Desert Island Books

[Fried Egg]

No, this is not a thread enquiring about books in desert island settings, but rather a variation on a theme. In the UK there is a radio programme entitled: "Desert Island Discs" in which celebrities are invited each week to choose ten discs (songs) that they would take with them if they were going to be stranded on a desert island for the rest of their lives. The programme then plays their records and the guest talks about why each song meant so much to them at various points in their lives.

So why not do the same with books? You're about to be cast away on a desert island and you are afforded the luxury of choosing ten books to be cast away with. You may choose any ten books, including omnibus editions if you choose. If you like, also explain why you chose each book.

My Desert Island Books

"Death of Grass" by John Christopher - I thought about taking "1984" but that would be just too depressing. Whilst this is also very bleak, it's ending is not entirely crushing.
"Time and the Gods (Fantasy Masterworks omnibus)" by Lord Dunsany - I had to take some Dunsany and what better than this huge omnibus containing six of his short story collections?
"Teatro Grottesco" by Thomas Ligotti - With this mind mending, complex stories, I would need to read these many times to understand them.
"Helliconia Trilogy" by Brian Aldiss - The long cycle of Helliconia would give me plenty to ponder whilst stranded on my own contained eco system.
"More Than Human" by Theodore Sturgeon - Plenty to think about with this masterpiece by Sturgeon.
"A Scanner Darkly" by Philip K. Dick - My favourite PKD and the one I feel that I could read again and again.
"Lost Worlds" by Clark Ashton Smith - I don't know of a single collection that contains all my favourite CAS stories but this contains a lot of them.
"Affirmation" by Christopher Priest - I may feel the need to reflect on my own life, perhaps even write my own autobiography, whilst on this island so this may give me some guidance in that endeavour!
"Necronomicon" by H. P. Lovecraft - I don't actually own this particular collection but I chose it because it conatins most of the best Lovecraft stories in my opinion.
"The Worm Ouroboros" by E. R. Eddison - The eternal and endlessly repeating epic struggle between Demonland and Witchland will help brighten my endless days of isolation.

Generally I have chosen books that I feel I would enjoy revisiting again and again. Of course, if you ask me again next week, I will probably vary it a bit. This is just what I would probably choose right now.

 

[GOLLUM]

Hey great thread F.E.!

Damn...that's a pretty good list you've come up with there.

I'm also familiar with Desert Island Discs. They have a similar radio program in Australia and I've heard the BBC one as well.

I could come up with several lists I suppose but absolutely off the top of my head I'll throw in:

The Worm Ouroboros - E. R. Eddison
If On A Winter's Night A Traveller - Italo Calvino
Nightmare Factory - Thomas Ligotti
Sttreet of Crocodiles - Bruno Schulz
Labyrinths - Jorge Louis Borges
Book of the New Sun - Gene Wolfe
Radetzky March - Josepth Roth
Invention of Morel - Adolfo Bioy Casares
Palefire - Vladimir Nabokov
Bloody Chamber - Angela Carter

No time to provide detailed explanations except to say they are all 10 star rated books for me.

I will likely come up with some other combinations as I'm missing the likes of Lovecraft, Ashton Smith, Harrison etc.

Cheers.

 

[Fried Egg]

Book of the New Sun - Gene Wolfe

No doubt that's a good choice as I bet that series could take quite a few re-reads, revealing new depths each time. Is it available as a single book though?

 

[Rodders]

A great thread and a difficult one to single out just ten books. But i try, so here's mine.

1. The Player of Games - Iain M. Banks
2. The Forge of God - Greg Bear
3. The Anvil of Stars - Greg Bear
5. Necropolis - Dan Abnett
6. Weaveworld - Clive Barker
7. The Stand - Stephen King
8. Revelation Space - Alastair Reynolds.

I need to think of the last two.

 

[GOLLUM]

No doubt that's a good choice as I bet that series could take quite a few re-reads, revealing new depths each time. Is it available as a single book though?

Not to my knowledge. It's available as a 2 volume set e.g. Masterwork series that I own.

I could always remove the back cover of Vol 1 and front cover of Vol 2 and rebind them as a single large volume...

 

[iansales]

Hard to choose... I wouldn't stick to exclusively sf, and I'd cheat a little by including series, even if no omnibus edition has ever been published...

The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe (omnibus available)
The Avignon Quintet, Lawrence Durrell (omnibus available)
In Search of Lost Time, Marcel Proust (no omnibus) I'd finally get around to reading it
RGB Mars, Kim Stanley Robinson (no omnibus)
Dhalgren, Samuel R Delany
Against A Dark Background, Iain M Banks
Coelestis, Paul Park
The Right Stuff, Tom Wolfe
The Aegypt Tetrad, John Crowley (no omnibus)
Acts of Conscience, William Barton

 

[Fried Egg]

All this cheating...next someone is going to get into the lifeboat with a fictional omnibus of Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time" series...

 

[iansales]

I don't think it floats...

Speaking of WoT, I decided recently to purge it from my bookshelves. I'm never going to reread it, so I don't see the point in hanging on to the books.

 

[elvet]

Great thread! Good for putting on the thinking cap .
Ok, my first instinct is to say all 10 of the Malazan Book of the Fallen by Erikson. There's so much detail and entertainment value that I'm sure there'll be new things discovered with each read through. However, I might want some variety, so here's my list:
The Silmarillion by Tolkien
Lord of the Rings by Tolkien
Age of Misrule by Mark Chadbourn
Anathem by Neal Stephenson
The Once and future King by T.H. White
Fionavar Tapestry by Guy Gavriel Kay
Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay
Memories of Ice by Steven Erikson
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
and finally:

 

[Fried Egg]

I don't think it floats...

Speaking of WoT, I decided recently to purge it from my bookshelves. I'm never going to reread it, so I don't see the point in hanging on to the books.

Congratulations. I purged the first eight books (that's as far as I got) from my shelves some time ago. Soon filled up the space again.

 

[Rodders]

A great thread and a difficult one to single out just ten books. But i try, so here's mine.

1. The Player of Games - Iain M. Banks
2. The Forge of God - Greg Bear
3. The Anvil of Stars - Greg Bear
5. Necropolis - Dan Abnett
6. Weaveworld - Clive Barker
7. The Stand - Stephen King
8. Revelation Space - Alastair Reynolds.

I need to think of the last two.

9. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.
10. The Lord of the Rings. Perhaps on a desert island, i would be able to get into it.

 

[Clansman]

The rest of my life, and only ten books that I can read?

Sounds like my definition of hell. You'd get to know them so well (with little else to do but fish, get coconuts, fetch water and re-build your hut after each hurricane) you'd read all ten every two weeks.

 

[iansales]

So you pick thick complicated books you can reread multiple times. Like In Search of Lost Time...

 

[The Judge]

Good thread, not that I've the first idea of an answer. Do we get the complete Works of Shakespeare and the Bible, as per the radio prog? And a luxury? I always wanted my luxury to be a Man Friday to do all the hard work around the island, but I'm pretty sure it's got to be non-human, though since this is a SFF site that shouldn't be a problem...

The interviewees have to choose just the one record at the end of the prog, in the event that all the others are washed away by a tidal wave or something. While I'm pondering the other 9, I think my one book would be the Complete Works of Jane Austen (OK, not yet published as one volume, but it must happen soon.)

 

[nixie]

Now what would my list be?

woo I've had to rethink omnibus editions not full series

1. Stephen Donaldson, First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant
2. Stephen Donaldson, Second Chronicles Thomas Covenant
3. Raymond E Feist, Magician
4. Stephen Erikson, Memories of Ice
5. Gene Wolfe, Book of The New Sun
6. Roger Zelaney, Great Book of Amber.
7.Glen Cook's, Black Company
8. George RR Martin, Dream Song
9. Denis Wheatly, Devil Rides Out
10. A book on Ghost Stories and other supernatural tales.

May be cheating slightly with the last one but you know the sort of thing,back in the 70's and 80's the hard books that would be named something like The Hand and other Ghost stories.

 

[Tillane]

Ooh, a listy thing. Can't resist these.

Tricky to stick with just ten, but here goes...

1) Use of Weapons - Iain M Banks
2) Only Forward - Michael Marshall Smith
3) Dhalgren - Samuel Delany
4) A Scanner Darkly - Philip K Dick
5) Needle In The Groove - Jeff Noon
6) Neuromancer - William Gibson
7) Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
8) Chasm City - Alastair Reynolds
9) Small Gods - Terry Pratchett
10) Kafka On The Shore - Haruki Murakami

 

[Spade]

1. Dune by Frank Herbert
2. Exultant by Stephen Baxter
3. The Dark Beyond the Stars by Frank M. Robinson
4. Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
5. Orion by Ben Bova
6. The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy
7. God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert
8. The Descent by Jeff Long
9. Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein
10. Bag of Bones by Stephen King

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I'm just glad no one said Twilight...

 

[iansales]

I'm just glad no one said Twilight...

I'm assuming there are trees on the desert island, so you'll have wood for a fire...

 

[Hilarious Joke]

I'm assuming there are trees on the desert island, so you'll have wood for a fire...

Haha, zing!