Top Ten Books On My TBR Written Before I Was Born

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly book meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week, she posts an idea relating to books and encourages other book bloggers to respond with their own top ten lists.

This week’s topic is “top ten books written before I was born.” I tend to read mostly frontlist titles, so this was really difficult to put together — and it also had me come to the terrifying realization that anything published in 2001 or earlier is now considered to be “vintage.”

The Sandman series by Neil Gaiman (pub: 1991)
I don’t read a lot of comics or graphic novels; I read Watchmen in high school, but the graphic novel I can recently recall reading was Scott Pilgrim (which I still need to finish). Despite this, The Sandman series has been on my TBR for what feels like forever — and now that it’s coming to Netflix, I really need to start it.

Dune by Frank Herbert (pub: 1965)
I’ll admit that I had very little interest in reading this until I saw that Oscar Isaac was starring in the upcoming film… but, regardless, I am now very intrigued even if all I know about it is that it involves giant space worms(??).

A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond (pub: 1958)
Paddington 2 is one of my favourite movies of all-time and I firmly believe it was robbed at the Oscars. My nephew is a bit too young to fully enjoy the movies, but I’m hoping to read this with him soon!

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (pub: 1986)
I’ve only watched the Studio Ghibli film so many times, but I didn’t know that it was loosely based on a book until a few years ago. I’m really curious to see how the adaptation differs!

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (pub: 1868)
I absolutely adored the 2019 movie adaptation, even if it did make me cry a lot. I had fully intended to finally read the book before I watched the movie, but unfortunately that didn’t happen…

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath (pub: 1963)
Whenever classics come up, I see so many people praising The Bell Jar. I’ve heard that it’s very bleak, which is the only reason it hasn’t been picked up yet — I need to be in the right mood/headspace for it!

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (pub: 1892)
This seems to be the quintessential feminist classic. I’ve been intending to read it for ages, and hopefully compiling this list will be the final push that I need to give it a read.

The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende (pub: 1982)
Every time I mention that I love magical realism, I get recommendations for Isabel Allende’s books. The House of the Spirits is where I’m planning to start with her works.

Dubliners by James Joyce (pub: 1914)
I had to read A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man in high school and I really enjoyed it. I’ve been meaning to read Dubliners (and Ulysses) ever since, but even though I own a copy, I still haven’t opened it yet.

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré (pub: 1974)
John le Carré is considered the master of the spy/espionage genre. Years ago I read one of his earlier novels, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, and I was enthralled by it. I’ve heard rave reviews of his George Smiley series and I loved the movie adaptation of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, so this seems like a good choice for my next foray into his work.

Which classics are on your TBR? Have you read any of the ones on my list?

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