To finish this series on old books, I have chosen my favourite three books over 50 years old. These are definitely books published before I was born and so I haven’t read many, but there are a few shinning examples of wonderful literature.

Top 3 books over 50 years

J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit is a stunning story of a reluctant adventurer. It is the shortest in the Lord of the Rings series, and could be read as a stand-alone. In fact, I preferred The Hobbit over Tolkien’s other books. There is a lot more happening in The Hobbit, and contains the development of some remarkable, yet occasionally disturbing, characters. The pace is fast for an older book, without compromising on the poetic nature of the text. The Hobbit doesn’t have the same cult following as the rest of the series, but is worth seeking out in your bookstore or library.

Nineteen Eighty-Four was indecently published in 1949. George Orwell’s most well-known book tells of a dysfunctional society set in the future (yes, the future, just accept it), where everything is controlled by Big Brother. This is one of the first dystopian books and while there are just as many readers who hate it as there are those who love it, if you want to gain an understanding of how to create a broken society, this is where you need to start.

As You Like It by William Shakespeare, while not a novel, is my favourite of his plays. In typical Shakespeare style, there is cross-dressing, love triangles, mistaken identities and more than a few laughs. But there is more to As You Like It than you might think; Rosalind the leading lady, is a strong female who breaks every rule for her freedom, for the love of her father and to woe her admirer. If you haven’t read much Shakespeare before, go to a performance first as the visual helps fill in the gaps left by the Olde English.