Desert Island Books

[Guest]

I suppose there wouldn't be a CD player on the island, so I'd bring Lester Bangs' book 'Psychotic Reactions & Carburetor Dung'. He's the only rock 'n' roll hack I've read that could write about music in a way that was even more exciting and moving than the bands he was describing. It was his description that made me go out and buy Van Morrisson's 'Astral Weeks'. I was deeply disappointed 'cause it didn't live up to LB's writing.

(Ever noticed the "Lenny Bruce and Lester Bangs' line in REM's 'End Of The World As We Know It'?)

Also James Joyce's 'Ulysses' - the first great experimental novel. If I was stuck on a desert island I might actually find time to read the whole book and not just the naughty Molly Bloom bits.

Plus Nancy Friday's 'Women On Top'. You never mentioned if I'd be allowed to bring a Girl Friday along, DCL, so at least I'd know I'd be able to READ about naughty women and their wicked fantasies.

 

[Guest]

I would want three books on how to build a boat so I could get off that damn island. There is no way I could choose three books. Okay, two books on boat building and another on survival. "How to live on a desert island" by Robinson Caruso?

 

[CreamyLady]

Only three? Oh, no!!!!

With great thought, here is my list (as of this writing; it might change 15 minutes hence):

The Conference of The Birds
The Koran
The Decameron

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

The thread about the last people on earth scenario got me thinking about one of my favorite games.

You're to be banished to a desert island for the rest of your life, and you're only allowed to bring three books. What are they?

Here's one of my (many) sets:

The Complete Works of Shakespeare
The Discoverers by Daniel Boorstin
Great Expectations by Dickens

 

[Shylady]

well i will probably get laughed at but i would take anything written by Nora Roberts.
I love to read her books!

 

[Whispersecret]

Gosh, this is so difficult. If I could have tons of paper, or the means to make it, I would have to take my thesaurus, so I could write.

My second book would be some volume on survival and/or a layman's manual on medical procedures. I don't know jack about living in the wilderness.

My third choice would be, I think, The Bible. I wasn't raised religious, but there is much in it that I would want to keep in mind, it has some great stories, and it's really long.

(I love Nora Roberts, but she seems to be getting a little too predictable for me lately. Maybe I've read too much of her stuff.)

I'm sure after I read all the other lists, I'll have changed my mind, though.

 

[Conan]

i never thought i would have to get philisophical on a erotic lit board! i guess mine would be as follows:

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (the most descriptive book ever written)
The Bible (just in case)
The Best of Uncle John's Bathroom Reader (very entertaining)

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

Philosophical? Just wait 'til I ask you which three sociological or economic systems you would use to start your own uber-Utopian Phalanx with.

 

[Felix]

I suppose that I am cheating a bit, but still only choosing from real, currently-available options, I think that I would end up with

• Complete works of Shakespeare
• Complete and Unabridged Mark Twain (beefy binding required, but it does exist)
• Oxford English Dictionary

My first alternate: the Lord of the Rings trilogy (w/the Hobbit) in one volume.

On the other hand, one could simply take Stephen King -- he may write faster than one can read.

 

[ShyGoddess]

I have to disagree about Nora Roberts. She is an excellent author, but I would take anything by Johanna Lindsey hands down. Also I would take the book The Master and Margirita. An execellent book by Mikhal Bulgakov, a must read for anyone.

 

[Skibum]

My three choices:
"Red Storm Rising", by Tom Clancy
"Desert Gold", by Zane Grey
"Starship Troopers", by Robert Heinlein

Those are the ones I keep going back to. I know it's pretty shallow to take three novels, but I want books I can read over and over again.

[This message has been edited by skibum (edited 06-06-2000).]

 

[Golden]

I think Nancy Friday might be too much of a reminder of what I'm missing ... no, I'll spend much of my time writing porn ... But to read:

1. Shakespeare of course
2. Proust because if rescued I'd like to be able to say I did read it!
3. Ummm ... the complete Wisden Cricket annuals? ? No, probably the complete Trollope. Anthony not Julia!

(sorry about rough 1st draft)


[This message has been edited by golden (edited 06-08-2000).]

 

[Earthgoddess]

It is delightful to see how many of us are toting around Shakespeare's collected works...but if it is a desert island I want to be prepared for all possibilities. And the idea that my acting teacher from college would be the one to rescue me based on my oft practiced Lady Macbeth frightens me...So here are my choices-
1.John Wiseman's The SAS Survival Handbook
2.Caitlin and John Matthews'The Encyclopedia of Celtic Wisdom-I have been trying to muddle through this for years, and if I am marooned maybe I'll get to it...or else I could kill fish with it,if they were small and obvious...and held really still...for long periods of time.
3.Any Calvin and Hobbes book, because, well just because.

 

[Lasher]

The three books that no matter how often I read, when I finish I want to start reading them again:

1.Robert Pirsig "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance"
2. Jack Kerouac "On the Road"
3. Ernest Hemingway "The Sun Also Rises"

 

[Svedish_Chef]

1) DCL book of his erotic stories/Literotica's book
2) Steven Kings IT or the Bachman Books or the Stand
3) After WS maybe the bible

Have to try the Lester bangs one ..... and Rog yes I noticed!

 

[Cyra_3]

Could we possibly change the question to which three libraries we'd take?

 

[CreamyLady]

Originally posted by merelan:
Someone else has read the Decameron?

Yes; the first time was in high school, and I had to ask for it from the librarian. She made me get a note from my mother, too.

Fortunately, Mom would never censor our reading, so I got to check out the book. The librarian was disapproving, but I didn't care.

There are some tales in that book that still make me laugh, like the one about putting the devil back in hell, and the "mute" gardener in the convent -- it would be a good book for a desert island.

 

[Weird Harold]

A 1960's or earlier edition of the Boy Scout Handbook.
A First Edition copy of The White House Cook Book
The Bible (Old and New Testaments) Preferably in a parallel edition.

The handbooks need to be old enough to lose all references to Nylon tents and freeze-dried foods.

The original White House Cook Book has a recipe for rabbit stew that starts with "Kill a rabbit" and takes you step by step theough the cleaning and butchering to the finished meal. I think it was first published about 100 years ago give or take a decade.

The Bible because it's a good read that never grows stale.



[This message has been edited by Weird Harold (edited 06-07-2000).]

 

[Svedish_Chef]

OK then cyra

Mine
Mums+Dads
and the State library in Melb

 

[Merelan]

Someone else has read the Decameron?

three books? Oh no... just forget the whole idea. Can't narrow it down, thought I could.

 

[Neoapril]

I don't know the titles, just subject matter.

A book on wilderness survival
"" basic medical procedures
"" woodcrafts (or how to build lean- to's and boats)

 

[ShyGuy68]

I have read and reread so many great books, that I wouldn't be able to choose at all between them all!


ShyGuy

 

[Laurel]

"Kon Tiki" by Thor Heyerdahl (for survival and rafting tips)

"The Complete Works of Lewis Carroll (Unabridged)" (contains his two major books plus other short stories PLUS a whole section on Symbolic Logic - he was a mathematician, after all - so as to keep my brain sharp)

"Anna Karenina" (so much going on in that book, you can read it and reread it and discover something new every time)

 

[Melody_lane]

Ah, laurel...symbolic logic!
I took a course in that last semester. I absolutely loved it. Although I love anything logical...hence my adoration of Dixon.
As for books...hum.
I actually have and love #1 and #3 on DCL's list. So, I'm thinking I should look into #2.
BUt, I also love Pride and Prejudice and Ordinary People.
BUt, maybe a good survivalist book wouldn't be such a bad idea...

 

[Jenne64]

1: Anything by Douglas Adams. Espescially "Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy" Trilogy. Well then I could walk around all day going "42" Oh hang on I do that anyway-))

2: The Narnia Chronicles, just love those books.

3: "How to win friends and influence people" by John Cleese. Just so I could remember what it was like back in civilisation and why I don't want to be rescued-))

and that concludes the selection from this UK jury.
regards,
Jenne64