Monday, March 26, 2007

Desert Island Books

I've been meaning to write about this ever since I saw Under a Blue Moon tackle this question a while ago.

The question is: "What three books would you choose to take on a desert island?"

This is difficult. What exactly would one take if one could only have three books ever? Aside from the fact that it's difficult to imagine being limited to three books for the rest of my life, there is the worrisome fact that I will actually be on a desert island. Forever. I've seen Castaway. I know how ugly things can get. Then again, if Tom Hanks' character had the foresight to bring along his three favorite books maybe he wouldn't have gotten so attached to Wilson. Of course, if he knew enough to remember to pack his three favorite books, that simply begs the question of why on earth he stepped on that plane in the first place?

We'll just accept that by some miraculous circumstance I managed to have the foresight to bring my three favorite books on what was supposed to be a three hour tour. (Hmm, maybe I should check out the other passengers? It's possible that they knew about this whole desert island/favorite book thing and they brought along their own favorites. It could totally happen.)

Without further ado, here are my three choices:
*My Jane Austen Anthology. I realize this is cheating, but officially this is a single bound volume containing all of Ms. Austen's novels and correspondence.
*My Complete Works of Shakespeare. I know, I know. More cheating, but really it is, again, a single bound volume. Of course after living on a desert island and eating only roots and berries, I won't be able to lift either volume, but at least at first I'll be able to.
*You know, I think I'm going to have to go for the Complete Calvin and Hobbes, a huge treasury that came out last year. It'll be perfect for those days when I can't face another tortured prince, mischievous sprite, star-crossed lover, murdering king, or Marriage Minded Miss.

Well, that's my list. Not terribly intellectual, but I think it will suffice, especially if the skipper from the tour boat survives as well and wants a mutual read aloud or Wilson washes up on my beach.

3 comments:

Becca said...

Well, now that you've made this post you realize that you can never again bring any of those books with you if you're flying anywhere, never mind all three. Because your blog is of course being watched by the government, if you were caught with those books trying to get on a plane you would be whisked away by Them to an interrogation room with an uncomfortable chair and a too-bright light while They demand to know which desert island you were planning to crash the plane into.

country mouse said...

Okay--so the whole desert island thing? Make sure you're stranded with The Professor (cute, intellectual--so he'll enjoy, ahem, "read alouds" with you--and can do *anything* with a coconut!) And, go for Mr. and Mrs. Howell too because they seemed to have packed trunks and trunks and trunks of items for "three hours!" They knew something. They were capitalist empire wannabes who knew a storm was coming and had nefarious plans to subjegate some natives somewhere . . . And they were prepared.

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