100 Books to Read in a Lifetime (That Are Older Than 200 Years)

Veilleur_de_nuit: Parce que ce long poème dit les horreurs de la guerre et les douceurs de l'amour, et parce qu'il a façonné l'imaginaire occidental.

Mapguy314: Means I have it in my library, not necessarily that I have read it, although I have read some of them

-pilgrim- : There is another version on page 1 of list

aulsmith : Definitely parts of it, but the whole thing? Nah.

: yawwwwwwn

ErykaSosa91: I have been wanting to reread thus epic poem for the longest!!

lorax : Thumbing down just to counteract psdavid's proselytizing. I think parts are worth reading for basic cultural literacy, but nobody likes being preached at in a forum like this.

aulsmith : Again, parts of it. But the whole thing? Knowing some of it was done from unreliable manuscripts? Nah.

psdavid: A book in two parts, the old testament which is the new testament hidden and the new testament which is the old testament revealed. Every one of the 66 books (39 Old testament and 27 new testament) interlinks and joins with every other, written in original languages by 40+ authors spanning 2,000 years and many cultures. A book that attracts lively debate as to authenticity and yet every day sees more of its writings and dates confirmed by archaeological finds.

: Why not read one of the better translations, if you're going to read the whole wretched Bible in the first place?

karenb: Squeaking by, barely (published 1812)

aulsmith : I just read through them all and a lot of them are boring, repetitive and some of them are clearly drafts. Go with the ones that are anthologized.

PietWester: Geschreven in 1759 en nog steeds een van de geestigste werken uit de wereldliteratuur.

cemanuel : Agreed. The purpose of this list is specifically for alternatives to Amazon's. Great book though.

: We need a little LESS war, please! Even though it's not old enough for this list, THE POLITICS OF NONVIOLENCE by Gene Sharp should be on everyone's must-read list.

camainc : One only needs to read Augustine's City of God to know that Gibbon was so very wrong about the reasons for Rome's "decline and fall."

Turambar: Whether Gibbon was wrong or not is irrelevant to whether The Decline and Fall ought to be read. We don't read Herodotus because he was right. We read him because he helped shape how a civilization thought, as did Gibbon in his own, later way.

JacobKirckman: Gibbon's not 'on my list', as I have it (just not catalogued on LT yet)! Commenting purely to counter Camainc's claim that Gibbon was wrong. I'd take an historian (even an 18th century one) over a Bible-Basher any day...

karenb: Original version please! (No, really, the right one this time ;)

karenb : Yeah, going with the actual original (Marlowe's).

aulsmith : Not the whole thing. I took a seminar on Donne, and we didn't even read them all.

aulsmith : Awful. Instead of an adventure story, I got a White Man triumphs over nature with a sermon.

Betelgeuse: Wonderful. A gripping adventure and morality tale. More than a shipwreck story, it is also about repentance and humility. Defoe's novel has several Biblical parallels, including Adam and Eve's expulsion from Eden, the parable of Jonah, and the sufferings of Job. Lessons can be learned from this book, if one overlooks Crusoe's anachronistic imperialism. But Robinson Crusoe is not a dour sermon. It is surprisingly fast-paced, and the first-person narrative gives it even more immediacy. Everyone knows the basics of the plot: the shocking discovery of the footprint, the appearance of Friday, the threat of cannibals, Crusoe's mastery of the island and its elements. There are also lesser known action sequences, such as the exciting wolfpack scene near the end of the book. A great early novel.

aulsmith : There are four editions of this work on this list. One is more than enough.

anthonywillard : Less than 200 years old.

Veilleur_de_nuit: Parce que ces petites fables expliquent l'âme humaine avec beaucoup d'humour et d'à-propos.

cemanuel : Not knocking the choice but there's another version of this on the first page of the rankings. I'd suggest switching your vote to that one so one edition gets all the votes. I did the same thing myself.