41 - A Book Written By the Oldest Author in Your TBR Pile

[Britta]

I guess it's time to finally read Gilgamesh...

[Mo]

I found this online. Viola Fletcher is still alive at 110 years young

https://theblackwallsttimes.com/2023/...

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

[Lisa Marie]

I decided to go with the oldest living author on my TBR bookshelf...so I will be reading:

Middle Age: A Romance by Joyce Carol Oates

Joyce Carol Oates is 86 years old

HAPPY READING!!

[Sarah]

Jennifer wrote: "THIS is the kind of thing I have no trouble using AI for (not for creative things, but filtering data is a-ok by me).

I have over 800 books on my TBR, too many to try to sort through to find the o..."

This was a really interesting technique, and I admit that I'm a fairly new user to Chat GPT. With 2,400 books on my Goodreads TBR, it wasn't feasible to cut and paste the whole lot to Excel page-by-page, but I cut and paste the first 10 pages using your method, and it told me that the oldest living author on the list was Mitch Albom (he's only 67 this year!), then I asked it "what about Margaret Atwood?" (who was also on the original list) and it apologised and said that yes, she is older at 85.

[Trish]

A goodreads sort on pub date and taking the oldest might be another way to approach this, if you're going for oldest on the list overall. On that basis, mine would be Homer (between 800 and 700 BC) , if I can face The Iliad.

[Brandon]

Here's a sneaky way to get two free spaces on this year's challenge. Go to the library, and check out two or more books. That is your most urgent TBR pile. Choose the oldest author from that stack for this prompt, and one of the others can be for the book you got for free prompt.

The wording and intent of this prompt are so vague that I advocate choosing the simplest option that is acceptable and moving on.

[9987]

Thank y'all for the inspiration! Of all the names mentioned Margaret Atwood is the oldest on my TBR, so that's what I'm going with.

[Denise]

Kenéz wrote: "Jennifer wrote: "THIS is the kind of thing I have no trouble using AI for (not for creative things, but filtering data is a-ok by me).

I have over 800 books on my TBR, too many to try to sort thro..."

Kenéz wrote: "Jennifer wrote: "THIS is the kind of thing I have no trouble using AI for (not for creative things, but filtering data is a-ok by me).

I have over 800 books on my TBR, too many to try to sort thro..."
I had to laugh Kenez. That's my opinion of the run club and soccer prompts...F$%^ those prompts.

[Denise]

I thought Murakami was the oldest on my TBR but I found out Tim O'Brien is 78....and I plan to read America Fantastica this year so there we are

[Elizabeth]

I interpreted it as oldest author at all, and ended up finding a book on my TBR that was published originally in 1776!

It's "tales of Moonlight and Rain" by Akinari Ueda, it's one of the oldest books of Japanese folk lore

[The Pampered Librarian]

Karen wrote: "Age 92 or 93 Elena Poniatowska "She is considered to be "Mexico's grande dame of letters" and is still an active writer." Wikipedia.

Tinisima or [book:Here's to You, ..."

Wow. I have never heard of her. With that last name she is as Polish as she is Mexican :D I need to look into her bio, thanks!

[Rae]

I read The Art of War. I don't expect I'll read anything older than from the 5th century BCE!

[Ketutar]

I was wondering about this...
Oldest still living?
Oldest if they'd still be living? (That would be Beowulf, that was "published" about 1000 - though I think I might have older books to be read... and does it count when we don't even know the author?)
And now you added "how old were they when they wrote the book"... *sigh*

I have a book by Julie Andrews, who will be 90 this year, God willing, but as I have over 1000 books on my TBR list, I got to C and gave up :-D Now I noticed Alan Garner is about a year older, so I'll just pick him, and that has to be fine :-D

[Joanna G]

I interpreted as oldest living, but not concerned about their age at publication.

However, I also have an 1800 strong TBR and wasn't going to look up everyone. A list of older authors tells me that Wole Soyinka is now 90. His Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth, which someone mentioned upthread, is on my TBR. So one of the oldest will work for me.

Guess I just have to make sure I read it soon, just in case.

[Denise]

I read America Fantastica Tim O'Brien

He is 78

[Heather]

I was also struggling with this prompt. Are we going by both dead and alive authors? If so, are we taking into account the age at death? Or the author who has been dead the longest? Or only living authors?

[Laura Ruth]

I interpreted it as "born first," regardless of how long they lived, so I read Little Novels by Wilkie Collins.

http://www.lauraruthloomis.com/whats-...

[As You Wish]

I decided to read Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, chronologically oldest on my list, though a recent addition to it.

[Sherri]

I read Three Days in June. Anne Tyler is 83.

[Kara]

I decided to focus on the books I physically own but haven't read, rather than going through the hundreds of books on my goodreads TBR. Even then I googled one of the authors and got a blurb that said she's been writing for over 30 years. Clearly not a young author, good enough for me.
I do not like this prompt. I'd much prefer something like "A book written by an author over 70"

[Ron]

For this one I am going with Kachina and the Cross .

The prompt isn't specific as to when or where on the TBR pile. It can be in general or it can be a monthly or weekly TBR.

The book I mentioned was published in 1999 making it my oldest author publication date on my upcoming May TBR.

[Onlyplaying]

Ugh, I don't keep a TBR pile. I rarely buy books, so I just grab what's available from the library (I'm keeping 'got for free' open for when I find a book that doesn't match any other prompt.). So I really don't know what I would do for this one.

[Nadine in NY]

Onlyplaying wrote: "Ugh, I don't keep a TBR pile. I rarely buy books, so I just grab what's available from the library (I'm keeping 'got for free' open for when I find a book that doesn't match any other prompt.). So ..."




I didn't think too hard about this one.

Jot down some authors you like, right now, off the top of your head. Don't make the list too long. Pick the oldest author. If you've read everything they've written, move on to the next oldest on your list.

[Diana]

I thought Margaret Atwood was going to be the oldest author in my TBR, but turns out I had a book by Julie Andrews that I had totally forgotten about. She's older than Atwood by 4 years. I wound up reading her memoir, Home: A Memoir of My Early Years.

[Kim]

Mo wrote: "I found this online. Viola Fletcher is still alive at 110 years young

https://theblackwallsttimes.com/2023/...

https://www.goodreads.com/book/sh..."

Thanks for sharing this! I looked her up, and she turned 111 on May 10, 2025, only 6 days ago. Perfect for this prompt, and I found her book, Don’t Let Them Bury My Story: The Oldest Living Survivor of the Tulsa Race Massacre in Her Own Words at one of my libraries!

[Nicole]

Svetlana Alexevich is 77.

[Nicole]

HAH. Noam Chomsky is 96. YASSSSSSS

[Becky]

Brandon wrote: "Here's a sneaky way to get two free spaces on this year's challenge. Go to the library, and check out two or more books. That is your most urgent TBR pile. Choose the oldest author from that stack ..."

I appreciate you. This is exactly what I'm going to do.

[Ellen]

I read The Divine Comedy: Inferno - Purgatorio - Paradiso by Dante Alighieri. I figured he was the oldest author on my TBR list.

[Acidic Quagga]

I went with the oldest published book in my collection, which is Captains Courageous by Rudyard Kipling, so that's what I'll (finally) be reading. Rudyard Kipling lived from 30 December 1865 to 18 January 1936, and Captains Courageous was first published March 1, 1897.

[Heather]

I have an insane tbr list. Over 7,000. No way I can find the oldest Author who also happens to be from the global majority.

[Sasha]

Heather wrote: "I have an insane tbr list. Over 7,000. No way I can find the oldest Author who also happens to be from the global majority."

Maybe going with the earliest publication date (whose author is from the global majority) would work for you?

[Laura Ruth]

Heather wrote: "I have an insane tbr list. Over 7,000. No way I can find the oldest Author who also happens to be from the global majority."

I limited mine to just my physical TBR pile.

[Bluebelle-the-Inquisitive (Catherine)]

I have two TBR lists on Goodreads, the easiest way for me to do this. I limited mine to the list that contains the books I already own. The author ended up being a surprise Charlotte Gordon author of Romantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Her Daughter Mary Shelley.

[Anshita]

I'm reading The Guide by R. K. Narayan. He was born in 1906, and although I have older authors than him in my TBR, I really wanted to read this book. Plus, R. K. Narayan was the first author I read during my first year of college, technically making him the oldest as far as my literary journey of Indian literature goes.

[Britany]

Finished Three Days in June by Anne Tyler

My Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Michele]

I had previously thought that John Sandford was the oldest author on my TBR list, but then I found out that Rhys Bowen was older, and that I had read City of Darkness and Light.