Five Must Have Books

Post by **narya** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 2:10 am

If you were cast away on a desert island, what 5 books would you wish you had with you? (Assuming you have a decent pair of reading glasses, as well.)

Remember, this is for edification, not toilet paper! For that you need a Sears Catalog.

I'm still trying to decide what goes on my list: Bible, LOTR, a good home medical text, Oxford English Dictionary, Casino Royale ... hmmmm....

Post by **Primula Baggins** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 2:46 am

Bible, LotR, Islandia . . . uhhhh, can I try to claim that Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin books are one long novel? Probably not. . . .

The Complete Jane Austen. . . .

Running into problems at this point: too much to choose among.

Okay, a complete annotated Shakespeare.

Post by **Sassafras** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 4:26 am

Funny, I was just pondering this a few days ago only I had limited myself to one book.

No prize for guessing LotR

But five books now! What wealth!

LotR, Oxford Book of English Verse, Complete Shakespeare, Silmarillion and........ I'm stuck ..... can't decide between the poetry of e.e.cummings or the James Herriot book(s).

or maybe David Copperfield, or, or, I dunno, perhaps some light reading like Stephen King's The Stand.

Rats!

Definitely LotR, Oxford Verse, Shakespeare ..........

Oh, and two pair of reading glasses.

Remember that Burgess Meridith Twilight Zone episode "Time Enough at Last" when he finally has an entire library to himself but breaks his reading glasses?

Post by **Lily Rose** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 4:38 am

Hm...That would really be difficult.

Assuming that I can count my LotR, The Silmarillion and The Hobbit as one book, I would also take The Walking Drum by Louis L'Amour, The Tibetan Book of the Dead, Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gamain, The Icewind Dale Trilogy by R.A. Salvatore, The Belgariad and The Mallorean by David Eddings,

Erm...And I couldn't live without all of my astrology books...

Only 5????
Its simply impossible

Post by **narya** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 4:59 am

Yes, I was thinking of the Twilight Zone episode.

Shakespeare is a good one. So is the book of poetry - I couldn't decide which one to pick.

Can anyone tell what the Casino Royale reference is?

Anymore, most of my reading for pleasure or research is on the Internet.

Mon Jan 21, 2008 5:26 am

Morgoth's Ring, The War of the Jewels, LOTR, Unfinished Tales and The Annotated Hobbit.

Yes, I know that I am a 'opeless Tolkien geek.

Post by **Frelga** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 6:12 am

well, if I had advanced warning, i'd have downloaded as mucj of Project Guttenberg as possible on a solar-powered laptop.

Post by **Lurker** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 6:27 am

Bible

The Lexus and the Olive Tree by Thomas L. Friedman

The Takeover by Stephen Fry

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet

The biggest "Suduko" book (I could find). I'll write the answers in the sand if I have to. This will definitely occupy my time.

Post by **narya** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 7:30 am

Why stop at Project Guttenberg? Download all the books (and podcasts) from iTunes and eBooks.

But that wasn't really the question.

Post by **Teremia** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 8:37 am

I remember that Twilight Zone episode especially well, because it's still a matter of some gloating around our house: I turned to my husband at an early point during it and said, "I know what's going to happen -- he's going to break his glasses!!"

The beginning and ending of my psychic career.

Anyway, once we're into "complete works" volumes, of course the task becomes . . . well, still difficult, but less absurd.

Norton Anthology of Poetry
A la recherche du temps perdu, Proust (two advantages: very long [!] and in French, so really even longer)
LOTR
David Copperfield (unless someone can point me in the direction of a complete Dickens set in one volume!)
Osip Mandel'stam's poetry in Russian. Or Rilke in German. Or some utopian volume with four thousand poems in various languages in the original, with a good glossary attached.

On the other hand, a First-Aid Book and a Guide to Survival in the Wild might be the practical choices, depending on the amenities offered by the island in question.

Ah, I see I fail at this exercise. There's the Bible, which is long and meaty, both. And Shakespeare, as many have also suggested. And Pema Chödrön on the glories of resignation and hopelessness (from a Buddhist point of view), which could be a very useful tome for a lonely island life.

I can't narrow to five.

Post by **Alatar** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 11:06 am

You're all a bunch of cheats...

Assuming that I can count my LotR, The Silmarillion and The Hobbit as one book, I would also take The Walking Drum by Louis L'Amour, The Tibetan Book of the Dead, Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gamain, The Icewind Dale Trilogy by R.A. Salvatore, The Belgariad and The Mallorean by David Eddings,

That adds up to somewhere between 15 and 20 books by my reckoning.

Ok, I'm going to try do do this as 5 proper books. "The complete works" of anything is not one book, even if its one volume. Lord of the Rings, on the other hand, IS one book, and also published in one volume, so I consider that fair game.

The Lord of the Rings
Unfinished Tales
Duncton Wood
Watership Down
The Silmarillion

Obviously, if we're allowing Trilogies and Complete Works, it would be different, but thats what I'd pick if it were 5 books.

Post by **Primula Baggins** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 4:27 pm

Well, I stand by my Complete Jane Austen, because I do own it as a single volume (as well as in several other forms) and it's about the size of LotR. Otherwise, I'd have to have no Austen at all—because how could I pick just one? And they're all so short.

My father has a four-volume set that includes all twenty-odd Aubrey/Maturin novels by O'Brian, but even I would call that four books.

Lots of interesting choices! Teremia, if I could have one Dickens, it would of course be David Copperfield. But having just one would be hard.

Post by **Alatar** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 4:33 pm

Book

1. a written or printed work of fiction or nonfiction, usually on sheets of paper fastened or bound together within covers.
2. a number of sheets of blank or ruled paper bound together for writing, recording business transactions, etc.
3. a division of a literary work, esp. one of the larger divisions.

Sorry... as I read that:

Pride and Prejudice is a book.
The Complete works of Jane Austen is a single volume containing several books.
Your father has a 4 volume set of 20 books.

Post by **Primula Baggins** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 4:42 pm

Well, by that definition, the Complete Shakespeare is out, too, as is the Bible.

Post by **narya** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 4:51 pm

OK OK for this thread you may bring 5 discrete bound objects. And you have to be able to carry the stack without a hand truck!

I think the ship will sink before we hash this one out.

Post by **Maria** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 4:57 pm

In a waterproof container, I'd take:

Bushcraft (I can't remember the author, but it's got all sorts of extensive wilderness survival info in it)

A regionally appropriate guide to edible wild plants.

A medical text devoted to modern diagnosis, and non-technological ways of dealing with them- if there is such a thing?

The I Ching

A really big blank journal, so I could write down my story.

edit: Hey! You changed the rules while I was pondering!

Mon Jan 21, 2008 5:02 pm

Primula Baggins wrote:Well, by that definition, the Complete Shakespeare is out, too, as is the Bible.

And, of course, the Silmarillion.

(Which you will note was NOT on my list.)

Post by **Teremia** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 5:33 pm

But V, no need to take the Sil along, since you know it by heart!

Mon Jan 21, 2008 6:39 pm

Ah, but most of what I would like to see in the Silmarillion is contained in Morgoth's Ring, The War of the Jewels, and Unfinished Tales. But I realize that I would then be missing the utterly essential stories of Beren and Lúthien and Eärendil (not to mention the Second Prophecy), so I would need both The Shaping of Middle-earth and The Lost Road. Hmmmm?

How about I include my version of the Silmarillion, which would include all the parts that I would want in one very think volume.

Then I could go with:

(My) Silmarillion
LOTR (supplemented by portions of Unfinished Tales)
The Annotated Hobbit
The Magin Mountain, and
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.

Post by **Crucifer** » Mon Jan 21, 2008 10:05 pm

I would bring Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.
LoTR.
Chapmans Illiad and the Oddessey.
Don Quixote.
American Gods. (By Neil Gaiman.)

Most of these could keep me going for at least a few days...

After that, I think I'd write stories in the sand and watch the sea eradicate them as the tide comes in...

Hey! That's an idea for a story right there!