My contenders are…
The Count or Monte Christo – Long, enjoyable and also topical.
The Lord of the Rings – Shut up, Tolkien considered it one book, it’s one book. Also it’s a comfort read.
Gravity’s Rainbow – Lots to unlock, and after a year of only having that to read, I might understand it by the end. Possibly at the expense of my sanity.
Thus Spoke Zarathustra – I can see how a poetic, meaning affirming text could help with being incarcerated.
by LordFlappingtonIV
16 Comments
Lord of the Rings for sure… It’s considered one single book and there’s so much content to go into detail
James Joyce – Ulysses
For the same reason as the one you give for Gravity’s Rainbow
War and Peace, Crime and Punishment or Moby Dick, that way I may be able to finally finish one of them.
A little booklet about famous chess games of course, to get that immersive Stefan Zweig “Chess Story” experience /j
Serious answer, probably “The Stand” because it’s super long and with nothing else to do i might actually find the motivation to finally finish it
Hungry hungry caterpillar because it pops out
>The Lord of the Rings – Shut up, Tolkien considered it one book…
[Well in that case, One Piece.](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0e40e007341efc99d6ce15e80f74f3a1f92b427c/0_55_1280_768/master/1280.jpg?width=1900&dpr=1&s=none)
If I’m gonna read just one book for a year a good story’s not enough. Or even good writing. I’m gonna need something that’s almost like music. “Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths.” That sort of thing. Something I can recite to myself over and over again like singing or humming a favorite song. So probably a collection of Shakespeare plays or sonnets.
edit: Or maybe the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Here’s the first quatrain:
>Awake! for Morning in the Bowl of NightHas flung the Stone that puts the Stars to Flight:And Lo! the Hunter of the East has caughtThe Sultan’s Turret in a Noose of Light.
D&D Rules Cylopedia by TSR. It’s a book *and* a game.
I don’t really think a single book would be able to keep me entertained for a year. I’d rather bring some huge nonfiction manual and try to learn a new skill during that time.
A dictionary because I’ll come out knowing a lot of new words
I immediately thought of Proust, 2x longer than LOTR. But I’m struggling to stay interested as I’m reading it now. I’ll go with LOTR because I could see myself reading it over again once I’ve finished.
One of those giant Shakespeare omnibuses, probably.
There’s a project I’ve wanted to do for a while but it involves having to ape Shakespeare’s style, something I’m not actually well-versed enough in him to do.
For a year? Some heavy, heavy university maths textbook. You can get a days worth of not-boredom out of a single page until you actually understand what is going on.
Whole of Mahabharata. It has 1.8 million words and I like all the stories I’ve read from it. Would like to read the whole thing.
probably Guinness book of world records
Does a sketchbook count? Because I’d rather be able to draw/write for a year than read something.
If not then I’d probably bring in a textbook of some subject and come out an expert.
But if we’re talking just pure entertainment books then I guess Lord of the Rings, because maybe then I could actually finish it with no distractions.