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Aug
18
The Deserted Island Reading List
2008 at 11am Posted by Rebecca Joines Schinsky
We’ve all played that game that begins with, “So, you’re stranded on a deserted island, and you can only take ten _______ (fill in the blank with your item of choice).” My first book of the week is J. Maarten Troost’s The Sex Lives of Cannibals, which chronicles the two years he spent living on a very small island in the equatorial pacific. I’ll be reviewing it in a couple days, so I won’t go into much detail now, but suffice it to say that I’m enjoying the book and was grateful to Mr. Troost for inspiring today’s post.
Because the island he’s on has very limited access to outside resources (i.e. there’s not a bookstore or library to be found, and internet access is pretty much impossible), he had to select his reading material ahead of time, and he did so very carefully, considering both his preferences and those of his girlfriend Sylvia. He says,
There were no bookstores or record stores, so I packed as if I were departing for Pluto. For books, it was a mixture of authors we were both likely to enjoy (Philip Roth), combined with a few books we were unlikely to ever read unless stuck on a deserted island (Ulysses), as well as a couple of compromise authors (the novelist Anne Tyler for her, the Polish journalist Ryszard Kapuscinski for me).
So I got to thinking about what I would take if I knew I’d be stranded on a deserted island for an extended period of time. My first thought was that I’d be happy to have the opportunity to select the books for such an occasion, since every time I see someone reading on the beach on Lost I wonder if they would have packed more or differently had they known what their final destination was really going to be….not that they have much time for reading, what with fighting off the Others and messing with the space-time continuum. But I digress.
So, I think I’ve come up with my “Top 10 Deserted Island Reading List (or the Lost List, for short).
First, a few of my all-time favorites:
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving: I’ve read this book several times now and have always found something new or been struck by a familiar line in a newer, more profound sense. I’d like to have this one around for a long time.
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy: Not that much explanation should be needed, but this classic has a great story, memorable characters, and a hefty size that all make it a good selection for lonely days & nights.
Now, a few that Bob and I would both enjoy…Though we’re both serious bibliomaniacs, there isn’t much overlap in our reading taste, so we’ll stick to classics.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald: A rather slim selection, but a classic that is eternally readable and darn near perfect. We used a passage from this favorite as a reading at our wedding, so if nothing else, we could use it to remind ourselves of happier days with better food and snazzy wardrobe.
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller: It is funny, insightful, entirely original, and another one of those books in which you discover something new with every read.
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien: A shared favorite that we’ve both re-read several times…the adventure and fantasy would be a nice escape, though the extensive descriptions of food and drink might be a bit painful if all we have is rain water and coconuts.
Good, loooooong books to keep me occupied:
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy: I haven’t read it yet, but I do love Russian authors, and I’m sure I’ll get to it someday. What better motivation than being stuck somewhere with nothing else to do?
The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber: A very creative tome with excellent (and rare) use of the second-person narrative and one of the few historical fiction novels I’ve really enjoyed. There’s sex, scandal, family drama, and many other wonderful elements that make it easy for this modern girl to relate to a 19th century story.
Ulysses by James Joyce: I managed to survive my college career without having to read this, and though I feel like it’s one of those books that all well-read people should eventually get to, I just don’t have the motivation. Again, the deserted island situation would probably put a quick fix to that.
Compromises (or, books that Bob and I wouldn’t really want to pack but would agree to in order to keep things copacetic on our deserted island):
Patrick O’Brian’s Master & Commander series (for Bob). On the plus side, there are something like 20 titles in this series, so Bob would be entertained for a while. On the downside, I’d have to hear all about Jack Aubrey’s battles and wenches, when I’m sure survival on our island would be battle enough.
My entire John Irving collection: Bob hasn’t read any of Irving’s books, but I think I could convert him…and with multiple storylines, intricate narratives, and just the right touch of the absurd, these would be sure to help us forget our dire straits, even if only for a few hours.
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens: It has length and a classic storyline going for it, but I can just hear Bob complaining about depressing content.
So, there you have it…my Deserted Island List. What would you take? What would you definitely leave at home? Would you actually read, or do you think fishing and gathering food and finding ways to make fire would be too all-consuming?
Oh, I’m sure I would read! We lived in France for 2 years and I went over there very poorly prepared. It got so I would read anything that was written in English (my French was never good enough to get pleasure out of reading it). Whenever I would return from a visit to the US, I would bring a suitcase full of books.
Great list! I would most definitely take my most favorite book of all time – Wuthering Heights! I’ve read it at least 20 times and it still chokes me up everytime I pull it off the shelf!
What, not a single book written by a woman? Hmm, I’m afraid my selections would be slanted in the other directions…
avisannschild: That’s so interesting–I didn’t even realize it! I do love and support women writers, but it just turns out that most of my favorite authors are men. I did almost include Mary Doria Russell’s The Sparrow .
I’m going to have to come up with a list like this myself. How much fun is this?
My suggestion for reading Ulysses is to take a course with an incredible professor. I read that along with Dubliners and Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man during my undergraduate studies. I loved it so much that I even considered studying his work entirely. It was an incredible experience, but I’m not sure how I would have faired on my own. I’ve now owned Finnegan’s Wake for 15 years and have not even cracked it open. If that professor weren’t still in Michigan, I’d pay her out of pocket to teach me through that book.
I am going to have to think on that one. My response would really depend on the age I am when I am shipwrecked. No, wait. I know! I have always wanted to write a book myself and have made lots of “starts” that I have never finished. Therefore, I would take my own writing journals and, for once, finish that great novel that is supposed to be inside all of us. Once finished, I would put it in a glass bottle, seal it tightly, and send it across the ocean to Rebecca’s island so that she could review it for me!
hey great idea and a nice list. You’ve inspired me complie one of my own.
love your blog by the way
What a great list and – YES! Owen Meany! What a great book (my favorite). To convert Bob to Irving, try starting him on Garp.
When asked the question about what book he would like to have on a deserted island, G.K. Chesterton said, “I think I should like to take Thomas’ Guide to Practical Ship Building.”
Thanks for the read.
[...] like it took me forever to finish it. I did have some fun blog posts, though. Have you seen my Deserted Island Reading List? What would you take with you for a long trip to a desolate place? On Wednesday I dished about [...]
While I enjoy nearly all the books on your list, I would put severalby John Irving above Owen Meany, Most Noteably Hotel New Hampshire and Setting Free the Bears. Also if I were on a desert island I might tend to bring along some lighter reads as well, such as Charlotte Hughes’ very funny What Looks Like Crazy or something written by her and Janet E.
I doubt if war and peace would be of much use if you were stranded alone. :>
David Berndt
http://www.authorfriendly.worpress.com
Great topic. Books to take to a desert island, eh? I’ll think about this and add it to my blog soon.
How about “The People of the Book” by Geraldine Brooks? (I hope the title is correct.) Length would be important on a desert island, and Brooks writes many pages and covers over two thousand years.
[...] in an effort to distract myself, and inspired by this blog entry, I’ve decided to create my own Deserted Island Reading [...]
[...] One book you’d want on a deserted island: A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving (see my deserted island reading list) [...]
Another John Irving fan here! I haven’t read Owen Meany but loved all the others I’ve read by him..
This is such a fun post.. I’ll be making my own list too.. thanks!