Books

Beowulf fucking slaps

Beowulf

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.

Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol I'm a huge fan of 19th century Russian literature, and that is probably the oldest book I've read in that genre.

Other than that, I think Don Quixote is super fun to read at the start, but it drags on too long to be enjoyable all the way through. But that's the oldest book out of which I got a lot of enjoyment.

My longest throw was The Tale of Genji, the audiobook was great if you have the patience for longer books

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.

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

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.