confessions of an English Opium-eater by Quincey... Oh, and now that I think of it, I suppose Omar Khayyam's Rubáiyát is pretty old too.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

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.

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