Ironically, I am on my way to a desert island today for two weeks! Well, okay, maybe more of a tropical island, but you get the idea.
In England, there’s a program called Desert Island Disks on the radio. Every week, a celebrity or cultural figure is interviewed, and asked for a playlist of albums they would take to a desert island. Then, at the end of the program, they’re asked which book they would take after The King James Bible and The Collected Works of Shakespeare. It’s a great program.
Anyway, here are my book choices, after the Bible and Shakespeare, which, of course, you’d have to have:
1.The Diary of Sameul Pepys. It’s long, it will keep you entertained.
2. Middlemarch. The perfectly balanced novel.
3. My book (just kidding)
4. The Cider House Rules and A Prayer for Owen Meany–please don’t make me choose
5. How To Cook Everything. Because if you’re on a desert island, chances are you’re going to need this book.
6. A book of survival skills. I’d want to know how to cut down trees and build myself some stuff. Like a boat, maybe. Unless I had my husband along. Then I’d just give him this book while I whipped us up some grilled fish and coconut beer.
7. The Happy Book, written by my eldest daughter, age seven, and dedicated to me. I couldn’t be prouder.
8. All of the Greek myths, plus Oedipus the King and Antigone
9. Jane Eyre. Reader, she marries him.
10. Orlando, by Virginia Woolf. Who knew Woolf was so funny?
I hope you all are having good summers, whether on islands or no. Enjoy the last remnents of vacation and read something good!
Latest posts by Tiffany (see all)
- Swan Song by Deb Tiffany - Thursday, August 27, 2009
- Only the Shadow Knows by Deb Tiffany - Thursday, August 20, 2009
- Desert Island Survival by Deb Tiffany - Thursday, August 13, 2009
- Thanks, Oprah by Deb Tiffany - Thursday, August 6, 2009
- Quiet Words by Deb Tiffany - Thursday, July 30, 2009
Awwww, the Happy Book! My own “young author” writes me books, too (and signs them!) but his tend to be more Star Wars themed. Fanfic, I guess they would call it…
Thanks, Kris. The books kids come up with are like little Rorsharch tests aren’t they? I love getting that glimpse into my kids’ minds.
Wait, we’re allowed to take survival manuals? I could have my handyman and Winston’s dogsitter read that while Winston and I watch BBC movies in the yurt. Maybe we won’t starve after all!