Top Ten Tuesday – Books Written Before I Was Born (Feb 2, 2021)

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme that is hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week a different topic is posted inviting the participants to come up with a list of ten things to do with the topic.

This week’s topic is ‘Books Written Before I Was Born.’ These are all books I have read and include two of my all-time favourites. Those who know me will probably know what those are, otherwise you’ll just have to guess!

1. The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkien. I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve read The Hobbit. It’s one of the books that sparkled my early love of reading.
2. Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury. A classic that’s always worth a reread.
3. Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson. This is also one that I read when I was young. If I remember correctly I read it after watching the Disney version from the 50s. Although the movie was enjoyable and was the impetus for me wanting to read it, the book was far superior.
4. The Old Man and the Sea – Ernest Hemingway. I first had to read this for high school English and somehow it just stuck with me.
5. Nineteen Eighty-Four – George Orwell. This is another one I had to read at school. The year I first read it was 1982. It’s one I’ve returned to a few times since.
6. Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoevsky. This is probably my second-favourite book by a Russian author. It’s probably due a reread.
7. The Man Who Was Thursday – G.K. Chesterton. This one is good on so many different levels.
8. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich – Alexander Solzhenitsyn. This is my favourite book by a Russian author. It’s not a long read, but it is one to savour. There’s a certain bleakness to it, but the reality of one day in the title character’s life in a Siberian labour camp is worth checking out. I’ve probably read it at least half a dozen times and I never grow tired of it.
9. The Stranger – Albert Camus. I read this in one sitting, as it was hard to put down.
10. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – C.S. Lewis. If I remember correctly my parents first read this one to me and I’ve loved it ever since. Although this is not my favourite book, C.S. Lewis is my favourite writer.

I was born in the 60s, so there are lots of great books that were written after I was born. However, these ten are ones that are probably all in my top 100. Having said that, I haven’t come up with a top 100, so maybe that’s a project for the near future.