So I just updated my reading spreadsheet to track some new stats and found out that about 60% of all the books that I read this year were published in the 2020s. And while I like reading contemporary fiction, I know there are a lot of good books that weren't published in the last few years. I've added some books to my Interested and TBR list, but I'd love to have more.

So, I'd like to ask the community: What are your favorite books that were written pre-2020? Bonus points if they were written in the 20th century.

Does anyone else have a list of List ideas? I tend to be very much in my own world when it comes to reading books, so my ideas of lists don’t really go anywhere. 😬

I just thought it’d be nice to share some ideas of lists that I’ve been sitting on but would love to read more about:

• Waste Disposal is the main character (fiction) - Books that focus on waste disposal and how we’re not watching the items we consume. (Inspired by Gachiakuta and the influence of Japanese cultures 🔗 Tsukumogami in its storyline.)
• Pick your mount. No, not that one - Books with unusual mounts, not including dragons or horses. (Inspired by The Legendary Moonlight Sculptor series where the MC rides a bull.)
• When I Stopped Singing - a list of books where the main character just doesn’t want to talk anymore, I guess voluntary mutism or took a vow of silence (Personal interest)
• Magic is Accessibility - a list of books where the world has magic and accessibility, people can be magic, disabled and not want to be “fixed.” (Inspired by the disability reps in the Witch Hat Atelier mangas by Kamome Shirahama)
• Ripping at the Roots - books about people fixing their community, I think kind of like being a terrible person in their youth, or having left without mending old relationships. Basically about rebuilding burnt bridges. (Inspired by my last reread of The Losers by Harley Laroux.)

I view Lists as a group project (but if people don’t want it to be, it doesn’t have to be), so I’m putting these out there incase people have recs.

So, do you have any ideas for lists? If you’ve already put out the list, what inspired it?