Imagine a full year off the grid – no WiFi, no social media, just you and a stack of books. You can only choose 3 to read and re-read.
For me, I would probably go with:
The Lord of the Rings because it never gets old.
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius for reflection.
The Stand by Stephen King because it is huge and gripping.
What about you?
Thank you.
by gamersecret2
42 Comments
You picking lord of the rings implies a series counts as 1 book. Does that mean I can pick wheel of time as 1 of my books?
The passage – Justin Cronin (similar to the stand but with vampires instead of the flu
The way of kings – Brandon Sanderson
A Boys Life – Robert Mccammon
Infinite Jest, GWTW, Lonesome Dove
The complete Oxford English dictionary since I would finally be able to get my vocabulary built even more. I’ve always wanted to read war and Peace but it’s just such a time commitment it would be nice to finally be able to read it with nothing else to distract me. And the rise and fall of the Roman empire or is that cheating?
Honestly I’ve always thought it’d be interesting to read the Bible and the Qur’an side by side, but never had the time to read either. So those. And fuck it, we’ll throw the Torah in as well.
this is probably when i’d feel brave enough to tackle Ulysses
X2 on The Stand (unabridged version). Id have to really think about the other two.
I read a lot so I’m gonna use my energy to get out of this trap. *rolls dice*
Jeeze, only 3? With no distractions, I would go through them in less than a month. That said, I’d have to choose long ones (but not just for the sake of being long). I’d go with the following:
Lord of the Rings (counts as one since that was the author’s intent).
The Count of Monte Cristo (unabridged obviously).
The Stand (uncut edition)
I know, very similar books as you but you picked good ones so what am I going to do?
Les Miserables (one of my favorites),
the Conqueror- about Alexander Hamilton for inspiration.
and the complete works of Edgar Allen Poe (his writing is so good and great for the autumn)
How do I apply for this cabin? 😅
Collected Shakespeare, infinite Jest, capital
probably some guide to wood carving and learn a new skill.
ah fuck it who am i kidding!
OED for one.
What would I read for the other 51 weeks?
The Count of Monte Cristo, Don Quixote, and East of Eden. All three are great and all three are long.
The Bible
Rook: By Sharon Cameron
A Voice in the Wind: Francine Rivers
Finnegans Wake.
Divine Comedy.
Plato’s Republic.
Infinite Jest, Gravity’s Rainbow, and then if I have any time left over, maybe something quick and easy like James Clavell’s Shogun
Don Quixote, Lord of the Rings, Infinite jest
The one problem with this is all these books probably have words that I would normally have to look up the definition of lol. But whatever
À la recherche du temps perdu from proust
Lev tolstoy omnibus of collected works
The complete shortstories of H.P. Lovecraft.
Should give me enough to read and to keep me mentally occupied.
Hobbit, LOTR, Jane Eyre
Probably something about survival so I don’t starve
Ulysses, because it’s now or never
The works of Robert E Howard. When Joyce has exhausted me.
Pride and Prejudice ( Jane Austen), David Copperfield ( Charles Dickens),Catch -22 (Joseph Heller)
11/22/63, Pillars of the Earth, Grapes of Wrath
Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queen
A huge history or biography book, like Helen Castor, The Eagle and the Hart (Richard II, Henry IV)
A skills-book, like one of the Foxfire books or a Navy electrician’s manual.
Moby Dick
Gravity’s Rainbow
Ulysses.
Seriously I went on a multi week self contained of road bicycle trip one time, Moby Dick saved my brain, especially on an 8 hour missed flight kerfuffle in the middle of nowhere.
1. The Journal Of Albion Moonlight, by Kenneth Patchen
2. Mr. President, by Miguel Angel Asturias
3. At Play In The Fields Of The Lord, by Peter Matthiessen
Not enough books for me
A Cry to Heaven
People of the Lakes
Falls the Shadow
– The complete works of William Shakespeare
– The complete works of Henry David Thoreau
– Annotated interlinear translation (Greek/Hebrew/Aramaic/Latin to English) of the Douay-Rheims Bible with the Apocrypha)
A Bible, Godel Escher Bach, and the complete comic “Bone” as a single trade paperback. Between the 3 of those, there’s plenty keep one busy.
I have a single volume edition of all the published Jane Austen books, so I would take that for sure as they are my comfort reads.
Probably Lord of the Rings as others have said and The Brothers Karamazov because I’ve been too intimidated to pick it up so far, so it would give me something new and challenging to spend time on.
On Desert Island Discs you get The Bible and The Complete Works Of Shakespeare plus one more. LOTR is a good shout, maybe The Brothers Karamazov?
Any 3 by James Michener, they’re each huge and fascinating. Also, LotR is itself 3 books, that’s cheating. 🙂
A short stay in hell, as it’s both ironic and would help give me a perspective of time.
Complete works of Shakespeare – long and lots to read.
Escapology for dummies
Lonesome Dove, The Book Thief, and East of Eden
Cypher System core rule book, Chronicles of Darkness, and Vaesen. I’m gonna play games for a year.
The complete works of Terry Pratchett, the complete works of Arthur C Clarke, the complete works of Agatha Christie
I’m thinking maybe take the time to learn a new language? So a really good long book (TBD) in the chosen foreign language (TBD) and a translation dictionary. The only problem is that I would end up being able to read the new language, but I’d be pronouncing it all wrong.
Bleak House because I only read it once and I loved it. War and Peace because I haven’t read it. And hell with it, Infinite Jest. Maybe I’d hate it, but it would fill up time.
One hundred years of solitude (lol)
War and peace (reread but could use the time to actually FOCUS)
Flora novae angliae (study time)