Let's discuss a very cliche but still sweet question: If you have to spend the entire your life in a tiny island and you can only take one-only one- novel to read what would it be?

Mine would be Journey to the end of night by Louis Ferdinand Celine.

War and peace by Leo Tolstoy, because it's so long, perhaps. I don't know. I can't really bring myself to choose one novel. Can I take Stephen King's Dark Tower series?

If I could bring a series I'd bring the Harry Potter series, I'm afraid. If I'm limited to one book it would have to be either Crime and Punishment or The Counte of Monte Cristo. Probably The Count. Crime and Punishment would make me kill myself within a week...

amazing book, though.

owwww, if i could take a series i too would say Harry Potter books. but if i had to pick only one it would be . . . . . . . . . . . . Hannibal as i could read it over and over and over again, although i have only read it once. actually, i don't know, it made me cry last time. i don't know, there are so many books. :(

i dont think there's a book out there that i wouldn't get sick of the 10th time i read it.

i'd probably take the lord of the rings 3 books in one, not because its terribly interesting, simply because its bloody long. and after the 16th time of reading it it'd make for good fire starting material.

And don't forget insulator! Paper is good for insulation! ^_^

I agree with what others have said. I couldn't take one book to read for the rest of my life. Mind you, I'm going to think of it like this:

I live on an island with one person - Christoff - and we are able to make a life there like they do in Swiss Family Robinsons (good movie). There are many things to do, many sights and sounds, but it's for life. What is the one book I wouldn't want to be without forever?

Hmm. That is VERY tough... Possibly "Twilight"... Maybe "The Sight"...

Mind you, "island survival" wouldn't be a bad choice either. Haha.

Either "The Gulag Archipelago" - Solzhenitsyn (does that even count as a novel?) or Nineteen-Eighty Four - Orwell.

Gulag simply because it's INSANELY long, and Nineteen-Eighty Four because I love it to death.

Lord of the Rings is not a bad choice, I guess- I recall Christopher Lee saying that he has read it once a year since the Sixties. Not sure I love it quite that much , but still.
For me I think it would be Foulcaults pendulum by Umberto Eco. It's long, complex, always absorbing and contains so many good jokes and sly references that I could read it time and again, always find something that I didn't notice (or 'get') before.
Does The Illiad count as a novel?
Or could I take my 'Complete works of Shakespeare' instead?

The Bible I think. Although that doesn't particularly count as a novel does it? Still, you get something new from it everytime you read it through.

I'd have said all volumes of Encyclopaedia Britannica...that should be enough to keep me occupied :D
Since it's a novel you're asking about, maybe Atlas Shrugged? That's a long one.

"Death and the Dervish" by Mesa Selimovic. Or maybe a collection of Hölderlin's works.

I can see myself being more interested in the Island it's self.

But, I'd pick, Romance of the three Kingdoms, Johnny got his Gun, or 1984.

"How to Get Off of a Tiny Deserted Island for Dummies"? :p

Maybe Crime and Punishment. It's a good book, but I doubt there's a book I could really read on a regular basis.

God that's a hard one. I would maybe take The darkside of midnight by Sidney Sheldon as its 3 books in one.

LOTR's, hands down. I've read it 4-5 times now, and every time I read it I find something new I missed before. LOVE IT. (And as above, it's so freakin' long. ;) )

Hmm, my favorite novel is Gone With The Wind, but for a book in general (what about creative non-fiction?) I'd choose either 'Desert Solitaire' by Edward Abbey (which I would be able to relate to more personally if I were alone on an island) or 'The Secret Knowledge of Water', by Craig Childs - absolutely phenomenal.

Series, I'd have to say the Chronicles of Amber by Zelazny, with Donaldson's The Thomas Covenant series a close second.

Single book? Lonesome Dove by McMurtry, due to its length, depth of characters, and just good story.

Terry

http://www.pinwheel.co.uk/imgs/covers/survive-on-a-desert-island.jpg

Seriously though, probably the Holy Bible. I am religious, so that counts for one thing, but many people obviously count the Bible as fiction. Either way there are many, many great stories in it.

Or could I take my 'Complete works of Shakespeare' instead?Agreed or LotR - simply because they can be/are combined into a complete "novel-like" collection. Both would keep me occupied for ages...

(has both and reads them both more often than she probably should)

[IMG]Seriously though, probably the Holy Bible. I am religious, so that counts for one thing, but many people obviously count the Bible as fiction. Either way there are many, many great stories in it.

You certainly won't get bored. It took me three years to read that monster.

Glue by Irvine Welsh.

Probably nothing anyone has ever heard of.

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield, hands down. Everytime I read it I get so sucked in that the whole world around me seems to disappear. And the ending always seems to give me that slight sense of surprise, even though I already know it.

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare
Not because he's good, he is, but mostly because it's a huge book.

Either that or a novel that would accurately portray how to survive on a desert island and make your escape. But that's just me being pragmatic.

I love to read childhood memoirs, so...

"They Cage the Animals at Night" by Jennings Michael Burch

I'd peobably take Stephan King's THE STAND. Its long and good.

I would take a good long book. The Lord of the Rings. Th one wit hall the books in one.

Even though it's a kid's book, I'd take Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix. I've read that book over four times and I'll read it again. It never gets old. Or I might take Touching Spirit Bear, but I'm not sure if it's the kind of book that I'd want to read over and over again. It might ruin the spirit and the purpose of the book.

I would take my collection novel with the full novels of three authors.
One is from Stephen King the everlasting I believe.
The second is Ann Rice
And the third is Micheal Crichton.

So I bring one book and get three really long stories in one.
Keep me living for a while.

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield, hands down. Everytime I read it I get so sucked in that the whole world around me seems to disappear. And the ending always seems to give me that slight sense of surprise, even though I already know it.

I'm happy to see another person read [I]The Thirteenth Tale[I]!
For a series I would take the Gemma Doyle trilogy by Libba Bray. For one novel, it would probably be [I]To Kill A Mocking Bird[I].

I would take Paradise Lost. I'd have all the time in the world to learn every word of it if I was stuck on an island. If I got sick of doing that I could always create my own language and translate it into a book of bound foliage and illustrate it with shells.

One that's good, long, and I haven't read before. I mean, seriously, you're going to be there a long time, why would you want something you've already read? It's either find yourself a new book in the wreckage or get a volley ball

I'd bring The Complete Works of William Shakespeare-- lots of material for all my message-in-a-bottle/fire-making/toilet-and-tissue-paper needs. (I'd use the leaves, but I have this thing where I'm always 100 percent certain that every plant I touch in the wilderness is gonna turn out to be poison ivy. It can be a real hindrance to a Boy Scout. =P)

Hmm, I'd make it My Sister's Keeper, by Jodi Picoult. Of the fifteen novels she wrote, I find that to be the only one completely flawless :D

Hmmm, I would have to say that the novel would be one that I wrote, so that I could spend the rest of my life editing it. HAHAHAHA! :D

"A Solitary Blue" by Cynthia Voight. I can really relate to that book.

If I go on the island naked, does that let me bring two books? Or maybe if I sacrifice my baby toe...

Hmmm... toughy... one book? Does The Complete Works of Shakespeare count? That is only one book... technically. If not, i'd say Nineteen Eighty-Four.

How many pages in a trilogy? I'd take as many blank sheets of A4 as I can and a box of good black-ink pens and spend my time writing my own collected works. Maybe by the time I escape, or am saved, it'll be ready for my agent.:)

sense and sensibility - brilliant story, great characters and written like poetry

A book on true life survival techniques.
how to make a fish hook out of a safety pin.
how to build a fire.
how to make a lean to that will survive a storm.

as for a novel something by Eric Flint or Mercedes Lackey. Gives an escape to another world off the island.

The First Rumpole Ominibus by John Mortimer. It holds sentimental value and I just couldn't imagine not having it with me.

The City and The Stars by Arthur C. Clark

I never tire of it. Sweet, pure, unadulterated, golden-age science fiction at its best.



*God bless you, Arthur! You made a little Puerto Rican boy look up and think, 'That's where I wanna' go'*

The First Rumpole Omnibus, by John Mortimer. It has been a close companion for over ten years.

Watership Down. I've read it once a year or so since tenth grade. I wouldn't say that it's my favorite book, but it's the one with the most re-reading potential.

The Lord of the Rings.

'Nuff said.

Hmm, thats a tough one. If it was only one novel it would probably be Only in Death because it is the ending of the super-awesome Gaunt's Ghost series by Dan Abnett. And then after im done reading i'll make a paper tepee! :D