Top Ten Books Written Before I Was Born

Posted on February 2, 2021 by WordsAndPeace

Top Ten Tuesday:
Top Ten Books Written Before I Was Born

TTT for February 2, 2021
#TopTenTuesday

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Obviously, this is way too broad, so I’m going to choose these among the books I read in 2020:

Please click on the covers to access my reviews when available

These were published in 1849 and 1908:

These in 1920, 1926, 1927:

These in 1928 and 1931 (two):

These in 1932 and 1934:

Are any of these on your list?
Which one did you prefer?

37 thoughts on “Top Ten Books Written Before I Was Born”

Angela on February 2, 2021 at 6:27 am said:

Wow, you read a lot of Agatha Christie in 2020!

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- WordsAndPeace on February 2, 2021 at 1:04 pm said:
  
  11 actually, for my project to listen to all of Hercule Poirot
  
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lydiaschoch on February 2, 2021 at 7:41 am said:

Wow, you’ve read a lot of Agatha Christie books! Good for you. 🙂

My post.

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- WordsAndPeace on February 2, 2021 at 11:53 am said:
  
  I actually read more than that, I listened to 11 books by her last year, part of my project to listen to all of Hercule Poirot
  
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Deb Nance at Readerbuzz on February 2, 2021 at 7:55 am said:

I remember reading Civil Disobedience when I was in school, and I’ve read one Maigret, but I’ve never read a real Agatha Christie.

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- WordsAndPeace on February 2, 2021 at 11:36 am said:
  
  I’m really surprised you have never read Agatha Christie. Her plots are so crazy smart!
  
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Susan on February 2, 2021 at 8:50 am said:

I read ROGER ACKROYD in 2020 as well! I enjoyed it, although AND THEN THERE WERE NONE will always be my favorite Christie novel. I included it in my list today 🙂

Happy TTT!

Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com

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- WordsAndPeace on February 2, 2021 at 11:33 am said:
  
  YES, And Then There Were None is also my favorite. I’m currently listening to all of Hercule Poirot
  
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Steph-paigesofbooks on February 2, 2021 at 11:00 am said:

I would like to read Agatha Christie at some point. Here is my post-https://paigesofbook.blogspot.com/2021/02/ten-tuesday-books-series-i-would.html

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- WordsAndPeace on February 2, 2021 at 11:30 am said:
  
  Yes, classic mysteries are so good, I think. So I’m actually listening to all of Hercule Poirot, in chronological order of publication
  
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Victoria Hamel on February 2, 2021 at 11:25 am said:

Nice selection of books!

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- WordsAndPeace on February 2, 2021 at 11:29 am said:
  
  Thanks for stopping by
  
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Greg on February 2, 2021 at 3:32 pm said:

I’ve never read Thoreau (although I did like studying him in school). And Christie! I love all those covers, they’re so evocative.

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- WordsAndPeace on February 3, 2021 at 2:57 pm said:
  
  You need to try Walden, so good
  
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iliana on February 2, 2021 at 3:49 pm said:

Great TTT list! I don’t think I would have been able to do this just with books I read last year. Of course after reading your list I feel like picking up an Agatha Christie next!

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- WordsAndPeace on February 3, 2021 at 2:56 pm said:
  
  yes, she’s an amazing author, coming up with so many clever plots
  
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Judy Krueger on February 2, 2021 at 5:33 pm said:

I have only read And Then There Were None. I liked it so I should try some more of Agatha Christie

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- WordsAndPeace on February 3, 2021 at 2:50 pm said:
  
  Definitely! You could try Murder on the Orient Express, if you don’t know the story, so clever. If you know it, try Murder in the Clouds, on a plane
  
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Denise Duvall on February 2, 2021 at 8:27 pm said:

I have read almost all of Agatha Christie, even her poems. I have all but one written under her name Mary Westmacott, but haven’t read them yet.

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- WordsAndPeace on February 3, 2021 at 2:40 pm said:
  
  wow, I didn’t even know she had written poems!!! You are amazing!
  
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Carol on February 2, 2021 at 10:47 pm said:

I read a bunch of Agatha Christie books in high school and college including The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and Mystery of the Blue Train. I know I enjoyed both of them but can no longer say which I thought was best. It would be hard to choose a top ten list of books written before I was born but it’s fun to ponder. The Grapes of Wrath, The Secret Garden, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Jungle, Rikki Tikki Tavi, The Little Prince, and The Sound and Fury come to mind.

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- WordsAndPeace on February 3, 2021 at 2:33 pm said:
  
  I know, that’s why I limited myself to those published before I was born AND that I read last year. I read 47 classics last year, so that was still hard to find the top 10! Oh yes The Secret Garden, fabulous
  
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  - Carol on February 3, 2021 at 2:39 pm said:
    
    Wonderful!
    
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Davida Chazan on February 3, 2021 at 1:21 am said:

I knew you had LOTS of these… but to make up the whole list from just the books you read last year, that’s something!

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- WordsAndPeace on February 3, 2021 at 2:29 pm said:
  
  Actually, the hardest part was to pic the 10 best. As I showed in my 2020 stats (see the Publication pie in https://wordsandpeace.com/2021/01/06/year-of-reading-2020-part-2-statistics/), only 50% of the 123 books I read last year were fairly recent. If I include the Biblical books I read, I actually read 47 classics, that is 38% of all my 2020 books
  
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  - Davida Chazan on February 3, 2021 at 11:35 pm said:
    
    Very impressive!
    
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    - WordsAndPeace on February 4, 2021 at 1:12 pm said:
      
      Or obsessive, lol
      
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      - Davida Chazan on February 5, 2021 at 12:01 am said:
        
        Hehehe!
        
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Lory on February 3, 2021 at 2:25 am said:

Some people read hardly any books that are older than they are so this topic would not be so broad for them. But for classics nuts there will be a wide field!

I have Le chien jaune on my shelf. Maybe it will be my next French read.

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- WordsAndPeace on February 3, 2021 at 2:25 pm said:
  
  Ah yes, you need to try Simenon! That’s easy French, I read it with one of my students
  
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Cleo @ Classical Carousel on February 3, 2021 at 12:23 pm said:

So far of the Christie books, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is my favourite. And you’ve reminded me that I really need to read Maigret. I’ve heard so many good things about him! Great list!

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- WordsAndPeace on February 3, 2021 at 2:14 pm said:
  
  Simenon is definitely an author to try if you love classics mysteries!
  
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Lexlingua on February 4, 2021 at 10:22 am said:

I’ve been a huge Christie fan, and Maigret too, so always happy to see those around. But I had no idea Thoreau wrote Civil Disobedience — might check that one out. Thanks!

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- WordsAndPeace on February 4, 2021 at 1:09 pm said:
  
  Yes, definitely an important book to read (and very short). And Walden obviously, if you haven’t read it yet
  
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missnewvillagereads on February 4, 2021 at 9:10 pm said:

I need to read some Agatha Christie books. My reading last year made me discover that I enjoyed adult mystery books so I will be looking into her books this year. Which ones were your favorites?

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- WordsAndPeace on February 6, 2021 at 7:31 am said:
  
  Classic mysteries are really cool. My favorite by AG are And Then There Were None, and Mystery on the Orient Express (more enjoyable if you haven’t seen the movie or totally forgot who did what)
  
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