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Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

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2025 Challenge - Advanced EASY > 41 - A Book Written By the Oldest Author in Your TBR Pile

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message 51: by Britta (new)

Britta | 97 comments I guess it's time to finally read Gilgamesh...


message 52: by Mo (last edited Jan 01, 2025 10:43AM) (new)

Mo McCallie (minimod) | 22 comments I found this online. Viola Fletcher is still alive at 110 years young



/book/show/1... Don’t Let Them Bury My Story The Oldest Living Survivor of the Tulsa Race Massacre in Her Own Words by Viola Ford Fletcher


message 53: by Lisa Marie (new)

Lisa Marie Kemmerer (readingwithlisamarie) | 177 comments 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!!


message 54: by Sarah (new)

Sarah | 22 comments 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 Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ 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.


message 55: by Trish (new)

Trish (trishhartuk) | 259 comments 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.


message 56: by Brandon (new)

Brandon Harbeke | 696 comments 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.


message 57: by 9987 (new)

9987 | 35 comments 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.


message 58: by Denise (new)

Denise | 298 comments 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.


message 59: by Denise (new)

Denise | 298 comments 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


message 60: by Elizabeth (new)

Elizabeth Williams (lizthegreatest) | 1 comments 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


message 61: by Laura (new)

Laura P. | 160 comments 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!


message 62: by Rae (new)

Rae | 7 comments I read The Art of War. I don't expect I'll read anything older than from the 5th century BCE!


message 63: by Ketutar (new)

Ketutar Jensen | 98 comments 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


message 64: by Joanna G (new)

Joanna G (joanna_g) | 347 comments 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.


message 65: by Denise (new)


message 66: by Heather (new)

Heather | 13 comments 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?


message 67: by Laura Ruth (new)

Laura Ruth Loomis | 201 comments I interpreted it as "born first," regardless of how long they lived, so I read Little Novels by Wilkie Collins.




message 68: by As You Wish (new)

As You Wish | 26 comments I decided to read Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, chronologically oldest on my list, though a recent addition to it.


message 69: by Sherri (new)

Sherri Harris | 757 comments I read Three Days in June. Anne Tyler is 83.


message 70: by Kara (new)

Kara (madhatter360) | 54 comments 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"


message 71: by Ron (new)

Ron | 2641 comments 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.


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