The Wind in the Willows
I thought it'd be a shitty kids story but I found it quite touching. A buddy novel.
Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?
131–140 of 247 posts
Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?
#132The Count of Monte Cristo , hands down. Published 1844 by Alexandre Dumas, one of the greatest writers to have ever lived. I’m an avid reader and I always laughed at the idea of having a “favorite” book.. until I found mine. I loved the book so much, I resolved to learn French (et je l’ai fait!) just so I could someday read it in the original French.
I love this book too. Funnily enough, I also picked up the French version, and forced myself to read it despite not knowing French (but my native language is Spanish, so being familiar with the story, I could follow relatively well).
Something that really stood out for me was the description of the finances of the characters. It's like back then everyone understood that the goal was to live off investments, and that working for a living was an unfortunate, hopefully temporary condition. Seems like nowadays it's such a central part of everyone's default life philosophy (at least that of mere plebs like me) that few people question it.
Out of curiosity, did you watch the 2002 movie? If so, what did you think? That's how I discovered the story in the first place.
Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?
#133The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy, my favorite book of all time.
I loved the characters, how they evolved and their relations with them. A weak character will through years become successful while another character they admired will fail miserably.
Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?
#134Candide by Voltaire It was the first book I read for school that made me laugh out loud and realize that some of these old boring books were actually pretty awesome (which is why people are still reading them centuries later)
This was made into an opera too.
Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?
#135Since no one has mentioned them I just wanted to add "The Canterbury Tales" by Chaucer and "Beowulf" to the list. I've both read them in high school and liked them very much.
Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?
#136L'Ancien Régime et la Révolution (1856) by Alexis de Tocqueville. In English it is either The Old Regime and the Revolution or The Old Regime and the French Revolution.
Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?
#137The Count of Monte Cristo , hands down. Published 1844 by Alexandre Dumas, one of the greatest writers to have ever lived. I’m an avid reader and I always laughed at the idea of having a “favorite” book.. until I found mine. I loved the book so much, I resolved to learn French (et je l’ai fait!) just so I could someday read it in the original French.
I love this book too. Funnily enough, I also picked up the French version, and forced myself to read it despite not knowing French (but my native language is Spanish, so being familiar with the story, I could follow relatively well). Something that really stood out for me was the description of the finances of the characters. It's like back then everyone understood that the goal was to live off investments, and that…
Currently reading Rich Dad/Poor Dad, no earth shattering insights(yet) except the central tenant is to understand finance and aim to live off investments.
Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?
#138Bhagavad Gita
Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?
#139A Message to Garcia by Elbert Hubbard from 1899. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Message_to_Garcia https://courses.csail.mit.edu/6.803/pdf/hubbard1899.pdf
For books, I'd say Herodotus and also Plutarchs Lives of the Great Greeks and Romans.
Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite books or essays written at least 100 years ago?
#140For me, its The Sorrows of Young Werther. Published in 1779. It is a short read and quite beautifully written.
Goethe's later work Faust (I+II) is my absolute favorite. The first book (play) is quite short and extremely well written in the german original. The second book is much thicker and extremely convoluted.
After a long journey through human abysses, it ends on the note "Who ever strives with all his might, that man we can redeem." which has always stuck with me and is one of the core ideals of my morality.