Five Must Have Books

Post by **WampusCat** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 10:51 pm

Thanks for adding the dots over the "o." I knew they were supposed to be there but didn't know how to make them.

Post by **Trazúviel** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 4:18 am

my bible
LotR
Chronicals of Narnia (I have all 7 in one binding

)
The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom
a big, thick, blank journal

Not fair, only five, but those would get me through I think. Reading everyone elses choices made me realize, however, how many classics that I have never read!

Can we bring anything else? I'd bring my ukelele....

Post by **WampusCat** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 5:39 am

I considered Narnia and The Hiding Place too, Trazzie.

Post by **Primula Baggins** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 6:26 am

You know, if we all went to the same island, we could share books.

And start a band. . . .

Post by **narya** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 6:50 am

Great idea! Let's sail a very large boat, with all of our friends, and each of us with a few great books (all unique), and get shipwrecked somewhere together. An endless m00t. But without the subwoofer.

Post by **Trazúviel** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 6:36 pm

Endless m00t, complete with library and band!!

And I agree, we don't need the subwoofer.

Wampus, I just reread The Hiding Place...it really helps me to appreciate what I have!

As for Narnia, that was my first love so to speak. I read them a couple times as a teen, whereas I didn't read LotR until I was about 22. But I

them both.

Post by **WampusCat** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 7:21 pm

An all-geek Gilligan's Island. Hmmmm. Endless m00t on an island paradise? I could live with that.

Could we arrange to import a few of the passengers of Oceanic flight 815? Sayid, perhaps? We can't spend all our time reading.

Post by **Trazúviel** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 7:32 pm

LOST in only 5 days!!

...sorry, a little sidetracked there...

Sayid would be a lovely island commodity...and for variety, Desmond could come along....and Sawyer....and Jack... no, not Jack. He's too much drama.

...ok, I really digress...

Post by **Folca** » Sun May 11, 2008 10:38 pm

LOTR- because it is the most meaningful book in my collection

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare because I like it and you can perform it (five plays in four years was a lot of fun)

The Iliad by Homer

The Complete Works of Edgar Allen Poe

On very large, very thick journal

Post by **Holbytla** » Mon May 12, 2008 1:37 am

David Copperfield
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
The World Almanac
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Lord of the Rings

Post by **vison** » Mon May 12, 2008 4:51 am

I bet I already posted in this thread but guess what? I'm not looking . . .

LOTR, of course
The Horse Knows the Way, by John O'Hara (a much neglected author)
The Small House at Allington by Anthony Trollope
The Love of a Good Woman, by Alice Munro
A Shropshire Lad by A. E. Housman

Post by **narya** » Fri May 16, 2008 6:14 am

vison wrote:I bet I already posted in this thread but guess what? I'm not looking . . .

Yup, you did.

Post by **Impenitent** » Fri May 16, 2008 8:34 am

I've tried to post here a number of times but I can never bring myself to click 'submit'. No matter what the composition of my list, it is never definitive for me!

Can't do it this time either.

Post by **Teremia** » Fri May 16, 2008 8:42 am

Let's see. Today I would say:

Norton Anthology of Poetry
David Copperfield
LOTR
War and Peace, in Russian (for heft's sake)
Finn Family Moomintroll, by Tove Jansson

now I'll go find my previous list and compare.

result: 60% the same: Norton, David Copperfield, LOTR

but before I said Proust (A la recherche du temps perdu) and Mandelstam's poetry

hmm. I guess I'm a bit more frivolous today. I'll try again in a month.

Post by **Jnyusa** » Fri May 16, 2008 9:37 am

Imp wrote:No matter what the composition of my list, it is never definitive for me!

Same for me, Imp! When I think of any book being one of only five left to me to read, I break out in a cold sweat!

I still read LotR annually, but I wouldn't want to read it weekly.

Teremia wrote:but before I said Proust

You're a better man than I, Teremia! I think I might pay money to not be stranded on an island with du temps perdu. Maybe it reads better in French ... well, and I've really only read Swann's Way, so I might be unfairly judging, but ... oi va voy, I don't even want to remember my own childhood in such detail, much less his.

I think, though, that besides LotR, I could bear almost endless re-reading of Pound's Cantos, and The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann. But after that, the abyss!

Most of us, I suspect, if stranded on an island, would end up writing our own books for amusement instead of reading others'.

Post by **axordil** » Fri May 16, 2008 2:02 pm

And I agree, we don't need the subwoofer.

You just think you don't.

I'm with Alatar. No collections beyond poetry anthologies (otherwise we'd be stuck with epics if we wanted poetry at all!).

Thus:

The Book of Job, preferably with Blake's illustrations.
The Canterbury Tales
A Rumi Anthology
The Tempest
A Book to be Named Later

Not LOTR. I have it in RAM.

Fri May 16, 2008 3:08 pm

Teremia, War and Peace, in Russian, is frivolous?

Post by **Impenitent** » Sat May 17, 2008 3:10 am

That's it. I refuse to go to this island!

If I can't take compendiums, I'll go down with the sinking ship.

Post by **Pippin4242** » Wed May 21, 2008 2:22 am

Sound priorities there, Impenitent.

Kudos to Mossy and Crucifer for including Neil Gaiman (and Terry Pratchett).

This is hard...

The Lord of the Rings
Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
White Teeth - Zadie Smith
Wild Swans - Jung Chang
Good Omens - Neil Gaiman/Terry Pratchett

*~Pips~*