T5T: Books on my TBR the longest

Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the wonderful Bionic Book Worm.  This week’s topic:

NOVEMBER 14TH – Top 5 books that have been on my TBR the longest

Like most book bloggers, my TBR list is miles long and seems to get longer by the day. Looking through my goodreads ‘to read’ list I picked out some of the earliest entries that I still intend to read in the next few years. Without further ado, here are some of the oldest entries on my TBR:

1. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Jane Eyre is one of those classics that I’ve been meaning to read for probably a decade. I can’t believe I got through an English major, including a Victorian Lit class, without reading this one! Sure I’ve seen the most recent film, and the BBC miniseries (which I really enjoyed), but as we all know, the book is usually better, and I just know this is one classic I’m going to enjoy!

2. Falls The Shadow by Sharon Kay Penman
I read the first book of her Welsh Princes trilogy, Here be Dragons, in 2012 and really enjoyed it. Set in thirteenth century Wales, the characters were great, the historical aspects were well researched, and the plot engaging. I’ve been meaning to get back to this series for awhile, but it fell victim to timing. See Here be Dragons was the last book I read before I started The Lymond Chronicles, the dense six-book historical fiction epic that ate my life for six months, and then continued to do so while I re-read, and fought the urge to re-read, and re-read. At this point it’s been five years, so I’ll probably have to re-read Here be Dragons, before I can finish the trilogy, but it’s definitely on my list!

3. The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler
I was introduced to Raymond Chandler’s hardboiled detective Phillip Marlowe in a Detective Fiction class during my undergrad. The Big Sleep immediately captured my attention with its unusual and evocative metaphors and similes, its depiction of seedy Los Angeles, and the atmospheric noir style. I’ve been meaning to read more of Chandler’s work for awhile now, and The Long Goodbye seems to be one of his better known works, so I thought I’d start there.

4. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Along with Rebecca and Jane Eyre, The Count of Monte Cristo completes my trilogy of classics I actually want to read and fully believe that I will enjoy. Dumas is often held up as a pillar of adventure/historical fiction and I know he was a favourite author of Dorothy Dunnett’s, which is enough to put him on my to-read list on its own! Wrongful imprisonment, betrayal, and revenge, what’s not to like?! After War and Peace I think I need a break from doorstopper books for a few months, but hopefully I will get to this at some point next year!

5. The Last Great Dance on Earth by Sandra Gulland
I really need to finish the historical fiction series I start! Like Sharon Kay Penman’s Welsh Princes trilogy, this is a series where I read the first book (and I think the second?) in 2010 but never finished, despite really enjoying this story, which focuses on the life of Napoleon’s wife Josephine Bonaparte. A friend of mine recently read the series and loved it, which reminded me of how I need to get on this. Again, I think it’s been so long that I’ll have to re-read the entire series first, but I’d like to read more historical fiction next year anyway.

How about you? What books have been on your TBR the longest?