So I was pondering this idea. If you got shipwrecked on an Island and the sea allowed you only 5 books what would they be? Lets exclude religious holy books like the Bible, Qur'an, Talmud, Torah etc, etc. Lets assume you get those as freebies if you subscribe to those belief systems.

So your 5 would be...

Message edited by its author, Nov 6, 2009, 11:33pm.

Here are my top three. I'm weary tonight, so I'll have to think about the other two and post them tomorrow

1) To Kill a Mockingbird
2) A Prayer For Owen Meany
3) Jane Eyre

My first choice would be my Bible, but since we are not allowing for religious books, here are my other choices:

1. Little Women
2. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare
3. Ex Libris
4. A Gentle Madness
5. The Complete Sherlock Holmes

ETA: I want to be washed away at sea with all the other people in the group - that way we have the makings of a very fine library :)

Message edited by its author, Nov 7, 2009, 6:03am.

There are already several threads dedicated to this question but, hey, I'm happy to get washed ashore several times as long as I get to take:

1 Middlemarch
2 Captain Corelli's Mandolin
3 The Crimson Petal and the White
4 The Grapes of Wrath (my Steinbeck choice changes every time I write one of these lists; Cannery Row or Tortilla Flat would do just as well.)
5 Life of Pi

But I'm also going to sling ashore a crate that I'm really hoping will get washed up with me if I'm lucky. That one contains Jude the Obscure, The Magus, A Prayer for Owen Meany, The Remains of the Day, The Go-Between, Picnic at Hanging Rock and The Other Hand (aka Little Bee). There's a second crate too, but I won't go into that right now.

Let's see. I think if I had to choose (God forbid!)
I would need these following books to maintain my sanity:

1. Cannery Row
2. The Ladies Number One Detective Agency
3. Shiloh Autumn
4. The Pleasure of My Company
5. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Number 4 and 5 were chosen because when stranded at sea one needs a sense of humor. And to be reminded "Don't Panic."

Can I reduce my rations and carry a couple of more books instead?

Anyways, here are my five (you know forcing people to choose amongst their favourites is evil, right?)

1. Lord of the Rings
2. Anna Karenina
3. Crime and Punishment
4. The Picture Of Dorian Gray
5. Siddhartha

Also, managed to pick up no common books, won't do to have duplications if we all get washed to the same shore as Stasia mentioned :)

Hey, I'm definitely with Piyush on this one. Who needs food and clothes? There'll be fruit; there'll be leaves - now can I bring an extra book?

I never approach this question as intended, by listing my favourite books. Instead, my theory is that if I'm going to spend years on an island with only a few books, they should be books worthy of memorizing in their entirety. Then when I'm finally rescued, at least I'll have learned something worthwhile ;)

That said, my choices are:
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare
The Iliad and the Odyssey (I'm sure these can come bound as one....)
The Aeneid
The Bible (I'm not sure I subscribe to this belief system enough for it to come as a freebie. And I'd want it to include the NT as well, because the more reading material, the better!)
The Qu'ran

Ideally, all of the books originally written in a language other than English would be dual-language versions. Then I could work on my Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and Arabic. I think this would be enough to keep me busy for a very long time!

I am with _Zoe_ on wanting long and deep books, but I would certainly include some large collection of poetry along with the Complete Works of Shakespeare and the Iliand and the Odyssey. I love the idea of dual-language versions. I might add in War and Peace too.

Of course, the old joke is that the best book to have is one that teaches you to build a ship and navigate!

. the complete works of Shakespeare, incl. his poems (happily inherited from my grandfather)
. the Mapp & Lucia series by E.F. Benson
. a Jane Austen omnibus (crafty, eh?)
. the Norton Anthology of English Lit., Vol I
. the Norton Anthology of English Lit., Vol II

I was considering a collection of poetry, but I couldn't think of a particular one to choose. Maybe I'll claim the Bible as a freebie and add in a generic poetry book.

tiffin..

At the time I posted, I could only think of three books to take. Thanks for your reminder re. The Norton Anthologys. I would take these as well.

A History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell
James Baldwin: Early Novels and Stories
Flannery O'Connor: Collected Works
Ulysses by James Joyce
Oski's Pediatrics: Principles and Practice (just in case I'm rescued and can resume my career)

Message edited by its author, Nov 7, 2009, 6:37pm.

Sea or no sea, canʻt I have more than 5?

Hate to limit it like that. Well
(no order of preference intended)
Aeneid of Vergil

Gospel of John

Gospel of Luke

Dhammapada

Finnegans Wake of Joyce . . .

Message edited by its author, Nov 7, 2009, 6:39pm.

What I should take is:

1001 ways with coconut
the idiot's guide to building a raft
navigating by the stars
foraging for food on tropical islands
idiot's guide to building waterproof shelters

what I'll take is not favourites but noting my recent reading of Friday or the other island
I'd take:
An Arabic Primer (or some other language such as Japanese)
An encyclopedic dictionary - illustrated
A philosophy text - The Questions of Life — An Invitation to Philosophy
A poetry anthology (large and hefty edition) - World Poetry: An Anthology of Verse from Antiquity to Our Time
World Mythology: An Anthology of Great Myths and Epics

Love the 'what I should take' list, Kerry!

I loved the list as well! I laughed right out loud

go ahead laugh but here are my choices 1. World Atlas of Oceans of the earth. 2. An Empty Journal to write about my adventure. 3. Any book about surviving the open sea. 4. The Descent of Man by Darwin. 5.A Stephen King Novel -Desperation

absolutely agree with your choices and about that xtra crates. I would almost give anything to take all of my books with me. It is very hard to choose only 5 out of my entire collection

>10 - Norton Anthologies! Brilliant!