Desert Island - Top 5 Books

[10centjimmy]

If you're on a desert island (with all the necessary amenities) and can bring any 5 books (fiction/nonfiction), what would you pick?

In no particular order, I would bring:

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtrey

Killer Angels By Michael Shaara

Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller jr.

The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran

Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow

[jnewt]

I don't find enjoyment in re-reading books, so I'd pick 5 that I haven't read. There's a few obvious ones (for me, that is) that are next on my list:

1. The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert Caro
2. The Economy of Cities by Jane Jacobs
3. The Next 100 Years by George Friedman (since @MrPotatoTed keeps mentioning it)
4. Making History by Stephen Fry
5. The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

 

[10centjimmy]

1 hour ago, Patine said:

I'm afraid I don't think there's a full five books I know of that I would consider that eminently rereadable. I'd go mad with boredom before too long.

Interesting, do you enjoy reading in general or is that a non-starter activity?  If you're looking for one and haven't read the five I put, it's somewhat varied and they're excellent.

I've read Lonesome Dove multiple times, and each time I've had a different experience with the characters. 

[MrPotatoTed]

I would choose five how-to books about various skills that would help me survive and ideally how to leave the island.  ;c)

[vcczar]

King Lear by Shakespeare

Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong

Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman

The Battlefield Where the Moon Says I Love You by Frank Stanford

Ulysses by James Joyce

 

This is likely my top 5 most re-readable books. One would think I'd pick history books, but I go to them for information, so I almost never re-read history books, unless I'm going back for something specific in them. I've read all of the above at least 3x each. Three Kingdoms about 18 or 19 times. King Lear, probably close to the same. 

[ShortKing]

the Bible, cause otherwise I feel like a bad Christian.

Flowers for Algernon, really short book but it’s been my favorite fiction book since I was a kid.

Les Miserables, and probably the unabridged version if I’m gonna be on this island for a while.

Richard Nixon: the Life (by John Farrell), it’s a tired observation but still rings true that Nixon’s life, particularly his downfall, reads like a Shakespearean tragedy and Farrell does the best job of capturing that quality that I’ve come across.

Ben-Hur by Lew Wallace, this is actually a book I haven’t read yet but given its historical and cultural impact, it seems a good candidate for a list like this.

[WVProgressive]

Dune by Frank Herbert

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Head On by John Scalzi

The Tomb of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin

These are mostly books that I think are eminently rereadable, except for Head On, which I haven't read yet. That one is on the list because I read Scalzi's previous book, Lock In, and very much enjoyed it, so I figured I'll also enjoy Head On.

[Pringles]

There's only one book this brotha needs. The Holy Bible: King James Version. 😎

 

[MrPotatoTed]

5 hours ago, ShortKing said:

the Bible, cause otherwise I feel like a bad Christian.

Flowers for Algernon, really short book but it’s been my favorite fiction book since I was a kid.

Les Miserables, and probably the unabridged version if I’m gonna be on this island for a while.

Richard Nixon: the Life (by John Farrell), it’s a tired observation but still rings true that Nixon’s life, particularly his downfall, reads like a Shakespearean tragedy and Farrell does the best job of capturing that quality that I’ve come across.

Ben-Hur by Lew Wallace, this is actually a book I haven’t read yet but given its historical and cultural impact, it seems a good candidate for a list like this.

Les Mis is great.  

[Pringles]

38 minutes ago, Patine said:

As being raised in the Anglican Church of Canada (same global Communion of Churches as the Church of England, the Episcopal Church of the United States, and many other regional provinces of, "reformed Catholic and Episcopal Churches not under Papal Sovereignty that recognize the Book of Common Prayer."), I very much grew up with the King James Version - after all, James I (VI of Scotland), ordered the translation for the Church of England specifically. 😛 

I always thought, in my youth, the New World Version was just odd in format and jarring in places, but could never put my finger on why.

Yep! I was raised a Southern Baptist and KJV is seen as the "true" version. Even though I know Hebrew versions, etc. Are probably a lot more accurate of course. But nevertheless, I read in English. So KJV is the best way to go for me. I was given a KJV Bible when I was a kid by my family and I'll always keep it. 

NIV and the other new ones often distort the text a little too much for me personally. Even if the more modern English seen in them makes it easier to read.

[vcczar]

2 hours ago, Pringles said:

Yep! I was raised a Southern Baptist and KJV is seen as the "true" version. Even though I know Hebrew versions, etc. Are probably a lot more accurate of course. But nevertheless, I read in English. So KJV is the best way to go for me. I was given a KJV Bible when I was a kid by my family and I'll always keep it. 

NIV and the other new ones often distort the text a little too much for me personally. Even if the more modern English seen in them makes it easier to read.

I've read like 4 versions, even though I'm not religious. King James, NIV, The New Jerusalem (I think it was called), and whatever the Catholic version (drawing a blank). I thought the New Jerusalem one sounded the most poetic and natural. I exclude KJV because it's written in an outdated diction, although, it's poetically more powerful, possibly.

Bible is definitely a worthy book for this question, but I don't think any book is good enough to take alone if you are given 4 other options. I think if I did pick one book, I'd easily pick Complete Works of William Shakespeare over the Bible. 

[Pringles]

11 minutes ago, vcczar said:

I've read like 4 versions, even though I'm not religious. King James, NIV, The New Jerusalem (I think it was called), and whatever the Catholic version (drawing a blank). I thought the New Jerusalem one sounded the most poetic and natural. I exclude KJV because it's written in an outdated diction, although, it's poetically more powerful, possibly.

Bible is definitely a worthy book for this question, but I don't think any book is good enough to take alone if you are given 4 other options. I think if I did pick one book, I'd easily pick Complete Works of William Shakespeare over the Bible. 

Unfortunately I'm not too big a fan of Shakespeare. Hes meant to be seen. Not read. I don't like most of his work anyways tbh. 

Hot take probably. 

[vcczar]

8 minutes ago, Pringles said:

Unfortunately I'm not too big a fan of Shakespeare. Hes meant to be seen. Not read.

I don’t know if that’s entirely true. I actually like reading him more than seeing him, mainly because productions will simplify sections of his work to save time or to create easier understanding for those born in the 21st century. You lose a lot of the music of the language and the imagery when you simplify him. 

Since we were talking about Bibles. The only Bible quoted in Shakespeare’s works is the Geneva Bible. I’ve never read this version. I also want to read the Jefferson Bible. 

[Pringles]

8 minutes ago, vcczar said:

I actually like reading him more than seeing him

Not to criticize or anything. But damn, that's the first time I've ever heard someone say that I think. 😛 

Maybe this has something to do with an age gap. Or maybe it's moreso because you're a professor, and while I love reading, writing essays, reports, etc.... Shakespeare, I just can't. 😛 

[vcczar]

5 minutes ago, Pringles said:

Not to criticize or anything. But damn, that's the first time I've ever heard someone say that I think. 😛 

Maybe this has something to do with an age gap. Or maybe it's moreso because you're a professor, and while I love reading, writing essays, reports, etc.... Shakespeare, I just can't. 😛 

I think it’s more of a pre-cyber world thing. When I was in high school, I didn’t have social media, cell phones to receive texts, or search the net, etc. I got like 3 emails a day on my CPU at home. Couldn’t use the internet much because it shared the same phone line as the house. Basically, pre-cyber world, you just have more time for activities and reflection. I think more is gained from technology, but you also lose some things. Internet to me was like 100 steps forward and 40 steps back on the general 3 steps forward 2 steps back scale.

I read Shakespeare in the high school library, often skipping classes to do so sometimes. I didn’t always understand it but I liked the sound of it. My grades in high school were not good, mainly because of absences or not doing homework. I found high school boring, but I won the award for most books checked out of the library. 

I think I’m the only kid to skip classes to go to the library. I also sometimes went to the computer lab. 

Made straight A’s in college and grad school. 

[Rezi]

8 minutes ago, Patine said:

The Jefferson Bible smacked of utter heresy and brazenness, frankly. That's all I can really say on it.

The Jefferson Bible is based and naturalism pilled

Edited March 27, 2022 by Rezi

[Pringles]

1 minute ago, vcczar said:

My grades in high school were not good, mainly because of absences or not doing homework. I found high school boring,

I definitely relate to this lol. In like the 4th grade my effort levels were already waning due to the discovery of Total War games, and reading way above my reading level about history, war, and generals. Read stuff about Caesar, Napoleon, all kinds of stuff. Freshman year of HS I was ass. But I got better, took Honors and AP classes and made it to the top 20 by the time I graduated. 

I think the first time I was majorly exposed to Shakespeare was sometime early High School when I was in this "Music Appreciation" class and we had to uh, watch A Midsummer Night's Dream. I remembering cringing throughout most of it. It just seemed overly verbose (which is intentional, I just dont like it), silly, and to me, unappealing.

We then had to read it. 

There are a few Shakespeare works that I think are decent though. Macbeth, and The Tragedy of Julius Caesar are about all I'll consider good and enjoyable from Shakespeare. 

[vcczar]

7 minutes ago, Pringles said:

I definitely relate to this lol. In like the 4th grade my effort levels were already waning due to the discovery of Total War games, and reading way above my reading level about history, war, and generals. Read stuff about Caesar, Napoleon, all kinds of stuff. Freshman year of HS I was ass. But I got better, took Honors and AP classes and made it to the top 20 by the time I graduated. 

I think the first time I was majorly exposed to Shakespeare was sometime early High School when I was in this "Music Appreciation" class and we had to uh, watch A Midsummer Night's Dream. I remembering cringing throughout most of it. It just seemed overly verbose (which is intentional, I just dont like it), silly, and to me, unappealing.

We then had to read it. 

There are a few Shakespeare works that I think are decent though. Macbeth, and The Tragedy of Julius Caesar are about all I'll consider good and enjoyable from Shakespeare. 

I'd give him another shot. No high school teacher can teach it well, and they often ruin the experience, partially because of their own lack of understanding it. I'd restart with King Lear. 

Yeah, my grades improved my junior and senior year, only because I realized I needed to good grades to go to college. I didn't really think about my future my freshman or sophomore year. Someone told me I was currently ranking 300 out of 330 students when Junior year began. That somehow woke me up. Ended up like 100 something. Also took AP courses. College was so much easier for me. I rarely studied and got A's. The big thing was actually going to classes, having professors who were interesting, and being around people that liked talking about the stuff we were learning. 

[Pringles]

2 minutes ago, Patine said:

I always disliked the Total War series, and thought it was one of the very weakest and most unenjoyable series in the genre, in my opinion (and made by a company reputed and infamous for rock-bottom customer service and relations and bad business habits, EA).

On the contrary. I consider the older Total Wars to be among the best.

However,I will say that Creative Assembly (The TW Devs) are absolute garbage now. 

I continue to play the games because I am a diehard fan boy of the series. Empire Total War was my first game on Steam. I even play the latest Warhammer Total War games. However the developer company itself has become absolutely awful. Condescending towards their player base, unchanging, unproductive. They don't care about feedback. They don't care that their promises of "great Battle AI" have fallen short since the beginning of their entire endeavor in making all of these games. 😛 

Total War Rome II was the greatest disappointment back in 2013 for me. And the recent release of Warhammer III Total War has been hammered by the player base. Even to the point where prominent Total War Youtubers are bashing it and quitting the series for a while. They just don't make the games like they used to. 

[Pringles]

4 minutes ago, vcczar said:

I rarely studied and got A's. The big thing was actually going to classes, having professors who were interesting, and being around people that liked talking about the stuff we were learning. 

Totally agree. Reminds me of my AP US History days. Me and my 3 best friends or so never studied for a single test, quiz, etc. Made A's all throughout the class and passed the AP exam. 

So many other people in the class were struggling and I'm like, it's AMERICAN HISTORY. HOW do you not know??? Just goes to show how the vast majority of society today is phasing out social studies. Valuable historical lessons, etc. In favor of classes that make our statistics better on a world study. 😕 

6 minutes ago, vcczar said:

No high school teacher can teach it well, and they often ruin the experience, partially because of their own lack of understanding it.

This is probably true in some of my cases. My AP Lang teacher was very into it though and I probably only like Macbeth and Caesar because of the fact he was the one who exposed it to me, tbh. 

[Pringles]

3 minutes ago, Patine said:

Like Anthony Burgoyne? 😛 

At this point yeah. 😛

Hate against the most recent game gets removed off of the official Reddit pages so... very similar I'd say. 😛

[Timur]

6 hours ago, Pringles said:

Yep! I was raised a Southern Baptist and KJV is seen as the "true" version. Even though I know Hebrew versions, etc. Are probably a lot more accurate of course. But nevertheless, I read in English. So KJV is the best way to go for me. I was given a KJV Bible when I was a kid by my family and I'll always keep it. 

NIV and the other new ones often distort the text a little too much for me personally. Even if the more modern English seen in them makes it easier to read.

It still is for some.

 

2 hours ago, Pringles said:

I definitely relate to this lol. In like the 4th grade my effort levels were already waning due to the discovery of Total War games, and reading way above my reading level about history, war, and generals. Read stuff about Caesar, Napoleon, all kinds of stuff. Freshman year of HS I was ass. But I got better, took Honors and AP classes and made it to the top 20 by the time I graduated. 

I think the first time I was majorly exposed to Shakespeare was sometime early High School when I was in this "Music Appreciation" class and we had to uh, watch A Midsummer Night's Dream. I remembering cringing throughout most of it. It just seemed overly verbose (which is intentional, I just dont like it), silly, and to me, unappealing.

We then had to read it. 

There are a few Shakespeare works that I think are decent though. Macbeth, and The Tragedy of Julius Caesar are about all I'll consider good and enjoyable from Shakespeare. 

I've read some of Shakespeare's works. Funny things is most of the ones I read were his unpopular ones. I also did not enjoy Richard III or Richard II, so...

(The one's I've read: Henry VI part 1, Henry VI part 2, Henry VI part 3, Richard III, Richard II, King John, Titus Andronicus)

[Timur]

I would pick the Bible, Shakespeare (We have a Riverside one vol. edition), and two or three huge history books (of course, I could put in one literary novel like Pamela: Or Virture Rewarded).

[Zenobiyl]

The Bible

Plato’s Republic

The Alchemist

The Giver

The Screwtape Letters